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Editor: Aelryinth

Irene, the Second Queen, managed to hide her anger from the Emperor. She wanted to say that the enemies who had killed her sister were waiting for an opportunity to kill Killian. She wanted to pick a crow with the Emperor, and say that it was not time to be complacent, but managed to put up with it.

"Anyway, it’s true that we were able to reveal Killian’s identity faster than we thought, because he is engaged to Princess Kiellini."

Irene frowned as she watched Killian, who never looked away from Princess Kiellini.

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Without knowing her concerns, Killian gave an order while Marquis Anais and Madame Raban approached to congratulate Julietta. "Valerian, look more thoroughly around Francis."

"Your Highness, what happened?"

At Adam’s worried question, he looked at the door where Francis had gone out. "I’m suspicious of Francis’s behavior. Because of today’s engagement, the movements of nobles who know the prophecy will be inclined to me, but he didn’t seem to be nervous. It’s obvious that they’re preparing something."

Spencer agreed with Killian. "I also thought that his attitude was suspicious. I felt like there was something he believed in. Did he communicate secretly with Duke Kiellini?"

"Well, even if he couldn’t reveal all the facts because of the vow of silence, it is possible. Apparently, he wouldn’t stay calm. If they had contact, it was most likely when Marquis Marius visited Tilia a while ago..."

Killian knew that the Duke would rather have done something, and he could clean him up on the pretext of that. He had given him one chance, and if he were to kick it away, he would not be let off.

"Everyone, don’t relax. Especially strengthen the security around Julietta, and increase the surveillance on the Duke of Dudley and Francis."

As Killian was giving orders to his aides, the Emperor signaled to his servant, who went to the orchestra. When the playing stopped, the Emperor rose from his seat. "I’d like to make a very important announcement today in honor of all who came to celebrate Prince Killian’s engagement."

As all ears were waiting on the unexpected news, the Emperor looked around the inside of the banquet hall and at Killian. Killian looked at his father to see what was going on, but furrowed his brow as the Emperor turned to look at him.

The Emperor nodded to his son, looked at people again, and continued, "You all must know about the prophecy that spread after the death of the Empress more than a dozen years ago."

The First Queen’s eyes were on the Emperor as she looked for a chance to leave the hall, hoping that she had done her duty by now.

"Is the Emperor going to talk about the appointment of Prince Killian as the Crown Prince?" she pressed the Duke of Dudley, her father, whom she was with.

"It could be because he got engaged to Princess Kiellini. But it takes time for the council to approve it. Before that, His Highness Francis will solve it somehow, don’t worry."

Duke Dudley became nervous when Prince Killian’s engagement was formally announced. The Emperor had said he would decide on the Crown Prince later this year.

He thought he had until the end of the year, so he turned his eyes to extinguishing the urgent fire, and then the Emperor made a surprise attack. He had no choice but to think it was thoroughly planned.

Although there was a rumor that Prince Killian and Princess Kiellini were not in a normal relationship, he dismissed it as just a topic for gossip. It was because Prince Killian and the Emperor could not have forgotten what had happened when the Empress had died. The Emperor had tried to incite the aristocrats using the head of the Congress, Duke Kiellini, and pushed him to confess that he had killed Empress Cordelia.

There was no exact evidence, but everyone’s doubts were directed toward his daughter, the First Queen, and himself. In particular, he was in a difficult situation, as there were widespread claims that a group of bandits could not annihilate the heavily armed imperial knights.

However, he had no choice but to take the risk to kill the Empress, even though he knew such doubts would be cast on him, because it was all over if Prince Killian was named the Crown Prince.

He scolded his daughter over and over for not making it to the Empress’s seat because of shallow jealousy, but the opportunity which had left once did not come again easily. He had lived his entire life with the mission of making the blood of the House of Dudley the emperor. If he did not see Francis become Emperor, he would not be able to close his eyes at death.

The assassination was determined and successful, but the Emperor’s attacks on the Dudley family went on endlessly. After all, the Emperor who failed to find enough evidence to move his cousin, Duke Kiellini, and tried to turn him into a criminal just by circumstantial evidence.

It was then he moved to find the weakness of the Duke of Kiellini, since he could not be beaten as he was. The new heir to Marquis Marius approached him. The Marius family was the least powerful of the eight Marquis families. However, the new Marquis of the Marius family, which was no better than a Count’s, was a very ambitious man.

He spoke proudly that his goal was to have the Marius family become the Duke’s. He said he chose the Duke of Dudley and Prince Francis.

There were many who came to ask for a favor from him, as he was among the most powerful man in Austern, but no one was confident like him. He had no choice but to give good marks to such a spirit, but he was still too young.

To a seventeen-year-old young man who had just finished his adult ceremony and just succeeded to the title of the Marquis, Duke Dudley tried to take on a small task. But it was Duchess Kiellini’s private maid that the young Marquis held out before him.

She was a private maid, appearing just in time for him to find the weakness of the Duke of Kiellini. It didn’t matter how the young Marius had brought the maid. It was just important what came out of the maid’s mouth. The fact that she had steadily fed the Duchess the tea given her by the Duke of Kiellini for several years, and that the Duchess’s health had deteriorated since she began to drink it and that she had died was enough to be a card.

From then on, there was nothing difficult. All he had to do was show the maid Marquis Marius brought to the Duke of Kiellini before he could make a full-fledged move. The Duke of Kiellini said nothing to the Duke of Dudley, who showed him the maid silently. But he declared to the Emperor that he could not prosecute the Duke of Dudley without exact evidence.

With that past history, he thought there could never be a union between Prince Killian and Princess Kiellini. That was why he only cared about the scandal involving Francis and his granddaughter, Christine.

But there was an engagement between the two of them, which he thought was not possible. It might have been a good choice for the Duke of Kiellini, but Prince Killian’s decision was surprising.

---------------------

Francis came to the Duke of Dudley. "Don’t do anything."

He knew Francis felt bad because he was scolded for the rumors with Christine a while ago, but he said that he would not do anything.

"So are you saying we should hand the seat of the Crown Prince over to Prince Killian?"

"Did I say to hand it over? I advise you to be discreet in your behavior and not to make a muff of the work, because I have a way."

Except for his... unusual hobby, he was a grandson beyond reproach. He was handsome, brilliant, and even good at acting. Also, his man Marius was a very good assistant to him.

"What’s the way?"

When the Duke of Dudley asked, Francis answered after a pause. "The Duke of Kiellini doesn’t want the union of his daughter and Killian."

At Francis’s words, Duke Dudley’s gaze sharpened. Only Marquis Marius knew what had happened between Duke Kiellini and himself in the past. To the Marquis, it would be better to keep the weaknesses of both of the Ducal families quiet. So, Marius couldn’t tell Francis about it.

"The Duke of Kiellini? That sounds strange. Didn’t he go all the way to Bertino to support Killian?"