Chapter 12: Evening of June 6th, 366 (Denis)
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Denis dined with Lucy at a table in a private room in a high class inn, their last stop before arriving at the capital. Lucy was still unhappy, disbelieving that Isabelle would have harmed her family. She didn't seem to quite believe the situation was as described at all, expressing opinions that maybe the letter had been faked, the maid Natalie misled or bribed, or the whole thing some sort of horrible practical joke. Denis was more pragmatic. He'd done as much theorizing as he could with the available data, and further work would need to wait until information came in, so he set the matter aside for now.

One of their maids entered, some lower ranked servant Denis didn't know the name of, and whispered to the butler. That caught his attention. The lower ranked servants should stay in their own rooms. To be here implied something important had happened. The butler nodded to the maid and stepped forwards. "My lord, this servant has information on Lady Alice that she believes you will want to hear."

Lucy snapped upright immediately. Denis did not outwardly display the same eagerness, but immediately motioned for the maid to speak.

"Y... yes sir. I was out gathering supplies, and overheard some of the merchants talking. Apparently Prince Raymond and King Edward conspired together to falsely accuse Lady Alice and chase her our of the country. They even poisoned some old lady as a distraction to get Queen Isabelle out of the way!"

Before Denis had a chance to respond, the butler slapped the maid across the face. "Watch your language! Do not accuse royalty so lightly. You have no doubt eavesdropped on a mere rumour, exaggerated at best, but more likely outright false."

The maid shrank back, terrified. Denis considered it, but decided it was not anything he could act on without knowing the provenance of the rumour. Although even if it was just a rumour, Lucy would be glad that it didn't claim any wrongdoing on Isabelle's part. The maid was obviously not a reliable witness, and hadn't even tried to extract further details from the merchants. He motioned to his butler. "Send out a few people to question those merchants, and to ask around about other rumours. Make sure they try to track down the source."

As the servants set about carrying out his orders, Denis continued to frown. Suspect as the rumours were, the thought that King Edward himself had deliberately framed his daughter because Raymond wanted to get out of his engagement was horrifying. If it turned out to be true, there would be hell to pay, treason or not.

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