I awoke from the knocking on the door, but I remained lying down on the ever-soft bed. I quietly groaned as my body ached. I healed my body before going to bed, but it would appear I didn’t get all of it. I was pretty drowsy when I arrived though, I had to remove my work clothes and weapons, then wear my sleeping clothes.

Then heal my body while I was feeling dizzy. At the first sign of relief, I fell asleep. Even now, I still felt tired. I didn’t even get around six hours of sleep I think.

“Princess, wake up.” came Mera’s voice. “I’m opening the door.”

“Wait, not yet!”

I got up from the bed and cast healing magic on my body. I just want to get rid of as much pain as possible.

I sighed. I felt drained. After the pain had dissipated, I went over to the door to open it. As usual, Mera and Rogan were here. However, strangely Vernon was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Vernon?”

“... He said he’ll catch up later, and he apologize for it.”

“Why? What happened?”

“I don’t know…”

I shifted my gaze towards Rogan, indirectly asking if he knew something.

“Must have something to do with an incident somewhere, I heard something from the other knights. For now they’re still investigating, given that I’m here, I didn’t get to you know, to see what it was.”

“And Vernon just left… where? Surely he didn’t leave the palace.”

“I don’t think so.”

“... That’s fine…I’m sure he’ll come to tell us later.”

I went on and did my normal routine until it was time for breakfast. But upon arriving in the dining room, only Mother, Eleden, and Lillie were there. I curiously looked at the empty seats.

“Where are Father and Estevan?”

“Good morning dear…” my mother warmly smiled at me. “There was an emergency, so your father and brother had to handle it. To be precise, they’re at the moment coordinating with the knights.”

With a concerned face, I sat down on my chair. “Did something bad happen?”

“I don’t know yet.”

I looked at Eleden and he shook his head. “I’ve sent Lucious to take a look at what’s going on.”

“Don’t concern yourself, dear. Let’s eat.”

I hesitantly nodded my head and dined.

A few minutes later, Father and Estevan arrived with troubled faces.

My mother spoke to Father. “So, any news?”

“It’s not something to be talked about while eating. But we’re still figuring it out.” my father smiled.

Father and Estevan joined us.

Several minutes later, after eating and cleaning the table, a knight arrived. “Excuse me, but we have identified the victim.”

My father nodded. “Who is it?”

“Marquis Vekenas, Hevrik Fumine Vekenas.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock. Mother covered her mouth, and father had a grim look on his face. Of course I also appeared surprised.

“He has yet to show up for overseeing the festival, and his wife coming forth that her husband has yet to return after leaving last night. Add to that identifying objects at the site, and analyzing the body. We came to the conclusion that it is indeed the Marquis.”

“Is it murder?” Estevan asked.

“Definitely, aside from the charred remains, he also has a stab wound, and a cut to the throat.”

“A marquis… murdered? Or assassinated?” Eleden muttered in disbelief.

This was of course a big deal. Someone just killed a high-ranking aristocrat. Who would have the nerve to kill a man of that standing? That would incur the wrath of the crown.

“Who could have done this..?” my mother asked to no one in particular, horrified.

I looked at my mother with a melancholic expression, somehow I felt a little prick in my heart looking at her this way.

“This is an unprecedented incident.” my father grimly said. This was unprecedented in his term, and a few rulers before, it was incredibly rare for this to happen, sometimes never at all. “To think this would happen in the capital. Any leads?”

“Not yet, your majesty… Marquis Teristro is still investigating the scene of the crime.”

“Good, he should find something.”

Marquis Meril Helvinia Teristro, my mother’s brother, and my uncle — and Mizia’s father. I didn’t expect him to be sent to investigate. I wonder what his role in the kingdom is. Father seemed a bit relieved that uncle went to investigate.

“Keep me posted.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, the knight left.

“What are we going to do? Should we continue the festival?” my mother asked Father.

“We continue it. For now, I’ll leave the events in your hands, my love.”

“Very well.”

“ — Um… isn’t the marquis Lucious’s uncle…?” I timidly asked with a fearful expression. “Where’s Lucious…?”

Eleden bit his lip. “Estelia, come with me, let’s find him.”

***

Eleden and I searched for Lucious in his office, expecting he would be there, but he was not. We went to his personal quarters, no one was there as well after calling out from the door. We searched outside the palace but he was nowhere to be found. Then we met the knight from earlier that brought the news and told us that Lucious went out in a hurry.

It would seem Lucious left to where the incident happened. Feeling a bit disappointed, I decided to stay in my study room while Eleden left to try and help where he can. I wonder how long until Lucious comes back.

Ever since we arrived in this room, Vernon has been staring weirdly at me. In fact, he started acting weird ever since he returned earlier. Good grief.

“Vernon, what’s the matter?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Whatever do you mean, your highness?”

“Don’t think I don’t notice it, it’s a bit uncomfortable how you’ve been staring at me.” I looked at him with a strained smile.

He averted his eyes away and took a deep breath. “I hesitate to speak my mind.”

“What does it entail? My guess it involves me?”

“...Yes.”

My other two servants wrinkled their brows as they stared at Vernon.

“Given that it has something to do with me, speak your mind.”

“...”

I sighed. “After today’s incident, I don’t think I can be patient, Vernon. Please speak.”

“... Very well…” he turned to Mera. “Please lock the door.”

Mera looked at me with a concerned expression, asking for my permission, to which I nodded.

After Mera locked the door, Vernon began asking me. “Princess, did you do something?”

“Huh?”

“Princess please don’t pretend. You asked questions about the marquis, then the next thing we discovered is that he is dead.”

My eyes widened in shock. “Are you implying I k-killed him?” to think he would think that about me.

“Hey hey, that’s going too far, Vernon.” Rogan came to my side to defend me.

“T-That’s right sir Vernon, that’s stepping over the line.”

“... But it could not be far from the truth given how things were yesterday.”

I twiddled around with my fingers. “V-Vernon… I only asked about the marquis yesterday because he was acting strange.” I then raised my eyes to look at him with a distressed face. “I could never commit such a thing… Please don’t make assumptions like that…”

I lowered my eyes. “There are those that are hurt, I… I wouldn’t do such a thing… never”

“Princess… I am only speaking my mind… but… are you truly being honest here?”

“V-Vernon… I didn’t do it, I swear. I swear I didn’t do it.” my voice slowly trailing off. “It was a surprise to me as it was for everyone.”

Rogan shook his head in exasperation. “Vernon, that’s a dangerous accusation. If she did it, how could she even get out of the palace without getting caught?”

He averted his eyes as he pondered. “...... I suppose.”

“Besides, you think the princess can just casually kill someone in cold blood?”

Vernon stared at my troubled and fearful face. Of course I’m afraid, he just basically accused me of murdering a high-ranking noble.

“No, I don’t think so. The princess had never killed someone before…” he slowly kneeled on one knee right before me. “My sincerest apologies, your highness. I made a mistake. Please know that I had no intention of speaking my mind to anyone else. My loyalty lies to you alone.”

“Um, thank you, Vernon… You m-may rise.” after he stood up, I continued. “... I know you are confused as to why this happened. So what about we theorize? Theorize about why the marquis was killed.”

“... I could not think besides other nobles giving the order.”

I furrowed my brows. “They can do that? Do they not fear the repercussions?”

“Some nobles are braver than others. I’m sure they think they can get away with it. But I don’t think there’s someone that’s in a feud with him.”

“...Could it be a personal grudge?”

“I couldn’t think of anyone that could have a grudge, but perhaps. Highly unlikely it would be a commoner, but it could be an adventurer besides assassins sent by nobles. But I just couldn’t think why, the marquis doesn’t have a particularly bad reputation.”

“... If it’s not personal, let’s expand the scope further… What if it’s a conspiracy? A conspiracy that runs deep and that everyone is not aware of.”

“Conspired by whom? Would there be a group of powerful people that would want the wrath of the crown?”

“I don’t know… it was just a random thought… This is going nowhere is it?”

“... Yes…”

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to lighten the mood… that was foolish of me.”

Vernon’s eyes widened for a moment. “Please princess, no need to deprecate yourself. It was my fault, to begin with. I started it.”

I was about to respond, but knocks rang out from the door. Mera went and opened it, she spoke with the person and turned to me. “Milady, the knight said that Mister Lucious has arrived.”

I stood up and took a deep breath. “Where is he?”

“He didn’t say.”

I left the room in a rush and headed to Eleden’s office. I entered after knocking. I looked around.

“Lucious is not here?”

“He has arrived?” Eleden said. “I expected him to head straight here… Perhaps in his room?”

“Maybe—” I paused when a place came to mind.

He surely would be there. I faced my servants. “Please don’t follow me.”

“But princess it’s—”

“Please.” I interrupted Vernon and then left the office.

I went down the stairs to the ground floor and then went outside until eventually, I arrived at a green place with a tree at the center. A place filled with childhood memories. Then, there Lucious was, sitting by the tree.

His head was lowered, and I saw tears welling up in his eyes. I bit my lip for a moment before going toward him. He heard my footsteps and the moment he saw it was me, he frantically rubbed his eyes and stood up.

“H-Hey, Estelia… I, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

With a sad expression, I spoke to him. “Lucious… I… I heard what happened.”

He forced a smile, the corner of his lips shaking. “Y-Yes… it was an… an unexpected news.”

He strained his eyes, holding his tears back… Not good.

I walked up beside him and sat down on the grass.

“Sit with me.”

He was hesitant at first but he slowly sat beside me.

“Estelia, what are—”

“Lucious… I… I spoke with your uncle in the colosseum… you seemed pretty close.”

I looked at him with a faint smile.

His eyes began to moisten.

“Y-Yeah… I… I um, used to tell him a lot of what happened in my life. I told him about my achievements, my joyful moments, and even my failures… He always listened to me with a proud smile. I…” It would seem he could no longer hold it in upon recalling the past, and tears began welling up in his eyes. “I’m s-sorry Estelia — I just—”

I reached out for his hand. “No… it’s okay.” I slowly took him into my arms and pulled him close, his head to my chest as I caressed his head. “Let it go.”

His body shook as he began to sob.

“I-I s-still can’t believe he’s g-gone…” he paused for a moment as he took a shaky breath. “The w-way he w-was… i-it was too cruel… too cruel…”

I gently caressed his head and tightened my embrace.

Then, he muttered. “W-Who could h-have done such a thing — to such a thing to a good man…?”

I did.

I took away one of your family, Lucious. I killed him and I savored it. I set his body afire. I took the life of someone very important to you. It caused a tiny pain in my heart to see you like this. But I have no regrets in killing him. Whether he was a good man, I’m sorry but it never mattered to me.

I killed him. But that fact will forever be hidden. You will never know, no one will.

I don’t know what will happen if you ever find out. That is why it will never be discovered that it was me.

Lucious… Oh Lucious… how I wanted to give it a try… I chose you at first, I chose to give the two of us a chance, a chance to grow this strange feeling in my heart.

But that feeling has now disappeared, and that is regretful.

I truly wanted to give this a chance. But… it would appear some things, some people… are just not meant to be.

***

The room was dark, it smelled foul, the corners filthy with feces. There was nothing beautiful in this room, a room underneath the ground with no light that can pass through. The room — this jail cell was not a place where a human being should live. But one human being did.

This human being was a woman, and her state, from her body and mind, reflected the miserable state of the room she was in. Her clothes were torn, she had not changed any kind of garments ever since she was brought her.

Her hair was sticky and messy, her skin full of dark muck, her throat dry as she barely drank any water. Her eyes darkened by eyebags were completely lifeless as she stared emptily at the floor.

The girl that was supposed to have a bright ambition, was now lost in the darkness that devoured both her mind and soul.

Then, there were sounds of footsteps coming into this usually silent dungeon. The footsteps stopped right at the entrance of her cell. Metal clinked, and the door lock clicked.

The knight who came spoke to her in a stern tone.

“Allie Jelimis, her highness, Princess Estelia, wishes to speak with you.”

Allie, who almost seemed like a dreary statue, slowly looked up.