Azolias Kingdom, inside the imperial castle.
While walking on the wide corridor, I, Alto=Azolias, wracked my brain as I thought about a certain matter.
Not only now, but I’ve been racking my brain ever since the event that day... the engagement party of Jake=Ractos.
The things that now in my mind was of course about Duke Ractos’s and his family members, starting from Duke=Ractos, who didn’t seems to have any movement at all.
The suspicious act that those people usually do suddenly stopped like a calm before the storm.
Because of that, I felt it was all weird; I was restless. Now, I was in a hurry to find the evidence of their evil deed that I hadn’t been able to find, but it’s not like the evidence couldn’t be found at all.
But, even though there was no concrete information on their detailed plan, it’s not really hard to imagine their true plan. But, I afraid that those guys already finished their things, when I could only grasp their plan little by little.
Now, first on the list, Grid=Ractos.
There was no doubt that his aim was to control the kingdom through government affairs.
As always, he was good at this, as no evidence could be found on his evil act. But this hypothesis shouldn’t be wrong considering his position in the kingdom.
I am afraid that it will be a better choice to just interrogate the people that were close to him to prove his evil deed, but to be honest, that was quite hard when thinking about the current situation.
The second one, Erza=Ractos.
Her task was the simple one. Her job was done the time they introduce her at the time of Jake’s engagement party.
She had built a high position as a knight in Azolias Kingdom... and now aiming to get a higher influence.
Her mission was to control the knights by the order of Ractos.
About her, since what she had done was done by the legal way, there was nothing that I could do with her.
This could also be said one of Azolias weakness, which was a country that inclined to battle power.
Although it was annoying, there was no way to resolve this one.
She seemed to have a serious personality on the outside, perhaps she will listen to me if I asked her?
... If there was any way to expose Grid’s evil deed, she might be the way, but, well.
Finally, Jake=Ractos.
I suppose that this guy was their channel to control the Magic Guild.
Though Grid wouldn’t be able to interject the internal matter regarding Magic Guild, it wouldn’t be any trouble for Jake, the grandson of Diebold=Ractos and ex-student of Magic Academy.
However, in Azolias Kingdom, the power of the Magic related inst.i.tution toward politics wasn’t that strong.
And so, I guess that Jake role was to give support... but honestly, it was hard to conjure the fact.
Jack"s action was the hardest one to understand. It was hard to understand because there was no pattern in what he had done.
Why, did he went to the place with poor public security?
Why, did he attempt to have a marriage with the Nizzet household, who had low power in magic related matter and the n.o.bility?
Why, were there no testimonies or evidence of anything evil that he had done, wasn’t that too strange?
The more you thought of what he had done, the more unclear his action was. Though it was clear that he had done something evil.
Perhaps it wasn’t Jake who become the support for Grid, but Grid who become support for Jake so that no one could find any evidence.
I guess that was all?
“No, wait a moment. There still another... Liliana=Ractos, what is her role?” (TL: a loving housewife?)
Suddenly, it flashed in my mind about another person that was related to the other three.
The wife of Duke Ractos, Liliana=Ractos.
Now that I thought about it, I almost never did any investigation or thought about her at all.
Said that, many of her dark rumours were something that wasn’t normal. It’s something that was out of the human world.
Contracting the devil to maintain her beauty, anyone who displeased her would be fed to her pet spider, etc. All of them were supernatural rumours.
Of course, I did search a bit about her rumour, but it was too stupid and unbelievable.
"... Well, the rumour was still there. There is still this."
That was right, rumour.
There was no way rumour could be shaped if she hadn’t done anything.
Simply said, Grid=Ractos, Jake=Ractos... even Erza=Ractos had done their own part, was it possible that Liline=Ractos wasn’t the part of all of this?
Was it perhaps because I was thinking about her, at the end of my vision, I suddenly saw Liliana=Ractos.
“Liliana=Ractos... why is she inside the palace?”
In order to investigate her sudden appearance, I followed Liliana through the hallway. She then stopped at a luxurious door that I was familiar with, talked to the guard on the side on the door, and after a few exchanges, entered the room.
That room was my mother’s.... Azolias Empress’s private room, Clea=Azolias.
Looking at how the guard and servant reacted to her sudden visit, it seemed that there was nothing urgent happening.
However, never once had I heard of the fact that Liliana=Ractos frequently met with my mother.
As confusing it is, there should be some clues somewhere, so I asked at the maid who waited in front of the door.
“Hey, the one who entered empress’ room, is d.u.c.h.ess Ractos, right? Is there something happening?”
As the servant heard my voice and saw my sudden appearance, she made a surprised expression for a moment before changed into her normal expression.
“About this... Your highness Alto, Didn’t you know about it? Her majesty Clea and d.u.c.h.ess of Ractos were friends ever since they were young. So, although not that frequent, once in a few months, she will visit the empress.”
“What? I’ve never heard such a thing from my mother”
Unexpectedly, that Liliana=Ractos is an old friend of my mother... I suddenly had this weird suspicion in my mind.
“They were already friends since before his majesty became the king as they were the daughters of n.o.bles in the areas that were beside each other. Perhaps, because she didn’t want to be concerned about her position, her majesty didn’t tell his Highness Alto about it?”
Now hearing the maid say that, I suddenly had a premonition... not because the fact that she was the wife of Grid=Ractos, and the mother of Jake=Ractos, I always felt that she was hiding something.
However, if she did hide something... why did she have to court the empress?
As long as they born in Azolias, and studied politics of the country, they should know that the empress held no power in politics.
The empress’s work is only to birth a healthy successor.
That said, even though I said that, there was still time until the empress showed her appearance at the festival and special occasion. But it was impossible for Duke Ractos to hold any value in her.
Or, it was all just pretext? What was important wasn’t the empress herself but something inside the room?
No, it’s hard to think that the d.u.c.h.ess, who was neither a magician nor a warrior, could do something in the room that was cleaned through roughly by the maid every day.
So there will be no way that she did something to the room.
... Sure enough, when you think carefully about it, then she should be aiming at the empress.
“Umm, your highness. You seem to be worried about something. Is there any problem?”
The maid asked me with a worried look.
Not good, I ended up stand still and lost in thought.
"...no, I"m fine. Just thinking about something."
If you only think about it, it seems that you can"t get an acceptable answer.
There no time anymore, the best way was to take action here and find an opportunity to expose those guys.
After giving my thanks to the maid, I choose to walk away.
“Maybe, the empress has another position that I don’t know. Let’s search about it today...”
My destination was the imperial library. I had to read books about the royal family and its legal provisions.
This was something that different from just running around in order to search for physical evidence.
It would be great if there was a new finding.
Still said, it ends without any discovery.