Chapter 79
At that time, Alexis was in the basement with Norman.
The basement held a prison for confining criminals.
“This way, sir.”
Norman led Alexis to the very last room in the basement.
When the iron gate opened, they found a woman gagged and tied to a chair.
The woman, dressed in a black robe, looked suspicious at first glance.
On the table beside her lay weapons that clearly belonged to her — Norman must have confiscated them.
Alexis examined the weapons laid out on the table.
“Assassin’s tools.”
The small dagger, no larger than a finger, was light and razor-sharp.
Alexis removed the gag from the woman’s mouth, lifted her chin with the dagger, and asked,
“Who did you come to kill?”
“Duke Cartellani. I came to kill you.”
“If you’re going to lie, at least make it convincing. Someone who came to kill me wouldn’t be snooping around the children’s quarters.”
The woman had been caught in the hallway outside the rooms where Ellia and Noah stayed.
She had snuck in silently, but Norman had caught her while passing by.
She had never imagined that the butler of the ducal house would be able to detect her stealth.
The woman sneered.
“Kill me.”
“Your face looks familiar.”
Alexis peered closely. Something about her features rang a bell.
“Norman.”
“Yes, sir.”
Norman stepped forward, touched the woman’s face, then gripped something beneath her chin and peeled.
With a tearing sound, the skin came off — revealing her true face.
“She was wearing an artificial mask.”
Norman tossed the fake skin to the floor and dusted off his hands.
The woman stared at him in shock.
Alexis spoke quietly.
“I’m not going to kill you.”
“……”
“Not until you tell me the truth yourself.”
Though Alexis usually seemed gentle, he was merciless toward his enemies — especially when his own people were harmed.
“Norman, I’ll leave the interrogation to you.”
“Yes, sir.”
Norman pulled on a pair of white gloves from inside his coat.
Though he now managed the household, he had once been an assassin —
and he was exceptionally skilled at interrogation.
Every infiltrator ever caught in the ducal estate had been handled by Norman.
Leaving the matter to him, Alexis exited the basement.
He had promised to discuss the upcoming festival with Ellia and Noah in his office.
When Alexis arrived, Ellia and Noah were already there, chatting.
Seeing the two of them leaning over together in animated discussion, Alexis smiled faintly.
The two had grown quite close.
“Your Grace!”
Ellia ran up to him, face bright with excitement.
“Look at this!”
“Hm?”
“We decided how we want the festival to be!”
Ellia proudly showed him the festival plan she and Noah had come up with.
“We thought we could make a path lined with lavender flowers, and install lights to brighten it up at night.”
Noah chimed in enthusiastically,
“And we’ll set up stalls along the path to give out snacks and ornaments made from the harvest.”
Ellia added,
“And we’ll float little boats with wishes on the reservoir for blessings.”
“A night festival?”
“Yes! A night festival!”
A festival illuminated under the starlit sky.
“You can see the stars so clearly here in the Land of Blessings.”
When you stood there at night, it felt like the stars might pour down from the heavens.
That was why Alexis often went stargazing there with Ellia during their evening walks.
“So we named it The Festival of Blessed Starlight.”
“That’s wonderful — it’ll be beautiful.”
“Right?”
Ellia beamed, delighted, and Alexis found her so adorable that he patted her head.
“I’ll look forward to it, Ellie. Work hard with His Highness.”
“I will!”
“But don’t overdo it.”
“Of course not.”
With Alexis’s approval, Ellia and Noah eagerly dove into preparations for the festival.
Late that night, when everyone else was asleep, Alexis met privately with Norman.
“Judging by your face, you didn’t get anything out of her.”
“My apologies, sir.”
“If even you couldn’t break her, her loyalty must be exceptional.”
Such people were difficult to make talk — they would endure physical pain rather than betray their master.
“But I did discover one thing.”
“Go on.”
“There was a burn mark on the back of her neck — looked as if branded with a hot iron.”
“A burn mark?”
“Yes, though it wasn’t completely erased. The scar was still faintly visible.”
Norman handed him a sketch of the mark.
“Looks like a flower.”
“Yes. If you look closely, it’s a rose pattern.”
“A rose?”
“Here — around the flower, you can see thorny vines.”
“I see.”
Looking closer, Alexis could indeed make out the thorny stem.
“The flower part was removed, but the stem wasn’t — perhaps she erased it in a hurry.”
“If it’s a rose mark, she may belong to the Grand Duchess.”
Norman quietly waited for further orders.
After a pause, Alexis spoke.
“Contact Zirck. I think we’ll need his help — perhaps he can probe her mind.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll send word to Lord Zirck.”
When Alexis nodded, Norman bowed and left the office.
Alexis turned to the window.
“So it is the Grand Duchess.”
Ever since he’d learned that Ellia was the Guardian of the World Tree, he had quietly investigated her origins.
He could have asked her directly, but he didn’t want to stir painful memories for the child.
He decided to wait until she was ready to tell him herself.
But lately, strange intruders had been sent to the ducal estate — as if someone was trying to uncover something.
Alexis suspected their true target was Ellia.
If anyone were to covet something from his house, it would surely be the Guardian of the World Tree.
He had tried to conceal her existence completely, but apparently, someone had found out.
The rose tattoo — the symbol of the Grand Duchess.
It was a mark worn only by her agents.
It wasn’t a noble tradition —
Grand Duchess Christina herself had branded it onto her subordinates’ necks.
The capital appeared peaceful on the surface,
but beneath it was another battlefield — the struggle for the imperial throne.
The victor would become emperor;
the loser would meet a miserable end.
In the empire’s history, few royals had ever survived losing the throne struggle.
Even those who did were eventually executed by the emperor’s hand.
Fortunately, the Grand Duchess still didn’t know that Prince Noah was here.
“If they’re targeting Ellie… that means the succession war has truly begun.”
Even while secluded in the north, Alexis was not ignorant of the capital’s politics —
Lapis regularly sent him reports on the current state of affairs.
That, too, was thanks to Ellia.
She had insisted that Alexis couldn’t remain isolated in the north forever,
and urged him to study the political situation.
Lately, he had begun catching up on politics, though it was difficult after so many years away from it.
Still, he had learned enough to understand.
“At least for now, Prince Noah is safe.”
According to Lapis, the succession struggle was divided between two main factions —
Prince Serhi and Lord Raul.
Since Raul had no noteworthy accomplishments, the nobles favored Serhi,
who had proven his skill with the sword.
Just last autumn, Serhi had won the imperial hunting competition —
he had slain the fearsome Shavel Tiger, a predator with long, deadly fangs,
and presented it to the emperor before the gathered nobility.
It was said that a person pierced by the tiger’s fangs never survived.
Serhi’s victory had proven his courage and power to both emperor and nobles alike.
Compared to that, Raul lagged far behind — he had no achievements to speak of.
Among the nobles, it was rumored that Grand Duchess Christina’s excessive protection of Raul
was what had stunted his growth.
That would explain why the Grand Duchess was growing desperate —
she wanted to create accomplishments for Raul,
no matter the cost.
