Duchess Mecklen’s Elegant Revolt - Chapter 31 Part 4

The Emperor’s expression was grave. With his arms crossed, he spoke again, “Criasta, the first wife of Leopold II, was from the Delph family.”

Leopold II had always been followed by dark rumors.

Among them was the scandal that he had secretly had an affair with a foreign princess while married to Empress Criasta.

Historical records also indicated that Leopold II had never been particularly fond of the Delph family.

Yet Oth III, the son born just before Criasta’s death, was his successor.

“Leopold II had a chronic illness, but looking at the circumstances, there is one issue.”

“What issue?”

“He also died of a heart attack. The year Oth III turned twenty.”

“……!”

Gasps of shock filled the room.

Lennoch turned to the others and asked, “Heart attacks aren’t rare, but how common is it for two emperors from the same lineage to die from the same cause?”

“It’s extremely unusual.”

Eger shook his head. “I understand Your Majesty’s concerns. The fact that two members of the imperial family died of the same cause within a century is certainly suspicious. Especially considering that Oth III deliberately burned all records of the original blue allium, which eventually became the poisonous purple flower.”

“The connection runs deep.”

Count Hilda murmured in a heavy voice.

“Could the former Emperor’s carriage accident also be linked to the Delph family?”

“……”

“Am I overreaching in my assumptions?”

No one could easily answer Count Hilda’s question.

The deeper they dug, the more complicated the mystery became.

In the heavy silence, Eger flipped through the documents Count Hilda had brought.

“But why would Oth III burn a flower that his own mother cherished?”

“Looking at the timeline, this happened near the end of Oth III’s reign. Given the circumstances, it may have been due to the flower’s toxicity. Since it could turn into a poisonous plant depending on environmental factors.”

“That alone isn’t a sufficient reason.”

Eger shook his head. Beyond his glasses, his eyes swiftly scanned the document.

“If it was dangerous, he should have left records warning future generations about its toxicity. Instead, he erased its existence. That suggests a deliberate intention… Hm?”

“What is it?”

“This has nothing to do with the flower.”

Amid the scattered papers, Eger pulled out a yellowed sheet.

It was a list of previous archive custodians.

“Count, why did you bring this?”

“Oh, I thought that since Oth III was erasing records at the time, the archive custodians might have seen something important. We found valuable leads through the testimony of the palace gardeners, so I figured retired custodians might have additional clues.”

“That’s a good idea.”

Eger nodded, his eyes scanning downward.

Then, he suddenly froze.

“Y-Your Majesty.”

“Hmm?”

“Please take a look at this.”

Startled, Eger handed the document to the Emperor.

Curious, Eleanor leaned closer, prompting Lennoch to lay the paper flat on the table for better visibility.

Upon seeing the name Eger pointed to, Eleanor’s eyes widened in shock.

“…Saruka.”

At the time of transition from Oth III to Heinrich II, the custodian of the archive had been Saruka.

Eleanor instinctively lifted her head to look at Lennoch.

Their gazes met midair.

“How is his name here?”

She had assumed he was from East Harlem.

But to think he had been a palace official.

The records indicated that Saruka had only served as the archive custodian for a brief period—just three years.

At that moment, Count Hilda, the only one unfamiliar with the name, asked Eger, “Who is Saruka?”

“In simple terms, he is one of the key figures in the Balkan Trading Company scandal.”

“The Balkan Trading Company?”

Once again, Count Hilda looked confused.

Eger realized that Count Hilda was not yet up to date on the matter.

As Eger began explaining the details of the trading company case, Eleanor, now fully composed, lowered her voice and called the Emperor’s name.

“Lennoch.”

A sudden thought crossed her mind.

“Did Saruka completely cut ties with Caroline?”

“That, I don’t know. At first, we had people tracking Caroline, but after we lost Saruka, I ordered the knights to prioritize finding his whereabouts. As a result, we currently have little information on Caroline’s movements.”

The original plan had been to use the Balkan Trading Company to convict Caroline and imprison her.

That plan was now useless.

As Lennoch frowned at the situation, Eleanor whispered to him, “Then we have nothing to lose by trying.”

“……?”

“I’m going outside the palace for a bit.”

Before Lennoch could object, Eleanor preemptively flashed a bright, charming smile.

“I just remembered something I left behind.”

***

Under the moon at its highest point.

A child named Lennoch, who had been sleeping, slowly opened his eyes.

Silently, he slipped out of bed, carefully opened the door, and checked his surroundings.

Confirming that no one was around, he quietly climbed over the wooden fence meant to keep intruders out.

‘No one saw me, right?’

Avoiding the watchful eyes of the villagers, the boy ran towards a secluded area far from town.

After scanning his surroundings, he whistled softly.

A rustling sound followed as someone emerged from the bushes.

“You came?”

“Brother!”

Upon seeing Childe, the child’s face lit up with excitement.

Since their first meeting, the child had grown more trusting of Childe, who never failed to return.

He was as kind as Vito.

“Today, I brought almond cookies.”

“Thank you!”

The sweets Childe brought were the best things the boy had ever tasted.

As the sweet, nutty flavor filled his mouth, his face beamed with joy.

“You must be really rich, brother.”

The boy’s voice was tinged with admiration.

“I wish I had lots of money so I could eat like this every day.”

The cookie disappeared in an instant. As the boy licked the crumbs from his hands, Childe gently ruffled his hair.

“I’ll bring more next time.”

“Thank you, brother. But do you not have a home? Are you always wandering like this?”

“Well… I do have one, but…”

Childe found it difficult to answer honestly and scratched his cheek.

‘Because your farm is suspicious.’

From the moment he first met the boy, Childe had sensed something strange.

An isolated farm where no one came and went.

A settlement that rejected visitors and only tended to its own fields wouldn’t have been built in such a manner.

If it had been a simple family unit, there would have been no need to construct multiple houses to resemble a village.

Another strange thing Childe noticed while staking out the area was that people from the village regularly came by to inspect the place.

He had nearly been caught once.

‘They’re definitely not a family.’

Just looking at the expression on the boy’s face was enough proof.

“Should I pack some cookies separately for your family?”

Childe casually probed the child. But the boy shuddered and shook his head in distaste.

“No, that’s okay.”

“Why? Don’t you want to share these delicious cookies with your parents?”

“T-that’s…”

The boy hesitated mid-sentence.

“My family doesn’t like sweets except for me.”

A flimsy excuse.

As the boy fidgeted, unsure of what to do, Childe looked at him with pity.

“Then should I pack some just for you? You might crave them once you go home.”

At Childe’s kind voice, the boy hesitated.

‘Should I just be honest?’

That he had been kidnapped and forced into labor here.

That even if he ran away, he had nowhere to go, and there was no adult who would protect him.

But maybe… Maybe this kind-hearted brother would take him to a real village where people lived.

That thought crossed his mind, yet he couldn’t bring himself to speak.

‘But what about Vito?’

That was the one thing keeping him tied to the farm.

Vito was different from any adult he had ever met.

A pure, gentle person.

At times, he even seemed younger than the boy himself.

Hesitating, the boy carefully asked, “Are you a strong person?”

“A strong person?”

“Can you beat up bad guys?”

It wasn’t a joke—he was completely serious.

Childe, looking down at the earnest boy, laughed awkwardly.

“Well, I won’t lie to you.”

“So you can’t win?”

The boy sounded somewhat disappointed.

Childe, looking at the child’s dirty face and timid demeanor, felt a pang of sympathy.

It reminded him of his own past.

He knelt down on one knee to meet the boy’s eyes.

“I might not be able to take down the bad guys myself, but there are many people who will help. If I send out a signal, scary people will come rushing in to punish them.”

He could only hope that this suspicious settlement was indeed Caroline’s secret farm.

The imperial palace was surely waiting anxiously for news of his discovery.

Even if it wasn’t, Childe was more than willing to help the boy in any way he could.

With a warm smile, he reassured him. “If I ask the person helping me, they’ll come to our aid. She’s truly an angel. No, a goddess—an absolutely perfect goddess.”

“A goddess?”

The boy tilted his head in confusion at the unexpected praise.

“Was Saladin a goddess? Is that why his hair was so long? But does a goddess have a beard?”

“N-no, not that one.”

Startled, Childe quickly covered the boy’s mouth.

Saladin was a deity worshiped in Bahama’s religion.

He had occasionally heard of a few believers in the region, but he hadn’t expected the boy to know of him.

To prevent any further misunderstanding about a bearded goddess, Childe hastily corrected himself.

“Not Saladin. I mean Lady Eleanor, the true goddess.”

“…Lady Eleanor?”

At the familiar name, the boy’s eyes widened in shock.

Childe nodded enthusiastically. “The goddess has short hair, golden locks. Sometimes she ties it up like this. Her eyes are like the clearest blue sky, bright and transparent.”

The more Childe described her, the more she matched the image in the boy’s memory.

“And she rarely gets angry. Her voice is as soft as velvet. Ah, but sometimes she has this firm expression—so adorable, like a little bird flapping its wings… ahem.”

Perhaps he had gone overboard.

Realizing the boy was staring at him, Childe awkwardly closed his mouth.

As he stood there, the boy suddenly tilted his head.

“I know Lady Eleanor.”

“…You do?”

The boy recalled the last time he had seen Eleanor.

She had looked exactly as Childe described.

But—

I showed her the most disgraceful side of myself.

In Hadum.

The boy’s expression darkened as he lowered his head.

“Lady Eleanor probably hates me.”

“……?”

“The truth is… I once did something bad. I secretly stole a knight’s coin pouch when she was with him. She must have been so disappointed. I never got the chance to apologize before I ran away.”

A knight?

‘Why is a knight involved in this?’

Childe’s mouth fell open in disbelief.

***

Darkness loomed heavily over the Mecklen estate.

Deep into the night.

Inside a bedroom as grand as any in the imperial palace, Caroline was fast asleep when an urgent knock at the door jolted her awake.

“Madam. Madam.”

“What is it?”

Half-asleep, Caroline’s voice was sharp as a blade.

Her vision blurred as she barely opened her eyes, spotting a maid hesitating with a lit candle in hand.

“There is a guest here to see you.”

“Are you insane?”

A guest at this hour?

Scowling at the rudeness, Caroline’s face twisted in irritation.

The maid, sensing her rising temper, shrank back in fear.

“Send them away immediately.”

“B-but… the guest insists there is something you must retrieve. It’s Lady Hippias—the young lady who stayed here briefly before.”

The maid’s voice grew smaller and smaller.