During her stay at the Grand Duke's residence, Letie was not the only one who observed the Grand Duke.
Letie, sitting in the front seat, could clearly see the expression on Elona's face as she hugged the Grand Duke on their wedding day.
As always, Elona had a blank expression on her face, but her eyes were filled with a happiness she had never seen before.
It was the same when she dined with the Grand Duke, and when he won a competition and presented her with a trophy.
No one noticed, perhaps not even Elona herself, but her twin sister, Letie, could sense it.
How Elona was immersed in warm happiness.
Recalling that moment, Letie said with a bang.
"It is certain that my sister killed Albrecht. She is well-versed in herbalism, and more than anything, she had more than enough motive to kill him."
She would have been willing to shed blood on her hands to protect the man who first gave her his heart.
The Emperor replied with a still incredulous expression as he watched Letie speaking like that.
"I can't believe it. To harbor such a wicked man in her heart and betray her father, who is her blood relative."
"..."
"After all, you are the only one for me. You
alone are the savior of the empire, and you alone are my true bloodline."
The Emperor continued to mutter in a trembling voice, as if he were about to burst out in anger at any moment.
"I can no longer call her my daughter. for not even recognizing her father and daring to do such a thing. She is a traitor. Yes, she is a threat to the royal family, so somehow we must tie her up with that monster and eliminate her..."
"I have a way."
The Emperor, who had been sinking into madness alone, raised his head again after hearing Letie's words.
Letie continued speaking in a confident tone, her blue eyes sparkling.
"I will visit the Grand Duke again."
"...You?"
"Yes. My sister may be wary of the royal family, but she won't be wary of me either."
At the Grand Duke's residence, she remembered everything about how Elona had treated her.
Elona seemed extremely wary of Albrecht, but she treated Letie normally, as she usually did with her sister.
Just as she believes her sister has nothing to do with the royal plot.
"I've never directly gotten involved in political fights or plots. That's probably why my sister doesn't watch out for me. If I go to her directly, she might feel uncomfortable, but she won't be wary."
"Even if you weren't alert, there's not much you can do."
"Yeah, not much. But it could create some emotional rift between the two."
The emperor, having heard this, lowered his voice and asked.
"So, you're saying you're going to cause discord...?"
"It's not a relationship built on solid trust to begin with. I think it's a relationship that would quickly fall apart if there was even a little bit of a gap."
The Emperor was lost in thought.
The reason this assassination failed was that Elona actively stepped forward to protect Kishian.
Neither the Emperor himself nor Albrecht could have predicted that Elona would betray him, which is why they suffered so helplessly.
If the Grand Duke were to banish Elona, assassinating him would become a little easier.
"I don't feel like sending you back to that place. To that place where such evil things lurk..."
"Don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything too dangerous. I saw the Grand Duke care about Elona before, so I don't think he'd do anything reckless to me, her twin sister."
"Hmm. Even if that's the case for the Grand Duke, what about Elona? Hasn't she already turned her back on us? How can we guarantee that she won't poison you too?"
"You know she's not so cruel as to harm her own family. If she were that cold-blooded, she would have used the evidence that Albrecht received the assassination order as an excuse to attack the imperial family. Then the Grand Duke would have attacked the imperial palace without worrying about what the other families thought, and we wouldn't be safe now... But my sister didn't do that."
"..."
That wasn't a wrong statement.
Since Elona knew all about Albrecht's scheme, she was able to capture the evidence and give Kishian a pretext to attack the palace.
If that had been the case, neither the Emperor nor Letie would have been alive and well by now.
However, the fact that Elona quietly dealt with Albrecht and sent a warning to the Emperor instead was proof that she was not cold-hearted enough to kill her own family.
"And most of all... I know how to handle my sister very well."
Elona's most fatal weakness.
The fact that Elona is not real but fake.
As long as she had that weakness in her hands, it wouldn't be that difficult to manipulate Elona as she pleased.
"I never knew you could be so trustworthy. I always thought you were a fool..."
The Emperor, who had been looking at Letie with surprised eyes, hugged his daughter tightly.
Letie always appeared innocent and bright in front of him.
It was really the first time he realized that someone could be this clever to achieve their goals.
"Peace of mind, Father. I will make everything go back to the way it was."
He will have the man who should have fallen into his hands originally.
For that, Letie was willing to be cunning.
***
Kishian, who returned to his bedroom after finishing his work as usual, immediately noticed that the Grand Duchess's mood was different than usual.
The Grand Duchess, who always looked at books with a blank expression, was looking at jewelry today.
For some reason, he even hummed softly.
He approached the Grand Duchess quietly.
Then he took a quick look at the ornaments that the Grand Duchess was looking at.
These were flashy items that she normally wouldn't wear because she thought they were burdensome..
For a moment, his heart sank, but he barely hid it and asked in a calm tone.
"Is there anyone you want to meet?"
He felt uneasy because the way she was picking out necklaces and hairpins that she didn't even wear often seemed like she was excited about meeting her secret lover.
Since she had never left her territory since becoming the Grand Duchess, she had no time to have a lover... but you never know.
There might have been a few who gathered around the palace during weddings or hunting competitions when there were a lot of people there.
The answer that Kishian, who had been waiting anxiously, soon heard was quite bland.
"I don't have anyone to meet. I heard there's a spring festival tomorrow. I'm thinking of going out to see it."
"Spring Festival..."
It was a festival held to mark the end of the long, harsh winter and welcome the spring when life sprouts.
Because it was a fairly large-scale festival, it was famous for having a lot to see.
Like mysterious items from merchants who crossed the distant seas, or a dance performance by a wandering troupe.
"Are you saying you're going there? Alone?"
"No, with the maids. I'll take Walter as an escort."
"..."
The corners of Kishian's eyes crinkled
slightly.
She didn't say a word to her husband while taking Walter.
"You can't go."
"Yes?"
The Grand Duchess looked back at him as if she didn't understand what she had just heard.
Kishian hugged the Grand Duchess from behind and whispered in her ear.
"You can't go to the festival."
"What is that."
"If you don't go with me, I won't let you go."
The Grand Duchess's movements stopped as if she had heard an unexpected statement.
The Grand Duchess looked at Kishian through the vanity mirror, expressing her doubts.
"Haven't you been busy lately? And I didn't even mention it because I didn't think you'd enjoy festivals like this."
"But you should have said something."
The Grand Duchess hesitated at the reply that seemed to show a strong grudge.
Then, as if she had made up her mind, she opened his mouth,
"Will you come with me?"
"What time will you be leaving tomorrow?"
"In the morning, maybe around eight o'clock."
After thinking about it for a moment, Kishian changed his schedule a little.
"Let's go out at ten. If we go out too early in the morning, there's nothing to see."
"Ues, I see."
In fact, as the Grand Duchess said, he had been a little busy since the day before yesterday.
Still, if he started working diligently from dawn and finished by nine in the morning, he thought he could make time for about a day.
Are you uncomfortable hanging out with me?
Feeling belatedly worried, he looked at the Grand Duchess's expression through the mirror.
For some reason, there was red color on her previously pure white face.
He playfully bit her cheek.
That's because her skin, dyed like a peach, was so lovely that he couldn't bear it for a moment.
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