Chapter 144

There was zero possibility for him to do so. Kling and his daughter were like a pair of cards placed side by side. The moment one of them was forcibly taken off from the other, the other card would become useless.

‘… Did she approach me from the beginning with that in mind?’

Eckhart breathed out slowly, pondering over that possibility.

Whenever he recalled the Lennox War, the late emperor Cassius repeatedly praised Kling by saying that he could not have finished the war without the duke’s wise strategy. Eckart thought his late father’s praise of the duke was not that exaggerated. Anyway, the duke was never a pushover.

“I think you’re very arrogant to say it like that.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

“Duke, you are now threatening me. Do you think you can take responsibility for your crazy remarks?”

“If you want to punish me for my disrespect, I will receive it gladly. But what I’ve got now is only Marie. I don’t want to lose my family member again in their hands,” Duke Kling emphatically retorted.

Eckart narrowed his eyebrows again. It was not because Kling dared not yield to the emperor’s reproach.

“…Never again?”

This very word uttered by Kling jarred his nerves sharply.

“Were they involved in the death of your wife?”

Eckart was a clever ruler. He instantly found out the cause and result of the event involving the death of Kling’s wife.

“Your Majesty, they do not hesitate to do anything to beat their enemy.”

Duke Kling gave him a standard answer instead of denying it. But his voice grew heavier than before.

“I know that. Maybe much more than you. Don’t you think they might try to kill you?” Eckart asked back coldly.

There were too many people sacrificed in their hands for Eckart to feel regret each of the lost lives. So, Eckart realized a long time ago that patience and calculation were more helpful than sorrow and understanding. He also forgot about a peaceful life a long time ago. His recollection of the curse of those who prayed for his death was still vivid in his memory.

“Your Majesty, I wonder if they are already trying to do something…”

“Please answer my question first. Was it simply because of her sickness that your wife died or not?”

Duke Kling tried to ask back, as if he guessed such a question, but Eckart cut him off.

“Duke!”

His low voice pressed Kling hard.

“… Marie is building a greenhouse these days in the back garden of the Elior Mansion.”

Finally, Kling opened his mouth.

“It wasn’t finished yet, but she wanted to show me around, so we took a walk together…”

He calmly recalled what he saw there recently.

“I saw a flower pot on the way to the garden.”

Eckart quietly stared at him.

“My late wife and daughter love flowers and trees, but I don’t really know much about plants. Every time I played a game of matching similar flowers, I mostly guessed wrong, so my daughter teased me all the time.”

“…”

“But I could clearly detect that flower tree among many of them. Mrs. Chester gave it to Marie as her engagement gift.”

Out of a lot of intelligence tidbits reported by Kloud, Eckart recalled one that he had reviewed on the eve of the recent ball. Among the various kinds of information handed to Kloud through his wife, Mrs. Charlotte, was a list of the engagement gifts that Marie received and their donors.

“Adenium.”

Eckart confirmed the identity of the flower tree. Kling nodded silently.

“Twenty years ago, Estelle received the same flower. No, maybe it must have been sent to me, not Estelle.”

The sunset that passed through the window cast a red light on his face.

“It was twice that Mrs. Chester gave something to Estelle.”

Eckart looked straight at him silently.

“I remember she gave Estelle a gift first on the day I left the capital for Lennox. There was a blank small card and a flower pot among the packages I hurriedly packed. I asked who gave them, but couldn’t find out. But one of the maids said she saw a court lady working at the empress’s palace.”

“… I guess the court lady must have been bought off by Mrs. Chester.”

Duke Kling did not immediately answer. Only the shade on his cheeks became a little thicker.

“Estelle loved the pot very much. Every day she checked it and watered in person. I still vividly remember her saying with a smile that the snowdrop’s floral language was “hope.”

Estelle was the only person who met Blair in person, who disappeared in the dark rain.

Before she realized the truth of the war, she was as close to Blair as her sister.

That’s why she easily believed Blair too much. As Blair left without saying goodbye, she might have secretly conveyed her regret to Estelle through the flower.

“While the flower blossomed and fell and was ready to bloom again, Estelle gave birth to Marie and passed away. Her death was so sudden. The midwife who helped Estelle delivering the baby said that both the child and the mother were healthy. And in my eyes, she seemed to be recovering smoothly.”

At that time, Kling’s mansion in Lennox was shrouded in shock. Although her birth was a little later than those in her age, she was healthy throughout her pregnancy and was safe even after birth. Neither the doctor who cared for her, nor the midwives and maids who served her at hand ever imagined that Estelle would suddenly die.

“I prepared for her funeral, holding my baby girl who couldn’t open her eyes yet. That’s exactly what happened to me at that time. I still don’t know how I survived all that ordeal.”

Duke Kling laughed bitterly, which was a self-mocking smile.

“And I received a second present from Mrs. Chester then.”

“… What was it?”

“Mrs. Chester sent flowers to Estelle’s funeral, expressing her condolences. It was a bunch of white gypsophila flowers and a strange flower tree that I saw for the first time in my life. A blank card was stuck in the crevice of the pot.”

Mrs. Chester was the type of woman who always showed off her weapon that way. She was shameless and cruel. After sending an assassin last night, she prayed for the victim’s death, and the next morning she said greetings with a smile.

Recalling her sarcastic joking when he survived the Roshan accident, Eckart quietly clenched his teeth. Just recalling it made him feel sharp pain under the waist as if he was cut a moment ago.

“… Did you find the maid who told the lies?”

“I found her. Her body was found hanging at the largest cherry tree in the back garden of the mansion.”

The atmosphere in the room sank more heavily.

“The maid was Estelle’s favorite girl. She allegedly cried a lot while she was preparing for Estelle’s funeral. Because of this, her fellow maids began to believe that she lost her life because of her excessive loyalty. In other words, she was so sad at Estelle’s death that she made the very sad decision to hang herself…”

Kling didn’t finish last words. His tight shoulders shook faintly as if he stopped breathing at the moment.

“What could I say to them? There was no point of me explaining to them.”

The dead maid was the only evidence that could reveal the cause of Estelle’s death. But there was nothing like her will found in her room.

Kling felt so frustrated as he couldn’t find any specific evidence. He couldn’t find out any clue about who killed her, when she was killed, why she betrayed the Estelle that she loved and followed so much. Only all kinds of unpleasant and fearful guesses snowballed. It was more painful than knowing the truth.

There were a lot of precious things Estelle left behind.

First of all, her only daughter Marianne. The secret promise inherited with a blue gem. A faint hope that she could get even with those who ruined her life someday…

“I belatedly investigated the pot sent by Mrs. Chester. The pot was clean. There was no poisons on the petals or anything impure in it. I searched like crazy, but I couldn’t find any clues as evidence.”

“I guess you couldn’t because she would not have sent a second gift if she had not removed all the evidence.”

“You are right. But…” Kling lifted his gaze.

“Your Majesty, I hear that a certain flower has several, not just one, flower language.”

Eckart did not avoid his eyes.

“Back then I knew first that the snowdrops also had the floral meaning of praying for somebody’s death.”

“… ”

“I also knew that the mist flower and adenium each meant death and reckless love.”

Right at that moment, they could hear someone moving faintly among the towering bookshelves.

“Duke, wait a moment…”

“Your Majesty, it’s not too late. Marie won’t be able to beat Mrs. Chester or cheat Ober forever. As things stand now, isn’t she the first to get hurt? I can’t allow that. Please grant my request.”

Eckart reached out and tried to stop him. The more Kling pleaded with him, the more passionately he spoke.

“You can blame me for being cowardly. You can execute me after the dust settled down. So, please …”