When it was time to leave for work at the Imperial Consort’s palace, Edith kissed Adrian and Walter in turn with a bright smile on her face.
“Alright, I’ll be off, Walter. You’ll pick me up later, right?”
“If you’re going out with such a big smile on your face, even if it makes me anxious, I’ll have to pick you up.”
“How funny.”
Edith smiled and got on the carriage. For some reason, her steps seemed light, which made Walter feel uneasy. A small complaint escaped him.
“Your mom is a workaholic, Adrian.”
“Abuuu.”
Adrian also looked at the carriage moving away as if he agreed.
It seemed that Edith’s nature was to be diligently active. Last night, she happily smiled, saying she still hadn’t forgotten how to make an herbal decoction.
Every time he saw her like that, his insides burned.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like the sight of Edith glowing, doing what she loved. She was even cute when she showed off her skills.
The problem was that it meant that his wife would have to serve as the Imperial Consort’s lady-in-waiting and bow down to her. Although Patricia was quiet for now, it was unpredictable when she might get vicious towards Edith.
『 I can’t let that happen.』
Fortunately, thanks to Cassius’s diligent work with Lexion’s informants, there was some result.
After entrusting Adrian to the nanny, Walter prepared to go out. Cassius followed him as he headed towards the carriage.
“I told the coachman to get a shabby carriage. When you’re ready, we can head straight to where Rosaline is.”
“There’s no need to waste time.”
Rosaline was Patricia’s former lady-in-waiting whom Edith found out about through Elizabeth. She left no traces of her to the extent that it was suspicious. After several days of searching, they finally managed to find her.
“That lady-in-waiting… Rosaline. She seemed pretty clever.”
“Clever?”
When Walter asked curiously, Cassius explained while flipping through the report.
“Yes. She pretended to have gone to a province to give birth but stayed in the capital. She knew that Patricia and the Gerturks’ people would be looking for her, so she deliberately distracted them. She used the saying that it’s darkest right under the candlestick.”
“If she has to use her brain to avoid Patricia and her cronies, it seems like she knows something.”
According to Elizabeth’s investigation, Rosaline was the last descendant of a fallen noble family. With no parents or relatives to care for her, she had been a maid in Patricia’s service since childhood.
If she suddenly turned around, she must have had a reason.
“What is her condition?”
“It seems that she stopped unreasonably resisting after being surrounded. She keeps asking to see someone of higher rank.”
“I’m sure she’ll tell us something since she went to the trouble of summoning me.”
“I hope so. Even though she was with the baby, she was so good at hiding her tracks…”
Cassius’s eyes looked tired as he spoke. This was because he had not slept properly for several days in order to find Rosaline.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Even as he said that, Walter was thinking about something else.
『 That woman, Rosaline, seems to have intentionally let herself be caught.』
Lexion’s informants reported in detail the pursuit of Rosaline. The first few days were fruitless, and out of concern, Walter took a chance.
⋙“Reveal a hint that Lexion is chasing her. I’m sure the Gerturks are after her, too, so provide different information.”⋘
Sure enough, after the informants began to reveal Lexion’s pursuits, Rosaline began to leave traces intentionally.
As if she were saying that the leader of Lexion, who is opposing the Imperial Consort, is worth meeting.
“Here it is.”
Soon the carriage stopped in front of a shabby one-story house on the outskirts of the capital. It was clear that escaping would be difficult, as the informants of Lexion were guarding all sides.
“Let’s hear what Patricia’s devoted servant has to say.”
The informants who saw Walter approaching opened the closed door.
The unique sweet scent that a baby gives off fills the air. The interior was dark, as all the windows were covered with curtains.
And Rosaline, who was in the middle of it all, greeted Walter in tears.
“… Little Duke, please help me and my child survive.”
Walter knew instinctively that she had fled with Patricia’s secret.
──────────✿◦•
“M’lady’s hands are so skillful that it must be burdensome for the maids of Lexion.”
Zion, the imperial doctor, smiled and spoke to Edith. She responded with a slight shrug of her eyebrows.
“I’m much slower than the imperial doctors. How is everyone so quick?”
When she worked at the Homan Clinic, she was among the fastest, but here she was average.
The sight of the imperial doctors working hard in every way to care for their patients was a healthy stimulus to Edith.
Moreover, the imperial doctors were also pleased to see Lexion’s future duchess showing great interest in medicine.
『 There are plenty of nobles who don’t even bother unless they’re politicians or warlords.』
『 I believe that the Duke of Lexion’s intention in investing a large amount of donations into the Academy’s Department of Medicine is to build a hospital, probably to gain the support of the people of the capital.』
『 If there’s someone in the family interested in medicine, he will entrust that person with the hospital work, right?』
Those who had no desire to serve the Imperial Family after the current Emperor, Agnas XIV, and who had been thinking of changing careers, could not help but be fond of Edith.
The noble families in the capital usually had their own doctors, so they had nowhere to go, but if Lexion built a hospital, the story would be different.
⋙“I’m glad that the lady-in-waiting’s job doesn’t seem to be difficult.”⋘
Yesterday, the Duke of Lexion had stopped by the palace to discuss political matters, but he’d used the excuse of a headache to sneak off to find a doctor.
『 There is no way that the Duke Franz Lexion came here just to get medicine for a headache.』
『 Surely, he came to check on his granddaughter-in-law.』
As soon as their thoughts reached that point, the doctors’ attitude towards Edith became much warmer.
Thanks to that, she could pretend to be interested in the Imperial Family’s history, and she was able to find out many things.
“Oh, right. You asked last time about who sent a sword to Lexion. Remember?”
Since Zion was an imperial doctor who frequently visited the Emperor’s palace, he was also a close friend of the Emperor’s secretary. His information was reliable.
“Oh, yes. My husband wanted to express his gratitude.”
“The sword was presented as a gift by the secretary upon the order of His Majesty. He also said all the cards were written by him.”
“Under the Emperor’s orders… I see. Thank you.”
It was the Emperor who sent the sword upon hearing that Leah’s son had appeared in Lexion.
『 It would be nice to have the opportunity to hear directly what His Majesty’s intention was in sending the sword.』
If the sword was simply sent according to the Emperor’s orders, there was a low probability that the secretary was Walter’s father.
Then, the key question was what the Emperor meant by sending the sword to Lexion. Had the deceased Crown Prince or other princes requested it in their wills, or was it purely his own doing?
Edith moved her hands while thinking. Anyway, she still had to serve Patricia’s tea today.
⋙“I’m having a headache because of all the ridiculous fake articles. Prepare a tea that is good for headaches. It would be better if someone prevented those articles from being published.”⋘
⋙“Tea that’s good for headaches? All right.”⋘
⋙“…”⋘
⋙“Why are you like this, Lady Patricia?”⋘
Pretending to be innocent and probing into her nerves… honestly, she felt somewhat satisfied to seek small revenge. After all, she had experienced her fair share of torment from the Gerturks, more than once.
『 But since Walter said something important will be revealed by today, I should start preparing myself.』
Not wanting to test Patricia’s patience, Edith considered using her health as an excuse to take a few days off.
This was because she had gained so much information from her visits to the Imperial Health Bureau that she no longer needed to come to the Imperial Palace every day.
The conflicts between the Crown Prince and the princes who fought over Leah, and how it had caused a huge rift between the Crown Prince and the Second Prince – information obtained through the Health Bureau.
She couldn’t tell for sure since she didn’t see it with her own eyes, but one thing was certain.
『 Mrs. Leah must have been well-informed about the succession struggles within the Imperial Family. She could grasp the whole picture even from just a part.』
The surest way to find out how she was connected to the bloodlines of the Imperial Family was to meet the Emperor face to face.
──────────✿◦•
Meanwhile, Patricia was exploding with anger as she received the report from Count Gerturk.
“Count, what is this nonsense? Me, a member of the Imperial Family, being sued?”
“Well, you see…”
Count Gerturk set the papers he brought with him on the table, shivering at the anger in her voice.
“It appears that Baron Humphrey handed over to the temple some of the letters he exchanged with Your Highness before being taken to the convent.”
With just a brief glance at the problematic letters, it was clear that Patricia was aware of the existence of the magicite mine.
And that was the issue that the damn aristocratic bastards were taking issue with.
[Baron Humphrey’s magicite mine was discovered on the land granted by the Emperor long ago, so it’s mandatory to report it to the government. However, Patricia, the Imperial Consort, concealed the existence of the magicite mine. This is against the interests of the entire Imperial Family.]
Yes, up to this point was fine.
However, Patricia’s face twisted as she read the next part.
❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ •°.❀
