BXBX NOVEL Chapter 244 244. Disclosure, Part XV
Editor: Aelryinth
Julietta lifted Manny, who whined for her to get to her knees to avoid Lilly the cat. "Manny, I’m scared. I hope all this is done safely. I want to dream of a happy future without worrying about anything. So, can you pray for me, ’Let her have a day where she can smile and talk about all this later’?"
She heard a knock as she whispered and prayed so little. When Ian opened the door, Count Valerian was there.
"Your Highness, there’s a message from the main castle for you to come in."
Killian and Julietta’s eyes met.
"I’ll come back."
"See you tomorrow."
Julietta was to enter the Imperial Castle tomorrow with Lady Raviel in the form of Princess Kiellini. The red-brick-color-haired maid would quit her job and leave the Imperial Castle as of today, unable to endure the arduous life here.
Killian firmly hugged Julietta, whom he would not see for a day. He would feel uneasy while he couldn’t see her, and couldn’t stand it.
"Valerian will escort you, but there is no change in my anxious thoughts. I hope you’ll go out slowly later, but you’re making me worry so much about going out early in the morning."
"After today, we’ll have a lot of eyes on the Asta Palace. So, I think it’s better to go out in advance than to get into an unnecessary disturbance. I’ll be right back to the Imperial Castle with Lady Raviel in the afternoon," Julietta replied.
"I’ll send Oswald to inform you about what would happen today," Killian told her.
"Yes, Your Highness. Go on. Since His Majesty called you to come in, it seems that the Duke of Dudley is now in the palace."
"Yes." Killian took Julietta’s hands and poured kisses on them. Even then, as if it was not enough, he held her face in his hands, kissed her for a long time, and finally left the bedroom.
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As he arrived at the main castle and got off the wagon, Oswald was waiting and came right up. As the two walked to the conference room, Oswald reported on the situation. "The Duke of Dudley brought in a letter from the Marquise and her maid, and told His Majesty Princess Kiellini was a fake and the wife of the Marquis, who found out about it, was killed by Your Highness. We’re in a situation where the members of the Congress were urgently called in."
When they saw the whispering Marquis Oswald and Killian listening to his words, the noblemen stood out of the way respectfully. Killian passed the members of the Congress gathered sparsely in groups in the hall, and bowed to the Emperor sitting on the throne.
"Come in, Killian. The charges against you came in, and I convened the Congress."
"Is it about what I told you yesterday?"
"Yes."
"What do you mean?" the Duke of Dudley asked, frowning at the calm conversation between the Emperor and Killian.
"Killian had dinner with me yesterday. That’s when he said that someone spread a rumor that Princess Kiellini was a fake, and he asked me to investigate."
The emperor’s reply made Duke Dudley look fierce. "Your Majesty, are you telling me that you knew about this before I showed you this letter from my poor dead daughter?"
"Yes."
"Do you think I’ll believe that? No matter how much you try to protect Killian, there is evidence and a witness." The Duke of Dudley waved the letter he was holding, bringing the terrified maid forward.
"I’ve never tried to protect him. I’m just saying the truth. When I asked him, who was spreading about it, he said he didn’t know. Then he asked for the Proof of Blood to restore Princess Kiellini’s honor."
The Duke of Dudley was frozen. ’He asked for the Proof of Blood first!’ It was something he never thought of. People who had been called in this early morning also began to flirt with the unusual situation.
"And the Duke of Dudley, you have insisted that Killian killed your daughter, and you extended a letter from the Marquise and her maid as proof. However, the letter doesn’t say that Killian killed Marquise Anais."
The Emperor stared at the Duke of Dudley with silver eyes that resembled Killian’s. His cold eyes were warning the Duke of Dudley. ’You dare to frame my son, I will never let you go.’
The Duke of Dudley, however, did not even care about the Emperor’s warning, as he thought the goddess of victory was smiling at him. "Isn’t this letter proof that Princess Kiellini is a fake? The lie that His Highness Killian visited you last night does not work, because I know Your Majesty has made an excuse to protect your son."
"Duke Dudley, you go too far."
At the words of the Duke of Martin who got angry, Duke Dudley hit back. "My daughter is dead. Where is it that I have gone too far in the face of my child’s death?"
His Majesty asked the Grand Chamberlain waiting next to him. "You must make him hurry in quickly. At this rate, I’ll have to repeat the same words all the time until dawn breaks."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The Duke of Dudley reacted sharply as he watched the Grand Chamberlain disappeared. "Who did you ask to come in?"
"You’ll know if you wait. Oh, there comes the Marquis. Let’s hear what the Marquis will say about what happened yesterday. The Marquis, come on."
Robert gave his greeting that he was sorry for being so late at the greeting of the Emperor.
"What happened? Why did Mrs. Anais kill herself?"
The Marquis delivered to the Emperor a will that he had brought, bearing it from the mansion. He never dreamed that yesterday’s memorandum would be Ivana’s will. Prince Killian was warning him that his memorandum might turn into a suicide note at any time.
The Duke of Dudley winked at his son-in-law to find out what the letter he had given to the Emperor was, but he was only looking down at the floor.
"Duke Dudley, will you continue to insist that your daughter’s death was not a suicide?"
"Yes, she couldn’t commit suicide by sending me a letter like this. If she tried to kill himself, she would have written down more details and a reason. Isn’t it a very urgent piece of writing, no matter who sees it?"
He was also the most powerful man in politics for many years. With the short lines in the letter, he guessed the situation.
"Why are you looking at me?"
The Duke of Dudley glared at Killian in displeasure, "I’ve got it all figured out. You suddenly called Marquis Anais and Ivana to Asta Palace last night. Your knights kept an overnight watch on the Anais mansion even after my daughter and son-in-law came back."
Killian sighed loudly, as if irritated. "The Duke, I said yesterday that I would cover up the sins of the Anais family and forgive them, and then I sent them back. I sent the knights to keep an eye on them because they had done so many terrible things. I’ve already forgiven them, so why are you saying that I killed the Marquise?"
"What the hell was wrong with my daughter? Was it guilt about revealing that Princess Kiellini was a fake?" There was no sadness in the eyes of the Duke of Dudley, who stood straight and claimed Ivana’s death was not a suicide.
Killian shook his head unpleasantly and said to Marquis Anais, "The Marquis, tell us about what happened yesterday."
Robert began to speak as Oswald had instructed him early in the morning. Even if he despised her his entire life, Ivana’s death was regrettable, as their years as a couple had been long. But he wasn’t sad. Rather, his expression was miserable because he felt like he was on the brink of a cliff due to his warring compassion for Christine and concern for Julietta.
"His Highness yesterday said that he would forgive my daughter, Christine, for her extreme wrongdoings against the princess. He told me to crack down on this, so it would never happen again."
The Duke of Dudley cast doubt on the sudden rise of the story. "Why is Christine coming out of here?"
"Christine... the child..." Robert could not finish his speech, by opening and closing his mouth several times.
"I’ll tell you. Lady Anais had tried to kidnap my fiancée, Princess Kiellini, but it was not good enough for her, and she tried to kill the princess by using the poison."
Silence spread in the wide hall. The Duke of Miguel was entering in a hurry and surprised by the last words, so he stopped at the far end of the nobles and did not move.