“But is what she said actually true?”

Someone cut Duke Brienne off. It was Count Vallenberg, one of the few nobles who remained in the moderate faction.

Selina’s father spoke calmly.

“As you well know, Your Grace, Lady Vivian has at times been known to say things that lack coherence.”

Things that lack coherence. A remarkably softened way of saying she was not in her right mind.

“Without other evidence or witnesses, deciding on the culprit of a poisoning based solely on her statement seems a little hasty, don’t you think?”

A few people nodded along with Count Vallenberg’s words.

But Duke Brienne scoffed.

“Evidence, when the culprit has confessed to the crime herself. Count Vallenberg, I understand what you’re trying to do, but this concerns my daughter. I doubt you’d be saying the same if it were your own.”

“That’s rather a strong word, ‘trying to do.’ I am not the sort of man who plays politics with someone’s life, Your Grace.”

It was a sharp retort that seemed aimed squarely at Duke Brienne. But this time, objections came flying from another direction.

“Why would we need evidence when the culprit has already admitted to it?”

“It’s not as though we don’t know what Lady Vivian is like. She is more than capable of something that terrible!”

The nobles aligned with Duke Brienne began raising their voices one by one. The Duke’s swollen influence, grown even larger since Marquis Lorentz’s downfall over the matter of Olivia, made itself felt all over again.

Blair let out a quiet breath and spoke.

“I believe Count Vallenberg makes a valid point.”

The voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but firm and steady, and the murmuring crowd went quiet.

“So Her Highness the Princess Consort is here as well.”

Duke Brienne’s cold gaze fixed on her.

“Agreeing with Count Vallenberg, are we. How very regrettable.”

“It seems everyone here is more interested in repeating the same things than in understanding what actually happened.”

Blair said it bluntly and swept her gaze across the nobles gathered in the hall.

“On the day something happened to Miss Anais, Lady Vivian had gone to volunteer at a royal-sponsored orphanage. Does everyone here know this before speaking?”

“It seems you’ve overlooked that it was a morning engagement. Lady Vivian returned that day around the end of the afternoon tea hour.”

Duke Brienne answered with a composed smile, but Blair didn’t back down.

“Then it would have been right around sunset. Have you forgotten the testimony the maid gave at the last inquiry?”

Blair recalled the memory of that day, still vivid in her mind.

“She said she saw someone steal the robetaine from Olivia’s room just as the sun was beginning to set. That the person then entered Anais’s room.”

Her voice hardened without meaning to.

“Would it have been reasonable for Lady Vivian, who had only just returned from outside at that hour, to have made her way all the way to the frons’s quarters in the Queen’s palace and done all of this?”

The nobles on Duke Brienne’s side went silent.

“As it happens, I was once falsely accused of something I didn’t do.”

Blair looked directly at the person responsible for that false accusation as she spoke.

“The same thing must not be allowed to happen again. We need to carefully establish the truth, and—”

“Well. It may be that Lady Vivian did not necessarily carry out the act herself.”

Duke Brienne cut Blair off and stepped forward.

“And…… was it around dusk that the maid mentioned? I don’t quite recall.”

The Duke narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, stroking his chin. The sheer audacity of his expression made Blair’s blood rise.

“We’ll have to ask that maid again. Oh, but didn’t she meet with an accident?”

The Duke rubbed his brow and murmured.

“Her name was…… Marie, wasn’t it.”

“Ha. What did you say.”

“We can’t call the dead as witnesses, so that’s not something we can pursue.”

Blair felt sick watching the corner of his mouth curl upward.

How could a person be this vile. The very man who had used her and then taken her life.

Blair bit down hard on her lower lip, certain that if she opened her mouth, curses would come pouring out.

Count Vallenberg stepped in.

“Even so, there’s no motive. What possible reason would Lady Vivian have to harm a frons?”

“To keep our house in check, perhaps. Or who knows. Her condition is hardly stable.”

The Duke added with a sneer.

“That’s something a formal inquiry can determine, Count.”

“You want to go straight to a formal inquiry? Against the mother of His Highness the Prince?”

At Count Vallenberg’s words, the hall erupted into noise again. Blair was seething at Duke Brienne’s vicious tactics.

“Your Highness……”

Tilda gripped her arm as if to steady her, and even that worried touch wasn’t enough to calm her when—

“His Majesty the King!”

An unexpected figure entered the hall. Kalintz, who had been summoned by King Rubens since morning, was with him.

“We greet Your Majesty and Your Highness the Prince.”

The sudden appearance of the King left Duke Brienne and everyone else bowing their heads in flustered haste.

“It has been some time since I’ve seen so many gathered like this.”

King Rubens made no effort to hide his displeasure.

“So. You want to hold a formal inquiry? Into Vivian? Is that what you want, Brienne?”

“……My daughter’s unjust death is at stake, Your Majesty.”

“What I cannot understand is why, after all the commotion over the false accusation, no proper investigation was ever conducted.”

“That is not so, Your Majesty. I have been conducting my own investigation all along—”

“In Valia, you mean.”

At the King’s low, flat voice, Duke Brienne had no choice but to fall silent.

“In any case, I have no intention of letting this matter pass without action. You need not work yourselves into such a frenzy over it.”

The unexpected statement made Blair look at Kalintz in surprise. His expression gave nothing away.

“However, I intend to conduct this investigation myself. So whoever has evidence, bring it to me.”

The hall stirred again. Duke Brienne pushed back immediately.

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, this concerns Lady Vivian. I worry that having Your Majesty conduct the investigation may invite unwanted criticism.”

“It also concerns the death of the daughter you grieve so deeply.”

King Rubens cut through Duke Brienne’s implication of bias without hesitation.

“I intend to make all evidence and witnesses available to the tribunal. So anyone with something to say is welcome to attend and speak.”

❀❀❀

Vivian was required to move to the north tower until the matter was resolved. It was the result of Duke Brienne and numerous officials pleading their case.

“This is no different from confinement. I expected as much, but……”

Blair murmured with a bitter expression.

“There’s no other way. The pressure from the nobles is too strong. And His Majesty knows full well how serious her condition has become.”

Kalintz let out a weary sigh. Blair asked carefully at the sight of him.

“……Is she still the same?”

“Exactly the same. She was still screaming right up until the moment the tower door closed.”

Vivian had done nothing but repeat that she would kill everyone, consumed by rage. The rumor spread quickly, worsening public opinion of her further still.

“At this rate, we’ll lose to Duke Brienne. Whatever the truth may be, he’ll make Lady Vivian the culprit.”

And he would use that as grounds to push for Kalintz’s abdication.

In fact, voices calling for Princess Lina to be named the heir were growing louder among the nobility.

The argument forming was that Princess Lina, the legitimate daughter of the current queen and a figure who could strengthen ties with Valia, was more fitting than the child of a woman who had lost her mind.

“If only I could have even one proper conversation with my mother.”

Kalintz murmured with a hollow look.

But contrary to his wish, Vivian’s condition worsened day by day.

Then one night, rain lashed against the windows hard enough to shatter them, and grim news arrived from the north tower.

Lady Vivian had attempted to take her own life.

❀❀❀

“Had it been any later, she would have lost her life.”

Mediang relayed Vivian’s condition with a dark expression.

Kalintz looked at his mother lying there, her face as pale as the white sheets beneath her. She seemed utterly lifeless, like a doll.

“Will she regain consciousness?”

“I am sorry, Your Highness. At this point, it is difficult to say……”

Mediang averted his gaze and trailed off. It was unlike him, a man who always gave clear answers.

Kalintz watched Vivian for a while longer, then stood.

“I’ll come again.”

He turned and left with nothing more than those few words, and a sorrowful sigh followed in his wake.

Thud. Thud.

Footsteps rang out at steady intervals through the empty corridor. Each step was perfect, without a single unnecessary habit. Before long, however, the sound stopped.

“……Ha.”

Kalintz closed his eyes. Something he couldn’t name came crashing over him. The words what was so hard about lying there as if you were dead rose in his throat as he looked at his mother, but he couldn’t bring himself to say them.