“As her closest friend, who cared for Anais more than anyone—”

Ahem!

Cough, cough!

Loud, conspicuous throat-clearing and coughing erupted in the otherwise quiet hall. Tilda and Selina had apparently both choked on something at the same time.

Blair herself was barely holding back an expression of pure disgust at Olivia’s performance, which had reached new heights of shamelessness.

“……During that time, I heard something troubling from my maid. She said that on the day Miss Anais fell ill, she saw someone slip into her room in secret. And that person was none other than—”

Olivia turned her body toward Blair with cold, deliberate eyes.

“Miss Blair Mervish, here present.”

The hall stirred. The nobles who had only heard the rumor for days were now hearing it said aloud, and they whispered and glanced at Blair.

Blair looked back at Olivia, doing her best to stay composed. Olivia was staring at her with the eyes of someone looking at something truly contemptible.

“Ha. Honestly. Unbelievable.”

Blair muttered under her breath.

“Now, now. Quiet, everyone. We will now ask Blair Mervish. Is what was just said true?”

King Rubens’ grey eyes turned to Blair. She drew a slow breath and spoke.

“No, Your Majesty. I have never once set foot in Miss Anais Brienne’s room.”

“Blair, how can you stand there and tell such a lie?”

“And what grounds does Miss Olivia have for claiming her maid’s word is true?”

Blair fixed Olivia with a pointed look.

“That would be because—”

“Enough.”

The king’s measured voice cut Olivia off.

“I asked each of you to state your position once. Bickering back and forth is not permitted.”

He then gestured to the chief chamberlain.

“Bring in the maid.”

Shortly after, Olivia’s maid Marie appeared in the audience hall with a stiff, rigid expression. She walked haltingly to the center of the room under the chief chamberlain’s guidance.

“So. You are the witness behind this rumor.”

“Y, yes…… Your, Your Maj, Majesty.”

The maid was visibly nervous and stumbled badly over her words.

“You claim to have seen someone enter Miss Anais’s room in secret on the night she fell ill. Was that person Blair Mervish, here present?”

At the king’s question, the maid paused as though steadying herself, then slowly nodded.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I saw it clearly. Miss Blair was looking around her before entering Miss Anais’s room.”

Unlike a moment ago when she had seemed so nervous, the maid spoke without hesitation, as though reciting lines she had memorized. Blair bit down hard on her lip, furious at the maid’s brazenness in lying with such convincing detail.

“Hmm. Could you not be mistaken about who you saw? Many people come and go in the palace.”

“It was definitely Miss Blair.”

The maid with the freckles scattered across her cheeks answered the king’s question in a firm tone.

“That day, Miss Blair was wearing an apricot-colored dress with an unusual embroidered lace trim, and white shoes. The person who entered Miss Anais’s room was dressed the same way.”

Blair was speechless. The sheer nerve of it.

“Oh, that’s right. She was wearing that at the morning gathering that day. I even complimented her on it.”

Olivia added the remark with a relaxed smile, and Blair nearly let something slip before she caught herself just in time.

Fortunately, the king put a stop to Olivia’s mouth for her.

“Who gave you permission to speak out of turn during an inquiry?”

Olivia gave a small cough and fell silent at the king’s undisguised irritation.

“Blair Mervish, if you have something to say in response to the maid’s testimony, say it now.”

Given the floor after enduring all of that, Blair steadied herself inwardly and spoke.

“Your Majesty, the testimony of this maid called Marie may sound convincing, but the logic is very flimsy.”

Blair continued in a calm, even tone.

“If I were the culprit, as she claims, I would not have gone in the same dress I had worn at the morning gathering. Least of all one with an unusual embroidered lace trim that would stand out.”

Blair put weight on those last words and held the maid’s gaze.

“And furthermore, I myself only just recalled what dress I was wearing that day after hearing her testimony just now……”

A flicker of unease crossed the maid’s face.

“It is remarkable that someone who is not even my personal maid remembers my outfit in such precise detail. It sounds very much like something that was told to her and memorized.”

Blair glanced sideways at Olivia, and Olivia, looking rattled, suddenly burst out.

“So you’re saying I told my maid to give false testimony? Blair, how can you make such an accusation?”

Olivia’s outburst and unauthorized interjection drew a sharp rebuke from King Rubens.

“Silence! Olivia Lorentz, do you think this is your family’s marquisate?”

Olivia bowed her reddened face and shut her mouth, and Blair felt a quiet satisfaction at the sight, though she kept it off her face and looked away.

A passing glance caught Kalintz’s eyes, but she looked away deliberately. He had been watching her face with what seemed like amusement since some time ago, and it kept breaking her concentration.

“Haah…… all right. Then, Blair.”

The king rubbed the corner of his eye as though tired.

“Where were you, and what were you doing, at that time on that day?”

At the question, Blair swallowed. Then she calmly repeated what she had told Queen Rhea. She had gone out for a walk alone, visited the library, strolled through the garden, and returned.

“So you were alone the entire time.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

King Rubens let out a low sound and furrowed his brow.

Olivia seized the opening without hesitation.

“Your Majesty, what frons goes about unaccompanied without even a maid? It is nothing but an unsupported claim.”

“The maid’s claim is equally unsupported. Olivia is slandering me without any real evidence, Your Majesty.”

But Olivia let out a dismissive sniff.

“No evidence? What do you mean, no evidence?”

“……What?”

The unexpected response made Blair forget her formal speech for a moment and stare at Olivia.

Olivia, however, addressed the king with full confidence.

“Your Majesty, there is a witness I would like to call.”

“And who would that be.”

“The captain of the royal guard, Sir Hagel Branchev.”

The unexpected name sent a ripple through the room. Not just Blair, but the king, the queen, and every noble in the audience hall stirred. Even Kalintz’s expression tightened slightly.

A moment later, a dignified knight in gleaming silver-grey armor knelt before the king.

“Hagel. You are…… a witness?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He answered briefly, then drew something from inside his armor. A small pouch made of grimy cloth.

“Two days ago, I received a report from Miss Olivia. She said there was a lethal poison in Miss Blair’s room.”

“Poison?”

King Rubens’ face hardened immediately.

“Given that it was said to be connected to the poisoning of Miss Brienne, I judged the situation to be urgent and searched Miss Blair’s room with a few of my men.”

Blair’s head swam. She had been out of her room often lately, too distracted to stay in it, and in that time they had done this.

“And I found this pouch.”

“……What is it.”

At the king’s question, the captain of the guard opened the cloth and tipped a small amount of the contents into his palm. It was a fine powder with a faint bluish tint.

“Robetaine, Your Majesty.”

The hall stirred again. Robetaine. The very poison that had taken Anais Brienne’s life.

So this was it. Olivia’s finishing move.

Blair’s vision went dark at the edges. She had expected Olivia to have something more prepared, but this was more cunning than she had anticipated.

“Blair. Explain yourself.”

King Rubens’ voice dropped cold.

“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but that is not mine.”

“Blair. Even with evidence right in front of us, you intend to keep denying it?”

Olivia stepped forward with a composed smile. Blair barely held onto the last thread of her reason and addressed the king.

“I believe someone placed it in my room.”

“That, however, is without evidence.”

The king’s reply was ice cold. Beside him, Queen Rhea’s expression wavered, as though she couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.

Blair couldn’t find the words to say.

Her silence made the nobles in the hall begin to murmur.

“What, so that frons really did poison Miss Anais?”

“Good heavens, how horrible.”

The atmosphere was shifting to treat her as the culprit, and Blair bit down hard on her trembling lips.

In that moment, she caught a glimpse of Duke Brienne watching from among the nobles, a faint smirk crossing his face.

That smirk sent a chill through her, and just as the bad feeling was taking hold, Olivia’s maid opened her mouth again without warning.