The Full Truth Revealed
“First they secretly dispatched a few men to set the fire and spirit the people away, then returned to calmly tidy up the scene of the crime. Truly audacious beyond words.”
“The evidence is thin, but there is no doubt.”
Unable to contain his fury, Silas’s lips twisted.
“The Lord of Sionel will have to answer for his negligence once this is settled. To think he would hole up inside his manor without so much as offering the barest courtesy due to a fellow noble, pretending none of it concerned him! Had they even bothered to visit the fire, they would have realized something was amiss.”
“…I have no excuse.”
Even when Cassel had been stationed in the border region of Logia without its lord, the internal situation had never been this dire. Regardless of the fact that they were Dotricia’s family, he had no desire to shield the Lord of Sionel.
One ought to have done at least something right before expecting mercy to cover their wrongs.
When the bandits had been handed over, the lord had not shown his face once, leaving everything to his knights.
The Crown Prince pulled something else from the drawer and placed it atop the report.
“What probability do you assign to Saintess Capia’s involvement in this matter?”
“Very high.”
It was regrettable that he could not recount every word of the conversation he had shared with his sister Pay. Under normal circumstances, he would have said one hundred percent rather than merely very high.
Yet Cassel felt no fear at concealing the truth.
If it was Silas—the Crown Prince whose generosity and understanding were boundless—then even if he later learned every secret Cassel had kept, he would never interrogate him about the past. He would simply comfort him, saying that both Cassel and Pay must have suffered greatly.
A liege who inspired absolute trust.
In return, Cassel could promise only one thing.
He would never allow the fake lady who adored the Crown Prince to stand at his side.
“The Saintess has sent word that she will soon visit the Imperial Palace. At present she is making her rounds, begging for alms near the capital.”
“I heard the same a few days ago.”
“Do you believe it would be wiser not to obstruct her visit?”
Cassel bowed his head deeply.
“Yes. Let her come to the palace and reveal her own tail. Also… Your Highness, the investigation you entrusted to me has borne some fruit.”
“Speak.”
Silas’s tone remained perfectly even, though no one could have wanted to know the reason more quickly than he.
“The sole reason the House of Orleans pressured Lady Ratcel into breaking the engagement was because they had once colluded with traitors during the time when the Kingdom of Ratcel still stood, thereby weakening the kingdom’s power.”
The Crown Prince who received the report was far from calm.
Cassel could sense the fury rising behind those pale golden eyes.
“…Is that truly the only reason?”
Spies existed everywhere and always would; cutting them off at the root was never simple. Too many interests were entangled.
It was only natural for spies from one nation to join hands with influential figures in another for mutual gain.
“After that, the Kingdom of Ratcel was driven to the brink of bankruptcy, a crisis even the royal family could not resolve. Your Highness is well aware of what followed. Once the kingdom was fully absorbed into the Empire and Lady Ratcel became engaged to you, they grew desperate.”
Every word that left Cassel’s lips filled Silas with revulsion.
“Haa.”
“Lady Ratcel is said to possess a quiet temperament. Once she is properly established and later becomes Empress, she would eventually have learned everything, just as I did through my investigation. The House of Orleans could not guarantee that she would not seek revenge upon them, so they…”
“They have lost their minds. Truly.”
Silas’s head dropped heavily onto his interlaced hands.
Even as he delivered the report, Cassel found it difficult to suppress his own anger. To shake another country for personal gain, then threaten its fallen princess the moment she showed signs of marrying into their own royal family…
And this time the marriage in question was none other than that of their own Crown Prince!
“To hold them accountable, every past misdeed must be brought to light as well.”
As Cassel spoke, he thought of Pay, who was currently at the Magic Tower.
No matter which path poor Tiana chose, he would believe in her, support her, and wait for her. Even if the entire world remained ignorant that she was the true daughter of the Klein ducal house, he knew the truth.
She was his one and only younger sister.
He would see her happiness through to the very end.
“…It is truly absurd. They first profited unjustly by acting as spies, then forced the lady into breaking the engagement?”
Cassel fully understood Silas’s fierce anger.
While investigating these matters during his absence from the capital, he had also learned of the Crown Prince’s reputation. It was outrageous enough that certain factions had begun subtly undermining the imperial authority after the sudden broken engagement.
The House of Orleans could not possibly have been unaware that their actions would lead to such consequences.
How dare they touch even the direct imperial line—the Crown Prince’s own marriage?
There were limits to mocking the imperial family.
Silas asked sharply, “Is it certain that Sir Raphael has no involvement whatsoever?”
“Yes. He has been steadily reporting his family’s movements and has spoken with me as well. He even declared that if his house commits treason, he will cast aside his family name and live simply as the knight Raphael.”
“To that extent?”
“It seems he remains unaware of the contents I am reporting.”
Even while saying this, Raphael had winked and joked that he ought to grow closer to Morris in the stables. If he had nowhere else to go, he might as well borrow a spot in the stables.
“At least that is fortunate.”
Cassel offered a small smile.
No matter how lightly Raphael Orleans behaved, no one truly disliked him. Cassel himself found him disagreeable only when he came waving an olive branch.
“The Saintess Capia’s upcoming visit to the palace was apparently unknown to the House of Orleans as well. However, there are traces of prior communication between them.”
“Their schemes run deep. Until now I believed my broken engagement to be the greatest matter at hand, yet it seems that is not the case. For the Holy Temple itself to move and attempt to annihilate an entire family while swapping their remains… what could possibly be their purpose?”
“They are coming precisely to reveal that purpose openly. Having sown their seeds so thoroughly, they must believe the harvest season has arrived.”
Cassel intended to make the Saintess pay with her own neck the moment she exposed her malice.
He would not forgive her. He would neither ignore what she had done nor allow her to live in peace.
“I see.”
“What will you do?”
Silas lifted his head and spoke with firm resolve.
“I do not know yet. But I cannot leave the House of Orleans as it is. Ever since they established themselves as a meritorious house and became the Empire’s right hand, they have committed sins that tarnish that glory. They must answer for them. Have you discovered the reason they quarreled with the Marquisate of Huiante?”
“Yes. That matter, too, has yielded a clue.”
“What is it?”
“A mine.”
“A mine…?”
The Arcan Empire held exclusive rights over all valuable minerals within its borders—gold, silver, copper, iron, salt, honey, and even magic stones required for high-level spells.
Only tin, now a declining industry, and gemstones unnecessary for daily life were permitted for private mining and reporting.
The Empire did not monopolize everything profitable; since gemstones were luxury goods unrelated to essential living, their rights were recognized.
Therefore, the minerals Cassel named should never have appeared on any private mining list.
Had it been a dispute over rare gemstones, some leniency might have been possible.
“As Your Highness is aware, the border between the two houses’ provincial territories touches only at a narrow point.”
“A small branch of the Driana Mountains.”
“…Traces of a gold vein were reportedly discovered there.”
“Haa.”
Once more, at the mention of a mineral that should never have been named, Silas’s head dropped onto his interlaced hands.
The Marquisate of Huiante was also at fault, but had the House of Orleans, a house of meritorious retainers, lost its mind?
With what little energy remained for anger, Silas spoke quietly.
“By imperial right, the Crown monopolizes the production and distribution of all valuable minerals, magic stones, salt, and honey throughout the Empire. Is there any chance they were unaware of this?”
“None whatsoever.”
“Cassel, sit and continue your report. You must be exhausted as well.”
Accepting the Crown Prince’s consideration, Cassel drew closer and delivered even more shocking news.
“Unfortunately, both houses discovered the gold vein almost simultaneously along their shared border. Driven by greed, they abandoned their duty to report and began competing to dig it out. In the end, a misfired explosive caused severe injuries to miners from both houses.”
“……”
Though Silas’s pale golden eyes did not redden, they overflowed with fury. His gaze alone made it clear how deeply disgusted he was by both houses.
Cassel thought it would not be strange if the Crown Prince seized his seal at once and ordered the arrest of both family heads and their knights.
“After realizing each other’s presence, the two houses refrained from using explosives but did not cease mining.”
“Now I understand. I finally understand why they reacted so sensitively to the small explosion I caused during the harvest festival. I had hoped to make them reveal their discord, yet they believed the other side was provoking them with explosives and flew into a rage.”
It had been a case of the crow flying away and the pear falling, yet the Crown Prince’s choice had ultimately been correct.
“In their territories they only urged the terrified miners onward, fearing armed conflict, while the ones who actually caused the chaos were fighting here in the capital.”
In that moment, Cassel thought Silas’s golden eyes might truly explode.
Yet he was not afraid of the Crown Prince.
“Your Highness…”
Silas suppressed the coldly burning light in his eyes and asked,
“Did they manage to extract any of the gold from the vein and smuggle it away? If the market price has been greatly affected, the affected residents must be compensated even if the gold itself cannot be recovered.”
As expected of his liege.
Rather than issuing an emotional order to mobilize the imperial army at once, he prioritized reason.
“No. After the mine explosion, the standoff has been so tense that the actual amount of gold extracted is minimal. They received reports that a larger vein lies deeper below, yet without explosives they can only fret helplessly.”
For the first time since receiving the report, Silas let out a derisive laugh.
“They have fallen into their own trap.”
“The gold they have mined so far has not been moved to the center of their territories but is being stored under strict guard nearby.”