"Ha! I lied!"
"Hey, seriously? You didn't actually believe me, did you? If it really had been a knife, wouldn't Uncle have noticed the wound on Grandfather?"
Seeing Kahn looking as though nothing could be sadder than a heart that had given up, Azula finally lost control of her expression and doubled over laughing.
Only then did Kahn realize he had been tricked.
Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least he wouldn't have to be silenced.
But before Kahn could relax for even two seconds, Azula spoke again:
"Although Grandfather wasn't stabbed to death, his death definitely had something to do with my father."
Are you trying to mess with my head?
Fuck you!
This time, Kahn simply lowered his eyes to his nose and his nose toward his heart, pretending to be deaf and mute, hearing nothing and seeing nothing.
Seeing this, Azula found it boring too, so she stopped joking and continued:
"Actually, I was hiding in a corner of the Great Hall that day and happened to overhear a conversation between my father and Grandfather."
After talking for a while, Azula noticed that Kahn still looked utterly unruffled, unmoved by anything she said.
"Hey, are you listening?"
Frowning, Azula swung a slap at Kahn, only for him to dodge it easily, leaving her hand swiping through empty air.
Damn it, you actually dared to dodge?!
This time, Azula switched to a whipping kick. Kahn dodged again, leaping out of the living room and into the courtyard.
After all, if anything in the living room broke, he would be the one taking the loss.
And so, their fight on the training platform played out again in the courtyard. Azula threw everything she had into chasing and attacking him, but Kahn nimbly evaded every blow. It looked as though the two were putting on a perfectly coordinated performance.
"Hah, hah, hah..."
After venting her anger, Azula finally realized the problem and stopped, glaring fiercely at Kahn.
Seeing that Kahn remained unmoved, Azula turned an idea over in her head and suddenly let out a long sigh:
"I thought my poor little brother had finally made a good friend. Now it seems you're nothing special after all. He was just too naive."
Wiping away nonexistent tears, Azula said with a "disappointed expression":
"My poor Zuzu..."
You've got so much drama in you, little girl. Are you in show business or something?
Finally, Kahn sighed and asked:
"What exactly did you come to see me for? Did you just come to leak secrets so you could send someone to kill me and shut me up afterward?"
"Leak secrets? Oh, I suppose that does count as a secret."
Azula belatedly realized this, but after hearing the second half of Kahn's words, her expression soured again:
"So you think I came to kill you? Is that really how you see me?"
Huh? Now you're the one who's upset?
Kahn looked utterly bewildered.
But seeing Azula's reaction, he also understood that she probably hadn't meant that, so he relented:
"All right, enough messing around. What exactly did you come to see me about?"
"Hmph!"
Azula irritably flung a streak of flame at Kahn. Only after he dodged it did she continue:
"Although I didn't see how Father killed Grandfather that day, I..."
"Stop!"
Kahn interrupted Azula. "Is it too late for me to keep pretending none of this happened?"
Azula sneered. "What do you think?"
At that, Kahn rubbed his face hard and took a deep breath, quickly calming himself.
"And then?"
Kahn's behavior earned him another look from Azula before she continued:
"I was staying in a corner and happened to overhear a conversation between my father and Grandfather."
That night, Azula's father, Ozai, had suddenly requested an audience with the old emperor, Azulon. Before the old emperor, he had denounced Iroh's weakness and asked him to strip Iroh of his position as crown prince, but his actions had enraged the old emperor.
"How dare you ask me to cast aside my firstborn! Especially when his son's bones have not yet grown cold!"
"He has suffered enough, but your punishment has only just begun!"
After listening, Kahn wore a strange expression:
"And then he punished your father by making him kill Zuko, so he could experience the pain of losing a son too?"
"Mm-hmm."
Azula spread her hands. "I guarantee that part is absolutely true."
Unbelievable.
What level of brain-dead did someone have to be to come up with a punishment like that?
And here I'd thought the old emperor was a normal person. My mistake, my mistake.
Then Kahn asked in confusion:
"But isn't Zuko fine? That's an honest question. I'm not trying to curse him."
"Whatever. I don't care about him anyway. But that's the crux of the problem!"
"Zuzu was fine, Grandfather died, and Father got the throne. A happy ending for everyone, wasn't it?"
Just then, Azula abruptly leaned close to Kahn, her pretty face darkening:
"-If Mother hadn't disappeared!"
Her otherwise pretty face looked decidedly awkward with that gloomy expression. Kahn frowned and discreetly stepped back, asking:
"By the way, do you know what managing your expressions means?"
Azula froze for a moment. "What?"
"I mean your expressions. You always look so sinister, and it feels awkward. Even when you smile. Can't you manage them a little better? You're clearly very pretty when you smile normally."
"Tch. Who cares what you think?"
For some reason, Azula's expression looked a little awkward when she said that.
Forget it. It doesn't matter.
"Let's get back to what we were talking about."
At that, Azula gave a moderate huff and continued.
But in truth, that was all she knew, because after announcing Ozai's punishment, the old emperor had driven him out of the Royal Palace.
She had slipped away as well, arriving home before Ozai. She had told Zuko what she had seen and heard in the Royal Palace, gloated over his misfortune, and kindly advised him to run away as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, Zuko hadn't believed her.
But Yin Shu had accidentally overheard Azula's words. After questioning her, she had told her to hurry back to bed, then rushed off herself.
And when Azula woke up, Zuko was fine, but the old emperor Azulon was dead. He had even left a final decree passing the throne to Ozai, while Yin Shu's whereabouts were unknown.
"Something definitely happened after Mother sent me off to bed! That's the key to her disappearance!!"
Azula paced back and forth in the courtyard, looking irritated.
"But no matter how I ask, I can't find out where the key to it all lies. The palace maids and guards don't know anything. Damn them!"
Kahn said, "To be fair, isn't it normal for them to know nothing about a secret like this?"
"You're right, but I'm still pissed off!"
The more Azula spoke, the more irritated she became. She raised her foot and kicked over a withered potted plant in the courtyard.
Kahn, making a note in his little book: "Why don't you try asking your father directly?"
As Ozai was the one who had ultimately benefited, anyone could have guessed with their feet that he was inextricably tied to this series of events.
"Father?"
Azula sneered. "Clearly, he doesn't want me to know."
Of course she had asked, but her father's answer had been, "She left on her own."
A shoddy lie.
Ozai's dismissiveness toward her was plain to see. He hadn't even bothered to make up a decent lie to fob her off.
Although her father had always doted on her, and she liked him very much too, this time, for the first time, she felt disgust toward Ozai.
A small piece had already cracked away from the lofty pedestal Ozai occupied in her heart.
Perhaps the joy of gaining the throne had gone to his head, or perhaps he believed he held Azula firmly in his grasp, but this time, he had clearly miscalculated.
He had underestimated Yin Shu's place in Azula's heart, and he had underestimated Azula's own personality.
"If he won't tell me, I'll find out myself."
Before you continue