After locking Fabrice safely in the bedroom, Giselle returned to her office.
I then proceeded to evaluate the credibility of his testimony.
“Angel.”
The man called Angel appeared from the darkness.
He was a man with dark skin and a large body.
His thick arms are decorated with geometric tattoos.
His skin color and appearance were uncommon in Valois, and he seemed foreign to the eye at first sight.
Angel is originally from the Haz tribe, and was a slave.
He could not bear to be beaten by his master, so he fled across the sea to another country.
And so he arrived in Valois.
Because he was already a slave, he did not hesitate to try to steal Giselle's bag to meet her.
If not, I would have reported him to the police.
But the moody Miss Giselle changed her mind and decided to take him in.
Since then, Angel has been serving her as his master.
Of course, not as an assistant to her in her social life, but in her work of this kind, in the dark.
“Yes, miss.”
“Do you think it was Count Engliger who spread rumors about the Second Prince?”
“There is a possibility, but the Count was absent when the Second Prince scandal broke out due to negotiations to stop fighting.
I think a third person intervened.”
“Third person?”
Angel said smiling:
“It is certain that he had a reason to overthrow the Second Prince.”
"Hmm!
You mean the First Prince?"
Giselle was listening to Angel's words eagerly.
“He can also do this if he wants, but according to his behavior, the possibility of him carrying out a hidden conspiracy is weak.”
“So, who do you think did it?”
Angel said firmly:
“The Crown Princess is the most likely right now.”
“The Crown Prince Princess?...Isn’t she a shy person who only appears at official events?
I have been living in social life for years, and I have only seen her face a few times.”
When he mentioned that surprising name, I checked with Giselle Angel.
“Of course.
This is what it seems, but the number of people who belong to the Knowledge Society, which is secretly managed by the Crown Prince Princess and whose affairs are only revealed, exceeds four.
All of them are senior people.
Also, it turns out that the deal to import cobalt stone from Inland was planned by the Crown Prince Princess.”
"Yes."
Giselle motioned for Angel to continue.
Angel added:
“Recently in Inland, an epidemic of unknown cause resulted in the cassava harvest being reduced to half of last year’s harvest, so the King of Inland was bemoaning imports from abroad, so the Crown Princess seized this opportunity and exchanged the cassava - which is not used for food in Valois - for advanced grade cobalt stone in Inland.”
When Angel finished speaking, Giselle laughed out loud.
“Things are going to get interesting.”
“She's a no-brainer, miss.”
Angel said in a low voice.
“Don’t worry, Angel, you know my nature.”
“This will become a game that does not end until one of us dies, whether she becomes the queen or I become the queen.”
Angel didn't answer.
His silence was an answer too.
“But why are you talking about this now, Angel?”
When Giselle looked at him with a slight smile, Angel quickly knelt down and answered loudly.
A loud sound came out when he knelt down, specifically from his knees, “Goong,” and the ground shook.
“I apologize.
I found no trace of that.
It took time.
The investigation continued and the whole plan was only recently discovered.
I had no intention of deceiving you at all, miss.”
“Lower your voice.”
“I apologize, miss.
Please forgive me.”
Angel remained in a kneeling position, bowing his head to the ground in supplication.
When his head hit the marble floor hard, a sound was made like the sound of a walnut shell cracking.
After Giselle sat silent for a few minutes, Angel remained motionless, placing his palms on the floor.
Giselle asked him in a low voice:
“So, she was the one who kidnapped my prince from the safe house last time as well?”
“Yes, it is expected to be by people belonging to the Crown Princess.”
She thought she had trapped Fabrice safely, but then he disappeared like vapor, so Giselle tried to find out who did it.
However, whether this was due to the investigation's failure, or was due to the ingenuity of whoever brought Fabrice out, it was not possible to reach it easily.
But finally, Angel revealed the identity of those who stole Fabrice from her.
“Ha ha.”
Giselle laughed as if satisfied.
“Get up, Angel.
If anyone sees it, they will think I’m hurting you, right?”
“Thank you very much, miss.
Thank you very much.”
Blood was trickling from Angel's forehead when he got up.
"Oh my God!
Your forehead is hurt.
I'll fix it for you."
Giselle said with a sweet smile.
"No, miss!
These wounds are nothing."
"What's wrong with you, Angel!
Don't make another mistake, understand?"
“Thank you for your patience, miss.”
“Okay, no problem, go now and get good results.”
Giselle clapped her hands while smiling.
Angel came out with a serious face.
Matthew Priem was deep in the dark, thinking.
The day of execution is the next new moon night.
There's still about a week to go.
Review his plan in detail.
I didn't want to do this to this extent.
Perhaps it is because he has grown older and become more sensitive.
He tried hard to ignore the pricking of what remained of his conscience.
The mother and then her son, the first prince.
He tried to justify his actions to himself, saying: In the great current of history, which is the accession of Fabrice to the throne, this incident will be only a small current.
He intended to get rid of the First Prince in the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way.
disloyalty.
What a sweet word!
Matthew pulled out a small picture that was in his desk drawer.
It was a photo of Marianne at her coming-of-age celebration.
His little daughter's face was now blurry.
My dear daughter.
My only daughter.
If she were still alive, her white hair would be showing by now.
Or would wrinkles start appearing around her eyes?
My daughter who I can't see forever.
Matthew scanned Marianne's openly laughing face.
When will I die to meet you?
Matthew rubbed his eyes, which had grown weak.
No tears were shed.
Even though it would be ten years since his daughter's death, it was impossible for him not to be affected emotionally whenever he remembered Marianne.
My daughter, I will inevitably achieve your dream.
I will inevitably achieve your son’s accession to the throne.
Matthew laughed fiercely in the darkness.
Then he got up from his seat and went to the bedroom.
His wife, Anne, was lying in bed reading something.
She had not yet fallen asleep.
“The night is far away, why haven’t you slept yet?”
Matthew asked as he took off his robe.
Duchess Anne answered while hiding the book she was reading.
Her panicked response was distorted.
“…It’s nothing serious, go to sleep quickly.”
Moreover, what is the meaning of that suspicious answer?
Matthew glanced at the book Anne was reading.
It was a very heavy book, with an old-looking leather cover, with no writing on it.
Matthew said very suspiciously to Anne, who aroused his suspicion by her action:
“You came back to get strange things from wherever?”
"Strange!
It's just a book."
Matthew said to Anne, who was very angry, as if he was admonishing her:
“This is not the first time you have kept suspicious items.”
“What are you saying?”
Anne disagreed faintly.
“Didn’t you show up a few years ago as an itinerant psychic and make a mess, claiming that he was doing divination and summoning spirits?”
“Why are you mentioning something that happened years ago now?...”
Anne's voice softened.
“And this was because I wanted to see our daughter Marianne so much...”
Finally, the sensitive Duchess Anne began to sob.
“I want to see our daughter Marianne, what do I do?”
Matthew tried to calm the Duchess with a tired face.
He did not understand Anne's desire to see their daughter.
But he knew it, so he was sorry.
But in Valois, where the punishment for deviants from the state religion was severe, he could not let her set up an altar while chanting incantations of unknown origin.
“Stop crying.”
“I want to see Marianne…”
Matthew raised Anne.
At the same time, he was recalling his memory.
Even if it was a few years ago, Matthew Priem remembered it clearly.
How much he suffered to get rid of the strange things and the spirit-talker who was in the palace at that time.
He burned all the things, and drove the spirit-creator outside the city gate.
Fortunately for him, he had realized this before he was accused of deviance.
He forced the household to keep their tongues, and he lived for a while as an overseer of the church.
How anxious he was, fearing that someone would inform him of his deviation!
When Anne stopped crying and wiped her nose, Matthew tried to calm her down by saying:
“The accusation of deviation will upset us, so be moderate.”
Matthew said, then lay down as he usually did.
Anne answered slowly:
“…Okay, I’ll do it.
Go to sleep.”
Matthew fell asleep quickly.
When he fell asleep, Anne, who had been waiting, took out the book she had hidden and began reading it intently.
This was the book passed down from the ruler “Earth Mother” that Fantine had recommended to Anne.
The Duchess had been alienated from the religion of the Haz tribe.
The reason for this is that she witnessed some miracles.
She felt a severe headache as if her head was going to crack, so when she prayed as Fantine had instructed her, she was healed.
Once again, she almost had an accident as she stumbled badly inside the palace, so she predicted this before it happened and avoided the accident.
Duchess Anne had a special interest in religions other than their own since ancient times.
Therefore, Matthew almost got into trouble several times.
But, due to his authority, he was able to settle the matter, otherwise he would have easily been accused of deviance.
When Anne was sure that Matthew had fallen asleep and was snoring louder, she quietly left the bedroom.
Then I went to a small room that was used as a storeroom.
It was in this room that Anne set up an altar on Fantine's advice.
Of course, from Fantine's point of view, this would have remained conclusive evidence of the Duchess's worship of a perverted religion.
Anne went into that room, and wiped down the statue of the mother.
While Matthew Priem was only trying to put Fabrice on the throne, he did not know that this was happening in his house.