Chapter 243. Disclosure, Part XIV

Translator: Khan Editor: Aelryinth

“Did she do anything to be arrested?”

“She had a letter the Marquise had given to her.”

Julietta’s eyes shook. “I suppose it was about my story.”

“It says only that Princess Kiellini is a fake. I think that’s all she wrote yesterday, because I told the knights not to give her time, but to bring her in right away. As the maid said, that was all. She was going to write something more, but Marquis Anais came into the room and she gave her maid the letter in a hurry.”

“That’s a relief. I’m not afraid of the Proof of Blood unless it turns out I’m the illegitimate child of the Marquis.”

Killian pushed aside the sheets and rose. He took the golden bottle out of the drawer of the table beside the bed and handed it to Julietta.

“What is this?”

“I drew Regina’s blood and kept it. It’s a few drops, but just in case I made Adam prepare it.”

Julietta looked at the bottle, which emitted a colorful light in her trembling hands.

“It’s a magic bottle. It never breaks, and the contents inside never change.”

Killian took the golden bottle back and threaded it onto a string that he had prepared beforehand. Hanging the bottle around Julietta’s neck, he asked, “Just in case, make sure you carry it around. I don’t know if this blood could be good for you, but it was still the best safety device I could prepare.”

Julietta clasped the bottle around her neck. Although he didn’t express his feelings, Killian must have been nervous, too, when she considered that he had prepared something like this.

“I’ll go to the house you’ve prepared for me this afternoon. It’s time for Princess Kiellini to show up.”

“It’s painful. I have to stay away from you for a while.”

Killian’s face shifted subtly. It was good to talk this way without thinking of etiquette or other people’s eyes.

“I’ll have to think about sharing the bedroom, even if I get married.”

Julietta’s eyes were dazzled at Killian’s serious remark, “Please don’t think about something like that so seriously. Don’t let it leave your mouth, because I’m ashamed of what people will say.”

As Killian started to say something, he heard Ian knocking on the door in a hurry.

“Your Highness, the body of the Marquise has been found and we heard that the news was delivered to the Dudley mansion. I think you need to prepare.”

“Your Excellency, Your Excellency. We have a big problem. There’s a man from the Anais family. Your daughter…” It was early enough for the average aristocrat to call it midnight. The butler had to wake the Duke of Dudley with his urgent voice from where he was sleeping in a quiet bedroom.

“What are you talking about? What about Ivana?”

“I think you’ll have to go in a hurry. The Marquise hung herself early this morning.”

The Duke of Dudley leapt out of his bed. “What? Suicide? What are you talking about?”

He rushed to get ready at the incredible news. “Contact the Imperial Castle and send my message. Suicide? That’s nonsense. The Prince of Killian killed her in revenge for this incident. By the way, why did he kill Ivana?”

Duke Dudley was too cold to be a father who had lost his daughter. He connected the incident to his daughter’s death at once. He finished his preparations, ready to get on the wagon and try to get out of the gate. A maid whom he had seen somewhere was haggling with a knight at the front door.

“Stop.” Soon the carriage stopped, and the Duke opened the window and looked out. “What’s going on?”

“Your Excellency, she says that she is the maid from the Anais mansion. She insisted that she has something to tell you in person. We had a man coming from the Anais mansion a little while ago, so I was checking her for a while.”

“Hello, Your Excellency. I’m Poche, the maid of the Marquise.”

The Duke of Dudley remembered where he had seen her, and opened the carriage door and let her within.

“The Marquise rushed me out of the house yesterday. She told me to go home and rest and deliver a letter to the Duke early in the morning.”

Poche carefully extended the letter, remembering what had happened last night at the Imperial Castle.

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She had frequently visited the Imperial Castle, because she had served Mrs. Marquise. But it was the first time she was dragged into it alone without her master at night.

Something had been disturbing her since Marquis Anais and his wife had been called to the Imperial Castle. She had left the mansion to go home as ordered by Mrs. Anais, but at that moment she had been surrounded and dragged away by knights.

A few hours later, she fell flat on her face as Prince Killian, who she had only seen from afar appeared in front of her.

“Do you have a letter for the Duke of Dudley?”

The terrible voice of Prince Killian, as if he knew everything, echoed in her ear. Poche took the letter out of her sleeve. The Prince opened up the letter that she had handed him, and looked at it without a word.

“What did your master say about Princess Kiellini?”

Poche said everything she had seen and heard that she had gone to a private investigator, got a man, disguised him as her cousin, and brought him to the mansion. He had gone to Tilia to investigate Princess Kiellini, and Mrs. Anais had asked Madame Louai in detail about Princess Kiellini.

Killian silently listened to Poche, and gave her the letter again. “The fact that you met me today should not be told to anyone. Tomorrow you will deliver the letter as Mrs. Marquise ordered you to do. When the Duke asks you about Princess Kiellini, say exactly what you told me now.”

Loyalty to the Marquise disappeared the moment she was brought to the Imperial Castle. There must have been something wrong with the Anais family. Poche thought she had to obey to survive. She didn’t know why he didn’t destroy the letter, and said she should deliver the letter to the Duke of Dudley as it was, but she was released on her oath to do so without complaining.

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And so, Poche met the Duke of Dudley, and delivered the letter of the Marquise.

The Duke of Dudley opened the letter from his daughter handed to him by the maid, and when he saw it, he let out a sigh of admiration. “This is why she died.”

Even though a man from the Anais family brought the news that her daughter had killed herself, he didn’t believe it.

Ivana was different from his eldest daughter, Victoria. Unlike emotional and fiery Victoria, Ivana was ice cold and rational. The two were really different from each other. Still, what they had in common was that it was when they fell in love and were crazy about it.

“Turn the wagon to the Imperial Castle.”

He had tried to confirm his daughter’s death, but he didn’t have to. With the letter and Ivana’s maid, he could reveal his daughter’s unjust death and put an end to Prince Killian.

“Before she died, she worked hard for her father.”

When the Duke of Dudley smiled satisfactorily at Poche, she quickly lowered her eyes.

‘I can’t believe that your daughter’s dead, but you are smiling. As expected, the higher the rank of nobles, the madder they seem.’

Ignoring the fear-stricken Poche, the Duke of Dudley looked up to the blue sky and appreciated it. “Prince Killian would think that with Ivana’s death, all secrets will be buried in her grave. I have to make a surprise attack in this situation. I was inwardly anxious that the poison case would end vaguely, but all my luck is open to me, as such a good chance fell from heaven. Ivana, you smart one! I’ll avenge your death.”

A day after the news of the Duke of Kiellini’s suicide was reported, it was reported that the wife of the Marquis killed herself. The capital began to flutter at the successive tragedies. Feeling that something terrible was going to happen, the powerless people began to refrain from going outside, fearing that they might be involved with it.

Meanwhile, Julietta and Killian finished their breakfast in good spirits. While Killian was preparing to go out, Julietta played with Manny and Lilly for a while. She was scheduled to go to meet Lady Raviel with Count Valerian while Killian went to the main castle.