As an uncle of Emperor Cassius, Duke Hubble was a nobleman who had the most extensive political connections in central politics. The late Marquis Chester, who served as Cassius's tool, earned credit by participating in the Lennox war. Grand Duke Christopher, who was Cassius's brother, was the youngest among them, but he was from the royal family who had no comparison in terms of royal bloodline and character.
"The Grand Duke was the most likely candidate among the three in terms of cause. Lennox at that time was ruled by Bertrand, so it was natural that as the same grand duke as Bertrand, Christoper was the legitimate successor."
"However... I understand he has been with the Eluang Knights since the late emperor's days. Did he reject Lennox back then?"
"That's right. Christoper rejected the rumors about his alleged takeover of Lennox, saying that he just wanted to concentrate on his duty as the chief of the Eluang Knights. After all, Hubble and Chester were set to compete for the possession of Lennox."
"I have never met the two in person, but maybe Chester didn't beat Hubble, I think."
"Yes, you're right. If they had really engaged in a fight, Hubble must have won."
Mrs. Charlotte chimed in with the countess with her gentle smile.
But instead of smiling along, Marianne opened her eyes, turning her head to Mrs. Charlotte.
"Really? Didn't the two fight over Lennox?"
"They had no time to do so."
Marianne was full of curiosity as she had assumed that it was the other way.
"Well, the reason is, a new candidate appeared before them all of a sudden."
"A new candidate?"
Mrs. Charlotte nodded quietly. Mrs. Renault opened her mouth in her stead.
"The rebels who occupied the imperial palace of Nova at that time were Lennox's old mercenaries. It was a very cruel army. They murdered all of the Romanov family members that recently hired them, plundering and killing all the civilians left in the palace. Aslan immediately sent troops to help its ally, but it was hard to put them down in a short period of time because they were quite sturdy and terrible soldiers."
"But I understand that the Lennox War didn't last long..."
"Because there emerged a man who, actively serving as a war staffer, ended the war early before it could develop into a long battle. That man stole the show before Hubble and Chester fought over Lennox."
"Can you elaborate?"
"This man formally requested the late emperor to allow him to rule Lennox."
"He requested the late emperor?"
"Yes. He argued that he deserved the right to decide on the spoils of the war first."
At that moment, Marianne instinctively felt something ominous.
She sat up slowly, with her head upright. The bath water became a bit cold, but it was still warm.
But she felt the water she soaked herself in was strangely cold. She felt heavy and stuffy. It was like the grip of a monster that grabbed her ankles, so she could not run away.
"Was he my father?" she asked finally.
Her voice shook violently. Mrs Renault replied calmly, squeezing the wet cotton cloths.
"Yes, that's correct. He was Duke Kling, your father. The late emperor accepted his request, converted Lennox into a territory equivalent to a duchy, and appointed him as the new chief of the Lennox Castle."
She felt goosebumps when she got out of the bath. She grasped the petals under the transparent surface with her soft hands.
"I can't believe my father coveted Lennox. No way! He is not the type of person who covets land..."
"Well, everybody including me believed like that. Although Duke Kling was the closest friend of the late emperor, he had never been greedy for power or title. Kling was well aware that the late emperor hated the solidarity of noblemen, so he prohibited those knights or cabinet members following him, even in private settings. Who would have imagined that he would covet Lennox?"
"..."
"Even Duke Hubble, a veteran politician who spent his whole political life in the capital, didn't expect that. If he had known it in advance, he would have made short work of it."
"Madame, are you really sure my father...I don't doubt what you said, but I just can't believe that..."
"You won't believe it. I understand. But what I'm saying is totally true."
Marianne's shoulders trembled, her lips closed.
What Mrs. Renault said was sufficient to quench her curiosity, but at the same time it was something that she didn't want to know. She wanted to shut her ears and scream if she could.
Throughout his life, Kling was the example of the most friendly type of man to Marianne. He was a man who loved her the most in the world, a father who was kinder than anyone else and a just and fair lord. All of the people in Lennox praised him without exception. They envied and cared for his tenderness and faithfulness.
So, Marianne believed there must be a reason why her father overprotected his only daughter.
When you love something too much, sometimes you just want to love it in your own way without knowing it's sometimes dangerous. In fact, that was the case when she was around five. At the time she wanted to share her delicious snack, so she shared chocolate cakes with her pet dog.
"I... I didn't know that. In fact, nobody told me about it..."
"I guess so. Who could have told you about it?" Mrs. Renault asked back calmly. That made her feel like somebody whipped her wet back.
"...I see. Who could have done that? Nobody would have wanted to do so... "
Marianne curled up with her knees up. She buried her pale face in her palms. Her protruding shoulder bone trembled. Although she came to know the whole secret, she was not happy at all.
Mrs. Charlotte lay down the comb with a disturbed look. Mrs. Renault sighed quietly, looking at her wretched back.
'If it had ended there, it would have been better...'
She murmured without finishing her last words easily.
What Marianne wanted Mrs. Renault to be her ally was for her to finish her words on her behalf, but the countess couldn't because Marianne was distressed at the moment.
To Mrs. Renault, the secret story about Duke Kling was just one of the old hidden stories, but to Marianne, it was shocking enough to shake up the whole world that she had lived in until now.
The pain of being betrayed by somebody that one trusted was different from that of being hurt by others. Self-disbelief tended to turn into self-reproach, and in the end the arrows of resentment would be shot back to oneself, not others.
Mrs. Renault sighed again, with a heavy heart. Mrs. Charlotte changed the topic in her stead.
"Your father and your deceased mother were very close to the late empress. After the current emperor was born, they often stopped by the palace and became his playmate. It wasn't the late emperor, but your father before whom the current emperor first took off with a baby step."
Mrs. Renault placed warm water over her shoulders kindly. Marianne still curled up, not saying anything.
"But one year after the end of the Lennox War, they were not as close to the empress as before. In the meantime, Lennox changed hands once more, and your mother, who had left the capital, died after giving birth to you. Since then they became further estranged."
"..."
"Of course, Duke Kling might have a reason for himself...but the late empress was very distressed after being estranged from them. Unfortunately, she was suffering from deep depression at that time. As such, she really depended on them, regarding them as her close friends, so she was distressed as she was separated from them... "
"...Depression?" Marianne asked, raising her head slightly. Her eyes were a little swollen.
"Yes, it was natural that she had depression. All of her blood had a terrible death in the hands of the rebels. Her country was ruined, and numerous innocent people were killed. I think that the pain she had to endure as the last empress of the downfall dynasty was near infinite. I couldn't dare to understand it."
"..."
"Anyway, the only family left behind was the late emperor and the current emperor, only two..." said Mrs. Charlotte feebly, sorting her messy bangs. Her lonesome smile fell upon her face like a dark curtain.
"The current emperor was too young to understand his mother's sorrow. She was closer to not someone who could protect herself, but someone who could protect the emperor."
"Did the late emperor comfort her?"
"At first he did."
The shade on Mrs. Charlotte's face grew thicker.
"Right after Lennox's fall, he often stopped by and tried to comfort her. And she seemed to have been comforted a bit. But the following year, the late empress suddenly began to have severe hysteria. She locked all the doors of the inner palace, saying that she didn't want to meet anyone. When the late emperor or the current emperor came, she had more severe seizures."
"Why did she suddenly develop hysteria? You said the late emperor and the current emperor were the only family members left behind. They why...?"