Karsten had been a knight loyal to the queen.

Through him, she had forced Baron Constance to his death, and the baron had ultimately accepted it. Tormented by guilt, he had fought desperately until Crown Prince Karlus could escape.

Faced with the truth laid bare, I couldn’t find words.

So all of this had started from a tangled love affair.

After so many people had died.

Karsten had become commander of the Grand Duke’s Guard thanks to the queen’s strong recommendation.

"So the Grand Duke’s Guard watching me means..."

"It means the queen is watching you, Sir Streit. She’s afraid of you. She’s terrified you might ruin everything, and from now on she won’t care what means she uses."

"..."

"But we’ll move first."

It’s our chance to bring her down.

Clara added those words with eyes full of madness and hatred, then turned away. It meant she had nothing more to say. But there was one thing I still had to ask.

It mattered more than all the questions and truths combined.

"Does His Grace the Grand Duke know all of this?"

"..."

Clara kept her silence.

That alone was enough for me to be certain.

The Grand Duke knew everything.

"..."

"Commander!"

Fiel’s voice startled me out of my thoughts.

When I came back to myself, I realized I had just walked into the Military Department.

I’d been lost in thought a little too deep.

"You’ve been spacing out ever since we left the salon."

"Sorry. I was just thinking about something and didn’t hear you."

"...Did something happen with Lady Mühe?"

What worried Fiel was that I’d granted her special treatment. Unlike the nobles, Mühe had been classified as a witness rather than a suspect. Mühe wasn’t a member of Hoenir; she was Clara’s collaborator.

Naturally, everything about Clara and Hoenir was kept confidential.

Mühe’s reputation was so notoriously sordid that Fiel was probably worried I might have rolled around with her in a back room in exchange for the special treatment. It wasn’t so much offensive as it was a misunderstanding anyone might make.

I almost wished it had been something that simple. What was actually rattling around in my head was nothing so ordinary. It had been a long time since I’d felt mental exhaustion heavy enough to make my legs go weak.

"It’s nothing as sordid as you’re imagining, so you don’t need to worry."

"That’s a relief. I won’t have to give my wife’s friend any unfortunate news."

"I swear to God, I have no interest in any woman who isn’t Hilda."

That was the truth, and it would remain so going forward.

Only after I invoked God did Fiel stop pressing.

The reason the nobles arrested at Mühe’s salon had been transferred to the Military Department instead of the Judicial Department was simple: the Judicial Department was open to political compromise, while the Military Department, as a reliable ally, was safer.

My father-in-law, the Judicial Minister, and I were all gathered in one room.

With two of the four ministers who made up the duchy’s government in the same place, this was no light meeting. They read through the opening sections of the detailed report I’d written and were unable to speak for some time.

Because every one of the men I’d arrested was a titled high noble. Even if they were court nobles, ignoring their titles and privileges was tantamount to challenging the crown itself.

The Judicial Minister looked at me with grave eyes and said,

"The court viscounts may have little real influence, but they still hold titles, and they hold immunity from prosecution. Even with judicial authority delegated to you, you have no power to arrest them."

Judicial authority wasn’t all-powerful. It had clear limits and didn’t represent absolute, unchecked power. It was merely a tool to make it easier to apprehend those who broke the law.

"Son-in-law, this is no small matter. If Prince Louis takes issue with this, even you, under His Grace’s protection, could face a backlash. This is reckless. It’s not like you."

My father-in-law was clearly worried that I’d taken a political hit by arresting titled court nobles without sufficient grounds. Without solid justification, that’s exactly what would have happened.

"Calm yourselves and please finish reading the report."

My father-in-law, still looking skeptical, resumed reading. But as he went further down the page, his grip on the paper tightened until the veins on the back of his hand stood out as if they might burst.

Bang!

He brought his ladle-sized hand down on the desk hard enough to break it, shot to his feet like a furious European brown bear, and let loose a tremendous roar from the depths of his diaphragm.

"Treason? Is this really true?"

"It’s true. Most of them confessed."

The confessions came with a beating, but in this era, torture was the standard method of interrogation. Judgment was a matter for the higher-ups. The Judicial Minister, his face grave, asked,

"This appears to have been carried out quietly beneath the surface. How exactly did you uncover it, Sir Knight?"

"You’ve probably heard the rumor that I’m an illegitimate son of His Grace the Grand Duke." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

He clearly had. That was why his expression remained ambiguous, neither confirming nor denying. While investigating the source of that rumor, Mühe’s salon had come to light.

And inside it, under Viscount Dumarck’s lead, the claim that the crown prince himself was illegitimate had surfaced. The shock on their faces was plain. My father-in-law let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"Good God! The crown prince a bastard? The biggest nonsense I’ve heard in all my life!"

"The problem is that this was led by core nobles of Prince Louis’s faction."

"I’ve watched the two brothers for years, and I know better than anyone how close they are. They would never stoop to something this filthy. Couldn’t Dumarck have acted on his own?"

My father-in-law clearly couldn’t bring himself to believe it. It was well known that the crown prince and Louis were on excellent terms as brothers. Like the relationship between the Grand Duke and the duke, the Altringen royal family had an image far removed from conspiracy.

Far removed?

There was a foul stench coming from every corner.

The fact that this had been buried so deep below the surface left even me impressed by the secrecy.

"It’s fortunate Sir Streit caught this. We nearly let it vanish into the swamp."

"Agreed. Using a ladies’ salon as a meeting place—he flushed out men who had hidden themselves with real care."

The truth was that Hoenir had deliberately leaked the information, but their existence was classified. So in the end, it was credited as my own discovery. If I hadn’t met those women, I would have thought the same thing.

"...I was just trying to find out who was talking behind my back. I got lucky."

"The Lord’s grace is clearly with you, Sir Knight. War Minister, you’ve got an enviable son-in-law."

"How many times am I going to have to hear about my enviable son-in-law?"

He said it that way, but my father-in-law was smiling with deep satisfaction. I still couldn’t forget the wrath-of-god aura he’d radiated when Hilda first brought me home, warning that if I ever made her cry he’d flatten me.

"War Minister, we need to focus on the motive. What would Dumarck stand to gain? We need to think about who benefits most if Prince Louis becomes crown prince."

"Damn it, no need to think hard about that—it’s those idiots! So they were using the prince all along."

The Judicial Minister and my father-in-law, who didn’t know Prince Louis’s true nature, could only conclude that Viscount Dumarck had used the prince to plot against the crown prince.

Was this the general perception of Prince Louis? How well had he managed his image, if two ministers didn’t even entertain the possibility that he might be the one behind it? In the end, I had to raise it myself.

"Couldn’t Prince Louis have been the one orchestrating all of this from behind the scenes?"

"Son-in-law, you suspect Prince Louis himself led all of this?"

"Given the circumstances, the prince’s motive is too clear. Nobles aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit."

Louis was after the crown prince’s seat. Any member of a royal family longs for the throne. History has proven that countless royals have fought vicious battles behind the scenes to claim it.

So Prince Louis was spreading rumors of illegitimacy first, to chip away at the crown prince’s legitimacy. Then he could pull in the regional princes who supported him and build a massive faction.

"We’ll know once we interrogate Viscount Dumarck and the other nobles. They’ve already admitted the charges, so we just need to dig into their connection with Prince Louis, don’t we?"

"But if we push too hard to prove the charges and the bastard rumor gets out, the regional princes might end up supporting Prince Louis, just as my son-in-law said. They won’t care whether it’s true or not. Damn them all!"

That it could provide a pretext for civil war—

That was what worried my father-in-law most.

"This matter has to be handled with care. First, we need to settle on how to report this to His Grace. If we mishandle it, a bloodbath could sweep through the Altringen royal house."

"The way you’re talking, it sounds like you think I’m careless."

"Is there a noble in all of Beren more impatient than the War Minister?"

We decided to leave the report to the Grand Duke to the two of them. But the Grand Duke already knew, so what I really wondered was how he would react. Would he have Louis put down?

Or...