Chapter 88.
I was confiscated the stone bow I was holding and was taken directly to the north tower of the palace by the knights. Fortunately, it wasn’t the same dungeon as the murderer. It’s where the nobles stayed before the trial, and a clean room. If it wasn’t for the barred window on the door, it would be hard to believe it was a prison.
“Ha……”
What the hell is going on here.
After taking a cursory look around the room, I sighed deeply and sat down on the bed.
How smart can this Derrick guy be ……
To be honest, I’m more worried about that guy Derrick’s eerie taunts than being called a criminal for killing nobles.
–If you discredit the family again, it won’t end in imprisonment.
Simply saying that I’m discrediting the family won’t spare me, and I ended up being sent here.
“Haha.”
I laughed deadpan. I wonder where the story of this crazy game will extend. One thing was for sure, my current situation was one of the interludes.
I took out the dagger I kept inside my jacket.
Sure enough, my status as an Eckhardt family still had some authority. The stone bow held may have been confiscated, but there was no search of the male female’s body. That’s why I can be so calm now.
“Assassin’s Token ……”
There was no light in the cave to scrutinize the reward. The murder weapon used to assassinate the crown prince, the dagger has an unknown pattern engraved on the bottom of the blade. It was unknown, but it was obvious which family’s coat of arms it symbolized.
–Duchess! What are you doing!
–Why are you cutting your hair with a dangerous knife?
Thinking about the way the crown prince suddenly grabbed my hand when I used my hair as a brush. It was really unexpected then ……
”You already know it’s poisonous?”
My mood became complicated as I turned the dagger and observed.
Not only was it a pattern, there was a decoration made of blue silk hanging from the end of the dagger. It seemed like it was a gift from someone.
”…… Now, if you know what this coat of arms stands for, you can get rid of the title of evil girl and become a hero.”
I muttered, putting the dagger back into my jacket intact. It wouldn’t be good if someone saw that I had evidence of an assassination.
That moment.
“Penelope Eckhardt!”
Suddenly, through the bars of the prison, a guard called me. Under the eerie torchlight, cold blue eyes appeared.
“…… Little Duke?”
It was Derrick. I slowly stood up with a bewildered mood and walked towards the door.
Is it because of the special environment like prison? Obviously, he came to speak ill of me, but I felt happy after not seeing his face for two days.
I first confirmed it on the top of his head.
[Favorable Sense 29%]
Thank goodness it didn’t go up or down from the last time I looked.
“I heard that the bear was shot with a stone bow.”
With a good sigh of relief, and possibly the start of bad language, Derrick spoke up.
“Ah, yes. That’s …….”
Reluctantly, he began to defend himself. At that moment.
“Where …… are the injuries?”
Suddenly I heard incredulous words.
I looked at Derrick with unfamiliar eyes. His face was expressionless and unpredictable at the moment.
But instead of blaming at first sight, he spoke words of worry, and suddenly his throat caught.
Maybe it’s because the situation of becoming an ‘attempted murderer of a noble’ without my knowledge aggravates me.
“Are father and the young duke …… all right? And brother Leonard ……”
“Leonard rushed off to the palace to bring the wizard who carved the magic into your stone bow, as the weapon had to be proven non-lethal first.”
“I’m sorry for making a big deal out of it ……”
I mumbled somewhat feebly, quickly turning my head away.
In any case, the members of Eckhardt had been harboring the “fake male female” until the “real male female” appeared, even though they had caused her death ……
Maybe it can be solved by giving the token to Derek now.
After thinking about it, I decided to give him the dagger.
“Young Duke, this is clearly an assassination, there is a way to solve it, in fact, I ……”
“Penelope Eckhardt.”
In order to confide in him about what happened earlier, and just as I was about to open my mouth – Derek suddenly interrupted me.
“There have been six testimonies of people who have been shot by your stone bow.”
“…… What? What’s that?”
“And, on the day of the incident, the tea party that was attended also scared the women about shooting the stone bow and turning them into idiots.”
My eyes widened, have the rumors spread already.
“Ah, that’s ……”
“Your stone bow is enchanted with magic that causes concussions, brief fainting spells, and magic that makes people lose their memories.”
“But the fiancé of Countess Kailin, the nephew of Marquis Ellen, Baron Toulet, was literally turned into an idiot when you shot him.”
“He drooled and searched for the dark pink-haired goddess of the hunt.”
“Huh. ……”
The absurd words were jaw-dropping.
What happened? Did you say the assassin had the blue-haired fiancé in him?
I frowned, thinking seriously. I don’t know which side of Count Kailin’s political affiliation is, or who Baron Toulet is. But I probably got the answer from the status of Marquis Ellen’s nephew.
“So why did you say something completely different from the real tea party.”
While I was thinking, Derrick seemed to have finished all his guesses.
“And why this time, tell me what it was, a twisted mood and shooting at nobles.”
“At least have some discretion.”
In that moment, the mind was foggy and speechless. Of course I knew Derrick would get me in trouble. Now, even though I knew it was an interlude created to get rid of the reputation of being a wicked girl, I was still aggravated.
But Derrick’s words must be.
”…… You must think it’s true that I shoot at the nobles with a crooked heart.”
Of course, it’s true that I shot. But that was at the masked assassins, not shooting indiscriminately at the nobles.
Unable to find what to say, I said in a hollow voice.
“…… You don’t think I have any reason for self-defense?”
“Testimony from the fainting Viscount Gavoy.”
Derrick answered immediately and coldly.
“Gathering strength and seizing the bear you suddenly appeared before them, talking of robbing the prey and shooting indiscriminately at the stone bows.”
“…… What did you say?”
“I heard that facing bears are rampant, so it was too late to dodge.”
“Ha, you believe that?”
I let out a loud laugh and asked rhetorically. Even if it was Penelope, that was impossible.
As a matter of common sense, how did only one noble lady handle that many people?
Of course I did that!
But if the system hadn’t done that, I’d be walking hand in hand with the Crown Prince on the road to the Yellow Springs right now!
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe it.”
But Derrick didn’t seem to think so at all.
“The bigger problem is that some people are saying that you cleared all witnesses in order to assassinate the Crown Prince, and rumors of the assassination are spreading.”
“Assassination ……?”
It was getting to be too much. I wasn’t in the mood to hide the absurdity, so I was going to explain the truth.
“That bear wasn’t my prey, the passing crown prince helped me through it and slit the bear’s throat.”
“Common sense would dictate how I could have taken down so many men by myself. It’s strange that there are people in ignorance, and if you really investigate, the truth will be clear ……”
“The truth is ……”
Suddenly Derrick interrupted, his voice becoming low.
“The truth is that you shot your stone bow at the nobles and the bear.”
I lifted my eyes from staring at the ground and slowly faced him.
“…… Little Duke.”
“And the only crown prince who can prove what you said is wandering in desperation because of poison.”
“…… Poison?”
I was surprised to learn that the Crown Prince had collapsed because of poison. But what surprised me more was the way Derrick treated me.
Blue eyes looked at me unflinchingly.
“Ah.”
I realized. He didn’t have any faith in me to begin with.
“If it’s a prank, by all means, clean it up.” In other words, it can’t be handled beyond that.
“Ha……”
A vapid laugh erupted. I don’t know that kind of thing, and I don’t understand why, I would be happy and grateful to the person who came to the prison, and even intend to hand over the only token.
“Little Duke …… At first, no matter what I said, you wouldn’t believe it.”
“You didn’t think to confirm to me if what those credulous people said was true.”
“It’s best to end this quickly before the rumors spread further.”
Derrick eased his voice, like he was coaxing his youngest sister, a familiar look.
“That way you can get out of here right away, too. Delaying for no reason instead ……”
“No.” I looked at him with icy eyes.
“Just think of me as a prisoner who killed a noble, it’ll be easy to clean up and convenient.”
“Penelope.”
“You don’t know that very well, because crazy women are called crazy by people who even breathe.”
“Regardless of the truth, talk me up as the unique piece of trash in the world, sprinkle a few bucks on me, and everyone will do it, and I know that you do, too.”
“Watch what you say.”
The bare words made Derrick stiffen and lift his chin.
“Now it’s because of who things are the way they are. Nonsense in that way ……”
“It’s you who’s talking nonsense, not me.”