Crown Prince Lark’s office.
After escorting Rubette to Lubon, he immediately returned to the imperial palace, where Ren was waiting for him in the office.
“How’s the princess? All’s well, I hope?”
“Mm.” Lark smiled bitterly, recalling Rubette.
Other than being close to the capital, Lubon was a very uncomfortable place. It could be called the countryside at the foot of a mountain, and most of the inhabitants were farmers engaged in agriculture…
“The air is really nice. It’s perfect for a year of rest and cooling off my head, isn’t it?”
“… I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry about? If you’re truly sorry, please abuse your authority as the head of the investigation and come often.”
Rubette, who pretended to be bright, had looked around the villa built on the hillside with a flat road.
Lark’s, who shook his head and sighed, eyes suddenly shone fiercely.
“Let’s work now. I owe the princess not only one or two things, and I’m ashamed of myself.”
“Alright. Please take a quick look at that first.” Ren pointed to the sheets of paper spread out on the desk. “The deeds of the Diollus Duchy’s madam in the past. Starting from when she was still the daughter of Count Bert, her family relationships, past connections, and even the personalities of the aristocratic wives who are close friends in the social world.” Ren added with a grin. “I’ve very much stripped everything out.”
“Good work.” Lark’s eyes quickly scanned them.
“In the future I saw, Dad pass away in three years. I discovered that it was because he continued to take medicines that were not suitable for him. Grandma had bribed the attending physician.”
The death of Duke Diollus, seen in the future. Rubette had discovered a great secret that the duke’s death was a murder and that the culprit responsible for his death was the duchy’s madam, Molga Diollus.
“She didn’t use poison. It was a drug that didn’t have any problems on the outside but was deadly when taken with alcohol. Looking at this, you can tell that this person creates gaps to escape and handles things skillfully, right?”
“So my doubts didn’t just stop there. Grandma—no, since Molga came into our family, my grandfather, my biological grandmother, and my mother died…”
“Of course, these are just guesses without evidence right now, but I don’t feel all those deaths were accidental.”
Lark agreed with the keen Rubette’s guess.
“I’m sorry for asking you to do this, Your Highness.”
“It’s hard to investigate Molga while being isolated in Lubon. Of course, I don’t have any information source, and in many ways, I have a lot of difficulties on my own.”
It was rather good. Lark felt comfortable knowing that he could do something for Rubette. And even if it was not because of Rubette, if all these suspicions turn out to be true… Molga deserved to be judged by the law.
“What’s the best way to kill someone inside a house sneakily?” Lark, who was scanning the paper, muttered and raised his eyes sharply.
Lark and Ren’s gazes interlocked in midair. They both laughed and said at the same time.
“Poison.”
“Probably poison, right?”
Lark quickly picked up some papers and put them away.
“It’s obvious just by looking at the fact that she bribed the attending physician and laid a hand on Duke Diollus. There’s a high probability that the lives of other members of the duchy were threatened in a similar way.”
“Mm, but if that’s all true, isn’t she really crazy?”
“She wouldn’t have used plain poison outright. She must’ve poisoned them covertly, that not even the victims knew they were being poisoned,” Lark said, flapping a piece of paper he soon found. “She must have connections outside to procure that safely, and I think this might be it.”
“It must be that woman’s parental family, isn’t it? Count Bert?” When Ren said this without asking what the selected piece of paper was, Lark nodded.
“That’s right.”
“The biological father of Molga Diollus, Count Bert. Originally, he was the count lord of the central Bert territory, but when Molga Diollus became a duchess, the late Duke Diollus handed over one of his counties.” Ren, who pulled himself into a seat, continued to add. “Right now, he lives from good words in the county. He is said to be humble and has integrity, living only in his fief without thinking of snooping around the political world despite being the parent of Duchess Diollus.”
“He manages his image properly.”
“But something is interesting.”
“What’s that?”
“Gail Bert, the heir of the family and younger brother of Molga Diollus.”
Hearing Ren’s words, the corners of Lark’s mouth rose slowly as he examined Gail Bert’s personal image.
“He is a nobleman with a keen eye for herbalism who has obtained a license as a member of the National Assembly…”
“Right. The central Bert territory was originally famous for its high-quality medicinal herbs. Gail Bert was known as an herbalist genius from a young age.”
“Aha.” Lark, who nodded at Ren’s words, leaned back and muttered as he sat down. “Isn’t this very shady?”
“It’s downright suspicious. He’s good at medicine, so he’ll be good at poison. Isn’t it too obvious?
“That’s right. Well, we’ll find something if we dig here. Oh, and let’s move carefully from now on.” Lark, who got up, tapped Ren on the shoulder several times and added, “I realized a lot through this incident.”
Lisbeth was falsely accused, and Rubette was even sentenced to isolation to share Lisbeth’s punishment. The incident had convinced him of the sword intentions of the 2nd Prince Nathan.
In the future, we should not move hastily in everything. We have to be careful and act carefully.
“Molga wouldn’t know that I had become this suspicious. I deliberately left my dad’s doctor as it is, and he keeps giving him medicine. I just made him stop drinking it.”
“I don’t want to give her a chance to step out. You have to act carefully.”
Lark shook his head, thinking of Loubet.
“You’re really awesome…”
Wasn’t she a stark contrast to himself, who acted foolishly and was properly counterattacked?
Lark, who was scratching his head bitterly, soon raised his eyes fiercely. “Don’t give them a hole to escape through.” Even if it’s to pay off my huge debt to Rubette… “No matter what happens, I will hold it with my own hands and dedicate it to you.”
***
The first day of isolation, Lubon. In a manor within the forest with good mountains and water.
An hour and a half after arriving here, I was furious.
<What is the current situation, Wishit?>
Having been ignored exactly three times, I sent a transmission to Wishit.
“Are these damn bastards out of their minds? How could they be this rude? They must die today.”
“Greg, do the right thing. These things have tarnished my face. Knowing the identity of the esteemed one, they dared to-!”
Right now, in front of me was Count Lubon with a savage-looking navy mustache, his skinny and pale servant Greg, and… two young siblings, who were trembling between them.
Wishit shrugged next to me and replied.
<As the youngest daughter of a great aristocratic family who got into a lot of trouble and was only sentenced to a one-year quarantine in Lubon, how terrifying you must look from their point of view. They must’ve tried to look better in front of you.>
<If they wanted to look good to me, they should’ve listened carefully to what I said. I told him to stop for the third time, but I was ignored.>
Wishit was startled by my angry voice.
At that time.
“You still don’t want to go away?!” Greg’s hand swung into the air. Towards a girl who seemed to be only six years old.
Swii—!
“Ugh!” The older brother, protecting his little sister, was beaten on the head by Greg’s fierce hand.
Fortunately— no, how could this be called fortunate?
“Hey! I told you not to! Stop it!” I jumped into the mess with my eyes wide open.
The siblings trembled as they hugged each other. The sister was crying, and the brother was gnashing his teeth and glaring at me.
“H-How dare that crazy thing stares at the esteemed one? Greg!”
“Count! I told you to stop! I’m fine!”
“My apologies, Count. This bastard has always been arrogant about everything-”
“No! Hey! What did you say your name was? Greg? Don’t hit him!”
“Punish him heavily! The princess is really angry! Make him crawl at her feet in fear whenever she passes by!”
“Shit! Hey, Count! Please listen to me-!”
“I will do as you command!”
“Hey, hey!”
Greg walked over and grabbed the boy’s hair.
At that moment.
I fully gave up my plan to live quietly for a year while maintaining an amicable relationship with my vassal, Count Lubon, who was the estate’s managing agent.
“Hey!!!”
Suddenly, all of them stopped at the sound of my high-pitched voice.
I strode over to Greg, who looked back at me in bewilderment and kicked him in the shin.
“Ogh!”
“Now you have totally…” Then I turned to Count Lubon, who was sitting on the sidelines, and said, “Ignored me eight times.”