The Duchess, watching Ariel with a strange look, gestured to Caroline again. 

Caroline returned from the bedroom with a rectangular wooden box which she placed in front of Ariel. 

The Duchess repeated the same words she had said when she had presented the bag of mana stones. 

“Open it. Inside you will find the true letter your father sent in response to the remnants of the rebellion.” 

With trembling hands, Ariel opened the box and carefully removed the rolled parchment. 

Swallowing dryly, she untied the ribbon and carefully unrolled the parchment. 

“I would rather hang myself and die than ever take your side. I am the head of a founding family of the Pentium Empire. I will do everything in my power to destroy you, the enemies of the Empire. Do not try to influence me again.”

“Father…”

A ragged breath escaped her lips. The handwriting on the parchment was unmistakably her father’s. 

And so was the content of the letter, a powerful testament to her father’s unwavering loyalty and conviction. 

It really was her father’s letter.

“Ah…” 

Ariel ran her trembling fingers over the words on the parchment. 

As she watched Ariel begin to break down, the Duchess finally brought up the buried truth. 

“Your father resisted pressure from the rebels and firmly rejected them. He even pretended to send a reply to locate their hideout. That was the truth behind the recent conspiracy of treason.” 

Ariel’s hand froze in mid-movement as it hovered over her father’s writing. Her reddened eyes glared at the Duchess with burning anger. 

“You forged the evidence! You ruined my father!” 

The Duchess coolly dismissed Ariel’s rage, sharp enough to lash out at her at any moment. 

“Foolish girl. Didn’t I tell you before? I saw the evidence being fabricated with my own eyes. Now that I have decided to reveal the whole truth, what reason would I have to evade the question?” 

“Then…who…?” 

Ariel’s voice trailed off as she desperately searched for an answer. 

Duchess Viastèus clicked her tongue and locked eyes with Ariel. 

“Use that sharp mind of yours. Think carefully. Who was it that brought your father’s so-called evidence of treason to His Majesty?” 

At that moment, a single name popped into Ariel’s mind. 

Someone with the same black hair and dark eyes as the Duchess. Someone who, like the Duchess, had shown her an inexplicable and cruel coldness. 

“Kylance.” 

It was him. Kylance had forged the evidence. 

Ariel’s hands shook violently. Kylance, the man she had once believed to be her destiny, the one she had loved with all her heart, had turned her father into a traitor. 

“Why… why would he…” 

Her voice wavered dangerously, barely escaping her lips. Each word caught in her throat, making it difficult to even finish her sentence. 

Why would Kylance do this? Why would he destroy her father and set him up as a traitor? 

‘Why would he…?’ 

“Ha… haaa…” 

Ariel’s breaths grew shallower and shallower. As her face grew pale, the Duchess, watching her closely, finally gave her the answer. 

The reason Kylance had framed her father as a traitor. 

“Because your father committed an unforgivable crime and concealed the truth.” 

“What… what do you mean…?” 

“I told you, didn’t I? One thing you were right about and one thing you were wrong about. I’ve already told you what you were right about. Now it’s time for you to hear what you were wrong about. Listen carefully, Ariel Blante.”

With eyes as cold as ice, the Duchess delivered the damning revelation. 

“The one who killed the late Grand Duke Seyerd and his wife – Kylance’s parents – was none other than your father. That is the filthy truth the Marquis has been hiding all this time.” 

Ariel froze, unable to speak, her entire body stiffening like a statue. 

‘Who killed who…?’ 

It felt as if someone had struck the back of her head with brutal force, leaving Ariel’s mind completely blank. Even her trembling hands became still. 

She couldn’t believe it. Her father had killed the late Grand Duke and Duchess? 

Ariel shook her head slowly. 

“That’s impossible…” 

Yes, it was absurd. Why would her father ever kill the late Grand Duke and Duchess? 

She knew of her father’s unswerving loyalty to the Empire. A man like him killing members of the Imperial family? It was unthinkable. 

Ariel rose abruptly, her voice sharp and unyielding. She wouldn’t stand for this madness any longer. There was no need to listen to such lies. 

“Duchess, you have crossed the line! How dare you say that my father killed the late Grand Duke and Duchess! You will take responsibility for those words…!” 

‘Thud.’ 

Before Ariel could finish her words, the Duchess threw something on the table. 

What she placed prominently on the table was a very old gold coin. 

Ariel recognised it at once. It was one of the gold coins that the founding Emperor of the Pentium Empire had given to the founding noble families, each with their family crest engraved on it. 

But on this coin, the crest had been deliberately damaged, leaving the surface dented and uneven. 

Still, Ariel could see it – the faint remains of the Blante family crest etched into the damaged surface. 

“Well, it seems you can see it too. Faint as it is, the Blante family crest is still there. Do you know where I got this?” 

“……” 

“From one of the knights of the late Grand Duke and Duchess. The very knight who escorted their carriage on the day of the so-called accident, only to disappear without a trace. This coin was found on him and he confessed everything. He revealed that he had been hired by the Marquis of Blante to kill the late Grand Duke and Duchess, and that this was his payment”. 

“You accuse my father on the testimony of a single knight?”

“Not just any knight. His name was Deobic Farcal.” 

Ariel, who had replied sharply, suddenly froze. The name was too familiar. 

Her father’s friend and knight… Owen Farcal. 

“It can’t be…” 

As shock filled Ariel’s eyes, the Duchess smiled faintly and replied, 

“Yes, he’s Owen Farcal’s son.” 

“Ha…”

A stunned sigh escaped Ariel’s lips as the weight of the revelation fell upon her. 

The Duchess watched her reaction coldly and continued. 

“Farcal owed a great debt to the Marquis of Blante. Had it not been for the Marquis, he would have been ruined long ago, branded with the insult of a nobleman and stripped of everything.” 

“……”

“If the Marquis of Blante had asked him to do anything, even murder, it’s doubtful he could have refused.”

She knew only too well how close the Farcals were to the Marquisate of Blante. 

The Duchess smiled as she watched Ariel, speechless. 

“His loyalty was remarkable. Though he confessed the truth, he ended up dead before he could even be brought to His Majesty. And this coin? It’s all that’s left. The Blante family crest is faint, but it’s there. But what can you do with just one coin? The witness and the murderer are both dead.”

Ariel closed her eyes tightly. 

Could it all be true? Had her father really given Deobic such a terrible order? 

Ariel couldn’t bring herself to believe it. 

There had to be some misunderstanding. 

Why would her father want to kill the late Grand Duke? 

“It doesn’t make sense…”

Ariel raised her eyes, firmly rejecting the Duchess’s words. 

“Why? What reason would my father have for murdering the late Grand Duke and Duchess? Don’t accuse my father on the testimony of a single knight and a coin! My father had no reason to kill them!” 

She shouted, forgetting all propriety. Her mind was overwhelmed, struggling to process the torrent of incomprehensible accusations being thrown at her. 

But the Duchess was unshaken. As if she had anticipated this reaction, she continued without hesitation. 

“Why do you think he had no reason? He had plenty of reasons. You just don’t know them because you were too young at the time.”

The Duchess continued with a soft sigh. 

“Before the Grand Duke and Duchess were murdered, His Majesty entrusted the Grand Duke, Alex, with full authority over the Empire’s waterways project. At the time, your father, the Marquis, controlled an estate on a large lake and profited greatly from supplying water to the surrounding areas.” 

“And what does that have to do with…?”

“What do you think will happen if the canal project succeeds? The surrounding areas would no longer be dependent on your father’s land for their water supply. The Marquis would lose an important source of income. He was vehemently opposed to the canal project, more vehemently than anyone else. It was at this time that his relationship with His Majesty began to deteriorate.” 

The Duchess’s face twisted for a moment, as if remembering these events, before she fixed Ariel with a sharp stare. 

“But His Majesty continued with the project, and when Alex, the late Grand Duke, finally discovered a way to make it work, your father killed the Grand Duke and Duchess when he learned about it. All for his own gain, daring to strike down members of the Imperial family!” 

*No!”

Ariel shouted in fierce denial, her reddened eyes burning with emotion. 

“My father didn’t oppose the project for his own gain! He opposed it for the good of the public! Why would a man like him kill the Grand Duke and Duchess?” 

Ariel’s voice trembled with conviction as she spoke. She may have been young, but she remembered vividly the events surrounding the canal project. It had been one of the most controversial projects in the Empire, causing widespread discord. 

Her father’s opposition had not been out of self-interest. He had argued against the project because of its risks, warning that it would lead to the exploitation of countless Imperial citizens for labour. He had spoken out, not for his wealth, but for the people. 

But the Duchess of Viasteus sneered coldly, as if Ariel’s words weren’t worth her attention. 

“Of course you don’t want to believe it. You’ve spent your whole life basking in your father’s love, respecting him as a man of honour. But no matter how much you deny it, the truth doesn’t change.” 

“These are only circumstantial accusations.”

Ariel began, only to be interrupted by the Duchess. 

“If, as you say, the Marquis didn’t kill the late Grand Duke and Duchess, why would Kylance go so far as to fabricate evidence and brand your father a traitor?” 

“……”

Ariel fell silent, her rebuttal caught in her throat. 

“Do you think that we – or rather, do you think that Grand Duke Seyerd, who rules the North, would manipulate such a grave matter without proper investigation or certainty?” 

“That’s…”

As Ariel hesitated, a flash of murderous intent flickered in the Duchess’s eyes. 

“Kylance was desperate. Your father had silenced the witness and erased all evidence linking him to the murder of Kylance’s parents. That’s why Kylance had no choice – he fabricated evidence just to put your father on trial.”

Could her father really have killed the late Grand Duke and Duchess? 

The Duchess of Viasteus’ relentless words began to shake Ariel’s mind. 

At that moment, a long-forgotten memory of something Kylance had said long ago resurfaced in her mind.