Chapter 116
After Isaac left, the queen remained seated where she was, drinking tea alone. About ten minutes passed, and just as the queen was having her second cup, a woman in a yellow dress came hurrying over and greeted her with proper courtesy. After receiving the greeting from her personal secretary, the queen invited her to sit across from her.
“In many ways, he reminds me of Sir Gosford in his younger days. Mild-tempered, and rather pure-hearted in his own way. But that Captain Pinscher seems a little sturdier, in a certain sense. Is that because he is a soldier?”
“Was the conversation satisfactory?”
“Ah, yes. In many ways.”
The queen answered in a biting tone and took a bite of a cookie.
“He must not have known his wife was a fake. Who could have known? Even I did not. It was likely that old lady’s arrangement. A remarkable old woman, in many ways. In any case, does that mean the real one is dead?”
“No, Your Majesty. According to the Intelligence Bureau’s ongoing investigation, that is not the case. They say there are traces that, even after adopting the child from the orphanage, people were continually sent out to search for someone’s whereabouts.”
“Then it grows even more complicated.”
The queen murmured expressionlessly.
“Shall we look further into that side of things?”
“……Hmm. I wonder. The child was only about seven years old at the time, was she not? Besides, there are no signs that the carriage accident was an intentional murder, so it is difficult to dig into. ……What I am curious about is.”
Tap, tap. She raised a finger and drummed it against the table.
“The evidence of treason regarding the eldest son that the second son possessed.”
‘Treason.’ Though there was no one left to hear it, the secretary quickly looked around as if merely hearing the word had made her hair stand on end.
The queen continued regardless.
“Of course, it would be nice if there were evidence of murder as well, but that seems like a waste of time. It would be better to focus on the whereabouts of the evidence the second son had. ……In any case, the second son must certainly have gone to inform the old woman of his elder brother’s wrongdoing. But for some reason, in the middle of the night, he hurriedly left that place by carriage and met with an accident.”
“Perhaps the conversation did not go well. At the time, the dowager would not have been able to readily accept it.”
“What happened to the evidence? Did the second son take it back with him? Or did he force it into the arms of his mother, who denied the truth, and leave it there? I do hope it was the latter.”
At some point, the tea had gone cold. The queen took a sip, frowned, and pushed it toward the inside of the table.
“In many ways, I cannot understand that old woman’s actions. Would she really, simply because of her own mental illness and out of fear of being pointed at by others, bring in a child who resembled her and raise her with such devotion?”
“Do you have something in mind?”
“That is why I called you here, yet in the end I am the one making all manner of conjectures, Miss Felt. At this rate, it would have been more useful to bring in someone from the Intelligence Bureau and sit them here.”
The secretary, without the slightest sign of being stung, merely smiled at the queen’s remark.
As if it did not particularly matter, the queen rubbed her brow bone and let out a low sigh.
“If I had my way, I would bring that fake here and speak with her directly. Well, as I expected, that poor Captain Pinscher seemed to know nothing. But why was that captain chosen? By her very existence, is she not General Churston’s weakness? Of all people, those two so closely connected to the pair who plotted together…….”
The queen trailed off and stopped. As if she had realized something for a moment.
“……What if the existence of that fake was an arrangement meant to keep the dowager’s eldest son in check? The mere fact that she is plainly alive would make her an uncomfortable existence for the current duke, would it not? Just as Captain Isaac is to General Churston.”
“You mean the real one is alive somewhere, and ……in other words, she was something like a shield?”
“Whether she is alive or dead does not particularly matter. Regardless of whether the real one survived, the fake has all along served both as a check and as a shield.”
The queen went on with a disinterested expression.
“All the more reason I must have a long talk with that fake, though for now she is likely busy dealing with the captain who went rushing to her at once.”
The secretary nodded as if she understood.
“I will inform the Intelligence Bureau.”
＊＊＊
With an expressionless face, Sasha accepted the ‘special report’ the woman handed her and quickly skimmed it. The special report did not openly print her name. However, it spoke of a girl who had lost her parents early, had been raised dearly by her grandmother, and had inherited an enormous fortune after that grandmother’s death. It was simply Sasha Grayson’s story, only without the name written down.
She skipped past the preamble, which by now was nothing but tedious. What came next was a document, thrust out without ceremony. Adoption papers. The papers stating that Theodore, Rosalyn’s loyal servant, had adopted her as a child were printed in enormous type.
From there, her vision began to blur. Sasha forced strength back into her swaying body and barely managed to sit down before continuing to read. The lines written below were from someone who had adopted her before Theodore had. After reading only a little of the nameless informant’s statement, Sasha realized that it had been written by the businessman who had adopted her for the second time.
We did adopt such a child. Until my business went completely under not long after and my wife and I parted ways, we were a reasonably happy family. I do not know what became of the child. It seems she may have left the house midway, but at the time, I was in no state to even look after myself.
Later, I heard there was a reason the child kept being sent back after each adoption. They said she brought misfortune wherever she went. In this day and age, I wondered what on earth that was supposed to mean…….
Yes, in this day and age, what kind of nonsense was that? Sasha sneered without reading the rest.
Despite being called a special report, it was not an article grandly denouncing something. It merely dissected one individual’s history in detail, laid it bare, and seemed to mock her in secret by comparing it to her present circumstances.
There was no clear sentence saying that she was a fake. But though it did not say so directly, the evidence presented was detailed and meticulous. It was an article that would make anyone not merely suspect, but become certain.
Sasha set the paper down and looked around the room. Everyone was watching her. The room was filled with eyes waiting in anticipation for the slightest change in her gestures or breathing. One woman looked at Sasha with simple interest, while another stared intently at her with an expressionless face. The women in the room did not openly mock or despise Sasha.
But their faces were already thick with suspicion brimming with certainty.
Sasha felt as if she were standing naked before them. What came before humiliation was shame. It was only natural. That scrap of paper had presented to the public, one by one, the history of her life, so lowly and so ominous as to be unbearable.
“Thank you.”
The woman who had handed Sasha the special report seemed about to say something with a faint touch of sympathy. Paying her no mind, Sasha handed the newspaper back to her, then opened the door and left the room.
Even after leaving the room, Sasha walked straight down the long corridor. Not knowing where on earth she should go, she simply turned whenever she came to a corner and kept walking. Along the way, she saw several doors that seemed to lead outside, but without even daring to head toward them, she continued walking.
“Madam.”
Her aimless steps finally halted at the voice coming from behind her. Without realizing it, Sasha turned around with the hand holding her handkerchief pressed over her mouth.
Seeing Sasha’s pale complexion, the palace attendant quickly approached her.
“Are you all right? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”
“……No. I am…….”
“I will escort you somewhere you can rest comfortably. To where the guests are gathered.”
“No. I was just coming from there.”
Even a moment’s wandering was not permitted to last long.
The helplessness she had failed to hide, and emotions even stronger than that, seeped thickly from every syllable.
The unnamed palace attendant looked at her in silence for a moment, and even that gaze made Sasha feel guilty, so she could not even meet his eyes.
“In that case, how would you like some fresh air? I will guide you to the garden open to guests.”
It was the courteous consideration of someone who had neither the will nor the reason to interfere deeply in her circumstances. Sasha did not refuse his words and followed him out of the building.
The sunlight was scorching. It was the time of day when the sun was strongest. In midsummer like this, it was a time when one would never even think of going out. The palace attendant guided Sasha to a shaded bench where she could sit and rest comfortably enough.
Once the man disappeared, Sasha sat on the bench and stared blankly into the air. All around her, summer flowers bloomed in profusion. Though the scenery was not as radiant and delicate as spring, it was full of summer flowers with a modest charm that satisfied the heart just by looking at them.
Only when she was finally alone did the things she had been suppressing begin to creep up through her. Sasha took the handkerchief from her breast again and pressed it over her mouth.
She felt as if she were going to vomit.
She remained like that for a long while, then out of habit pinched her own thigh, folded the handkerchief neatly again, and slipped it back into her breast. Then, with her face buried in both palms and her body bent forward, she stayed still for a long time as if frozen. From a distance, she would have looked only like a troubled woman unable to compose her grief.
The person herself, with her face buried in her palms, was inwardly berating herself more harshly than usual, telling herself to get a grip.
What should I do now?
Think.
Right now.
……Right now.
“……Madam.”
……Right now, think about how you’re going to explain this to that man.
“Sasha.”
Right now, think about how you’re going to explain this to that man.
Sasha slowly pulled away the hands that had been covering her face and raised her head. Isaac, who at some point had approached and stood there like a steadfast tree, looked down at her.