A short while ago, just after Juliette had flung the teapot to the ground and shrieked as it shattered—in the middle of changing Ronald’s diaper, Crown Princess Edith looked up in surprise at the partition leading to the adjacent room. The room she was in was normally used as a waiting room where servants could stand at the ready or prepare tea or anything else necessary. For that reason, there was a door that led to the hallway, but there was no door that separated it and the drawing room, only an extravagant curtain.
Edith thought it was impossible for anything dangerous to happen, but if something was going on in the drawing room by some chance, the lack of a door meant the waiting room was defenseless. With a mother’s instincts, she at once stood in front of the bench her baby was lying on, covering him with her body. She couldn’t begin to imagine what might have occurred in the other room, and her anxiety only grew.
Mavis, kneeling next to Ronald, couldn’t keep watching her sister-in-law grow pale from fear, so she stood up and said, “Lady Edith, I’ll go and see what’s happening.”
“But, Lady Mavis, it’s dangerous…” Edith said, grabbing one of Mavis’s slender arms and stopping her.
Mavis bravely shook her head and smiled at her sister. “I’ll be fine. Anita and Cesia are there, too. She might not look it, but Cesia is quite strong.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry.” Mavis grabbed Edith’s hand and nodded firmly. “Please, stay here with Ronny.”
“Then,” Edith said, still worried, “you three, go with Lady Mavis and protect her, no matter what happens,” she told two guards and a lady’s maid in the room, sending them with Mavis.
It was then that the commotion began.
As she looked toward the adjoining room and strained her ears to hear what was happening, after a while, Edith suddenly felt like something was off.
“Ronald?”
Her son, who had been grumbling and pouting until just before, was no longer moving. He looked as if he had stopped breathing.
✦ ✦ ✦
MARCUS rushed to Ronald’s room upon hearing the news, engulfed in a whirlpool of emotions when he entered: sadness, rage, doubt, confusion, and regret. Edith was crying, and her husband, Crown Prince Reynold, had a frighteningly blank expression as he gently rubbed her back. The guards and lady’s maids hung their heads, gravely silent.
“Where’s Ronald?” Marcus whispered, and Reynold shifted his gaze to the canopy of the infant’s small bed. Marcus rushed over to it, almost tripping over his feet, and knelt down. Gently taking off the cover and peeking inside, he saw Ronald lying in the bed, looking just like he was sleeping. Next, Marcus put a hand next to the baby’s mouth and confirmed he wasn’t breathing. Then, as if he still couldn’t believe it, he put his hand on Ronald’s chest.
Marcus was silent. His throat trembled, and he silently screamed. Was this what Juliette wanted?!
He had been the first person notified that Cesia had attacked Juliette and that, just as she was about to be captured, she had escaped off the balcony. Marcus was certain of Cesia’s innocence, but uncontrollable anger quickly replaced the doubt he had felt at why Juliette had so obviously set up Cesia when he received the subsequent message informing him of Ronald’s passing.
As always, there was no evidence. Juliette had been around other people the entire time, so it was clear that she hadn’t done it herself. However, the timing was too perfect, and Marcus was sure Juliette had planned it.
There had only been a few people at the tea party. Then, there was Ronald, who had been brought there after he had suddenly grown restive. The commotion had occurred when a maid abruptly attacked a foreign guest. In the middle of the tea party, which had been scheduled for some time, two random events had coincidentally overlapped, creating a momentary gap in everyone’s attention.
But what if it wasn’t a coincidence? Marcus thought. What if Ronald’s presence at the tea party had been arranged beforehand? Juliette must’ve pulled some sort of trick so that Ronald would show up. Then, while framing Cesia… No, while killing Ronald, she also took the opportunity to frame Cesia.
Marcus knew that the one outside factor in that situation had probably been himself after he had carried Ronald there. However, for the time being, the exact method Juliette had used to kill Ronald and frame Cesia was less important than finding a flaw in her plan.
Reflecting on what had happened in the drawing room, Marcus quietly muttered to himself, “Ronald was brought there because he was throwing a tantrum and wanted to see his mother…”
He touched Ronald’s cold arm. The energy and warmth Ronald had had when Marcus had brought him to the drawing room was gone. Marcus rolled up Ronald’s sleeve. The soft skin there was untouched, free of the blemish that had been there earlier in the day—this confirmed it. No matter how fast an infant’s metabolism might have been, a bruise like that wouldn’t heal in such a short time.
“Reynold,” Marcus said.
“What is it?” his brother asked. The normally stern crown prince now resembled a wilted flower. Marcus was in no position to even begin to be able to understand how hard it was to lose one’s child, but there did seem to be one way to ease his brother’s pain.
“This isn’t Ronald’s body. Please allow one of my subordinates to examine it.”
Reynold’s eyes widened.
Luckily, someone on hand was familiar with the matter. He confirmed that the body wasn’t Ronald’s.
Then, what exactly was the body Edith had discovered? To everyone’s surprise, it was the product of black magic and human bones, a kind of magic item banned in every country. Though it was difficult to distinguish from the body it was designed to mimic, undoing the spell required little preparation, so after the necessary steps had been taken, the item returned to its original form.
“Apparently, the magic item is single-use and can’t be used again after being transformed into someone else’s body once,” Marcus said.
Hearing Marcus’s explanation, Reynold squinted, pain in his eyes. He had thought that it had been his son. He was angry at having been tricked, but after hearing how it had been made, he couldn’t just content himself with venting that anger. Hesitatingly, he asked, “Do you know whose bones were used?”
Reynold’s appearance, with his golden-blond hair, blue eyes, and rugged, masculine features, was in line with many other Emeroadian noblemen. He had the presence of a boulder, and his strong-willed personality resembled his father, the current king. Marcus was proud to have him as his brother. This might have been the first time Marcus had seen him so confused—the situation was just that abnormal.
“They’re mixed with other materials, so I can’t say whose specifically they might be…” Marcus said, casting his gaze downward. He would’ve preferred to return their remains to their proper resting place, if possible, but without any trace of evidence, there was no way to identify them.
“Oh… Then, is it possible that they were…killed for this?” Reynold asked, a rigid look on his face.
It’s unlikely, but it’s possible, Marcus thought. However, if that was the case, there wasn’t anything they could do about it, so he decided to tell Reynold what the most likely option was. “According to the person who knew about this magic item, it’s common for skeletal remains to be used, with some time having passed after death. The bones…were probably dug up from a grave.”
“I see…”
The fact that nobody had to be killed to create the magic item did nothing to improve the situation. Someone’s bones had still been taken to make it. Still, it was some comfort, small as it was.
“So, this means it no longer has any use, right?” Reynold asked.
“Yes.”
“Then, I want them buried in the national cemetery. I want them to at least have somewhere to rest peacefully after all the evil that’s been done to them.”
“I’ll arrange it,” Marcus said, and Reynold nodded.
It wasn’t Ronald’s body, but that was hardly something to be unreservedly glad about. The person who had used the forbidden magic remained at large, and they couldn’t afford to let them escape.
“You don’t have any evidence that it was Juliette, though,” Reynold said.
“I don’t, but I know she did it,” Marcus asserted. “Please let me continue my investigation.”
Reynold stared at Marcus’s face, perplexed by his younger brother’s unusually pushy manner of speaking. Marcus’s symmetrical features resembled his mother’s and were clouded by a thin layer of tension stretched over a fiery storm of anger.
Reynold was silent, then said, “I’ll call an emergency session of parliament. Make it so those senile old farts have to agree with you.”
“You can count on me.”
Full of determination, the two princes nodded to each other.