Chapter 288 (2/2)

I was terribly confused by the fearful assumption that occupied my mind, but I listened to his continuing testimony while shaking it off.

Duke Jena, who was staring coldly at the document, said, “I don’t know what the document is about. Do you have any evidence that I sent it? As things stand now, there isn’t anything that you can relate to my family.”

“I think I can prove it myself.”

Coming one step forward, Duke Verita said, pulling a couple of documents out of the pile, “Go ahead!”

Not caring at all about the duke’s cold expression, Duke Verita smiled, then showed him the seal stamped at the lower space of the documents.

“You must have seen the seal stamped on all these documents. This seal is not engraved with the crest of the family, but it contains the symbols of the family. Sword and rose, and Volente Castina. Which family does it symbolize?”

Everyone’s eyes were focused on the documents.

Duke Verita said with his mouth turned up, as if he was satisfied, “These documents were obtained from Viscount Apinu and Earl Lanier respectively. As you can see, one document contains his coded instruction about the poisoning of Lady Monique, while the other one shows how to decode it. And this document submitted by Marquis Mirwa seems to have a coded plan about the assassination of the emperor by poisoning, given the words here such as the emperor, poison, buying off, wine, etc. By the way, it seems everybody is paying attention to one person now, namely Duke Lars. Then, is the culprit of this incident Duke Lars?”

“… Hey, what kind of joke are you cracking? Duke Verita, I’m afraid they might misunderstand me…”

“But the symbol as well as the family motto is used by the Lars family only…”

“I clearly warned you not to crack a joke.”

While keeping silent all along, Duke Lars spoke sharply, raising his eyebrows. He knew Duke Verita was joking for a change, but he seemed very displeased with the fact that his family was mentioned in this sensitive case.

Avoiding Duke Lars’s glowing eyes, Duke Verita, said, clearing his throat, “So, since I first got the document with this seal, I went through all sorts of data to check if there was anything related to the phrase over the past year. As a result, I discovered one thing. There was a family that used this symbol well before the Lars family used it. It was the Duke Jena family.”

“Yes, that’s true. Our family once used it, but don’t you think it’s a leap in your logic that you pointed me out as the culprit, based on our family’s record dating back several hundred years? Isn’t it more reasonable to think of Duke Lars as the culprit?”

I felt it very weird that the Jena family, who I thought had been associated with the noble faction, used that symbol a long time ago. And I felt bitter when I discovered it because I felt that’s probably why he hated my family so much.

Well, that’s it. That’s not so important to me anyway because what I had yet to hear from Duke Verita would be much more exciting. Like Duke Jena said, it would be hard to connect the phrase used by the Jena family several hundreds ago with the seal in question. But I already secured the most decisive evidence to prove it.

“Actually, I came to discover one fact some time ago. I hear that there is a secret space in your house that only you can enter. I was so anxious to know what’s in there that I couldn’t go to sleep.”

“Well, any prestigious old family has such a secret space in the house, as you know, and that’s nothing new. Oh, it looks like you don’t have one in your house, Duke Verita. Well, you were no more than a marquis family 30 years ago, stationed in the provincial area, so it’s natural you don’t have one,” said Duke Jena sarcastically, with his mouth turned up, “If you were so curious, why didn’t you ask me? I would have gladly shown it to you. Even though my political position is different from yours, I can be generous enough to do so as the empire’s most prestigious family.”

“No thanks, because I already saw it.”

“What the heck? What did you see?”

There was embarrassment in his face, who remained calm until now.

I unwittingly broke into a smile, so I smiled, watching them staring at the duke while listening to him quietly.

“Well, it took some time to open the lock because its unlocking system was coded, but in the end I made it. The decoding was very simple. Volente Castina. Isn’t that a contradictory answer?”

“No way! How could you open it?”

“It seems you made it a long time ago because it was very old-fashioned. I was very impressed with the mural showing your family’s activities in the early days of the empire. Frankly, I felt a bit sorry because such a prestigious family like yours would soon disappear into the dustbin of history.”

“What the heck did you say, you bastard?”