Chapter 110
“…What? How did she manage to release those two?”
“The Duchess confessed to being responsible for everything and offered to spend her life imprisoned in the Imperial Tower as a condition for the release of those two individuals. To fulfill the request, she called for the paladins.”
“Was it High Priest Resitia who offered her such conditions?”
“I don’t know exactly. However, the High Priest is a man who is frantic about wiping out all those involved in this, so I doubt he would have offered such terms.”
“D*mn it… Am I one step behind Rupert again?”
At Gallahed’s reply, Seth let out an expletive and slammed his fist on his desk.
For an ordinary person, being falsely accused and imprisoned alone would be infuriating enough, so it wouldn’t be unusual to shift the blame back to the other person who was falsely accused with them.
In the midst of it all, he was angry at her for trying to shoulder the blame alone, even at the expense of her own life, while considering the lives of others. Furthermore, he was also angry at her for choosing to handle it alone instead of trusting him and waiting a little longer, believing that he could have found a solution somehow.
However, most of all, what frustrated him the most was his own helplessness, who had done nothing while she took matters into her own hands.
‘…Couldn’t she have trusted me and waited a little longer?’
Nevertheless, as much as he was angry, he couldn’t help but find her loving and pitiful. He could clearly feel her sincere desire not to hurt others, even if it meant she would suffer herself.
Seth sighed heavily, barely suppressing his rising frustration to the point where he wanted to explode at any moment. Then, in a calmer voice, he asked Gallahed.
“So, what happened? Who recorded the confession? Surely, it wasn’t someone from High Priest Resitia’s side?”
“Of course not, I’m the one who received the Duchess’s confession, and the document recording that confession is sealed and awaiting my approval.”
“….!”
“…However, in order to release brother Bediviel and Gareth, the Vatican had to be notified of the fact that the Duchess had ‘confessed.’ Presumably, this fact must have reached the ears of High Priest Resitia and Grand Duchess Blaine by now.”
“That is essentially saying that the confession statement is no different from being delivered to them already.”
In response to Gallahed’s reply, Seth pressed his hand against his temple, which was throbbing with stress.
The moment that confession fell into the hands of High Priest Resitia, Min-ha would be imprisoned in the Imperial Tower without any chance of escape. There, within the confines of the tower guarded by the Imperial Guard and ferocious lions, she would spend the rest of her life without ever meeting anyone.
‘…I can’t let that happen.’
Under these circumstances, the only option was to ensure that the letter containing her confession reached High Priest Resitia’s hands as late as possible or to find evidence that would clear her name before the letter fell into his hands.
Seth muttered in a somber voice as he swept his dry face.
“The High Priest would want to get his hands on that confession by tomorrow morning at the earliest, but I’ll have to find some evidence or witness to exonerate her before then… At this rate, we’ll have no choice but to wait for Sir Agravein, who went to see Rupert’s former estate manager, to return as soon as possible.”
“….”
“Sir Gallahed, did you really have to get a confession from him then? Couldn’t you have bought more time?”
“I also had that thought, but the Duchess insisted fervently that with just one letter, she could ‘clear herself of all the false charges against her.’ As Your Excellency is aware, witches can only send letters to the outside world through confession letters. So, I asked the Duchess to pretend to confess and give me a clue as to the evidence that would clear her name, and I carefully wrote what she said.”
“…Can clear her name?”
As he began to lash out in frustration at the loss of time, Gallahed tried to calm him down and explain why he had to do what he did.
His next words made Seth look back at him in surprise.
What had she figured out that made her so desperate? Whatever it was, she must have figured it out if she was so certain of it.
He asked impatiently.
“Where is that letter now?”
“Here it is, Your Excellency.”
When Gallahed pulled a neatly folded parchment from his bosom and handed it to him, Seth quickly unfolded the folded parchment and frowned when he saw what was inside. It was because there was nothing on the letter.
“What was written there?”
“Sprinkle ashes over it, Your Excellency.”
“Kay, gather the ashes from the fireplace over there.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
At his order, Kay gathered ashes from the fireplace against the wall of the office and held them out to him. Taking it, Seth sprinkled it over the blank parchment and brushed it off. The ash gathered in the cracks of the parchment, revealing the words that had been invisible just moments before.
Seth spoke, looking at the parchment, which had now taken on the appearance of a proper letter.
“Is this the parchment that was tucked under the original letter?”
“Yes, I actually wanted to bring in both letters, but I had no choice but to avoid suspicion.”
“Thank you, Sir Gallahed.”
He thanked Gallahed for forwarding the letter, then quickly skimmed through what it was revealed.
It was short, so it didn’t take him long to figure out the contents.
After reading the contents, he placed the letter on the desk in the office. As he did, the eyes of the other knights gathered around him flocked to the desk. Seth waited a moment for the knights to finish reading the letter before opening his mouth in a thoughtful voice.
“It seems that the last sentence contains what she wants to say, but what do you all think?”
“I think so, too.”
“By the way, the entrance to the passage that connected to the Duchess’s clandestine love… Does Your Highness have any suspicions about its location?”
“Well, I couldn’t really guess where…”
Seth shook his head in response to Lancelot’s question, then returned to his thoughts.
A place that is connected to a clandestine love…
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t think of any particular place that fits that description.
The northern annex or library, which gave them a chance to start caring about each other, was far from secret, while the secret garden was the closest thing to a ‘secret’ though it didn’t seem to be connected to the word ‘third floor’ that was mentioned afterwards.
‘…Where is the place that fulfills all the conditions in that last sentence?’
As he rummaged through his memories of Min-ha in his head, trying to decipher the sentence, Gawin, who had been muttering to himself earlier, suddenly spoke up.
“Oh, really! I just can’t figure it out, no matter how much I thought about it! In the first place, when did the Captain and the Duchess ever have a secret love? You’ve made a fuss so that the whole castle knows about it, especially since the three of you went out on Young Master Noah’s birthday, and it’s been so openly ticklish that we’ve been trying to get you to stop doing it behind your backs…”
“Haha. Sir Gawin, please shut your mouth.”
“Brother Gawin, you’re still the same…”
Kay and Gallahed quickly reached out and clamped their hands over Gawin’s mouth.
Meanwhile, Lancelot looked pathetically at Gawin as he mumbled to his cousin and friend. There was a limit to not being able to grasp the atmosphere, but it’d reached a point where it was absurd. By now, it was as if he was blind to the situation.
With such thoughts in mind, Lancelot sneaked a glance at Seth’s reaction. However, the expression on his master’s face, which he thought would be coldly staring at Gawin annoyingly, seemed a bit peculiar.
Lancelot called out to Seth, who was looking down at the letter in front of him.
“Your Excellency…?”
“Sir Gawin is right. Indeed, I don’t know either.”
“Yes? What does that…”
Muttering to himself as he’d realized something as he looked down at the letter, Seth raised his gaze to Gallahed, who was covering Gawin’s mouth with one hand.
“Sir Gallahed. Did she really say ‘Duchess’ in this part, and not ‘I’?”
“Yes. She definitely said ‘the Duchess’.”
“…I see.”
To Seth’s question, Gallahed quickly removed his hand from covering Gawin’s mouth and corrected his posture before answering.
Seth’s expression grew more serious at his response as he straightened his previously hardened expression and shifted his gaze away from the letter. Then, he turned to the knights, who were taken aback by the sudden change in their master’s demeanor and spoke.
“How many knights, including you, are in the mansion right now?”
“Yes…? Ah, if you’re referring to the elite knights under Your Excellency’s command, there are about 500 of them. As for the vice-captain levels, there are only four of us.”
“That’s enough. Sir Gawin and Sir Kay, summon the knights in the mansion right now to investigate the hidden entrance to the secret passage in this mansion.”
“Yes? Your Excellency, what do you—”
“In particular, if the entrance to the secret passage is concealed by stairs or bookshelves, search all the items in the third compartment and bring back anything suspicious. Not a single item should be missed. Do you understand?”
“Yes! I understand, Your Excellency!”
“Understood, Captain.”
At Seth’s command, the puzzle Gawin and Kay, who still looked as if they couldn’t grasp the situation, quickly nodded in agreement and rushed out of the office after greeting him.
Lancelot and Gallahed, who remained in the study, tried their best to ascertain the truth behind Seth’s recent orders, but they simply couldn’t make sense of the meaning.
Lancelot tilted his head and turned to Seth.
“Your Excellency, may I ask why you have suddenly ordered us to investigate the secret passage?”
“Sir Lancelot, who do you think is the ‘Duchess’ written in the sentence of the letter?”
“That’s, of course—”
“The Duchess mentioned in the letter isn’t her.”
“…Yes?”
When Lancelot, who still didn’t understand, asked back, Seth pointed to the letter and smiled meaningfully.
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