“Irene Palcas and Viscount Palcas, I hereby authorize your arrest for intent to cause bodily harm and for attempted assassination on Lady Elianna Bernstein. Guards!”
Lady Irene shrieked. The viscount was already cuffed, but now Irene had her hands bound as well. “No, Your Highness! This must be a mistake. I am the victim here, I’m the one who was harassed by Lady Elianna. Please open your eyes. I beg of you...! I spent time with you—the real you. Please return to your senses and be the wise man I know you to be!”
My heart ached hearing that, but the prince watched calmly and dutifully as she made her convincing appeal.
“Ordinarily such allegations would be considered a crime of damaging the integrity of the crown, but it is my duty to correct any misconceptions you might have. So, Lady Irene, in the interest of fairness, let us hear your claims.” He spoke in a clear voice, as if speaking indirectly to those gathered.
“First, the matter of the inner palace. Currently, Elianna has no official jurisdiction over the inner palace. The one managing it would be the current queen, my mother, who is responsible for and manages the ladies who come here for etiquette lessons. If you really did experience the harassment that you claim, then it falls on her shoulders as the person in charge. And as the crown prince, I will ensure that responsibility isn’t shirked.
“However,” he said, “keep in mind that if your allegations are found to be false, they will be taken as a crime—as treason—for harming the authority of the royal family. Now then, Lady Irene, is it true that you were harassed in the inner palace?”
“Uh! W-Well...” She was flustered; her gaze swam back and forth, all of the vim and vigor from moments ago now lost. Lady Irene must never have imagined that the crime she was trying to pin on me might instead end up as an accusation against the queen. One that could amount to treason.
“I-I have a witness...” Her eyes turned entreatingly to Lord Alan, whom she must have known was a dim hope at this point.
He offered her a sweet smile, one that seemed completely out of place here. “Hm, yes, I am sorry, but...all I can do is give testimony that you’re a victim who staged everything yourself. Oh, I should also add, we already know all the maids and soldiers you bought off, so you won’t be able to rely on them either.”
“So you’ve betrayed me...!”
“Mmm, just to make sure there are no misunderstandings here, allow me to explain. I’m the prince’s hidden trump card, one used for situations like this. I watch out at tea parties and evening parties to make sure there’s no one there looking to harm Lady Elianna. My current task was to keep my eyes on you since your movements were a bit suspicious.”
“No...” she gasped, her voice filled with despair.
I furrowed my brow a bit as well. My dismay was in part because I sympathized with her and felt they should’ve chosen a more appropriate place to carry out a hearing, but also because I found it questionable for a “hidden trump card” to out themselves so publicly. Wouldn’t this affect his ability to operate in the future?
The prince must have thought the same thing because he sighed exasperatedly. “Next, I’d like to address what you said a moment ago.”
Lady Irene suddenly snapped to attention, the strength returning to her eyes as she gazed up at the two of us. “Your Highness! My claims against Lady Elianna seem to have been a misunderstanding. But please believe me! I never planned anything like an assassination against her!”
The way she forsook an apology in favor of proclaiming her own innocence was an incredible display of both defiance and composure. No longer did she look the part of the delicate noble lady. This was her true nature. I had no doubt she’d laugh off my sympathy as being beneath her.
The prince replied coolly, “I already have evidence secured, but I can’t overlook what you said a moment ago. You mentioned it yourself. The watering incident in the rose garden. The damaged ladder in the archives. The poisoned gift.”
Both Lady Irene and the viscount standing beside her flinched. But it was the viscount in particular who seemed restless, his gaze wandering.
His Highness continued. “The other day there was a fuss over some pipe failure in the rose garden and the resulting drainage. At the same time, something disastrous happened—an unidentified intruder broke into the palace. Would you happen to know anything about this incident, Viscount Palcas?”
“I-I know nothing! Nothing!”
“No? Well, fortunately this intruder was apprehended by Glen and the rest of the imperial guard, and we were able to ascertain that he was after Elianna’s life.”
The voices of those gathered erupted in surprise. Even I was left blinking in shock. It made sense now why Glen had appeared so shaken back then.
“In addition, we discovered damage to the ladders in the archives and a poisonous substance smeared across the books. And a foreign substance mixed in with tea leaves. All of these incidents targeting Elianna occurred immediately after Lady Irene was in the area, according to the report from Prince Theodore, my uncle.”
Now I understood why I had been barred from entering the archives. The reason why Prince Theodore was always so busy must have had something to do with this as well. Apparently the recent damage to the ladders I’d noticed hadn’t been natural deterioration either.
“Those are false accusations! All of that is circumstantial evidence. Someone else must have...someone suspicious—like a witch—must have done those things. I haven’t done anything of the like!” Lady Irene glowered daggers at me, revealing her hate and contempt for the first time.
“Besides, don’t you find it strange that someone as unworthy as the Bibliophile Princess has been occupying such an important position?! I’ve heard about her administering suspicious drugs to His Highness and the royal family. Do you really think someone like that deserves to be the queen of this country?! You’re just being deceived by her!” she appealed convincingly to the audience.
An air of confusion settled over the murmuring crowd. But even I could understand it wasn’t the reaction Lady Irene had hoped to provoke.
“...I see now,” said the prince.
A shiver ran down my spine. Immediately I felt the urge to run from His Highness, but knowing it would be disrespectful, I managed to resist the temptation.
Although Prince Christopher wore a smile on his face, it emanated a cold, chilling anger. “Now I understand what the difference is between your motivations and your father’s.”
“What...?”
His Highness ignored her confusion and turned to the crowd with his sunny blue eyes, as if turning the spotlight toward them. “I am not so conceited that I would personally boast about my betrothed’s accomplishments and worth. I’ll allow the rest of you to speak. Someone who knows what Eli has done, answer Lady Irene.”
Those gathered exchanged bewildered looks. I was just as confused as Lady Irene. This could cast a poor light on His Highness, given his position. There was some truth to what Lady Irene had said after all; I was the Bibliophile Princess.
“Um...” A man who looked like a civil official timidly spoke up, seeking permission to continue. Emboldened after the prince glanced at him approvingly, he turned toward Lady Irene. “My lady, you may not be aware of this, but it was Lady Elianna who uncovered those crimes in the Weimar Region—crimes including embezzlement, corruption, and collusion between the consul and the lord of the region. Since then, the fish carried in from Weimar Harbor have livened up the marketplace.”
“The Weimar Region? That’s where...” Another man, who appeared to be a servant from the kitchens, suddenly mumbled. He flinched as he realized what he was saying but continued the story once His Highness gave a prompting look. “The seafood cookbook that came from that region was utterly groundbreaking and...well, um, has been a great resource for us cooks.”
Another court lady agreed with him. “There was another book published at that same time, one depicting the daily life of a housewife in the Weimar Region, which became hugely popular. The queen even enjoyed reading it. She commented about how similar the struggles and anxieties of common housewives were to her own as queen. I heard it was all thanks to Lady Elianna acting as an intermediary with a relative’s publishing company.”
“Oh, speaking of books,” began one of the royal court doctors that was first summoned to the scene, pleasantly stroking his beard as he spoke. “From the book Lady Elianna requested, titled The Travels of Parco Molo, we discovered a new medicinal herb and its benefits. It’s effective in treating internal imbalances in women. It should have no effect on men, but... Hm. Word of it must’ve gotten distorted somewhere down the line.”
“Please allow me to speak,” a man requested politely. He was middle-aged and looked to be a divisional officer of the imperial guard. “I’ve heard it was also Lady Elianna who was the first to predict the widespread damage that would result from an enormous cold wave in the country of Maldura last year, and she was also the one who proposed we buy double the supplies in anticipation of it. Thanks to her, the warmongering Maldurans are in our debt after we provided them provisions and aid. Now if they try to start a war with us, their own people will be against them.”
“Oh my,” came the voices of several noble women. They must’ve accompanied their husbands here.