Chapter 69
The Duchess’s intense training had been extremely successful.
Thanks to treating the scrapes and bruises I got while rolling around in the training yard—both mine and Étienne’s—I quickly mastered light-element magic.
Moreover, sparring had significantly increased my mana management capacity. All in just one day.
By the end of the lessons, I collapsed onto the bed, looking like a filthy beggar.
“P-please… save the cat…!”
I woke up screaming, only to find myself in Eloise’s bed.
It seemed Sophie had washed me; my hair was clean and fluffy, and my whole body felt refreshed.
“Are you okay, Lisette?”
Eloise, wearing a negligee, patted me gently—it must have been after dinner.
I sluggishly crawled over and clung tightly to her.
“Eli… you must never end up like the Duchess.”
“Well… haven’t you already become too much like her?”
That was true, but I swallowed back my words and my tears.
Eloise’s children would never be put through training like this.
“Whatever nightmare you had, try to sleep a little more.”
Just as my eyes began to close again under her tender touch…
knock, knock.
“Miss, the Duke is looking for Miss Lisette.”
Hans, the butler, had jolted me fully awake.
Étienne had said he’d bring the materials tonight, and it seemed he had arrived.
“Okay! Go ahead!”
I raised my voice in reply and quickly climbed out of the bed, which made Eloise narrow her eyes.
“What has she gotten herself into this time?”
“Nothing serious~ I just asked him something regarding the abandoned mines. I’ll be back soon!”
I said that and scratched at the door, prompting Hans—who understood my intentions—to slightly open it, allowing me to leave.
In the corridor, I wagged my tail at Hans.
“Shall we go to the study together? He’s waiting.”
“Yes!”
Hans carefully closed the door behind us and led the way toward the study.
“Hans, has Étienne arrived?”
“Yes. He just got here and is with the Duke.”
I was relieved—it would have been problematic if he had just dropped off the materials and left. Étienne had been incredibly reassuring when persuading the Duchess earlier today.
If we talked together, it wouldn’t be difficult.
While I mentally simulated how to address the Duke and Duchess, we arrived at the study.
“Duke, I’ve brought Miss Lisette.”
“Come in.”
With the Duke’s permission, Hans opened the door.
The Duke and Duchess were seated across from each other on the sofa, with Étienne beside them.
And there was Raoul as well.
“So the young Duke is here too?”
I took a seat beside Étienne, noticing Raoul’s eyebrows twitch.
“I’m also Montclare, you know.”
It seemed I had unintentionally left Eloise out, but since the Duke and Duchess wanted it kept secret from her, it couldn’t be helped.
On the table were a single glass of alcohol, two teacups, and a teacup for me.
The Duke popped the cork off the bottle with a pop and began to speak.
“Since everyone’s here, let’s discuss Eloise’s broken engagement.”
The sharp scent of whiskey slowly spread through the study.
“I’ll speak first.”
Étienne laid out the materials he had brought in order.
First, an investigation on the Empress Dowager system, the list of nobles recruited by Count Lonsbleur, and copies of letters.
“The Crown Prince was pushing to restore the Empress Dowager system to control both Miss Lonsbleur and Eloise. This list contains nobles who have agreed to side with the Crown Prince in the council.”
“Does the Crown Prince intend to disregard the will of the 29th Emperor?”
“It seems there may be a reason he need not follow it, but I haven’t discovered it yet.”
The Duke tilted the bottle toward his glass.
The amber liquid sloshed into the cup. Watching it reminded me of a scene from the original story.
“Technically, Her Majesty isn’t the 32nd Emperor.”
I muttered the thought to myself, and the four pairs of eyes focused on me.
Why had I only realized it now?
It was when the heroine was imprisoned in the Crown Prince’s palace, looking out at the lake dyed red by the sunset.
“It feels as though it’s soaked in blood. Your Highness, I want to stop this now.”
“You speak too late. The council is tomorrow.”
“Must we do this even against the late Emperor’s will? Please, Arno.”
“Marie, since you worry so much, I’ll tell you one thing: the 32nd Emperor is not my father… it’s me.”
What had the text said then? I needed to remember, to recall.
“There was no need to tell Marianne, but there was a hole in the history of the Calenia Imperial family. In the records of past emperors, there was someone who wasn’t actually emperor. Nobles may have forgotten, but any royal heir should not have forgotten this name.”
“What are you talking about, Lisette?”
“Well, you see!”
Under the sharp gaze of the Duke, I pointed with my paw at the section of Étienne’s materials regarding imperial history.
“The 30th Emperor, Serena Valois. The only surviving half-sibling after the 29th Emperor’s bloodline was wiped out.”
The materials had only a few circles drawn above Serena’s name. I made up my excuse as best I could.
“When Eli took the imperial history class, I heard that the 29th Emperor crowned Serena to confirm her loyalty, but she voluntarily abdicated within a week! She didn’t even receive the middle name ‘de’ that signifies royalty!”
“So, the Crown Prince might insist that Serena was never truly Emperor for that reason.”
“Exactly!”
I sighed in relief and nodded.
The male lead mocked Marcel, who lived quietly, for resembling his half-brother. What a jerk.
Marcel wasn’t hiding because he feared the Crown Prince—he was a pacifist, after all.
The Duke drank the rest of the whiskey in his glass at once.
“So he intends to humiliate our Eli by bringing up those old events.”
“Then, our Eli would become a mere titular empress, Serge.”
Crash. The glass shattered in the Duke’s hand.
He brushed the glass fragments off his unharmed hand.
“Then we should claim that the 30th Emperor was legitimate. And… we can erase the names on this list one by one.”
His gaze was deadly, as if the list supporting the Empress Dowager system were a death note.
The Duchess nodded in agreement.
“But with just the Empress Dowager system, we can’t force a broken engagement. That’s a damn problem.”
That was an extraordinary curse from the Duchess. Raoul looked at his mother, wide-eyed—he couldn’t be the only one who heard it.
The Emperor had been problematic, and I had worried about this too. Marcel seemed to have some strategy in mind.
I glanced at Étienne, who handed me the next sheet—something I had never seen before.
“It’s the marriage contract. You both probably already know this.”
“Mother’s signature—”
“Is missing. Meaning the Emperor and the Duke of Montclare illegally enforced it.”
Looking at the document again, I saw the Crown Prince’s name and signature beneath the marriage agreements with Eloise’s name alone.
“A magical signature was required, but since Eloise couldn’t use magic, they passed it. But if Eloise had truly agreed to the marriage, she would have magically signed it, even borrowing mana from them.”
“Father, Mother, is what Étienne says true? That my sister didn’t want to marry the Crown Prince? And I didn’t even know…”
The Duke and Duchess remained silent, and Raoul’s fists trembled.
Étienne glanced at him and continued.
“Besides this, there are things that could shake the Emperor and Crown Prince’s positions that Marcel possesses. I mention this because Montclare can also influence matters.”
“It is my fault, so I must accept it appropriately.”
The Duke said calmly, but he wouldn’t remain calm once the next materials were revealed.
I presented Count Lonsbleur’s thesis to the Duke.
“Do you know Seneca?”
“The only achievement of Count Lonsbleur. It’s an herb that smooths mana flow.”
“And about its long-term side effects? The experimental period?”
The Duke, unaware of my intention, quickly read through the thesis.
The Duchess glanced over the contents as well.
“Long-term ingestion tangles the mana circuits, making magic unusable. If consumed by a child, magic awakening… cannot occur.”
“The experiment period—”
“From when Eloise was six to eight years old. Doesn’t that match the age and sex of the subjects in the paper?”
The Duchess bit her lip, and the Duke poured the bottle directly into his mouth instead of using a glass.
He drank as if it were water, yet his face remained pale.
