Queen Isabelle reviewed the new batch of evidence. Now that she knew what to look for, she could see the signs everywhere. Alice's alibi had been the library. Investigations had revealed that she did visit the library often, but generally did not stay for long periods, preferring to take books back to her room to read. She also normally visited at quieter times. To visit at a busy point and stay there was not out of character for her on its own, but the coincidence that such an episode lined up perfectly with the tavern meeting was suspicious.

Next were her hobbies: The investigators had managed to extract some useful information from Natalie, before she caught on that Alice was being treated as a suspect and clammed up. Baking wasn't an uncommon hobby among noblewomen, but cooking full meals was certainly unusual. Again, not suspicious on its own but if you suspected the noblewomen in question of preparing for a life as a commoner, it took on a different note... Likewise she was known to practice a few other tasks that would normally be left to servants.

There was also time that could not be accounted for. She had never gone missing, it was just that if you added the time spent in the academy to the time spent at home, there was some left over. She could have spent a lot of time out with friends, but none at the academy had described her as particularly social. It was a similar story with her money. She had been seen spending far less than she received. That was unusual in a child. Neither would normally raise suspicion though, unless you suspected she was out hiring body doubles and saving up to flee the country.

Isabelle had to credit Alice; she had played well. Her innocence had not been officially announced, and never would be, but with Raymond stripped of his position of crown prince, Emily removed and the circulating rumours, it made little difference. She was no doubt long gone; she probably wasn't seen leaving because she'd disguised herself, something that she would've had no reason to do had she been innocent in this whole thing. In hindsight, the correct action would have been to play along with the framing, maintain her guilt, and not punish Raymond or Emily at all. Raymond would've needed have an 'accident' later on to keep him off the throne, but that wouldn't be hard to arrange. It was too late for that now. Neither Raymond or Emily had officially been punished for anything yet, but both were effectively under house arrest. Releasing them and claiming Alice was the sole guilty party all along would be met with suspicion. Ironically, Isabelle was guilty of the exact same premature punishment that she had used to berate Raymond.

One option would be to pin all the blame on Raymond and Emily, spread that Raymond had deceived Edward into ordering the banishment, and hope that Alice had no further surprises in store. That would effectively be framing Raymond for treason though, for which execution was the only possible punishment. Edward would never agree. Suspicion it would have to be. If she spread around that her mother had been ill and not poisoned, and if Emily was released with no charges, the general population would be left with nothing but conflicting rumours. The nobility would know something had happened and been hushed up, but they wouldn't have anything actionable. She snorted as she realized Raymond was going to get his girl after all.