BXBX NOVEL Chapter 269 269. Punishment, Part IX
Editor: Aelryinth
The cold gaze of the Prince was saying that Phoebe had implicitly known and had done it, as she had believed that Miss Julietta would come to Harrods’ mansion. Phoebe’s eyes turned to the floor. There she ran into Manny’s gaze staring at her.
’Coward,’ the puppy’s eyes seemed to cry at her.
’If you didn’t know Miss Julietta was coming, would you have done that? Why did you steal Christine’s letter opener from the Anais mansion? You saw a chance of revenge since Maribel gave you the dagger. But you would never have tried if you didn’t really know that someone was coming to look after you.’
Phoebe’s eyes were all the more on the floor to avoid Manny’s eyes.
Killian controlled his expression after a long time and commented," The Imperial Castle is going to be noisy soon."
Julietta whispered quietly to Count Valerian, while the Marquis of Oswald answered Killian. "Send someone to the Anais mansion and kidnap the maid in the middle. I can also be suspected if the maid of Lady Anais comes to visit me."
Maribel stepped up when she heard Julietta quietly speaking to Valerian. "You’d better send her away as soon as you catch her. What about Mrs. Raban’s Northern Territory?"
"Yes. I’m sure the First Queen will try to find Christine’s maid who had visited his Harrods’ mansion."
Christine’s maid, Penny, had black hair. Julietta had worn a black wig on purpose, but thought it would be best to get her away from their eyes.
"Why don’t we bribe the maid to make her a witness to the sins of Lady Anais?" Marquis Oswald suggested.
"Things could go wrong. If the maid declares her conscience for her long-time master, it will be irreversible."
If the maid hid her whereabouts, she would be questioned accordingly.
Julietta looked across Phoebe and opened her mouth. "Christine will bring up your story. Phoebe said no one saw you, but that’s not a matter to be sure of. Fortunately, there are quite a few women with white hair in the capital because of the Kiellini poison, so I can argue that you have nothing to do with the case, but I can hardly claim complete innocence, because you are already known as my close aide."
If they were unlucky, they could fight out who was the culprit between Christine and Phoebe. So Julietta was thinking of offering Christine a deal.
Julietta would save Christine’s life so that she would forget Phoebe’s work. If this precarious tug-of-war was lost, Julietta had to give up Phoebe. Christine should have died...
As time went by, Julietta thought that she had arrived in Francis’ bedroom too soon. ’What if Phoebe had killed Christine before she screamed? Everything would have been settled easily.’
Julietta shook her head with fright at the thought. ’Julie, Julietta! Wake up. The idea that you’d like someone else to do something you can’t do for you is so cowardly.’
She lifted her eyes and looked at Killian, who looked anxiously back at her.
Killian beckoned to the people to leave, and held Julietta in his arms.
"Your Highness?"
"Let’s take a break and think about it. Too much work came at once, so it’s overloading me." She came back from Vicern and couldn’t even get a good rest. Julietta didn’t bother to talk it out, but Killian noticed her thoughts.
"I have to see Christine when she’s arrested."
While speaking so, Julietta rubbed her cheek against Killian’s chest. Then Killian kissed her head lightly and asked, "Are you going to make a deal with Christine over Phoebe’s work?"
"That’s right. You already know what I’m thinking."
"But the stupid Lady Anais will only be thinking of making an issue of Phoebe over the suspicious maid."
"That’s right. In addition, she would think it would be better if she could make an issue of me, too."
"I’d like to hand Phoebe over to them, but you’d never say yes."
"You know I can’t do that."
"That’s why we should rest when we can. It’s been a long time since we’ve been together."
"A long time? Your Highness, there were only two days in Vicern."
"I couldn’t hug you even after I came back." When Killian looked at her with his smoldering eyes, Julietta’s cheeks turned red.
"You know this isn’t the time to do it." Julietta’s dissuasion was very quiet.
"No, now is the time."
"I thought Your Highness was really considerate to let me have a good rest."
"Of course, I’ll give you a good rest, after having a little fun before that." Killian’s voice was very deep...
---
Killian quietly walked out of the bedroom while watching Julietta’s sleeping face. Ian, who had been waiting with a nervous face for a long time, came along quickly.
"Your Highness, from the main castle..."
"Has it finally started?" Killian turned to Maribel, who stood confidently next to Ian. He had told her to get rid of Lady Anais, and she had even killed Prince Francis. That might not have been Maribel’s intention, but it was clear that she had done a good job of executing his orders anyway. "You did a good job."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"Let Julietta rest a little more. Lady Anais will have already talked about Phoebe, so I’ll go and calm that down first."
"I’ll get rid of Phoebe, if it is needed."
At Maribel’s cold reply, Killian’s gaze glanced into the bedroom. "It’s something Julietta doesn’t want. Don’t forget that doing so is the last option."
"Yes, Your Highness."
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After Killian left the lounge, Maribel decided to take a moment to consider Julietta’s safety. She ordered her maid to bring tea.
It was as Prince Killian had predicted. Christine was captured by Francis’s knights and talked about nothing but the white-haired witch until she came to the Imperial Castle. Seeing her muttering as if she was half-crazy, people talked in whispers that she was mad.
Right now she was out of her mind, but she would soon come to her senses. If she was in prison for a day or two, she would face up to the reality and name Lady Pauran, the maid of Princess Kiellini and cousin of Count Valerian.
Maribel looked regretfully at the empty teapot. She was sorry that the poison of the Kiellini family was unsuitable for Lady Anais in prison. However, if Lady Anais was poisoned here, the suspicion would fall on Prince Killian.
If she wanted to work easily, she would have some problems. So, even though it was complicated and exhausting, she had to deal with things one by one.
After she set the teacup down, she got up and headed for the bedroom. Her dear would check over everything in person, so she thought it would be better to wake her up and let her know the current situation. "Julietta, wake up. It’s been a long time since His Highness left for the main castle."
Julietta would not open her eyes easily, because she had been tired enough. Still, it was fortunate that she had slept soundly, without being interrupted like yesterday.
Vera followed her and prepared a bath in the bathroom. At the sound of the water falling in the bathtub, Julietta, barely alert, asked cheerlessly, "What about Christine?"
"She was sent directly to the underground prison. The Marquis of Anais came, but was denied access from the Asta Palace. I heard you ordered that."
"I didn’t expect this to happen, but I think it was a good choice. I never want to see him in the future."
Maribel nodded. If there was a parallel line that could not converge for life, it was better not to meet.
"As His Highness Killian went straight to the main castle, the Marquis followed him right away, so I wonder if he may be begging for Christine’s life again."
"I’ll have to put the Marquis under probation for a while. I don’t want him to see Christine. Did Christine tell you about Phoebe?"
"She seemed to be shocked, and told them that a white-haired witch killed Prince Francis. But she’ll soon come to her senses."
Julietta agreed with her. When they finished preparing, she headed with Maribel to the underground prison in the northernmost part of the Imperial Castle. She could meet Christine on the pretext of visiting her maternal cousin.
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"Lady Anais."
Christine was sitting in a corner, her face blank, and turned to Julietta. Christine frowned because she couldn’t see her well because of the light inside, and jumped up. "You’re behind it. You abetted that white-haired witch."
Julietta approached Christine who already seemed sane, unlike Maribel’s words. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. Wake up. Are you really crazy? If you assassinated Prince Francis and insist that it was the work of a white-haired witch, your sins will not go away."