The de Mare carriage sped toward the Palazzo Carlo. The palace inspection was passed without incident as Alfonso showed his face.
“To the palace!”
The iron gates, which had been stacked high, opened as if by magic. Ariadne, who knew the usual strictness of palace security, stuck out her tongue.
Arriving at the residence, Alfonso jumped out of the carriage and immediately looked for the knight on duty.
“Who’s on watch duty today?”
Another unfortunate man who was unable to attend the ball and had to stand duty was Sir Bernardino's adjutant, Sir Desilio.
He could still sit in his office. Sir Desilio flatly named the only man he knew who was worse off than he was.
“This is Sir Manfredi, Your Highness.”
But the Prince did not seem to be in the mood for jokes. Alfonso gave short instructions.
“Call him now.”
Sir Desilio nodded vigorously and ran out of the office.
But unlike his previous speed, he did not return for a long time. Alfonso, who had settled into his office, looked uncomfortable.
Because there was no place in the office where Ariadne could be comfortable other than the sofa for audiences.
Alfonso glanced in Ariadne's direction to check her expression, but Ariadne was anxious to secure Elko's new recruits.
After about 20 minutes of the man being observant and the woman not caring at all about the man's feelings, Sir Desilio returned.
But he was alone. Alfonso asked at once.
“Where is Manfredi?”
“That is...”
Sir Desilio approached Alfonso with an embarrassed expression and whispered to him. Alfonso's expression became frowning.
“Sir Manfredi has left his post. I’ve searched the entire area, but he’s not there...”
It was a small consideration on the part of Sir Desilio to avoid embarrassing Sir Manfredi in front of the beautiful lady.
Alfonso was upset by the news that Sir Manfredi was not present, but it was not really about Sir Manfredi.
Alfonso couldn't get angry in front of Ariadne.
“Then you go and bring Sir Elko.”
Alfonso added, just in case Sir Desilio made a mistake.
“Keep a close watch on him so he doesn’t escape.”
Sir Desilio, who read something wrong in the Prince's expression, left the office without saying a word.
But in less than ten minutes, he came running in, lost in thought.
“I, Your Highness.”
Something was wrong. Alfonso and Ariadne's expressions hardened at the same time.
“Elko’s quarters are empty.”
The Prince muttered softly. It was a curse. Things were going wrong.
However, Alfonso did not hesitate there but immediately gave instructions for follow-up measures. This was the experience of a veteran field commander.
“Get everyone out of the palace immediately. Tell those at the ball to return immediately! Request the Royal Guard’s assistance in searching the inside of the palace! If anyone lingers, call me by my name!”
Sir Desilio nodded, writing it down absentmindedly.
The Prince's chamberlain, who had been waiting outside the study door, rushed out to contact the ball. Alfonso had conveyed the most important message.
“Find Elko at all costs!”
People scattered from the office and ran outside.
“There is no need to go that far, Your Highness!”
A panting yet cheerful voice echoed through the office.
Boom!
It was Sir Manfredi. His hands were full, so he kicked open the office door with his foot.
“Excuse me, excuse me. I have something in my hand.”
What he was holding in his hand was a man. To be precise, Sir Manfredi returned, dragging with both hands a one-armed man wearing a brown hood over his head, that is, Sir Elko.
Sir Manfredi threw Sir Elko to the floor of his office as if he were throwing a load of luggage.
Sir Elko gritted his teeth and endured the shock without uttering a single groan.
“I caught him out in the dark, Your Highness! Did our dear Sir Elko stop by somewhere interesting?”
Sir Manfredi took out a bundle of papers that he had roughly shoved into his waistband and scattered them on the floor. The parchment flew around in a flash. Alfonso snatched one of them and examined it.
The paper was densely packed with information about the Etruscan kingdom's trends and political situation, food reserves, and military movements.
“They said that this was the house where the Gallican investigator lived, and the inside of the house was filled with diplomatic secrets.”
Prince Alfonso's face turned into a creepy expressionless one, and not just because he had heard Sir Manfredi's report.
Sir Manfredi kicked the scattered parchments on the floor.
“I have been with Sir Elko for a long time, and we have a deep affection for each other.”
He looked at Sir Elko with disgust.
“Anyone who looks at this... doesn’t it look like a spy colluding with the enemy?”
At Sir Manfredi's words, Sir Elko opened his mouth, which had been tightly shut like a clam in fresh water.
“It’s unfair!”
He opened his only remaining eye wide and confessed.
“How could I, of all people, be Gallico’s spy?”
This logic was an invincible shield. None of them had lost as much to the kingdom of Gallico as Sir Elko.
Sir Elko lost the future he had dreamed of as an outstanding prosecutor.
“That investigator is the priest who heard my confession when I was imprisoned in Gallico.”
Even though he had been transformed into the Prince's administrator, Sir Elko's newfound disability and his small possibility of happiness had disappeared.
Marriage, family, children, and even his secret desire to marry a noble woman and join the upper class were all but mere dreams.
It was also true that since his health had deteriorated, Sir Elko had been going to the temple more diligently than before.
“I just happened to see him often because I was happy to see him staying in San Carlo. How dare I betray you.”
Tears flowed down Elko's cheeks. He appealed through his tears.
“I don’t know about anything else, but you must trust my loyalty, my loyalty alone.”
However, Sir Manfredi, who had seen the confidential documents piled up in that house with his own eyes, could not back down.
“A person you happened to be close with happened to be creating and collecting these documents? Tell him to make sense!”
Alfonso looked at Elko with cold eyes. Sir Elko also noticed the coldness in his lord’s eyes.
A person without talent survives by reading the minds of those he serves.
He quickly fell to the floor and bowed his head before Alfonso.
“You have to trust me!”
If it had been normal, Prince Alfonso would have stopped the other person at this point and gotten him up from his seat. Something like, “I believe you,” or “Don’t do that.”
But instead of embracing Elko or helping him up, Alfonso spoke to him slowly.
“I’ve seen this handwriting before.”
Sir Elko looked up at Alfonso, not knowing what to say. But he could sense one thing: Prince Alfonso did not trust him now.
“...One of the ledgers you gave me was written on exactly the same paper and in exactly the same handwriting as this.”
The Prince held out a piece of parchment.
“I remember it because of the unique way you used the alphabet a. You wrote it so that it was indistinguishable from the number 9, so I had to figure it out from context.”
Alfonso exhaled through his teeth like a growling beast.
“This is a document written by the same person who gave you the ledger you claimed was from Grand Duke Odes.”
Sir Elko's face turned pale. He began to mentally estimate the distance between where he was kneeling and the doorway of the office.
Should I run away, or should I try to cling to the Prince one more time?
“Tell me, Elko. Why on earth did you collude with the Kingdom of Gallico?”
Alfonso shouted, spitting out blood.
“I have done you every favor I could!”
Elko's face crumpled at those words. The words, 'all the favors I can do,' instantly melted away the heart that was trying to run away.
It was an undeniable fact that Prince Alfonso took good care of him.
He vividly remembered the feeling he had when the Prince came into the palace of Montpellier, the only place he could find himself.
Relief, regret, gratitude, relief again, and self-contempt.
Sir Elko cried.
“How could I, I, betray the Prince!”
His words were slurred, mixed with sobs.
“There is no reason to betray, and there is nothing to gain from betrayal! I am a person with nowhere to go. If it were not for the plPrince’s grace, I would be a worthless creature who would lose everything.”
Elko crawled on his knees and hung on to Alfonso's feet.
“I will tell you everything honestly.”
Sir Elko's dark gray eyes looked up at Prince Alfonso blindly, and his eyes were filled with tears.
But the words he spoke were far from the truth he had intended to convey with his eyes.
“I was fooled too!”
Sir Elko nodded as if in confession and poured out his words in a storm.
“It’s true that the Gallican investigation helped me sometimes. Sometimes, it was a contact point, and sometimes, it brought me information I didn’t know. But that’s it!”
He looked up at Alfonso's face and cried bitterly.
“It was to assist the Prince well!”
In terms of acting skills, he was the best in the Etruscan kingdom. Even the nobles of the court, who are said to be flying high, could not pretend to be as sincere as Sir Elko.
“It was all new to me, and I was not used to it. I have only ever held a sword my entire life, Your Highness. I have no idea about the intricacies of the court! It was hard for me, a man who could barely read, write, and do addition and subtraction, to handle supplies and administration! All I could do was ask Brother Hobert every time!”
Sir Elko clung to the Prince, waving his hand.
“I didn’t know he was that kind of guy. If I had known, I would never have gotten close to him!”
His face was a mess of tears and snot.
“Please show mercy just once, just once, my Prince! I am the one who has given everything to you! I do not wish for you to be in the wrong! It is all my fault.”
The hardest people to attack in the world are the weak or those who pretend to be weak.
An atmosphere of sympathy permeated the room.
Not only the inexperienced Sir Desilio but even Sir Manfredi showed signs of wavering. Ariadne bit her lip.
Of course, Alfonso was the only one who had the decision-making power, but it was difficult for anyone to push through opposing opinions against the prevailing mood.
Alfonso was a virtuous man who listened to the opinions of others and then made decisions.
Ariadne thought about coming forward and questioning him, but her mouth would not open easily.
Since Sir Elko had put his weaknesses on the front page and appealed to sympathy, it was difficult to push further without clear evidence.
It was a matter of her heart wanting to look good to Alfonso.
Taking advantage of the situation where the mood had turned in his favor, Elko found someone to blame.
“I was fooled by those wicked Gallicos! Yes, I was fooled! They fooled us again!”
At those words, the innocent Sir Desilio clenched his fists and began to tremble.
“How dare you! Post a spy disguised as a priest near the royal family of a foreign country!”
Although Sir Manfredi didn't say anything, he seemed secretly persuaded.
But Ariadne could not miss this heaven-given opportunity.
There was no clear evidence, but she had to somehow convince Alfonso to get rid of that guy named Sir Elko.
Ariadne suspected that he had not only falsified the source of the gold but had also tampered with the correspondence between them.
If only the letters had disappeared, it would be common sense to think that only the communication lines had been tampered with, but even the source of the 100,000 ducats subsidy was laundered?
This was a difficult task to accomplish without placing a considerable amount of power in the Prince's inner circle and fully cooperating with him.
Ariadne eventually decided to step forward. If she starts by asking why he ran away in the middle of the night, the clue will be unraveled.
In Alfonso's eyes, she may have seemed like a heartless woman, competing for his favor with those close to him... It couldn't be helped.
She was not born with the fortune to have someone beside her bleed on her hands while she sat there looking pretty.
It was her fate to have to do everything with her own hands.
“Just a moment.”
As Ariadne took a half step forward, her bright voice caught the attention of everyone present.
But that 'just a moment' wasn't what she said.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
The door to the Prince's office opened, and the Prince's knights, led by Sir Bernardino, rushed in.
They were the ones who had hurriedly returned from Bianca's ball, having received the summons from Prince Alfonso.
And at the end of it all stood Raphael de Baldessar. It was this slender, handsome man with silver hair and red eyes who had asked the question.
“Elko.”
Raphael frowned as soon as he saw Elko lying on the floor, passing through the wall of people.
“Stop crying when you’re not even sad. The sound of you crying can be heard 100 feet outside the office.”
After a brief interrogation, a full-scale interrogation began. Raphael asked sarcastically.
“Let’s say you were fooled by Gallico. You’ve always been stupid, so it’s possible that you were fooled by those ignorant guys.”
Elko has so far maintained that he was a 'fool'.
In fact, the most that Elko has been confirmed to have done is to befriend Detective Gallico and pass on information Detective Gallico gave him to Alfonso.
So, it turns out that everything Sir Elko did was something he was passively 'suffering,' and he did nothing actively.
But Raphael's confession was different.
“If you were fooled by Gallico, then you were fooled. Why didn’t you deliver the letter I brought to Alfonso?”
Ariadne and Alfonso's faces hardened. At the same time, Sir Elko's complexion also turned pale.
As soon as he heard that, he tried to run outside.
“Catch him!”
Everyone shouted. The Prince's knights, led by Sir Manfredi, rushed forward.
It was easy to catch him. Sir Elko was unbalanced on both sides of his body, and he had to get up from his prone position and run.
The knights, who had been able to chase after him while standing, easily caught and suppressed Sir Elko.
Sir Elko was unable to take even two proper steps before he was tied to the ground like an insect by five or six knights, with both legs and one remaining arm held by them.
Looking down at Sir Elko, who was pressed flat on the floor of the office, Raphael spoke proudly.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure the letter contained the origin of the gold.”
Because there were so many people gathered in the office, these were words chosen to convey the message with as little detail as possible.
As soon as Ariadne heard Raphael's vague words, she understood why he had chosen such wording. Raphael also confirmed it with Ariadne, who happened to be next to him.
“Am I right, Countess de Mare?”
She nodded slowly.
“That is correct, Marquis Baldessar. The letter I sent you detailed the origin of the gold and why I chose that method of delivery.”
Raphael stared down at Elko without even a hint of joy at his guess being correct.
“I thought about it, and it turns out there’s no one else but you.”
At this point, the same question was popping into everyone's heads. Alfonso asked on behalf of everyone.
“...Why on earth did you help the Kingdom of Gallico and blindfold me?”
“To the palace!”
The iron gates, which had been stacked high, opened as if by magic. Ariadne, who knew the usual strictness of palace security, stuck out her tongue.
Arriving at the residence, Alfonso jumped out of the carriage and immediately looked for the knight on duty.
“Who’s on watch duty today?”
Another unfortunate man who was unable to attend the ball and had to stand duty was Sir Bernardino's adjutant, Sir Desilio.
He could still sit in his office. Sir Desilio flatly named the only man he knew who was worse off than he was.
“This is Sir Manfredi, Your Highness.”
But the Prince did not seem to be in the mood for jokes. Alfonso gave short instructions.
“Call him now.”
Sir Desilio nodded vigorously and ran out of the office.
But unlike his previous speed, he did not return for a long time. Alfonso, who had settled into his office, looked uncomfortable.
Because there was no place in the office where Ariadne could be comfortable other than the sofa for audiences.
Alfonso glanced in Ariadne's direction to check her expression, but Ariadne was anxious to secure Elko's new recruits.
After about 20 minutes of the man being observant and the woman not caring at all about the man's feelings, Sir Desilio returned.
But he was alone. Alfonso asked at once.
“Where is Manfredi?”
“That is...”
Sir Desilio approached Alfonso with an embarrassed expression and whispered to him. Alfonso's expression became frowning.
“Sir Manfredi has left his post. I’ve searched the entire area, but he’s not there...”
It was a small consideration on the part of Sir Desilio to avoid embarrassing Sir Manfredi in front of the beautiful lady.
Alfonso was upset by the news that Sir Manfredi was not present, but it was not really about Sir Manfredi.
Alfonso couldn't get angry in front of Ariadne.
“Then you go and bring Sir Elko.”
Alfonso added, just in case Sir Desilio made a mistake.
“Keep a close watch on him so he doesn’t escape.”
Sir Desilio, who read something wrong in the Prince's expression, left the office without saying a word.
But in less than ten minutes, he came running in, lost in thought.
“I, Your Highness.”
Something was wrong. Alfonso and Ariadne's expressions hardened at the same time.
“Elko’s quarters are empty.”
The Prince muttered softly. It was a curse. Things were going wrong.
However, Alfonso did not hesitate there but immediately gave instructions for follow-up measures. This was the experience of a veteran field commander.
“Get everyone out of the palace immediately. Tell those at the ball to return immediately! Request the Royal Guard’s assistance in searching the inside of the palace! If anyone lingers, call me by my name!”
Sir Desilio nodded, writing it down absentmindedly.
The Prince's chamberlain, who had been waiting outside the study door, rushed out to contact the ball. Alfonso had conveyed the most important message.
“Find Elko at all costs!”
People scattered from the office and ran outside.
“There is no need to go that far, Your Highness!”
A panting yet cheerful voice echoed through the office.
Boom!
It was Sir Manfredi. His hands were full, so he kicked open the office door with his foot.
“Excuse me, excuse me. I have something in my hand.”
What he was holding in his hand was a man. To be precise, Sir Manfredi returned, dragging with both hands a one-armed man wearing a brown hood over his head, that is, Sir Elko.
Sir Manfredi threw Sir Elko to the floor of his office as if he were throwing a load of luggage.
Sir Elko gritted his teeth and endured the shock without uttering a single groan.
“I caught him out in the dark, Your Highness! Did our dear Sir Elko stop by somewhere interesting?”
Sir Manfredi took out a bundle of papers that he had roughly shoved into his waistband and scattered them on the floor. The parchment flew around in a flash. Alfonso snatched one of them and examined it.
The paper was densely packed with information about the Etruscan kingdom's trends and political situation, food reserves, and military movements.
“They said that this was the house where the Gallican investigator lived, and the inside of the house was filled with diplomatic secrets.”
Prince Alfonso's face turned into a creepy expressionless one, and not just because he had heard Sir Manfredi's report.
Sir Manfredi kicked the scattered parchments on the floor.
“I have been with Sir Elko for a long time, and we have a deep affection for each other.”
He looked at Sir Elko with disgust.
“Anyone who looks at this... doesn’t it look like a spy colluding with the enemy?”
At Sir Manfredi's words, Sir Elko opened his mouth, which had been tightly shut like a clam in fresh water.
“It’s unfair!”
He opened his only remaining eye wide and confessed.
“How could I, of all people, be Gallico’s spy?”
This logic was an invincible shield. None of them had lost as much to the kingdom of Gallico as Sir Elko.
Sir Elko lost the future he had dreamed of as an outstanding prosecutor.
“That investigator is the priest who heard my confession when I was imprisoned in Gallico.”
Even though he had been transformed into the Prince's administrator, Sir Elko's newfound disability and his small possibility of happiness had disappeared.
Marriage, family, children, and even his secret desire to marry a noble woman and join the upper class were all but mere dreams.
It was also true that since his health had deteriorated, Sir Elko had been going to the temple more diligently than before.
“I just happened to see him often because I was happy to see him staying in San Carlo. How dare I betray you.”
Tears flowed down Elko's cheeks. He appealed through his tears.
“I don’t know about anything else, but you must trust my loyalty, my loyalty alone.”
However, Sir Manfredi, who had seen the confidential documents piled up in that house with his own eyes, could not back down.
“A person you happened to be close with happened to be creating and collecting these documents? Tell him to make sense!”
Alfonso looked at Elko with cold eyes. Sir Elko also noticed the coldness in his lord’s eyes.
A person without talent survives by reading the minds of those he serves.
He quickly fell to the floor and bowed his head before Alfonso.
“You have to trust me!”
If it had been normal, Prince Alfonso would have stopped the other person at this point and gotten him up from his seat. Something like, “I believe you,” or “Don’t do that.”
But instead of embracing Elko or helping him up, Alfonso spoke to him slowly.
“I’ve seen this handwriting before.”
Sir Elko looked up at Alfonso, not knowing what to say. But he could sense one thing: Prince Alfonso did not trust him now.
“...One of the ledgers you gave me was written on exactly the same paper and in exactly the same handwriting as this.”
The Prince held out a piece of parchment.
“I remember it because of the unique way you used the alphabet a. You wrote it so that it was indistinguishable from the number 9, so I had to figure it out from context.”
Alfonso exhaled through his teeth like a growling beast.
“This is a document written by the same person who gave you the ledger you claimed was from Grand Duke Odes.”
Sir Elko's face turned pale. He began to mentally estimate the distance between where he was kneeling and the doorway of the office.
Should I run away, or should I try to cling to the Prince one more time?
“Tell me, Elko. Why on earth did you collude with the Kingdom of Gallico?”
Alfonso shouted, spitting out blood.
“I have done you every favor I could!”
Elko's face crumpled at those words. The words, 'all the favors I can do,' instantly melted away the heart that was trying to run away.
It was an undeniable fact that Prince Alfonso took good care of him.
He vividly remembered the feeling he had when the Prince came into the palace of Montpellier, the only place he could find himself.
Relief, regret, gratitude, relief again, and self-contempt.
Sir Elko cried.
“How could I, I, betray the Prince!”
His words were slurred, mixed with sobs.
“There is no reason to betray, and there is nothing to gain from betrayal! I am a person with nowhere to go. If it were not for the plPrince’s grace, I would be a worthless creature who would lose everything.”
Elko crawled on his knees and hung on to Alfonso's feet.
“I will tell you everything honestly.”
Sir Elko's dark gray eyes looked up at Prince Alfonso blindly, and his eyes were filled with tears.
But the words he spoke were far from the truth he had intended to convey with his eyes.
“I was fooled too!”
Sir Elko nodded as if in confession and poured out his words in a storm.
“It’s true that the Gallican investigation helped me sometimes. Sometimes, it was a contact point, and sometimes, it brought me information I didn’t know. But that’s it!”
He looked up at Alfonso's face and cried bitterly.
“It was to assist the Prince well!”
In terms of acting skills, he was the best in the Etruscan kingdom. Even the nobles of the court, who are said to be flying high, could not pretend to be as sincere as Sir Elko.
“It was all new to me, and I was not used to it. I have only ever held a sword my entire life, Your Highness. I have no idea about the intricacies of the court! It was hard for me, a man who could barely read, write, and do addition and subtraction, to handle supplies and administration! All I could do was ask Brother Hobert every time!”
Sir Elko clung to the Prince, waving his hand.
“I didn’t know he was that kind of guy. If I had known, I would never have gotten close to him!”
His face was a mess of tears and snot.
“Please show mercy just once, just once, my Prince! I am the one who has given everything to you! I do not wish for you to be in the wrong! It is all my fault.”
The hardest people to attack in the world are the weak or those who pretend to be weak.
An atmosphere of sympathy permeated the room.
Not only the inexperienced Sir Desilio but even Sir Manfredi showed signs of wavering. Ariadne bit her lip.
Of course, Alfonso was the only one who had the decision-making power, but it was difficult for anyone to push through opposing opinions against the prevailing mood.
Alfonso was a virtuous man who listened to the opinions of others and then made decisions.
Ariadne thought about coming forward and questioning him, but her mouth would not open easily.
Since Sir Elko had put his weaknesses on the front page and appealed to sympathy, it was difficult to push further without clear evidence.
It was a matter of her heart wanting to look good to Alfonso.
Taking advantage of the situation where the mood had turned in his favor, Elko found someone to blame.
“I was fooled by those wicked Gallicos! Yes, I was fooled! They fooled us again!”
At those words, the innocent Sir Desilio clenched his fists and began to tremble.
“How dare you! Post a spy disguised as a priest near the royal family of a foreign country!”
Although Sir Manfredi didn't say anything, he seemed secretly persuaded.
But Ariadne could not miss this heaven-given opportunity.
There was no clear evidence, but she had to somehow convince Alfonso to get rid of that guy named Sir Elko.
Ariadne suspected that he had not only falsified the source of the gold but had also tampered with the correspondence between them.
If only the letters had disappeared, it would be common sense to think that only the communication lines had been tampered with, but even the source of the 100,000 ducats subsidy was laundered?
This was a difficult task to accomplish without placing a considerable amount of power in the Prince's inner circle and fully cooperating with him.
Ariadne eventually decided to step forward. If she starts by asking why he ran away in the middle of the night, the clue will be unraveled.
In Alfonso's eyes, she may have seemed like a heartless woman, competing for his favor with those close to him... It couldn't be helped.
She was not born with the fortune to have someone beside her bleed on her hands while she sat there looking pretty.
It was her fate to have to do everything with her own hands.
“Just a moment.”
As Ariadne took a half step forward, her bright voice caught the attention of everyone present.
But that 'just a moment' wasn't what she said.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
The door to the Prince's office opened, and the Prince's knights, led by Sir Bernardino, rushed in.
They were the ones who had hurriedly returned from Bianca's ball, having received the summons from Prince Alfonso.
And at the end of it all stood Raphael de Baldessar. It was this slender, handsome man with silver hair and red eyes who had asked the question.
“Elko.”
Raphael frowned as soon as he saw Elko lying on the floor, passing through the wall of people.
“Stop crying when you’re not even sad. The sound of you crying can be heard 100 feet outside the office.”
After a brief interrogation, a full-scale interrogation began. Raphael asked sarcastically.
“Let’s say you were fooled by Gallico. You’ve always been stupid, so it’s possible that you were fooled by those ignorant guys.”
Elko has so far maintained that he was a 'fool'.
In fact, the most that Elko has been confirmed to have done is to befriend Detective Gallico and pass on information Detective Gallico gave him to Alfonso.
So, it turns out that everything Sir Elko did was something he was passively 'suffering,' and he did nothing actively.
But Raphael's confession was different.
“If you were fooled by Gallico, then you were fooled. Why didn’t you deliver the letter I brought to Alfonso?”
Ariadne and Alfonso's faces hardened. At the same time, Sir Elko's complexion also turned pale.
As soon as he heard that, he tried to run outside.
“Catch him!”
Everyone shouted. The Prince's knights, led by Sir Manfredi, rushed forward.
It was easy to catch him. Sir Elko was unbalanced on both sides of his body, and he had to get up from his prone position and run.
The knights, who had been able to chase after him while standing, easily caught and suppressed Sir Elko.
Sir Elko was unable to take even two proper steps before he was tied to the ground like an insect by five or six knights, with both legs and one remaining arm held by them.
Looking down at Sir Elko, who was pressed flat on the floor of the office, Raphael spoke proudly.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure the letter contained the origin of the gold.”
Because there were so many people gathered in the office, these were words chosen to convey the message with as little detail as possible.
As soon as Ariadne heard Raphael's vague words, she understood why he had chosen such wording. Raphael also confirmed it with Ariadne, who happened to be next to him.
“Am I right, Countess de Mare?”
She nodded slowly.
“That is correct, Marquis Baldessar. The letter I sent you detailed the origin of the gold and why I chose that method of delivery.”
Raphael stared down at Elko without even a hint of joy at his guess being correct.
“I thought about it, and it turns out there’s no one else but you.”
At this point, the same question was popping into everyone's heads. Alfonso asked on behalf of everyone.
“...Why on earth did you help the Kingdom of Gallico and blindfold me?”
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