CHAPTER 77……………………….
If Prince Istan wanted to escape this situation unscathed, it would have been more advantageous for him to claim that I had lured him in.
But instead, something completely unexpected came out of his mouth.
“……?”
While Eunice stood there, stunned and unable to believe what she was hearing, Prince Istan began exposing everything in detail.
“Eunice Gillian, the chief aide of House Rozen. She was the one who first approached me through her connections. Shockingly, she already knew quite a lot about my complicated circumstances. She proposed that I use a secret treasure of our royal family to seduce Lady Aristina. She said if I could make her present me with her family’s heirloom necklace in front of the Duke himself, she would pay me an enormous sum, enough to live comfortably for the rest of my life.”
Eunice’s soul seemed to leave her body at his words.
“……!”
Duke Canel was equally aghast. But thanks to having taken his medicine beforehand, at least he didn’t collapse clutching his chest. His expression hardened coldly.
“Is this true?”
“It’s a ridiculous lie!” Eunice cried out.
But the prince immediately countered:
“No. I can prove it. I received an advance payment at the start, and further payments as the plan progressed.”
“What nonsense is this? Why fabricate such lies?!”
“You shouldn’t listen to that shameless woman. When I came to the Empire, she arranged for me to secretly meet Lady Aristina without your knowledge. She even told me about this hidden garden, instructing me to bring the lady here and snatch her necklace. The only crime I’m guilty of is following her orders. All the proof is on my ship.”
The Duke asked incredulously:
“Then can you show me that proof?”
“Yes. That was my intention anyway.”
The prince wrote down a list of all the incriminating items aboard his ship and signed a statement promising to hand them over to the Duke.
Only then did my binding command wear off, and he collapsed into a seat.
The Duke cried out in bewilderment:
“What is going on here? If what he says is true, why would he suddenly confess? Did he repent or something?”
“No,” I answered.
And as if to support my words, a heart-shaped shard fell from the prince’s body. I pointed at it.
“This is why. This is the treasure he spoke of. It has the power to control people’s minds and make them obey.”
Yes.
I briefly recalled what had happened earlier.
That was a close one.
When I heard the Duke and Eunice approaching, the prince panicked and tried to lure me into the secret garden.
I changed my stance instantly.
“This place seems fine. If you’ve got something to say, say it here.”
Flustered, the prince hastily tried to propose marriage and secretly pressed a false arrowhead into my palm.
A fake one.
“Through the Arrow of Enchantment, I command you: remove your necklace at once, present it to me, and tell your father you’re eloping with me!”
But nothing happened.
Then he realized—
On the back of his own hand was another heart-shaped arrowhead.
“……!”
Foolish prince.
I smiled sharply and gave him a command.
“Is this how it works? Through the Arrow of Enchantment, I command you: hide quietly behind that bookshelf, and when the Duke finds you, step forward and confess the entire plot against me!”
That was how it unfolded.
“Hmph.”
The Duke picked up the heart-shaped shard that had fallen from the prince. Just by looking, he seemed to recognize it as something imbued with divine power. His brow furrowed.
“You see?”
I gestured toward the dumbstruck Eunice.
“My father’s chief aide approached the prince precisely because of this power. So that she could frame me—making it look as though I handed over the heirloom necklace after being moved by a marriage proposal.”
“That’s not true!” Eunice screamed.
“This is all a scheme between Lady Aristina and Prince Istan! They’re conspiring to frame me and drive me out of this house!”
“But weren’t you the one trying to drive me out, Eunice?”
I replied calmly, without raising my voice.
“The time when insects were planted in my restaurant’s food, the incident when fake customers stirred chaos in my department store—both were your doing. You hired shady groups no ordinary person would even know about.”
“What are you talking about? Everyone knows it’s you, not me, who frequents such vile places!”
“If I had such skills, would I have sat idly while you trailed me and stole my letters? I only stayed still because I lacked the ability to stop you! When you followed me during the imperial business bid, I thought you were acting on my father’s orders—but no. There are even people ready to testify that you tore open my letters from the aide’s mailroom!”
“How far will you go?! Your Grace! There isn’t a single soul who doesn’t know I’ve served you loyally for seven years! And yet your daughter slanders me like this! This cannot be!”
Eunice trembled with fury as she shouted.
“……”
The Duke looked between us both.
At last, he spoke.
“That’s true. Eunice has served me flawlessly as chief aide for seven years. While that child of mine has been nothing but trouble.”
Eunice’s eyes lit up triumphantly. She lifted her chin, glaring at me as if to say, You’re finished.
“But…”
The Duke’s voice came again.
“Aristina supports her claims with reasons and evidence. Eunice, you only keep repeating that it’s a false accusation. Why is that?”
His gaze fixed on her. It was sharper than anything he had ever shown to a subordinate.
Thud.
Eunice’s legs gave out, and she sank to the floor.
She had believed without a doubt that the Duke would take her side. After all, he treasured his chief aide far more than his troublesome daughter.
She murmured in shock:
“This is too much. Truly too much…”
“Is that all you have to say?”
The Duke replied sternly.
“Still no evidence? Only emotional appeals? I thought you would at least remain rational, but it seems you have nothing. To my eyes, your very behavior is the clearest evidence of all.”
Though the physical evidence from the prince’s ship had yet to arrive—
The situation, the divine artifact, and above all Eunice’s uncharacteristic behavior—these had already convinced him.
Disappointment darkened his crimson eyes.
“From the moment I deemed you worthy, I trusted you. Even when you seemed to falter regarding my daughter, I excused it as human error. But all of it was deliberate?”
“……”
“How could you betray me like this? Is this how you repay my trust?”
The Duke let out a bitter laugh.
“I can accept that my daughter’s conduct makes her difficult to serve. But as a retainer of this house, you should never have tried to ruin her. Do you know how great that crime is?”
His voice grew louder, his aura fierce. I tensed, ready to support him if necessary, and asked:
“Father, are you all right?”
“Of course I’m not! Just an hour ago, I still trusted this aide—and now I learn she tried to destroy my only daughter? How could I be all right? My head feels like it’s exploding!”
“Ah, I see…”
“But…”
He tilted his head coldly.
“Maybe thanks to the tonic you made me take, or that strange letter you wrote, I’m not collapsing. Yes. Now I understand. Without such precautions, you’d never have been able to expose the black heart of my aide. I would have been blind. Everything makes sense now—except for one thing.”
His icy gaze turned back to Eunice.
“I still don’t understand. Why? What reason did you have to do this?”
“……”
Eunice couldn’t answer.
So I spoke instead.
“She says it’s because she loved you, Father. She wanted to drive me out, become the duchess, and have you all to herself.”
The Duke’s face stiffened.
Then suddenly—he burst out laughing.
It was the first time I had ever seen him laugh aloud, even if only briefly.
“What is that? Some third-rate excuse from a stage play? Everyone knows I’ve never shown the slightest interest in any woman besides your late mother. Least of all my close aides. That nonsense might fool a naïve girl like you, but not me. Eunice, tell me the real reason.”
Eunice’s face froze. Slowly, she began to crumble.
Had the Duke instead roared in anger or mocked her, it might have been easier to bear. But his total dismissal, his refusal even to consider her excuse—it crushed her.
Indeed, even if I vanished, the Duke would never have accepted Eunice as family. His reaction made that painfully clear.
And so, for Eunice, who sinned because of that futile dream, the cruelest punishment has been dealt.
I thought as I watched her.
Secretly loving someone is not a crime.
But framing and trying to ruin another because of it—that must be punished.
“……”
The Duke’s eyes on Eunice were colder than ice.
It seemed that though he felt like a bomb had exploded in his mind, he was already beginning to mentally erase the existence of his chief aide.
“Not a word of this must leave this room. Especially not tonight. We’ll handle it discreetly.”
“Of course, Father,” I quickly answered.
The Duke sighed heavily.
“Seven years of service… and now tonight will erupt in chaos because of this. My head already aches. But a dog that bites its master cannot be kept.”
At that, Eunice jerked her head up.
“You were always my only master!”
“Take her away.”
The Duke called toward the door. Two knights of House Rozen, who had been standing by, entered.
“I’m innocent!” Eunice screamed, struggling, but the knights gagged her and dragged her out.
Once silence returned to the study, the Duke suddenly asked me:
“When did you first suspect?”
“Specifically, after the merchant guild assembly. Like I said earlier, when I realized she was tailing me…”
Then I added:
“But I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so I started collecting evidence. I had to wait for the decisive moment to reveal her true nature.”
“I see,” the Duke replied.
“Well done.”
I thought it was sarcasm, but it wasn’t.
His eyes had shifted to the painting on the wall—a night sky landscape signed Annerize.
“No matter what her aim was, she should never have touched that place.”
He murmured.
Yes.
The late Duchess was his deepest wound. No matter how trusted a retainer was, touching that memory would cut them out of his life like a knife.
It’s a relief I didn’t let my guard down.
If I had simply gone along with the prince into the garden, I might have been excised from this house just as mercilessly.
The thought chilled me—when suddenly:
“Wait.”
The Duke stepped up to the painting. He had noticed a subtle change.
“So it was activated.”
“Ah!” I exclaimed.
“Yes. At first, I didn’t know what the prince was doing. But I didn’t even look inside—I just closed it again right away.”
“You closed it?” His brows rose.
“With your strength? That couldn’t have been easy.”
“I kept turning it until it worked.”
His eyes dropped to my hands, then he suddenly took one and flipped it over. Seeing the red, swollen marks on my palm, he frowned.
“Why push yourself so far?”
His tone was scolding, and I instinctively tried to excuse myself.
“Because I thought you would never forgive me… If you found out that the secret garden was opened because of me…”
“……”
The Duke said nothing.
