This was the corner where Dorothea headed to the drawing room, not only bothering to meddle in various matters but this time threatening to kick out the Prince who had invaded the house himself.
If she goes back a little bit, she can see Edwin and Dane loitering in the living room.
Both boys seemed to have spotted her and greeted her awkwardly.
“Oh, you’re here?”
"Yes."
“I heard you had fun.”
"Yes."
As a result, they didn't get much.
Dane, who was listening to the one-sided conversation with Edwin, suddenly interjected as if he was curious.
“Aside from Uncle Colin, you also hung out with Philip?”
"Yes."
“What on earth were you doing that made you sleep so exhausted?”
It seemed strange to Dane that Philip, who was not always around people, was hanging out with her for a long time.
“Dane.”
The older brother, Edwin, gently pulled on his younger brother's shoulder and gently stopped him.
“I’m sorry, Thea. Just saying hello caught you. Go to the living room. Grandpa is waiting.”
“Okay, see you later, Edwin.”
It was a moment when she gave a slightly longer greeting than usual to Edwin, who smiled and apologized.
Dane, who was looking closely at Dorothea's complexion, suddenly tilted his head and asked.
“But are you okay?”
"Yes?"
“Are you okay? Are you a little... today?”
It was strange.
Dane couldn't pinpoint what it was, but there was definitely something different about her than usual.
A calm smile spread across Dorothea's face as she saw Dane frowning and trying to find that subtle 'difference'.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for your concern."
"Huh? Yes."
Obviously, what came out of the other person's mouth was just a simple, common-sense answer, but when he met her eyes looking at him, he felt strangely embarrassed.
Dane, who had missed the moment to say goodbye in a hurry, noticed a blurry figure hovering behind Dorothea who turned around.
"Uh?"
The moment the boy closed his eyes and opened them again, the blurry, foggy whitish thing had disappeared from sight.
***
As soon as Dorothea entered the living room, a familiar face caught her eye.
As soon as she entered the door, Dorothea stopped for a moment and calmly bowed her knees to be polite.
“It is an honor to see you again, Your Highness.”
The Marquis waited for a moment and called his granddaughter, who showed a flawless greeting, to the seat next to him.
When Dorothea sat down, Luke, who had been motionless, briefly responded by nodding his head to her greeting.
“His Royal Highness the 7th Prince heard the news about you and walked over in person. Before that, she showed great grace in dismissing your rumors, including persuading the high priest, so please express your gratitude.”
Unlike usual, the Marquis' tone was quite stiff, and she felt a strange nervousness.
Just looking at his attitude, it was clear that the Prince's visit today had not been arranged in advance.
Dorothea silently glanced at the Prince at the discomfort she felt in the Marquis's words.
Was it the Prince who moved the minister?
Even though the Marquis looked reluctant, she could understand why he had no choice but to let the Prince into the mansion.
“Then, Your Highness, as promised, I will leave the room ‘for just a moment’ so that you and my granddaughter can have a conversation.”
“You don’t have to worry. I have no intention of harming anyone, your family or friends.”
When the Marquis reluctantly stood up and left the room, it was the Prince who broke the silence in the drawing room where they were alone.
“I heard that the Marchioness’s condition wasn’t very good.”
It was a story about the ‘poison’ that circulated around the Highclere mansion.
Although some time had passed, the aftereffects of the ‘serial poisoning’ that had swept through the mansion still remained.
Dorothea answered honestly.
"She's okay. Because she is older, her ability to self-cleanse is lower than that of others, so detoxification is slow.”
Recovery is slow, but the Marchioness is already able to take a light walk.
Luke nodded with a numb expression at her words.
That's not what he wants to ask anyway.
Spinning around and exploring wasn't Dorothea's cup of tea.
"So? Why did you ask to see me?”
“You are still reckless. Were you cowardly in front of the Marquis?”
“It saved my face.”
When there were other people around, he treated her as befits his status as a Prince, but now it was just the two of them.
“If it offends you, just punish me according to the law, right?”
“...”
You can try and fall for the crime of insulting the royal family.
Luke remained silent in response to Dorothea's words, who clearly knew that he had no intention of punishing her in the first place.
She snorted and reached out to pick up the chocolate placed in front of him.
Satisfied with the sweetness stimulating the tip of her tongue, she smiled languidly.
“I know I’m lucky. I was planning on kicking you out, but I decided not to.”
Luke looked at Dorothea in bewilderment when he heard Dorothea's words, who had been about to kick him out out of fatigue for a moment but decided to stay with him more considering his grandfather's situation.
“So what business did you have for me?”
Luke, who had paused for a moment, opened his mouth as Dorothea asked while rolling a sweet snack into her mouth.
“I heard you are a spiritist.”
Dorothea, who paused for a moment, nodded in obedience.
"What? Everyone said that.”
In this world, the concept of ‘necromancer’ does not exist.
Even if people were told to accept a concept that had never existed before, there was no way they would easily be convinced.
It was a hassle to explain everything, so she guessed it worked out better.
Luke's gray eyes scanned her as if analyzing every detail.
“Was your strangely strange ability to control spirits?”
“You may think so. Because it will be easier for you to understand that way.”
An ambiguous answer was returned, neither positive nor negative.
The clever child who did not always give an answer smiled slightly and tilted her head slightly, and the cross necklace around her neck swayed along with her.
Luke, who was staring at the cross, opened his mouth again after a long time.
“You got help from me. Even when you just entered the imperial capital, and the work of a high priest.”
The moment he started praying like that, Dorothea, who had been squirming, corrected her posture and sat up straight.
Indeed. She don't know if it was the first time he helped, but it seems that this was the purpose of building a bridge so that he could call the high priest this time.
Dorothea found it strange that he had expressed such special interest in her.
'Is there something you want?'
An ordinary person would not have expected anything from approaching Dorothea, who was clearly sick, thin, and showed no proper courtesy or fear of others.
He was clearly showing that he helped her because he had something he wanted.
She quietly countered his words.
“I already have a record of helping you. I can’t say I received help I didn’t ask for.”
"Is it."
“If you want me to help you with something, you have to bring something in return.”
These were incredibly cold and calm words coming from the mouth of an eleven-year-old.
Considering that the other person was a member of the royal family, it wasn't something that should have been said.
If it had been Richard who was here now instead of him, he would have already been jumping up and down, threatening to summarily execute her.
But instead of doing that, Luke chose a slightly different approach.
“If an equivalent price is needed, how about this?”
As the Prince finished speaking, Wood opened the door and came in.
“I was told to go here...”
Wood, who entered the reception room, took one look at Dorothea and then the 7th Prince across from him and froze.
“I discovered unexpected information while researching the people around you.”
“...”
“He was a white general with quite a reputation.”
Wood's face began to turn pale.
The past he had forgotten began to tighten his grip on him again.
What was important was not the fact that he deserted from the military.
The problem is that if you can find out where he was and what he did, you can find out more.
Luke, who was scanning Wood with unimpressed eyes, slowly leaned in and spoke in a low voice.
“How dare you keep a criminal next to you who left the military alone and even committed murder without reporting a word to the imperial family.”
“...!”
“You believed too much in the power of the Marquis. Even if there were circumstances, murder is a serious crime.”
Wood's face turned pale at the quiet warning.
However, rather than being scared, Dorothea, who was facing the Prince's cold eyes right in front of her, blinked her eyes calmly.
This was a clear threat.
Since he already knows all the facts, just quietly puts on the leash he gave her and follows what he says.
'There is certainly no better bargaining chip than this.'
Rather than showing any signs of embarrassment, she stared at him with clear eyes as if there was nothing wrong with her.
“I don’t know what you mean, murder.”
“Shortly after he arrived in the village, a family was killed and burned. From the brutal method of the crime to the clean clean-up that left nothing behind.”
“...”
“Given the circumstances, it was the work of an outsider. At that time, the only person who came from outside was him.”
The corners of the girl's mouth, who had been listening slowly, went up.
It was an incident that occurred without any evidence in a sparsely populated area of the village.
In the end, since the culprit was not found, there would not have been any records left, but it was amazing that the information was collected so sparingly.
She leisurely retorted, playfully twisting her hair.
“It’s all just an assumption. Have you ever thought that it was just a coincidence?”
“Then, do you mind if I dig a little deeper?”
“Isn’t there anything the Prince would do like that?”
The surrounding atmosphere froze as the conversation continued tensely.
Wood's face, as well as that of the guard knight standing behind him, had already turned pale for a long time.
Luke's gray eyes scanned Dorothea as if searching for prey.
At that moment, words like a scream came out of Wood's mouth.
“I will turn myself in. All you have to do is turn me in!”
“You shut up.”
Wood's lips closed for a moment at Dorothea's firm words.
She took a sip of the bitter tea in her mouth as Wood struggled to move his lips, which were not opening for some reason.
“I have some pretty loyal subordinates. I’ll even do embroidery for you.”
Dorothea fell silent at Luke's leisurely words.
Uselessly.
If she tells Colin to completely cover up the case, or if she doesn't do that, anything that will be revealed in the future will be nothing more than circumstantial evidence.
'What can I do? It's my fault for letting it go even though I knew it was going to get hit like that.'
Luke raised the corner of his mouth crookedly at Wood's words, which were no different from a confession.
“You said you would turn yourself in?”
"It's okay. You didn’t intend to negotiate with him in the first place.”
Luke nodded at Dorothea's blunt words to stop doing useless tricks.
“Okay, let’s stop talking nonsense and get to the point. I say it again. Cooperate with me.”
The coercive thing hasn't changed.
At least he would have asked in a kind and kind voice...
What? He wouldn't have done it though. Because it would be annoying.
In some ways, it was the Prince in front of her who understood herself better than anyone else.
Dorothea looked at him and asked dryly.
“Cooperation. What and how?”
“You recognized the history of my cross at once. You also said that it was something that would harm me.”
Dorothea took the cross around her neck in her hands.
Although she had been wearing it for a long time and was gradually purifying the unclean and murky energy contained in the necklace, the cries of the child inside it still occasionally disturbed his dreams.
If it had been anyone else, they would have been eaten long ago.
So, it was clear that the Prince, who had lived a fine life until now despite wearing this necklace, was not an easy person.
“How did you know that the necklace wasn’t my mother’s?”
“They said they executed the nanny. Didn’t you ask?”
“I couldn’t figure out anything.”
I see. That's why he kept coming to me and giving me attention.
He was looking for the person behind the attempt to kill him, even taking advantage of his mother.
That's why his eyes rolled back like that.
Heat seeped into Luke's eyes.
“I need your strange powers. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a spiritist.”
“...”
“Cooperate with me.”
Otherwise, you will never see your knight again.
His eyes were adding to the remaining words that were not spoken through his mouth.
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