The banquet hall was bustling.
The existing employees of Ronheim Castle were not interested in seeing the Arrentals fighting each other and did not step forward.
Only Lina and Sernia protested with pale faces as if they felt wronged.
“Why us?”
“What are you saying, Your Highness!”
I left them behind and spoke clearly enough for the Ronheim Castle servants and knights gathered in the banquet hall to hear.
“These are spies of the Empress of Kavala.”
The banquet hall was once again in an uproar.
“Your Highness!”
“Wh, what is that...”
Lina and Sernia were greatly embarrassed.
It was funny how they were surprised, as if I had revealed some great secret.
“Did you really think this was a secret?”
At first, the people of Ronheim Castle were taken aback by my open talk, but they burst into small laughter upon seeing Lina and Sernia's expressions.
Lina and Sernia trembled in fear, unable to believe that the situation had suddenly become a disaster for them.
Lina desperately tried to stop me.
“Your Highness, the people of Ronheim are already wary of us, and if you say such absurd things...”
Then Sernia knelt before Callius as if a good idea had occurred to her.
"Your Highness! What the Princess says is not true! The entire Arrental people know that the Princess is mentally unstable!"
Lina quickly took Sernia's side.
“Yes, that’s right! Her Highness sometimes can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality.”
I swallowed a sigh.
'I'm sick of it.'
I've had countless instances where people have tried to frame my words as lies simply because they've heard rumors that I'm crazy, even though they're telling the truth.
Before, I just thought it was unfair and suffered helplessly.
I even thought maybe I was crazy, because so many people were saying the same thing.
I despaired, thinking that they were normal and I was crazy and couldn't even tell the difference between truth and lies.
The stigma of being a mad Princess that Kavala and Andrea had placed on me was so vicious.
Because anyone could use and manipulate me, rendering me helpless, without having to put chains directly on my hands and feet.
'It used to be like that. But now it's different.'
I looked at Callius, and then at Granada.
The people of Ronheim Castle and Lamia, too.
There were far more people here who thought I was just a weird rumor going around than those who were absolutely sure I was crazy.
To the people here, I would seem more like a Kavala, a swindler to be wary of than a raving lunatic.
'Kavala sending me to Ronheim was the biggest mistake she'd ever made.'
I so easily destroyed Lina and Sernia's arguments.
“You still call me the Princess of Arrental, disregarding my title in Ronheim. You also stubbornly distinguish between Ronheimers and Arrentals, harboring a sense of superiority, and expect the people here to side with you in times of trouble.”
That was the end of it.
The people of Ronheim Castle, who agreed with my words, glared at Lina and Sernia with sharp eyes.
Looking at that sight, a thrill ran through me from head to toe.
It felt like the resentment that had been building up in my chest and choking me was finally being released.
'Don't be helpless. Here, you don't have to be helpless like before.'
When their last desperate attempts failed, the two men trembled in despair.
“Why, why us...! It’s so unfair! It’s so unfair!”
“Why do I have to suffer like this? Why?”
To those who were crying, I explained why they had to die.
"If I don't kill you, it's obvious you'll report to the Empress that I have Lamia, who stole Empress Kavala's treasure. If I want to keep the secret and save Lamia, I'll have to kill you."
"That...!"
I gave a cool-headed order to the guard.
“Take them and kill them. Execute them in the castle courtyard right now.”
Of course, no one came forward to protest for Lina and Sernia.
The guards came out obediently, grabbed them, and helped them up.
“No! No! Let go of this!”
Lina cried and rebelled. Sernia bit her lip and glared at me with resentment.
I gestured to Lamia, who was blankly watching the two people being dragged away.
“Get up, Lamia. It’s all over.”
"Lady..."
Lamia looked at me with a face filled with confusion and emotion.
I smiled and patted her shoulder.
“I told you to trust me. I promised I would help you escape safely.”
"Thank you."
Lamia wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes with the back of her hand.
“But is it really okay to get rid of them? If the Empress finds out...”
“We say they were captured by the tiger that lives in the castle.”
“A tiger?”
I smiled and looked at the entrance to the banquet hall.
"Just kidding. Don't worry. They won't die. At least not today."
“Yes? But I’m sure you want the guard to kill them right now...”
That was when.
Just before the maids left and the banquet hall doors closed, Lina started to curse loudly.
"I won't report it! I won't report it! Sernia will be the one reporting to the Empress anyway! I saw it!"
Her voice echoed through the hallway outside.
“I saw Sernia use black magic!”
'Well then, that's right.'
I was satisfied with how things turned out as expected.
No matter how much I thought about it, there was no reason for the existing employees of Ronheim Castle to kill Vanessa, and considering Granada was an expert in this field, it didn't seem like a situation where I could suspect an outside intrusion.
Then, I thought that it was most likely my maids' doing, and that there might have been some trouble among them over something related to Kavala.
My maids aren't exactly loyal and trustworthy to each other, so I knew someone would open up right away if I used this method.
I looked at Lamia with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“You said they wouldn’t die today, right?”
Then I gave orders to the other guards.
“Go out and bring those two back.”
After interrogating Sernia, it was revealed that it was Sernia who killed Vanessa.
As it turns out, Sernia was the first graduate of the Department of Black Magic established by Kavala at the Imperial Academy.
Kavala, who couldn't trust my loyalty as I left for Ronheim, where there was no magic circle for movement, quickly selected a black magician, a sorcerer, as my maid, who could communicate in real time to create a quick reporting system.
'So you picked other people who didn't receive maid training.'
Vanessa and Lina were maids chosen to disguise Sernia, who had not received any royal etiquette training.
Sernia wouldn't be so out of place among people who haven't been educated in etiquette.
Sernia, who had been holding back for a while when asked why she killed Vanessa, eventually confessed to the various circumstances.
“I received instructions today to keep a close eye on the group, as it appears there is a thief among them who has stolen treasure.”
“The Empress told you to kill the thief?”
"That was... a mistake. I returned to my room after receiving orders, and there I saw Vanessa rummaging through my luggage. I questioned her, and she got so excited that she suddenly started using violence..."
Vanessa went to the maid's quarters right after her fight with Lamia.
Lamia was sharing a room with Sernia, and it seemed that Vanessa had mistaken Sernia's luggage for Lamia's.
'She probably searched through Lamia's luggage to find evidence.'
Since Lamia had been a fugitive from the start, she had no luggage, so the only thing to search through in that room would have been Sernia's luggage.
'There was no evidence, and Sernia was only misunderstood.'
It was obvious that Lamia was a thief, but I didn't believe her, and Lamia beat Vanessa up so badly that she must have been really angry.
'The timing was bad.'
It was a meaningless death caused by a misunderstanding.
I locked Sernia in the dungeon and had her luggage searched to confiscate all the black magic materials.
I also asked Callius to attach a knight to her and keep an eye on her to make sure she could not contact Kavala.
I watched the people moving busily according to my orders and gave separate instructions to Lamia.
“Bring me all of Sernia’s personal belongings, except the ones confiscated from her luggage.”
"Why?"
“There’s something I want to know.”
And so the Vanessa murder case was concluded.
The existing employees of Ronheim Castle were not interested in seeing the Arrentals fighting each other and did not step forward.
Only Lina and Sernia protested with pale faces as if they felt wronged.
“Why us?”
“What are you saying, Your Highness!”
I left them behind and spoke clearly enough for the Ronheim Castle servants and knights gathered in the banquet hall to hear.
“These are spies of the Empress of Kavala.”
The banquet hall was once again in an uproar.
“Your Highness!”
“Wh, what is that...”
Lina and Sernia were greatly embarrassed.
It was funny how they were surprised, as if I had revealed some great secret.
“Did you really think this was a secret?”
At first, the people of Ronheim Castle were taken aback by my open talk, but they burst into small laughter upon seeing Lina and Sernia's expressions.
Lina and Sernia trembled in fear, unable to believe that the situation had suddenly become a disaster for them.
Lina desperately tried to stop me.
“Your Highness, the people of Ronheim are already wary of us, and if you say such absurd things...”
Then Sernia knelt before Callius as if a good idea had occurred to her.
"Your Highness! What the Princess says is not true! The entire Arrental people know that the Princess is mentally unstable!"
Lina quickly took Sernia's side.
“Yes, that’s right! Her Highness sometimes can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality.”
I swallowed a sigh.
'I'm sick of it.'
I've had countless instances where people have tried to frame my words as lies simply because they've heard rumors that I'm crazy, even though they're telling the truth.
Before, I just thought it was unfair and suffered helplessly.
I even thought maybe I was crazy, because so many people were saying the same thing.
I despaired, thinking that they were normal and I was crazy and couldn't even tell the difference between truth and lies.
The stigma of being a mad Princess that Kavala and Andrea had placed on me was so vicious.
Because anyone could use and manipulate me, rendering me helpless, without having to put chains directly on my hands and feet.
'It used to be like that. But now it's different.'
I looked at Callius, and then at Granada.
The people of Ronheim Castle and Lamia, too.
There were far more people here who thought I was just a weird rumor going around than those who were absolutely sure I was crazy.
To the people here, I would seem more like a Kavala, a swindler to be wary of than a raving lunatic.
'Kavala sending me to Ronheim was the biggest mistake she'd ever made.'
I so easily destroyed Lina and Sernia's arguments.
“You still call me the Princess of Arrental, disregarding my title in Ronheim. You also stubbornly distinguish between Ronheimers and Arrentals, harboring a sense of superiority, and expect the people here to side with you in times of trouble.”
That was the end of it.
The people of Ronheim Castle, who agreed with my words, glared at Lina and Sernia with sharp eyes.
Looking at that sight, a thrill ran through me from head to toe.
It felt like the resentment that had been building up in my chest and choking me was finally being released.
'Don't be helpless. Here, you don't have to be helpless like before.'
When their last desperate attempts failed, the two men trembled in despair.
“Why, why us...! It’s so unfair! It’s so unfair!”
“Why do I have to suffer like this? Why?”
To those who were crying, I explained why they had to die.
"If I don't kill you, it's obvious you'll report to the Empress that I have Lamia, who stole Empress Kavala's treasure. If I want to keep the secret and save Lamia, I'll have to kill you."
"That...!"
I gave a cool-headed order to the guard.
“Take them and kill them. Execute them in the castle courtyard right now.”
Of course, no one came forward to protest for Lina and Sernia.
The guards came out obediently, grabbed them, and helped them up.
“No! No! Let go of this!”
Lina cried and rebelled. Sernia bit her lip and glared at me with resentment.
I gestured to Lamia, who was blankly watching the two people being dragged away.
“Get up, Lamia. It’s all over.”
"Lady..."
Lamia looked at me with a face filled with confusion and emotion.
I smiled and patted her shoulder.
“I told you to trust me. I promised I would help you escape safely.”
"Thank you."
Lamia wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes with the back of her hand.
“But is it really okay to get rid of them? If the Empress finds out...”
“We say they were captured by the tiger that lives in the castle.”
“A tiger?”
I smiled and looked at the entrance to the banquet hall.
"Just kidding. Don't worry. They won't die. At least not today."
“Yes? But I’m sure you want the guard to kill them right now...”
That was when.
Just before the maids left and the banquet hall doors closed, Lina started to curse loudly.
"I won't report it! I won't report it! Sernia will be the one reporting to the Empress anyway! I saw it!"
Her voice echoed through the hallway outside.
“I saw Sernia use black magic!”
'Well then, that's right.'
I was satisfied with how things turned out as expected.
No matter how much I thought about it, there was no reason for the existing employees of Ronheim Castle to kill Vanessa, and considering Granada was an expert in this field, it didn't seem like a situation where I could suspect an outside intrusion.
Then, I thought that it was most likely my maids' doing, and that there might have been some trouble among them over something related to Kavala.
My maids aren't exactly loyal and trustworthy to each other, so I knew someone would open up right away if I used this method.
I looked at Lamia with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“You said they wouldn’t die today, right?”
Then I gave orders to the other guards.
“Go out and bring those two back.”
***
After interrogating Sernia, it was revealed that it was Sernia who killed Vanessa.
As it turns out, Sernia was the first graduate of the Department of Black Magic established by Kavala at the Imperial Academy.
Kavala, who couldn't trust my loyalty as I left for Ronheim, where there was no magic circle for movement, quickly selected a black magician, a sorcerer, as my maid, who could communicate in real time to create a quick reporting system.
'So you picked other people who didn't receive maid training.'
Vanessa and Lina were maids chosen to disguise Sernia, who had not received any royal etiquette training.
Sernia wouldn't be so out of place among people who haven't been educated in etiquette.
Sernia, who had been holding back for a while when asked why she killed Vanessa, eventually confessed to the various circumstances.
“I received instructions today to keep a close eye on the group, as it appears there is a thief among them who has stolen treasure.”
“The Empress told you to kill the thief?”
"That was... a mistake. I returned to my room after receiving orders, and there I saw Vanessa rummaging through my luggage. I questioned her, and she got so excited that she suddenly started using violence..."
Vanessa went to the maid's quarters right after her fight with Lamia.
Lamia was sharing a room with Sernia, and it seemed that Vanessa had mistaken Sernia's luggage for Lamia's.
'She probably searched through Lamia's luggage to find evidence.'
Since Lamia had been a fugitive from the start, she had no luggage, so the only thing to search through in that room would have been Sernia's luggage.
'There was no evidence, and Sernia was only misunderstood.'
It was obvious that Lamia was a thief, but I didn't believe her, and Lamia beat Vanessa up so badly that she must have been really angry.
'The timing was bad.'
It was a meaningless death caused by a misunderstanding.
I locked Sernia in the dungeon and had her luggage searched to confiscate all the black magic materials.
I also asked Callius to attach a knight to her and keep an eye on her to make sure she could not contact Kavala.
I watched the people moving busily according to my orders and gave separate instructions to Lamia.
“Bring me all of Sernia’s personal belongings, except the ones confiscated from her luggage.”
"Why?"
“There’s something I want to know.”
And so the Vanessa murder case was concluded.
Comments
Post a Comment