31.2 Charlotte: Chapter 4, Episode 5
“While I understand your motives, there’s still something that doesn’t make sense to me.”
There were other ways to kill Juliet without using magical tools.
“If you really wanted to kill Juliet, there are more reliable methods. Despite being royalty, she works at soup kitchens. She often interacts with commoners. Wouldn’t it have been easier to approach her then? The chances of failure would have also been lower, at least compared to raiding her carriage. Not only did she traveling with strong escorts, she was also in the middle of a forest near a mountain, one where vigilance has been heightened due to reports of bandit sightings. You couldn’t even be sure if she was inside the carriage. Pretending to be bandits was nowhere near enough for this plan to succeed.”
Were they confident that they wouldn’t be caught because they had magic tools? No, that didn’t make any sense.
They wouldn’t be able to achieve their goal by just attacking her. Their goal was to make Juliet face reality. So, it must’ve been their plan to get caught.
“You never intended to kill that child from the start. You probably did it just to intimidate her.”
“…That’s right. We wanted to make the second princess realize that showering everyone with kindness is just hypocrisy… In the end, the second princess has helped us. Thanks to the second princess’ efforts, hospitals have become more available. We never intended to kill her.”
“…”
It seemed that they didn’t harbor any ill will toward Juliet. In fact, countless people had been saved by Juliet’s actions, them included. Hence, they didn’t think of taking her life in retaliation
“Still, even if it was merely a threat, it was too extreme. The broken carriage can be repaired, but the knights were grievously injured. In fact, one of them was slashed in the eyes and will never recover his eyesight. It wouldn’t have been surprising if some were killed.”
“That’s…”
When Quentin pointed that out, the man was brimming with regret.
“…I don’t want to make any excuses, but I really didn’t mean to go that far.”
“That’s not even an excuse, that’s nonsense.”
“—It’s the truth! At first, I obtained information that the second princess was visiting an orphanage. I had intended to visit her and explain to her in plain words about the pickpocket, but…”
According to the man, when he was drunk at a liquor store, he carelessly spoke of his plan. Then, a robed figure overheard him. When he explained the story of the pickpocket, Juliet, and the accident, the robed figure asked him.
‘Will words suffice? What if you injure her a bit? That way, you can teach her a lesson and get revenge. You’ve lost your loved ones and even your livelihood, why let her go so easily? It was the second princess who let the criminal go unpunished. Do you think she, who prides herself on doing good deeds, will change so easily? If you don’t cause her some pain, won’t the same thing happen again? The princess is kind—even to criminals.’
Finally, the robed figure said, ‘I’ll help you,’ and specified the date, time, and place for the next meeting.
Although skeptical, he went to the location at the specified time, and discovered an abandoned shack. The robed figure wasn’t there. However, inside, they found a weapon for each person and a note. On the note, the date and time of Juliet’s visit to the orphanage was written, along with a message to dispose of it. Thus, they were able to target Juliet when she was on her way home from visiting the orphanage.
The same method as Dexter.
Encourage others to commit crimes.
Unlike him, who didn’t leave any physical evidence, there was evidence such as the weapons and the leaking of Juliet’s schedule, so there was a bit of a risk.
“Tell us more about this robed figure. What were his features?”
“Even if you ask me that, most of them were hidden by the robe and hood…”
“How tall was he? Can you tell me the approximate height? Was he as tall as me?”
When Quentin asked, the man looked at Quentin and tilted his head.
“Now that I think about it, he wasn’t that tall…”
After questioning the other three, Charlotte and the others returned to the drawing room.
“They said he was about 10 cm taller than Her Highness. As for the possibility of it being Malcolm Elms…”
“—The robed figure probably wasn’t him.”
After all, Malcolm was slightly taller than Quentin.
Perhaps sensing something different from Charlotte’s certainty, Ethelbert leaned forward, rested both forearms on his knees, and asked Charlotte.
“Do you know who he is?”
“It’s only a guess for now.”
“Really?”
“Maybe Lord Ethelbert and Sir Brandon can already guess who?”
“Who knows.”
Ethelbert brushed it off, while Brandon merely smiled. He didn’t explicitly deny it, so it must’ve been a confirmation.
Quentin interrupted the exchange.
“Your Highness, do you know who the robed figure is?”
“Like I said, it’s just a guess—just something that emerged as a possibility after sorting through all the information we’ve gathered thus far. You should think about it carefully too. You shouldn’t be so naïve as to assume that the answer will always be revealed immediately.”
After she harshly shut him off, Quentin pursed his lips and began to ponder deeply. Next to him, Charlotte lowered her gaze and got lost in thought.
Of course, it was important to uncover who was behind the attack, but Charlotte had been wondering about something else.
The Elms Company was quite large. They did a bunch of overseas trading, and Rex said that the company’s trade with the southern part of the country was increasing. If the magic weapons that fell into the hands of the assailants this time were included in them, then there must’ve been other contraband.
As expected…
It was still just a guess, but Charlotte was certain.
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