I looked over at the staircase to make sure no one was coming up. The noisy rain and lightning were convenient for a hushed conversation. I brought my face close to the princess’s and whispered. “When we dispersed after first arriving at the hotel, I went to take a walk in the garden. I was there when you stepped out onto your balcony. I passed by Mr. Mace at that moment, and he was headed toward the carriage house then.”
“So...he was there?”
“Yes, but it was early enough that he had to have finished his inspection before dark. The incident when he supposedly ran off and disappeared didn’t happen until several hours later. It’s hard to believe he would’ve been in the carriage building the entire time, isn’t it? Did he perhaps go inspect things a second time? It would only be more suspicious for him to go in and out repeatedly. If he intended to do something to the carriages, he would’ve done it the first time.”
“Indeed...” The princess nodded along, still in shock.
She must have thought that Mr. Mace being in the carriage building that night had been an undisputed fact. I had too, at the time, but I’d quickly noticed that this would’ve been strange. There’d been a clear contradiction between what I’d seen and what I’d been told. The answer to that had been confirmed when the bridge exploded.
“Then...what really happened?”
“From here on is purely my imagination, but I believe Mr. Mace may have seen a suspicious light moving within the darkness.”
“At the carriage house?”
“No, at the bridge. I think he spied the culprit fixing the bombs to it.”
The princess’s mouth fell open, and her eyes widened. She covered that mouth with a shaking hand. “Ah...”
“Not only was it nighttime, but he was probably some distance away, so he would’ve only seen the light of the one on the bridge. But that alone would’ve been enough to arouse suspicion. Why would someone be crossing the bridge at that time, and what could they possibly be doing? He knew you would be crossing that bridge the next day, so he couldn’t simply ignore it. He must have gone out to see what was happening.”
“Did he cross paths with the culprit there?”
“Or an accomplice.” Considering the situation, the chances of the crime being committed by only one person were low. There had most likely been a guard who’d noticed Mr. Mace coming to investigate.
“That would mean...the soldier who reported that Mace was doing something suspicious to the carriages was lying. Then...that soldier would be...?”
“That’s right. After they did whatever they had to with Mr. Mace, they needed to come up with a reason for his disappearance. They decided to pin the blame for their crime on him to take suspicion off themselves. They led us to believe that he’d done something to the carriages before falling off the cliff and being swept away by the ocean. That lie was designed to make us let our guards down—we’d believe that the culprit was gone and no more danger would arise. The grenade and string were probably placed in the carriage house afterward as fake evidence.”
Princess Mira lowered her hand and clenched her skirt. For a while, she just stared at the ground, shaking. I wondered whether she might cry again, but she was strong; the next emotion to flood her eyes was anger.
“So someone with a vicious plan pretended to be one of our guards.” The people we’d believed would protect us had been treacherous—they’d hidden away a frightening ploy. Their cunning betrayal filled the princess with ire.
“Everything that followed would also make sense if the culprit were one of the guards. While we were inspecting this castle, they walked over to the bridge, saying they’d check for irregularities. That was when they set up the decoy cylinders. It was too far away for the people monitoring from the other island to see, so they were able to set up the trap in broad daylight and return as if nothing had happened.”
Then, they’d “checked” another spot on the bridge to make sure no one found their movements suspicious. They’d tricked those watching into thinking they were doing meticulous work, and all the while they’d been planting the decoys.
“Remember there was a person who went under the bridge while we were investigating the cylinders?” I asked. “They made us think they were looking for other suspicious objects, but that was just a front for them to light the fuse.”
Merely setting up the explosives under the bridge was useless unless someone lit them. The culprits most likely pulled the fuse far out and left a match near the tip so that they wouldn’t get caught up in the blast. They ignited the fuse when they pretended to go down and inspect.
“How awful... The culprits were right in front of us! We must arrest them. I’ll never forgive them for attacking Mace! I won’t let them escape! We have to let everyone else know...!”
“It’s fine, Your Highness. My husband surely already knows everything I just said. And knowing him, there’s no doubt that he’s already keeping a close eye on the culprits. There’s no need to worry—they won’t get away.” I could guarantee her that Lord Simeon would catch the criminals.
Her blue eyes widened. She stared at me in silence for a while, then smiled slightly. “So you trust him.”
“I do. I know what kind of person he is.”
Lord Simeon was a man who kept a cool face as he noticed all kinds of subtle things and worked around them. He’d surely realized who the culprits were far before I had. He’d told me that it was better to not know anything and had refused to let me in on his theories. Had I found out the truth, I would’ve needed to act like I didn’t know anything in front of others. But because I’d shown the culprits that I was clueless, they’d let their guards down. That was the kind of person Lord Simeon was! He’d even made sure to tell me to pretend I knew nothing, even after I’d figured out the truth! Though I’d had a difficult time concealing the fact that I’d figured it out, I’d done my best to put on an unknowing facade so that nothing would seem off, even when I’d been near the culprits. Lord Simeon needs to praise me for this afterward.
“We’ll capture them for sure, without a doubt. We’ll never let these evildoers have their way.”
Even if he hadn’t noticed the bombs, Lord Simeon wouldn’t fall behind. He was surely working to arrest them, even now. It was fine to believe in him.
Princess Mira nodded at my definitive promise, then turned to the wet window. Her brows furrowed, and she let out a huge breath, as if to overcome the pain. My explanation had probably stolen some hope from her. It was hard to believe that criminals who’d gone this far would’ve let any witnesses live. The princess must have thought that Mr. Mace’s chances of survival were dismal. I could still think of a way he could’ve made it out, but I had no proof. And since I didn’t want to give her false hope, I couldn’t reveal it for now.
“Why don’t we go back down?” I said quietly. “We shouldn’t stay away from Prince Severin and the others for too long. They’re all worried sick.”
“Yes... Right. I’m causing trouble for them yet again. I just don’t want to see Hilbert. I really, really don’t want to. I don’t want to see his face or hear his voice.”
The princess spilled this fact and unleashed her hatred, letting it be on full display. I understood completely—I’d predicted it. In the best of times, Lord Hilbert was a difficult person, and today, he’d shown that he was not empathetic at all in times of crisis. He’d even thrown words dripping with venom at Princess Mira. Frankly, I didn’t want to see him either.
“Did you pretend to fall for my husband and aggressively go after him to drive Lord Hilbert away?”
Her Highness didn’t look away from the window. She just nodded.
I gazed out too. “Did someone decide that he was to be your marriage partner?”
“No, I refused that. But...the people around me advocated for the match and tried to proceed with the negotiations. Many people side with his father in parliament.”
“Ah... That’s troublesome.”
“People tend to ignore my opinions and look down on me for being a woman. They’re usually not as open about it as Hilbert, but other people really do think that way. They’re looking down on me in their hearts.”
“I don’t believe that applies to everyone. Ambassador Van Rail has a lot of respect for you, for example.”
She chuckled, tired. “My father respects my decisions, and there are people who don’t put me down for being a woman, but there are people who carry that prejudice. Hilbert believes he should become my husband and be the assistant to a useless queen. Someone like him would never be satisfied with just being in a support position, but on the surface, that’s the kind of arrangement those around us are trying to make.”
“So you plotted to spread rumors that you’d fallen in love, all to demonstrate that you weren’t considering Lord Hilbert at all?”
Another faint laugh. “The people of our kingdom don’t know of his true nature, you see. They believe the lies he and his faction have spread—they say that we’re on good terms and are perfect for one another. It disgusts me. I wanted everyone to know for certain that I wasn’t going to accept a man such as him.”
“That’s why you chose my husband?”
Her Highness looked back at me with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry. When I found out about him, I knew he was the most suitable for this role. He’s an outstanding man that Hilbert could never even come close to... Beautiful, capable, skilled at fighting. Not only that, but your husband is renowned for being kind, serious, and loyal. There’s also no issue with his status. Even royalty can’t scoff at the direct heir of the Flaubert earldom. I believed it would be easy for me to get other people to think I’d fallen for him.”