The Villainess Will Not Bring Dishonor To Her Family

161 - Behind The Curtains - Part 2

Lionel's Point of View

Gwenore had gotten permission from the king to kill us? Don't mess around. Had that maid 9 years ago in Salender Mansion been an actual assassin then everything would have turned out quite differently.

Furthermore, she would have been far harder to kill than what I could have mustered as a child.

"That doesn't make sense, Princess. If the king had truly accepted such a demand then Gwenore should not have had to act herself to poison us."

Emilia probably misunderstood something-

"It's not that strange,"

Unexpectedly Lily is the one that interrupts me.

"I assume that Prince Azure's location wasn't worth enough to risk Normand's hostility in case he found out, so they probably provided Gwenore with everything she needed and used her as a disposable tool? Finding out where she got the poison, still doesn't leave proof back to the crown."

Her voice is cold as she looks to Emilia for confirmation... and gets it.

I feel my stomach sink and twist into a pit of bitterness.

Why is it like this?

Weren't we the only ones that the crown liked?

Weren't we the exception?

Had Alstair known about all of this? Even back then?

No. Alstair never pushed me away and he never really seemed interested in Bertram... but he could have been acting. He could've known about all of it.

"However, we digressed from the main topic. Lady Tepet, would you please continue?"

I jolt at Lily's words as she tries to direct the conversation back to Ellie's story. As much as I want to hear the ending of that too, there is something I need to know before that.

"Wait. Princess Emilia, what happened to the Headal Prince?"

We are visiting Headal for peace negotiations. If we have any hints of the prince's location then we might be able to use this to extend a minimum time for the peace treaty.

Emilia, that had been watching us curiously now stares quietly instead, without giving any answer... at least her gaze moves around a bit in the room here and there, but she leaves us with a painful silence.

Bertram lets out a deep sigh, like his heart is about to break. While on the other side of Reynold, I can still see him slumped over with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands, like part of his world just crashed together.

We... never knew much about Gwenore. We never really knew why father picked her up either since she had no family or contacts here. When Bertram had gotten old and brave enough to ask none of us really had any answers for him. While he is our beloved brother, he's still the bastard son to the people looking in. He never had anything about his family from Gwenore's side. This is probably the most that we've ever known about Gwenore, and there's even a hint of where he would find more.

Wait, if Gwenore was a nursemaid to Prince Jacques, then that should make her a noble rather than a commoner as we had thought. I never actually saw her use magic, so we had mostly just concluded that she was just a commoner.