ITIF Chapter 69

What the Previous Empress Left Behind

Perhaps he had simply meant to say that Giselle Grante had keen observational skills.

However, other interpretations were entirely possible.

For instance, was he asking if she still had feelings for him and couldn’t take her eyes off him? If that was his intent, she needed to answer carefully.

One wrong move could lead to a misunderstanding—that she still loved Kavelaseth and that’s why she couldn’t look away from him.

As Giselle Grante hesitated, her lips parting slightly without answering, one corner of Kavelaseth’s mouth curved upward.

At the same time, his cool, almond-shaped eyes narrowed.

“……?”

Meanwhile, Giselle Grante’s brow furrowed slightly. His decidedly seductive smile was far too unfamiliar.

“If anything, Your Grace, you seem to be the one who’s quite interested in me.”

“……Me?”

Kavelaseth raised one eyebrow as he asked back.

Why would she think that?

“You know everything I’ve been doing. That means Your Grace has been watching me too, which ultimately means……”

Watching the two of them exchange words back and forth from a distance, a pleased smile spread across Mikhail’s face.

“Seems we did well to give them some privacy.”

“Indeed.”

The butler standing behind him nodded with a faint smile.

****

Having finished her work, the Empress made her way to the dining room with her ladies-in-waiting.

As she chatted with them about various matters, something suddenly came to mind and she spoke it aloud.

“It seems like it’s time to hear news from the trial, but it’s running a bit late.”

“I’ll order someone to find out what happened. Though surely it went well……”

Before Marchioness Latse could finish speaking.

“Ah, here he comes now.”

The Empress spoke as she watched a messenger dismount from his horse in one leap.

“We’ll hear good news before dinner.”

The ladies-in-waiting nodded in agreement with Marchioness Latse’s words.

They were excited at the thought of soon hearing good news.

With this, the Imperial Princess Trinity’s murder case would be buried forever, and not a single seed left behind by the previous Empress would remain.

Marchioness Latse, who knew better than anyone how much the Empress had been counting down to this day, smiled broadly at her.

She truly wanted to congratulate the Empress, though it was frustrating that she couldn’t freely express her congratulations with listening ears nearby.

The Empress felt the same way as Marchioness Latse.

No, perhaps she was even more delighted than the day Trinity’s mother, the previous Empress, had passed away.

Back then had been a bit easier than now.

The previous Empress had been exactly the type of lady who knew nothing of the world’s ways.

A princess with the powerful backing of a ducal house that had produced several empresses through the generations.

Raised with abundant love, she simply didn’t know how to doubt people.

If she had been content with merely being the lady of a ducal household, she would have done well enough in that role, but she was far too naive and innocent to survive in the Imperial Palace, where betrayal and conspiracy ran rampant due to power struggles.

The Imperial Palace was where everyone in the Empire who craved more wealth, power, and higher status converged.

Just as the Empress herself and the House of Antares had their own schemes in usurping the position from the previous Empress, each of the previous Empress’s ladies-in-waiting had volunteered to serve her with their own ulterior motives.

Some for their daughters, some for their husbands, or if not that, for the glory of their families.

The previous Empress had certainly been virtuous and kind, but she had refused to see the dark and sinister hearts of others. Or perhaps she had pretended not to see.

‘And this is the result.’

The Empress struggled to suppress the corners of her mouth that kept trying to rise.

The trial was over, and Baron Oppenheimer’s daughter would have been executed under false charges.

Now there would not be a single survivor from that day left in the world.

It could truly be called a perfect and complete victory.

Though it was the crown of an Empress obtained through remarriage, what did that matter?

The situation was 180 degrees different from her girlhood when she had seethed over not being chosen by the Emperor.

The previous Empress, who had been the first to receive the Emperor’s request for a dance at the Imperial ball, was rotting in the ground, and what mattered was that she herself still stood strong.

And her son would now become Emperor.

The thrill of becoming the center of Imperial power made the Empress’s heart race.

The ladies-in-waiting, who would now get to pick up even crumbs of power, were also elated with excitement.

Just then, a messenger who had approached bowed deeply.

“……Your Majesty the Empress, I have something to report.”

Seeing the messenger’s poor expression, the Empress sensed that something had gone wrong.

After briefly looking at the empty corridor, the Empress spoke.

“Let us move to another location.”

The Empress turned her steps back toward her office.

The ladies-in-waiting, looking at each other with serious expressions, immediately followed behind the Empress.

Once the Empress and her ladies-in-waiting had returned to the office and taken their seats, the messenger explained the situation at today’s trial.

The atmosphere that had seemed to be proceeding smoothly as planned had suddenly changed after the recess.

“……The reason given was that important information had been obtained and further investigation would be necessary.”

“With such clear evidence already in hand, I never expected this to happen……”

Marchioness Latse, frowning in confusion, continued.

“……So what did the judges say was the reason for their sudden change of heart?”

“Given that the situation changed after the recess, we presume something happened during that time. We are investigating that aspect.”

The Empress slightly bowed her head and pressed her forehead, trying to hide her expression that threatened to contort.

“So the trial…… isn’t over yet.”

“……My apologies, Your Majesty the Empress.”

The messenger lowered his gaze with his hands clasped politely together.

The ladies-in-waiting seated around the Empress only watched her mood carefully in a silence that could break at any moment.

After staring at the edge of the desk corner for a while, the Empress spoke.

“Find out. Who leaked what information.”

As the order was given, the ladies-in-waiting immediately rose from their seats. But their expressions were uniformly troubled.

They had no idea where to even begin.

After Imperial Princess Trinity’s death, the guard knights who had protected her chambers had been dealt with swiftly. The knights who were fortunately not at the Palace that day had been disbanded.

So there couldn’t possibly be any witnesses left to speak of that day’s events.

As the ladies-in-waiting were leaving the office, the Empress added a word.

“Investigate the ladies-in-waiting under house arrest. There must be something there.”

As soon as they heard the names they had forgotten, the ladies-in-waiting’s eyes lit up.

****

As the grand gate bearing the family crest opened, Count Greykin’s estate, situated among sparsely placed elongated trees, came into view.

The Radcliffe Trading Company’s carriage, which had quickly passed the wide garden and fountain, gradually slowed down as it reached the entrance of the mansion.

Soon, Giselle Grante, wearing a white shirt with a bustier dress over it, stepped down from the carriage.

A maid who had come out to greet her tilted her head as she looked at Giselle Grante.

Giselle Grante removed her bread hat and smiled slightly at the maid.

“Mr. Pratt had another appointment today, so I came in his place.”

Giselle Grante subtly gestured with her eyes toward the Radcliffe Trading Company’s emblem. It was to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

After wondering for a moment why it wasn’t Pratt who usually came, the maid soon nodded.

“This way, please.”

Fortunately, the maid didn’t seem to recognize Giselle Grante’s face and immediately headed into the mansion.

As she guided Giselle Grante inside the mansion, the maid asked various questions about Pratt. Since she had prepared answers in advance, Giselle Grante smoothly deflected them.

The reason she had come here today in Pratt’s place was to meet Lady Greykin.

She had heard that after Imperial Princess Trinity’s death, Lady Greykin had shut herself away completely and gone into seclusion.

Then house arrest had been imposed right after, so even if she wanted to go out, she couldn’t.

As they passed the entrance and entered the spacious hall, a white grand piano placed in front of a large window caught her eye.

‘So this is what it looks like……’

Though this was her first time actually visiting the Count’s estate, it was just as Lady Greykin had described.

The various ornaments and artworks were neither insufficient nor excessive in displaying the power and wealth of the House of Greykin.

Rather, the restrained interior decoration seemed to represent Count Greykin’s temperament.

As Giselle Grante was looking around the interior, Lady Greykin entered the reception room.

Wearing a comfortable indoor dress, Lady Greykin looked considerably thinner than before.

Instead of her formerly plump cheeks, her slightly sunken face pained Giselle Grante’s heart.

Among the ladies-in-waiting, Lady Greykin had been particularly devoted to Trinity.

Unlike the other ladies-in-waiting who had been assigned to attend to Trinity by the Empress’s order, Lady Greykin was someone who had shown the passion to volunteer to become a lady-in-waiting herself.

Giselle Grante rose from her seat, greeted Lady Greykin lightly, and handed her a parchment with the product list written on it.

The maid took the parchment from her and passed it to Lady Greykin.

Lady Greykin, seated on the sofa across from her, examined the parchment with quite practiced movements.

From this, it was clear that she frequently used the Radcliffe Trading Company.

After skimming through the product list, Lady Greykin nodded and handed the parchment to the maid.

Now all Giselle Grante had to do was deliver the goods loaded on the carriage to Count Greykin’s estate, and her role would be complete.

That’s what would have happened if Pratt had come.