Contrary to Nain, Rafez shook his head.

It was shocking in many ways.

It was already surprising enough that the count’s family and the other pro-Grand-Duke nobles had planted spies inside the Grand Ducal House. But what was even more shocking was that someone connected to House Bererian, the very center of it all, was also among the knights.

“I understand this must be difficult for you to accept. But the culprit is undoubtedly the count’s spy.”

“No.”

“The kitchen is responsible for managing the oranges from the Grand Duchy. They are the only ones who can enter the storage room where the oranges were kept. And those oranges ended up flowing into the count’s estate.”

Even so, Rafez still shook his head.

This incident was clearly the work of House Lennon.

If not the duke’s family, then perhaps House Jin, but there was no way they would entrust something this important to a marquis family.

They had attempted to poison Lacy with that poison from the ducal family.

So how could the culprit be the count’s family?

“If they were sent directly from the Grand Duchy…”

“Your Highness, there is no record of the Grand Duchy sending oranges. I already looked into that as well. If the former Grand Duke had sent them, why would he have done so secretly without leaving a record?”

Nain’s words were not wrong.

“Please show me the records from the search of the suspects’ rooms. The answer may be there.”

And Rafez already knew that answer.

Just as Nain said, there had been something strange. But since she, too, worked in the kitchen, he simply had not thought that secretly taking oranges would have anything to do with this incident.

After a moment of silence, Rafez nodded. Mollys then found the records and handed them to Nain.

“…It is Juni.”

After examining the records, Nain immediately found the answer.

Several oranges had been found in Juni’s room.

“She must have hidden a few while smuggling them out to the count’s estate. Maids often make mistakes like this. That is why she could not hide her anxiety during the interrogation.”

“She may be a spy, but that does not mean she is the culprit.”

“Your Highness, what are you hesitating over? Is it because the other party is the count’s family? Is it not only natural that the count’s family, who intended to have Lady Mary taken in as your mistress, would try to poison Her Highness the Grand Duchess?”

It fit far too perfectly to deny.

“Look at the records after that. They are from today’s confrontation. If we are to see Juni as the culprit, is Jeff not far too strange?”

Rafez was certain that the culprit was not Jeff, but a third party.

A mysterious man who had entered dressed like Jeff.

And that man had framed Jeff for the crime.

He had thought all that remained was to find out who that person was.

“Could it not have been another cook who entered, and the others simply mistook him? If not, then perhaps Jeff really did enter, but lied because he was afraid of being accused as the culprit.”

Rafez said nothing.

From that silence alone, Nain was able to understand what Rafez meant.

“…If you insist, then I will investigate the remaining suspects again.”

After Nain bowed and left the room, Rafez let out the sigh he had been holding back.

“Your Highness, Jeff is most likely the one lying. There are hardly any men in the Grand Ducal House who are as short as Jeff. Scott is about the same height, but Scott was there, was he not?”

Mollys, who had been watching him with worried eyes, carefully added his opinion as well.

Judging by the current situation, it made more sense to believe that Jeff had lied.

However, Rafez had been sitting there as if deep in thought, without a single movement, without even the sound of his breathing.

Then he suddenly sprang to his feet.

At Rafez’s action, Mollys flinched in even greater surprise.

“I have to go to Lacy.”

“Pardon?”

Rafez began leaving the room without hesitation.

Even though he did not even know where she was.

* * *

The clouds had cleared, and the sun had gently shown its face in the warm weather.

A silver-haired girl was sitting on a wooden swing.

The swing swayed in the softly blowing breeze, and her clear, pale-violet eyes were so focused on reading that she had no attention to spare for anything else.

“Princess.”

At the cold voice, Kelly raised her head.

At the same time, the person who snatched the book from her hands was none other than the Empress, Adelaide.

“Mother?”

“What do you think you’re doing? Skipping your studies to read this ridiculous novel. What on earth is going through your head?”

“But the weather is so lovely. If I miss this moment, I’ll regret it.”

“Yes, you said that well. If you miss this moment, you certainly will regret it. Especially if your lacking qualifications allow the Grand Duke to take the throne from you.”

“…Mother.”

Kelly’s silver hair was practically a symbol of the Imperial Family, and her pale-violet eyes had been inherited from Adelaide.

Adelaide was a woman with black hair, but the Emperor had loved her beautiful pale-violet eyes.

In the Empire, what one was born with mattered most in order to become Emperor.

A person with silver hair and silver eyes—the symbol of the Imperial Family—was seen as the most suitable heir. That person was the current Emperor, Gloph.

And there had been one more.

But that person was already dead.

That was why Kelly, the only person with silver hair now, was currently the closest heir. Unfortunately, there was one mountain she had to overcome.

That was the fact that, until now, the Empire had never had a female Emperor.

Even the imperial law stated that only a man could become Emperor.

That was why the current Empire—and Gloph’s imperial throne—was said to be at its most unstable.

Because there was no certain successor to inherit it.

“The Grand Duke can’t become Emperor anyway. He’s no longer a member of the Imperial Family. And he’s someone who’s going to die soon, isn’t he?”

“So you intend to trust in that and keep playing around like this? You are a princess. Even if you cannot match the Grand Duke, you must at least show the dignity of the Imperial Family through your existence and abilities!”

“What does it matter how capable he is? In the end, he can’t become Emperor. Without being born with the symbol of the Imperial Family, one cannot become Emperor, and I was born with it. That should be enough, Mother.”

Kelly could not understand Adelaide.

The answer had already been decided in the end, so why worry about something unnecessary?

It was an unfair world, but that was precisely what this Empire was.

“But you are a woman, and the Grand Duke is a man.”

“His Majesty will change the imperial law if he wants to make his own bloodline the heir.”

“Princess, why are you so certain that only you can become the heir? You have silver hair, but you do not have the eyes. Do you not know that you are incomplete?”

“The complete one is already dead. Because you killed him, Mother.”

Adelaide’s expression stiffened.

“And you will soon kill the Grand Duke too.”

“…No.”

Her facial muscles, stiff and difficult to move, twitched as Adelaide shook her head.

“I did not kill him. The Crown Prince was merely killed by the war.”

“And you were the one who urged him to start that war.”

But it did not seem to work on Kelly.

As if she did not care in the slightest that her mother had frozen in place, she took the book back from Adelaide’s hand and sat on the swing again.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. I have no interest in the throne.”

* * *

“Why are you reading ancient books when you don’t even know what they are, Your Highness?”

Siz, who had been watching Lacy from beside her, could no longer hold back her curiosity and asked.

The many books Lacy had spread out were each written in different languages.

Some looked similar to one another, some were completely different, and some resembled the Imperial language.

“The way they look is interesting. The Imperial language could not have been this developed from the very beginning either. I can’t be certain, but if the countries these books came from still existed today, their languages would likely have developed too.”

“I suppose so… Come to think of it, Your Highness, your tastes seem quite similar.”

“To whom?”

“To Lord Pierre. The place with the most books in the marquis family is his room. I’ve also seen him reading books written in languages other than Imperial before.”

Lacy lifted her eyes from the book, stared into empty space, and nodded.

“Pierre can also write in the language of the Kingdom of Benelr.”

“Is that true? But I heard that even in the kingdom, many people now use the Imperial language…”

“That is proof that they are being consumed by the Empire. The old Kingdom of Petin was the same. Losing a country does not simply mean losing territory. It means losing its culture, way of life, language, and everything that could define that country.”

“If you mean the Kingdom of Petin, that was the place the previous Emperor conquered, correct? It happened so long ago that I don’t think many people know about it now.”

“Because all records were erased. Even the fact that a place called the Kingdom of Petin ever existed.”

The answer to Siz’s question did not come from Lacy’s mouth.

A low voice sounded from behind Siz, and she turned around.

“Your Highness.”

“Do you know this as well? That the Grand Duchy was originally land belonging to the Kingdom of Petin.”