Crazy Duke and Fallen Queen

After cleaning my name from the accusations, I don't really need revenge. No one will believe to the Empress ever again.

If she didn't cause the death of Alexander's parents, if she didn't try killing my daughter... Maybe, I could spare her in that case.

«The law is rather clear,» I say. «Someone bringing fake evidence is punishable. Not as a culprit, of course, but as an accomplice. Her majesty failed at recognising fake proof and used it to frame innocent people. Twice.»

«I have something to say about this,» Alexander stops me. «Before going on, I have a witness.»

I turn to him, surprised.

«Yes, Archduke,» his majesty replies, nodding his head. «Let's hear your version of the facts. And your witness as well.»

«I'd like to ask my cousin to tell us her mind and what she saw and didn't see,» my husband declares.

His... cousin? The one that looked at me in contempt and tried to steal... Oh, she didn't try to steal Alexander. But she sat next to him on a bench, and she knew him from before we got married, so she had a chance...

«Thea?» Alexander murmurs, deciphering my thoughts.

«Yes?» I whisper.

«I'll explain later,» he says before returning his focus to the improvised process. As if he did anything wrong, damn it. Or is there something more to the story?

«Greetings, your majesty,» Bertha Grahm says. «I am here to bring my witness about the forged proof against the Archduchess.»

«Talk,» the Emperor orders in a low, glacial tone.

«I was present when her majesty, the Dowager Empress, ordered two of her servants to write the correspondence.»

«Who are you for us to believe?» the Empress exclaims, pushed into a corner. She's now starting to panic. There aren't many ways out if your loyal lady in waiting betrays you.

«I have already alerted the Royal Guards,» she says. «I've said the names of the people involved. The Guards will bring proof. An expert in calligraphy will be able to tell whether their own writing has any similarity to the one on the forged proof.»

The Empress forgot that she already used this trick once. The proof was said to have been burnt by incident after the execution of the Lord of Kyre. As such, she thought there wasn't any trace left.

But it was all a diversion. Actually, the Empress Grandmother kept the proof for herself.

Alexander didn't know that I had the old scripts. And I didn't suspect that he had an eyewitness. Even while working in parallel, we're such a team! Right now, the Empress won't have space for motion.

«You traitor,» she scoffs at Bertha.

«On the contrary,» the latter replied. «I am so loyal that I never forgot whom I pledged first.»

If she thinks that helping me out is enough to forget that she's grown up with Alexander, she's wrong. But she might not be as dangerous as I thought. Not dangerous to me, at least.

«You only heard the order,» his majesty points out.

He's looking for any breach in our attacks. He wants to be sure this ends here even more than us.

«No, your majesty. I also saw the end results be delivered to her majesty. I can cite one of the letters to prove it.»

«Why didn't you come out earlier to tell us?» the Emperor asks. «These are matters of national security.»

«I was afraid, your majesty. I saw what happens to those that oppose her majesty. And I did look for help. I told everything to my cousin, his highness, the Archduke.»

«What happens to those people?»

«They die. Even those that don't betray her majesty are taken care of if their presence becomes a threat. Just like the maids that served the Archduchess at the time when she gave birth to her highness, Princess Saffron.»

«I thought it was the Archduke's doing,» the Emperor declares.

«I took care only of the midwife and her assistant,» he says. «I don't know what happened to the rest of the servants present during the delivery, but I haven't found anyone after that day.»

«Ordering murder is a crime, mother,» the Emperor sighs. «Even if an Empress commits it.»

He gets up and walks through the room, talking out loud.

«I can't let such behaviour go unpunished, even if my heart aches for the decision I'm making...»

No, no, no! This is too fast. I want her executed, not exiled in a cold building or grounded for a few months. She'll be able to direct her accomplices even from isolation.

«Your majesty,» I say, trying to look less hurried than I actually am. «I have one other finding to expose.»

The Emperor turns to me, and he analyses my expression for long.

He's wondering whether I'll just get more in trouble for poking my nose into national business or I'll really contribute to his sentence.

«Is it related to all of this?»

«Yes, your majesty. Not completely, but it has some links with the late Archduke's execution.»

«We already found out who ordered it,» the Emperor murmurs. Insisting might lead to doubts, right?

«Yes, but what I'm going to say now, no one has yet mentioned.»

«Talk at once. This was supposed to be a celebration, not an open fight at my court!»

«My husband was offered the position of crown prince by his majesty, the late Emperor,» I say. «It happened before his majesty's sudden death.»

I collect my gowns and take a few steps forward.

«Other than the timing, suspicious, some of the events related to his majesty's departure attracted my attention.»

I lean a piece of paper on the table.

«I copied the official acts from the archive. I couldn't just steal such an important document,» I explain.

«I'm relieved you have some awareness, Archduchess... What is this?»

«It's the log of the decrees. It's clearly stated that his majesty, the late Emperor, issued the order to name the crown prince. The act was never signed, but where is the act of intention? Every appointment regarding the royal family's positions is preceded by one of these.»

Even Lavinia's title went into effect only the day after his majesty's declaration. I found both the intention and the decree in the archive.

But not the intention for Alexander's appointment.

«Are you questioning the line of succession?» the Empress asks, raising her head.

She knows very well it's not the case. And that is why she's trying to shift the attention to something else.

She knows what I'm trying to say.

«His majesty, the late Emperor, was killed the day he started thinking of his successor,» I say. «And the culprit visited him that same night.»

It has been difficult to find all these details. Some are just suppositions, but I could picture how everything happened.

«Her majesty, the Dowager Empress, visited the late Emperor. They had dinner together, but her majesty didn't eat anything.»

She didn't get rid of the servants of that time. It would have raised suspicions rather than freeing her of witnesses.

«In case of the sudden death of the Emperor, and when there are no successors, the consort of the Emperor can become regent until matters are settled, right?» I continue. «Her majesty did make such a request. But the late Emperor had already adopted his illegitimate son, your majesty. As such, he did have a natural successor. Stealing the act of intention from the archives wasn't enough to allow her to sit on the throne.»

The Empress Grandmother forged the act of adoption. She was quick, and her people were loyal. With her talent for keeping secrets, no one will even find out about it.

I will give justice to her sons, to both of them.

«My intention is to prove that her majesty was the one ordering the poisoning, in this case even the one delivering such poison. I will use a similar method as I used to show how the documents she used as proof are fake.»

I will show that she did the same thing twice. Oh, more than twice, I guess. Well, I will use another of the Empress Grandmother's little tricks.

One big trick, actually.

She had it all planned and was just waiting for an executioner.

«Her majesty, the late Empress Grandmother, was poisoned with the same poison as her son,» I say. «It happened right when I started visiting her from time to time. Someone was afraid she could tell me secrets that ought to stay secret.»

The Empress is now confused. I'm framing her for a deed she didn't commit. But she'll be executed for killing the Emperor, not for this.

«That woman was crazy. She didn't know what she talked about!» the Empress complains. «How can she be of any danger to me?»

«I've never said the secrets regarded your majesty,» I point out. «And, yes, her majesty was crazy. Just like her son. But her words did have some pattern if listened with focus. She told me about a beast poisoning her son and then attempting to kill her. She told me so many times that I started believing her.»