Gathered at Gravis’s palace after receiving his summons were the men who knew about the allegations concerning the Marquis of Lagarea: August, Margrave of Brungwurt; Lucas, the lieutenant general; Chancellor Ginter; Dirk, the general’s adjutant; and Ebbo Steiger.
Gravis’s valet Theodor, as well as Leorino and Josef, were already waiting at the palace. Leorino was allowed to attend their meeting for the first time.
Gravis had given his permission.
He regretted being so overprotective and was giving Leorino a chance after all the time he had spent in Gravis’s chambers.
The hour was already close to midnight.
Leorino sat with his hands clasped nervously and an anxious look on his face.
As soon as Ginter saw Leorino, the chancellor smiled in a way Leorino had never seen before. Ginter eagerly approached him, gently lifted Leorino’s slender hand, and peered into his stiff face.
“Leorino, I’m so glad to see you’re doing well.”
With his grayish hair and tall, slender body, he looked much the same as he did when he was a boy. Nevertheless, his face was different now. Ginter was a year older than Lucas and had been chancellor for nearly ten years now. In that time, he had become a respectable man with a dignified appearance.
“Good evening, Chancellor Ginter.”
“Please, call me Marzel. You are special.”
“But…isn’t that rude?”
Ginter had been this way with Leorino since reuniting with Ionia, whose memories dwelled within him.
Leorino was puzzled as to why Ginter was so friendly with him.
“I’m jealous you’re on first-name basis with Lucas. Please, for old times’ sake, call me by my name, too.”
“A-all right.”
Hearing him insist on it, Leorino wasn’t left with much of a choice. He nodded politely and smiled. Ginter watched him with fondness as if he couldn’t get enough of the sight.
The men who knew Ginter’s usual disposition could only chuckle. He was doting on Leorino like a loving grandfather. Only August, Leorino’s father, watched him with an inscrutable expression.
The atmosphere was awfully relaxed, as if they weren’t about to discuss what each of them had found out about the alleged treason of the Marquis of Lagarea.
But the men could tell. Ginter had noticed Leorino’s nerves at a glance, and was trying to help him relax.
Lucas calmly smiled at Leorino. “Leorino, just let him pamper you. Marzel can’t help but adore you.”
“Of course… Thank you, Marzel.”
Leorino nodded and looked up at Marzel, placing his free hand on top of the one Marzel was holding. Ginter intently gazed into the violet eyes of his late friend, a pleased smile on his lips.
Ginter’s behavior was not an act. He truly had a soft spot for Leorino.
Watching them together, Lucas remembered the time he told his best friend about Leorino’s secret.
Usually extremely pragmatic, Ginter readily accepted that Leorino was the reincarnation of Ionia. Without a moment’s hesitation, he believed Leorino’s story and offered to help.
Since then, every time he saw Leorino, he couldn’t help but dote on him.
Lucas once asked Ginter why he was so quick to trust Leorino.
Once upon a time, when Ginter had taken a liking to Ionia, it was also in the span of an instant. He wondered what the two of them meant to Ginter.
Ginter’s answer was succinct.
He dealt with the ugly desires and ambitions of human beings day in and day out, and he found the presences of Ionia and Leorino healing.
Ginter had been born into a distinguished family that had produced chancellors for generations, and sensing people’s intent had become second nature.
Although Leorino and Ionia were different in both appearance and personality, the selfless loyalty and devotion that lay at the core of their souls were the same. Lucas’s longtime friend said that every time he saw them, it restored some of his faith in humanity.
Lucas knew exactly what Ginter meant.
Selflessness. That one, irreplaceable value.
“Leorino, it’s all right. You deserve to be here. We shall expose the truth you brought before us of the betrayal eighteen years ago.”
“Of course… Marzel, thank you.”
“Yes. Please keep calling me Marzel. That’s perfect.”
Leorino smiled.
Noticing Ginter’s concern, Leorino looked at him with gratitude, and Ginter patted him on the shoulder in encouragement.
Leorino’s nerves seemed to have eased. The men watching him breathed a sigh of relief.
“Ginter, it’s about time for you to stop bothering Leorino and take a seat,” Gravis ordered, glancing at Ginter with gratitude in his eyes. Ginter gave a small nod in return.
“Forgive me. I don’t get to see Leorino very often, so you see, I simply got carried away.”
Ginter stood up reluctantly. When he told Leorino he was looking forward to chatting with him again, Leorino enthusiastically nodded in response.
“Let us begin.”
As Gravis’s words signaled the start of the meeting, the men instantly turned their focus to the topic at hand.
Leorino’s shoulders tensed once more as the room turned solemn.
Josef placed his hand on Leorino’s shoulder from behind to calm him down. From the perspective of the experienced, mature men, Josef was still too unreliable to take their eyes off of him. Nevertheless, it was clear that, in his own way, the young man paid much attention to the state of his master’s heart.
Gravis decided to leave Leorino in Josef’s capable hands and continue the conversation.
“Ginter, tell us what you have found out in regards to what Leorino heard from Princess Eleonora.”
“Yes. Then, if I may.”
Ginter nodded. Leorino swallowed.
“The seraglio records are overseen by the Palace of the Interior, so it would have been difficult to examine them under the watchful eye of the Marquis of Lagarea. For that reason, I checked the records from the relevant time period from within the Palace of Foreign Affairs, which as we all know is under the jurisdiction of His Highness Prince Gravis, to see if they mentioned any foreign princesses being accepted as concubines. The documents were old, and not particularly informative, but the relevant records remained.”
“Well done. Did you learn anything?”
“Yes. It is true that sixty-eight years ago, a royal princess from a small northern country was sent to King Tyrone’s palace as a hostage, so to speak. This is consistent with Lady Eleonora’s testimony.”
“From which country?”
“A land called Lürik. We have a record of her name. The princess was named Marfa Ladoga.”
Lucas frowned in thought.
“Lürik? …Can’t say I’ve ever heard of such a country.”
August, the oldest of the group, seemed to recall something at the name. “At your age, I certainly wouldn’t expect you to. Lürik faded into obscurity long ago. I’ve only seen it on the maps of my youth. It was one of the small northern countries annexed by Zwelf. It was smaller than Brungwurt, and at the time it was cozying up to both Fanoren and Zwelf, trying to decide whose side to take.”
“The princess of Lürik was sent to the palace of King Tyrone, the grandfather of His Highness. The princess was then given to the former Marquis of Lagarea, and later gave birth to Bruno Henckel?”
“But why is it said that the mother of the Marquis of Lagarea was the daughter of a minor nobleman? If they had said she was royalty, small as her country was, his royal lineage could have benefitted him.”