Chapter 168

“If I don’t feel so sad about Duke Hubble’s death, am I not the same as Ober? ”

Of course, there was a standard answer to this question. She was set to move on. She was a warrior who already decided not to let go of her weapon, even if the weapon in her hand hurt her a bit.

Although she knew it, she felt she was not strong enough to defend somebody.

“If Ober and Elias joined hands to murder Duke Hubble, as we expected, they did something terrible for their own benefit. In a sense, it might be cunning if we can make use of the changes and cracks in their power,” Marianne said.

Mrs. Charlotte quickly read the anxiety in her face.

“But I don’t think that’s what makes us turn into evil men like them.”

Mrs. Charlotte silently wrapped her folded hands kindly.

“Since the days when he was the crown prince, his Majesty has often made use of the enemy’s harsh tricks. Actually, he sometimes saved his own life by doing so. If that’s the case, do you think the emperor is no different from Ober?”

“Of course not.”

“I believe there is no absolute good or absolute evil in the world. What kind of human being can establish and judge absolute standards unless he or she is God? We human beings are made to believe that the bread and the clothes we have in our hands are more important than the will of the great God from the beginning. ”

Mrs. Charlotte smiled gently at her logic.

Marianne continued, “That’s why everybody runs toward what they believe is right. It’s also human right to determine which of the many definitions is more right and meaningful. So, even on this battlefield for power, won’t the victory be determined by who believes in his justice more desperately?”

Even considering the fact that she looked back on her own decision, thoughts and beliefs, Marianne was much better than Ober. She might not be the perfect example of goodness, but that imperfection was evidence that she was fighting her opponents in a sincere and courageous manner.

“Politics is not a war seeking perfect goodness. It’s a process to win what you believe is just and is a little more beneficial to you than your previous circumstances,” Mrs. Charlotte said.

“… Thank you, ma’am. ”

“Do what you believe is right, Marianne. You don’t have to throw away guilt unconditionally and be as cold as them, but you need to admit that there are things you can’t accomplish with your good intentions. When you lead a life, sometimes there is a time when you have to compromise with reality.”

Marianne nodded silently. At the end of her sigh, her eyes sparkled as vigorously as before.

“I know. Would you please prepare the thinnest paper and a quill with a sharp tip? I need to write a letter to His Majesty. ”

* * *

Tok tok tok.

There was a noise like tapping glass with the tip of a quill. Although the noise was rather vague outside his study, it was very clear to hear in the serene study of the emperor.

Eckart did not move at all after he heard it. He had been disturbed since dawn because of the news about Duke Hubble’s death. As he couldn’t sleep well last night, his head was pounding.

Sitting diagonally in the chair, he pressed his tired eyes with the back of his hand.

His vision went black and white as he opened them.

In the meantime, the faint noise from outside sounded once again.

He briefly agonized over whether to call Curtis, but he dropped his raised arm and straightened his back. He felt a shock of pain in his back. His blurred vision gradually returned to normal. As soon as he turned his eyes to the source of the noise, he noticed a familiar shadow.

“… Poibe. ”

Poibe was pecking at the window of his study. With a small backpack attached to its chest, it tilted its head cutely with sparkling black eyes.

Eckart woke up and opened the window. Poibe flew in as if he had been waiting for him to do so, flew around the library, and soon landed on his desk. Then, it pecked at the backpack with its beak. He sat back at his desk and carefully took out the stuff inside.

What was inside was a rolled letter of very thin paper from Marianne.

The secret letter from Marianne was shocking from the first line. Eckart received numerous reports and letters, but no letter ever began like this.

‘Hummm….Maybe it’s because I’ve never received this kind of letter before.’

With such a poor excuse, Eckart shut up his smiling lips. His fatigued eyes softened greatly when he read only the beginning of the letter, but he did not even know that he was already feeling relaxed.

The letter was written in her elegant handwriting and soon she got to the main topic.

Eckart silently read the letter. The memory of all the letters related to the duke’s death hurt his eyes.

Her educated guess was valid. Perhaps Elias was directly responsible for spreading the rumors about the cause of Duke Hubble’s death. If that was the case, his purpose was too obvious and the contents of the rumor were too detailed to think of it as an accidental leak from his mouth. Rumors getting around in the capital must have been fleshed out by somebody else.

Namely, the gist of the rumors was that Duke Hubble ended his own life because his pride was greatly offended by the emperor’s humiliating decision.

Perhaps Ober knew well enough that the general public could not believe such a shallow and blatant excuse. Most likely many nobles who didn’t want to identify themselves openly were convinced that Duke Hubble was murdered by Ober’s dirty trick. What Ober ultimately wanted was not to condemn the imperial family, but stoking fear in him. Ober might be expecting more nobles to realize that he was involved in the duke’s death. By doing so, he would be waiting for scared nobles to succumb to him after realizing that the master of power has changed.

Eckart already guessed that things would end up unfolding like this from the moment he accepted Ober’s request to put Duke Hubble under house arrest and he received the intelligence report that the witnesses coming from Roshan might have been disguised as Ober’s moles.

But Eckart never wanted Marianne to detect this.

He took his eyes off the letter for a moment. It took quite a bit of courage for him to read more. As he confessed in the greenhouse of the Crescent Garden, he was also a politician who would not rule out any means to achieve his goal.

Occasionally, he ordered or ignored things that went against ethics and morals. Of course, he tried his best to pursue his political interests from a moral point of view, but he had no other choice but to use mean methods to get rid of evil guys that he couldn’t defeat otherwise. Why? Because he wanted to survive. Because he lost so much. Because he promised to keep his mother’s will. Of course, all of them were his cowardly excuses, indeed.

In fact, that was also his most desperate and frank desire.

Eckhart read that part over and over again. His blue eyes sunk into their own shades.

Surprisingly, Marianne was comforting Eckart. She was not blaming him by arguing that he just remained as a bystander, knowing that things would end up like this. She comforted him by saying he did the right thing, so he didn’t have to suffer too much guilt.