ITIF Chapter 72

Price of Silence

The moment she wondered what to do, Kavelaseth caught the frame falling to the floor.

Just as she was surprised by his quick reflexes, Giselle Grante soon blamed herself for her foolishness.

‘I didn’t notice until he came so close…!’

The rug on the floor was quite plush.

Because of that, it seemed she hadn’t heard his footsteps. Being deeply lost in thought also played a part in preventing her from noticing him approach so near.

Though finding the cause was already too late.

Giselle Grante bit her lower lip, blaming herself for her foolish mistake.

And then.

At the end of her lowered gaze, she saw the back of the frame. Unlike before when it had been fitted perfectly into the frame, the picture inside was now slightly crooked.

And on the back of the frame was a short inscription.

[From Rugal…]

There seemed to be a following sentence, but it wasn’t visible.

“You must have been bored waiting.”

Saying this, Kavelaseth handed the frame he was holding to the butler.

The butler who checked the picture in the frame made a troubled expression.

Just as Giselle Grante, who had been watching him, was about to ask about the portrait in the frame.

Maids entered the drawing room pushing a trolley.

They quickly cleared the empty teacups from the table and set out new teacups and desserts.

“Sit.”

Only after the butler and maids left the drawing room did Giselle Grante apologize for the accident with the frame earlier.

“I apologize for my rudeness earlier.”

“…”

Even at Giselle Grante’s apology, Kavelaseth made no particular response and simply lifted his teacup to his lips.

Touching items without permission in a space without its owner was certainly improper behavior.

But she couldn’t not ask.

“Is it a portrait of the late Duchess Cardia?”

Giselle Grante deliberately feigned ignorance as she asked.

“Did it look that way to you?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you want to hear. I don’t suppose you came all this way to interrogate me…”

Kavelaseth slowly looked her over with narrowed eyes. Then, pulling up the corners of his mouth slightly, he continued.

“…Didn’t you have business with me? Something urgent and important enough to come all this way looking like that.”

As expected, Kavelaseth was not an easy person.

Noticing that he wanted to change the subject, Giselle Grante had no choice but to bring up the original purpose of her visit to the Cardia ducal residence.

“There’s someone who will play a major role in Your Grace’s great undertaking.”

Kavelaseth gazed quietly at Giselle Grante with furrowed brows.

He seemed to be thinking about what this great undertaking he desired was, and how she knew about it.

However, before long, he opened his mouth.

“I’m a bit curious who that might be.”

“The daughter of Count Greykin, who was Princess Trinity’s lady-in-waiting.”

“I believe Count Greykin’s daughter is currently under house arrest?”

Giselle Grante nodded slightly and said.

“That’s right. But after the recent trial, someone has appeared who wishes for Count Greykin’s daughter to disappear from the world.”

With an understanding expression, Kavelaseth nodded.

Giselle Grante continued immediately.

“I’d like Your Grace to protect Count Greykin’s daughter. Then, for helping her in difficult times, Count Greykin’s daughter will also provide appropriate compensation to Duke Cardia.”

“I don’t make verbal promises.”

“What would it take for you to believe me?”

Just as she was about to say she’d write a contract if he wanted, Kavelaseth proposed first.

“It seems we’ll need someone to guarantee those words.”

“I’ll guarantee it.”

Giselle Grante answered immediately without hesitation.

“Good, let’s do that.”

Contrary to her expectation that persuasion would be needed, Kavelaseth gave an affirmative answer.

Her relief was brief before Kavelaseth continued.

“However, I’ll attach one condition.”

****

Returning to the mansion, Giselle Grante curled up with her body fully immersed in the hot bathtub.

The bathwater, slightly hotter than body temperature, seemed to wash away the day’s fatigue.

Just as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of the water touching her skin, the conversation she had with Kavelaseth invaded her thoughts.

[I promise to protect Count Greykin’s daughter’s safety.]

Her joy at those words had been brief. Kavelaseth had made a completely unexpected request.

[To regularly visit the Cardia ducal residence through the Radcliffe Trading Company…]

She couldn’t quite grasp his psychology or what intention he had in saying that.

She mulled over her conversation with Kavelaseth for a while trying to understand his intentions, but no matter how much she thought about it, no answer came.

Having no choice, she decided to set aside the unresolved question for now.

Giselle Grante recalled the inscription written on the back of the portrait.

‘Rugal. Where did I hear that word Rugal…’

Continuing her thoughts, she remembered without much difficulty that Rugal was marked as a small place name on the empire’s map.

And that it was located on the border between the Cardia duchy and the Fortress county.

But that was all.

Since it wasn’t a place belonging to a prominent family’s territory, nor a place with specialty products like how one would immediately think of Mount Perphenom when mentioning a city, her impression of Rugal was vague.

‘Still, the fact that I haven’t forgotten it means it’s related to something.’

Unable to immediately recall what that was, she closed her eyes in frustration for quite a while before remembering what she had forgotten.

That she had heard her mother, the former Empress, left the imperial palace for Rugal to prepare for childbirth when giving birth to her.

As her frustration about Rugal somewhat dissipated, a new question arose.

‘But why Rugal of all places?’

Of course, it wasn’t completely without precedent, but it was certainly a different course from previous empresses who prepared for childbirth in the imperial palace under devoted protection.

Leaving the imperial palace to give birth.

Many had questioned the emperor for allowing the empress, carrying their precious first child, to leave the imperial palace at that time.

It would have been a better choice to keep the empress nearby and watch whether the child to be born would be a prince who might threaten his position or a princess.

Giselle Grante continued thinking about the unresolved questions until the moment she fell asleep, then headed to the study as soon as she opened her eyes the next day.

Hoping to find clues about it.

But it was impossible to obtain information as rare as what was in the imperial library.

This would be the same even if she went to a bookstore.

‘It would be good if I could visit the imperial library.’

Just as she was thinking this and leaving the study, Lindsey came running hurriedly and shouted.

“Miss! Please look at this.”

Lindsey held out a piece of parchment, and Giselle Grante hurriedly read through its contents.

It was a letter of greetings Olla had sent to her sister Lindsey.

“This part.”

Lindsey quickly pointed to one part of the letter.

There was a phrase implying the death of Lady Zimmer.

Though she had expected the Empress to counterattack, the speed was truly remarkably fast.

Seeing that she had dealt with those involved in less than a week after the trial.

If they hadn’t quickly hidden her, there was a high possibility that Lady Greykin would have lost her life like Lady Zimmer.

“Miss. Someone from the Radcliffe Trading Company has arrived.”

At the butler’s words, Giselle Grante hurriedly moved to the drawing room.

Pratt, who had been waiting in the drawing room, bowed and held out a parchment.

“This is the list of items you ordered. Please confirm.”

Giselle Grante skimmed through the product list she received from Pratt.

Since she had created it herself, she could interpret it immediately without a separate code sheet.

The content was about the news of Lady Zimmer’s death and Lady Greykin’s disappearance that she had just heard from Lindsey, stating that Lady  Zimmer had been found dead at the lakeside of the villa where she was under house arrest.

‘Wait, lakeside?’

Giselle Grante’s brows furrowed slightly.

She had personally visited Lady Zimmer before the trial. And there was no lake anywhere near the villa.

There was only a shallow stream crossing the fields.

But if news spread that Lady Zimmer had slipped at the lakeside and drowned, other people would surely accept it at face value.

But would Count Zimmer?

She had heard that Count Greykin had made a deal with the Empress over his daughter’s life. In exchange for keeping quiet, they would spare her life.

Presumably, Count Zimmer had also likely made a deal with the Empress. In exchange for sparing his daughter’s life, he would give up something.

Nobles were shrewd calculators.

Yet his daughter, who had been living peacefully, suddenly died.

And around the same time, Count Greykin’s daughter even went missing.

Count Zimmer wasn’t foolish enough to accept the known facts as they were.

The possibility was high that he would retaliate against the Empress who broke her promise, whenever that might be.

Of course, the Empress would say it was Lady Zimmer who broke the promise first.

The question was whether such an excuse would reach Count Zimmer’s ears when he had lost his family.

With this, the Empress had lost the support of one more person—no, influential noble house of the Empire, Count Zimmer’s family.

Losing nobles closely connected to Count Zimmer was a bonus.