Dear Father,

I have little time available, so forgive me for being brief. I have been falsely accused of the attempted murder of Emily Crawford and sentenced to permanent banishment from the kingdom. I have sufficient currency to settle elsewhere, and have appropriate plans in place. I hesitate to place them in writing, lest this message be intercepted by my enemies. Enemies whose faces I do not even know; despite the obvious motive on the part of Raymond and Emily, neither have the wit required to create enough false evidence to convince the king of my guilt. A third party is at play here. Whether they are against me personally and will stop at my banishment, or stand against our house and seek its utter destruction, I can offer no speculation. Please take care of yourself and mother, and offer my apologies to Charles for not being able to bid him goodbye in person.

Alice

Denis screwed up the letter in his fist. It had arrived in the hands of Natalie, who had been Alice's personal maid since childhood. She had arrived in the early hours of the morning, dishevelled and in tears, having made the usually three day journey from the capital in a little under two. Her state was such that his servants had felt the need to wake him immediately for this, instead of waiting for some more sensible hour.

"Explain!"

Natalie shuddered, but managed to squeeze out a speech that she had obviously prepared during the journey. "Alice was invited by Prince Raymond to a ball at the royal palace, but she returned to our capital residence far earlier than expected. She retired to her room claiming that she wasn't feeling well, and to wake her later for dinner. When I entered her room to call her, the window was open and she wasn't present. Two letters were placed on the bed, that one and one other addressed to me. Some of the items from her room were missing. The letter to me didn't explain anything; she just apologized for running away on her own without telling me, and said not to worry because she had plans for this situation. I immediately went to visit an acquaintance who works at the royal castle, where I learnt that Prince Raymond had publicly accused her of harassment of Emily, culminating in ordering her assassination. Alice denied everything, and convincingly argued that she had no reason to do such a thing, but the prince brought out an order of banishment bearing the kings seal. The king and queen themselves were not present at the event."

Denis was angry. This betrothal would have finally tied the house of Sandoval to the royal family, with all the status and benefits that entailed. All the stupid girl had to do was keep her head down and marry the prince, but she'd ended up getting caught in some sort of plot? Didn't all her tutors keep extolling her intelligence? Where was all that intelligence now, if she didn't even see this coming... Still, banished by the king? Edward had signed this without consulting or even informing him? Denis wondered if Isabelle knew. Her and Lucy had been friends since their own childhoods, and it was that friendship that had gotten them this betrothal in the first place. And they hadn't been at the ball? That was very strange in itself; if it had been an event for the youths of the capital things would be different, but they certainly should have put in an appearance at an event to which all nobles were invited. But that was unimportant. What he needed to do right now was try to salvage the situation. "Show me your letter."

Natalie nodded, and handed other a second piece of paper. Reading it, Denis saw she hadn't exaggerated. It really did contain nothing at all about what had happened at the palace. Denis considered the situation. Alice was gone and it was unlikely that she could be brought back to the kingdom even if innocent, but if he could prove that the charges were false, that was something he could turn to his advantage. Being able to blame the loss of a child on a conspiracy involving the royal family could well bring them more benefits than the marriage, if they played their cards right. And with the relationship between Lucy and Isabelle, Denis expected that he would be able to see all of the cards beforehand. With how obviously suspicious the described events were, Denis had no doubt that Alice was telling the truth about her innocence, and that he would be able to find evidence of the fact with little difficulty... His anger abated, he looked back up at Natalie. Despite his irritation, he knew that there was no benefit in shooting the messenger. In fact, given how close she was to Alice it was possible that Alice might contact her in the future, in which case it would be best to keep her to hand.

"Rest here for today, then return to the capital mansion and have the head maid assign you new duties. Should Alice contact you in the future, you are to bring any letters to me, unopened. Dismissed"

Natalie nodded, gave her thanks and fled.