CH 78

"Mariabelle, do you really think the royalty who rest here have made it safely to the Eternal Land of Everlasting Spring in the East?"

Frederick III pointed to the coffins lined up in the Holy Mausoleum.

The coffins were decorated with various carvings and set with precious stones. Unicorns guarded the four corners of the coffins.

Next to Frederick III were the two most recent coffins.

They were the coffins of the Queen Mother and his brother who had died of the plague ten years earlier. But there is no one resting in them, waiting for the day of their departure.

"Revenge has been taken. But... there was much to lose..."

Frederick III did not wait for Mariabelle's reply, but patted the empty coffin lovingly.

Mariabelle straightened her posture and looked at Frederick III.

He looks terribly tired, probably still suffering from the aftereffects of the poison.

But if she misses this opportunity, she will never know the truth.

She also wondered what would happen to her if she knew the truth?

It's all over now, and all they have to do is look forward. There is no need to go to the trouble of uncovering the hidden truth.

Still, Mariabelle wanted to hear it.

The fact that Frederick III had come here meant that he, too, wanted to speak.

"It was His Majesty who gave the fake imperial seal to the Duke of Danzel, wasn't it?"

In response to Mariabelle's question, Frederick III asked back without raising his head.

The inside of the mausoleum was so frighteningly quiet that they could even hear each other exhaling.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because the drawer containing the Imperial Seal can only be opened with the key in His Majesty's possession. The Duke of Danzel must have been well aware of this. Forgery of the imperial registers is a mortal sin of the state. I don't think Duke Danzel would do such a thing in public."

"The assassination of the royal family using Black Death Wheat was discovered and resulted in a death sentence, but it was carried out because he was convinced that it would not be discovered."

"In fact, if it had not been for Simon's case, no one would have suspected that the queen dowager and your brother had died from the plague."

"But I know the facts, and if I had died, no one would have known."

"... I know, for His Majesty told me."

"Yes... Perhaps it was fate that you were in the Kingdom at this moment."

Frederick III raised his face and looked into the distance.

"If I had died from Black Death Wheat, Cedric would surely notice. I sent part of the canulé to Cedric on the spot, so he would have known immediately that it was Black Death Wheat. That way, we could reveal Danzel's sins."

Frederick III exhaled heavily as he said this.

"But Edward would have been well rounded up by Danzel. My son... sounds good, but he trusts others too much."

"If Duke Danzel would not admit to using the Black Death Wheat, you were going to charge him and His Highness Edward with the crime of the false imperial seal, weren't you?"

Frederick III did not answer Mariabelle's question.

He just patted the coffin with a gentle hand.

"Did His Majesty intend to use Edward as a pawn?"

"Mariabelle, you should remember this. Whenever you have to choose between your country and your family, the king must always choose the country."

"There was no other way, Mariabelle."

Frederick III smiled sadly as he said this.

"I'm sure my brother could have come up with a better way. But I could only think of that one. I cannot entrust the country to Edward. If I did, the Kingdom would be reduced to a vassal state of the Republic. It is my fault that I brought Edward up like that. So even if... I died, I felt I had to take responsibility to the end."

"Your Majesty is a splendid king. Never..."

Mariabelle tried to deny it, but Frederick III began to speak as if to cover Mariabelle's words.

"The real Imperial Seal is in a drawer that can only be opened by a trick. It can only be opened by a combination of the instructions on the throne, the crown, and the scepter."

"Are you sure you want to tell me such a thing?"

Mariabelle will be married into the empire.

Regardless of when she was Edward's fiancée, it's not a good thing for Mariabelle to hear now.

"If I were to become a resident here... I would want Mariabelle and His Highness Renato to be Cedric's guardians."

"Besides," Frederick III continued.

"Besides, as you are called the perfect lady, you wouldn't carelessly divulge any secrets, would you? Just as you kept the Imperial Seal secret."

Frederick III laughed, with the face of a king who is a shrewd man.