Now This Family Belongs to My Mother Chapter 94

The very same cloth used to lure the unicorn into the outer palace garden.

 

Violet quickly raised her head with a shameless expression. “What is this? I’ve never seen it before.”

 

“Never seen it? Isn’t that a bit much to say?” Ludwig let out a small laugh. It was clearly a mocking laugh.

 

Violet flared up. “Where would I have seen such a bloodstained cloth?”

 

“Do you really not know? From what I’ve heard, Duchess Clementi was so loyal that you even personally cleaned His Majesty’s boils.”

 

“!”

 

“Didn’t you see it then? This cloth.”

 

Violet froze. In her rush to deny the evidence, she had claimed not to have seen something she actually had.

 

“Yes, the duchess showed her loyalty to me with this very cloth.” Even the emperor chimed in.

 

With no other choice, Violet lowered her head. “I must have been flustered and confused. But why are you giving me this cloth?”

 

“The imperial doctor who cared for His Majesty at the time said that Duchess Clementi left the imperial palace with this piece of cloth.” Ludwig stepped closer to Violet. “But this cloth was found in the ‘Divine Beast Garden.’” He bent down, staring directly into Violet’s eyes.

 

Violet met Ludwig’s gaze without backing down. “I never took that piece of cloth. The imperial doctor is lying.”

 

As if he hadn’t heard her explanation, Ludwig spoke. “On the day the unicorn caused chaos in the outer palace garden, someone used His Majesty’s blood, which was on this cloth, to lure the unicorn.”

 

“Why are you telling me this? I don’t know anything about it!”

 

“Oh, Duchess Clementi isn’t even worried about why such a thing happened to His Majesty’s divine beast? I thought your loyalty ran deep.” Ludwig spoke as if he were toying with her.

 

Violet bit her lip.

 

“Bring them.” Ludwig gave the order, smiling slyly as he looked at Violet.

 

The servants brought in two men. One was the imperial doctor. The other was a guard who had been guarding the Divine Beast Garden.

 

“Say what you told me earlier, right here.” Ludwig commanded the imperial doctor.

 

The imperial doctor, his face pale with fear, bowed his head. “Du-Duchess Clementi took the bloodstained cloth without any hesitation!”

 

“I-I never did such a thing!” Violet shouted sharply.

 

The imperial doctor, looking equally indignant, cried out in protest. “Y-You absolutely did! You said you wanted to share in His Majesty’s pain while looking at the bloodstained cloth! I tried hard to stop you…”

 

“Your Majesty! This man is slandering me to cover up his own mistakes!” Violet ran toward the emperor. But once again, she was blocked by Ludwig. Rising on her tiptoes, she pleaded over Ludwig’s shoulder. “Your Majesty, please trust this Violet, not the imperial doctor!”

 

“Then, Duchess Clementi, how about this?”

 

Instead of the silent emperor, Ludwig spoke up. Violet, unable to hide her hostile glare for a moment, was met with a smile from Ludwig.

 

“Guard, speak. Why did you allow an unauthorized palace servant to enter the Divine Beast Garden?”

 

The guard, who had been bowing his head beside the imperial doctor, opened his mouth to answer. “He said he needed to check something briefly with the divine beast. He claimed he’d be out quickly, so I opened the gate for him. I had no idea such a thing would happen.”

 

“And the deceased palace servant, whose orders did he claim to be following?”

 

“Duchess Clementi’s…”

 

“T-This is slander!” Violet cried out urgently.

 

Ludwig looked down at her, whose face had turned red, and spoke as if mocking her. “The deceased palace servant was well-known within the imperial palace as the duchess’s spy.”

 

“A spy? That’s ridiculous…!”

 

“Oh, then it seems this won’t affect you at all.”

 

“Affect me?”

 

“We took this opportunity to root out other spies as well. But if he wasn’t actually your spy, how fortunate for you, isn’t it?”

 

Violet’s face, which had been red, now turned pale.

 

The sneer disappeared from Ludwig’s face. “Duchess.” Instead, a chilling aura took its place. “Do you have an accomplice?”

 

“…!”

 

“For a moment, it nearly led to the misunderstanding that the divine beast harbored hostility toward the lady of the Blanche family.”

 

“T-That’s…”

 

“But surely, you wouldn’t have had any reason to orchestrate such a thing. Unless, of course, it was to attack Marchioness Gent.”

 

Violet froze in shock.

 

Ludwig looked down at her as if to crush her under his gaze. “Speak. Who tried to harm Lady Epirosa Blanche?”

 

“…”

 

Ludwig whispered coldly, just loud enough for Violet to hear. “If you tell the truth, maybe I’ll let you live.”

 

“Heuk…!”

 

Feeling an instinctive threat to her life, Violet screamed and stumbled backward. Meanwhile, Ludwig crossed his arms and smiled leisurely, as if nothing had happened.

 

“Father, it seems Duchess Clementi has no intention of confessing.”

 

At Ludwig’s words, the emperor’s expression turned icy.

 

“Duchess Clementi, I’ll give you one last chance. What was your intention behind this act? Was it to attack Marchioness Gent? Or… was it to make Duke Clementi stand out?” The emperor had already been fully briefed by Ludwig about the events that took place in the outer palace garden, including the fact that Claude had taken the lead in calming the divine beast.

 

At the mention of Claude’s name, Violet’s eyes shook as if an earthquake had struck. No matter what, Claude must not be dragged into this mess. If that happened, he might incur the emperor’s wrath!

 

“Your Majesty, Duke Clementi? Neither the duke nor I know anything about this! I-I just…” At this moment, she had to protect her ‘precious tool’ above all else. “Wanted to ruin the opera hosted by Marchioness Gent! She took over the work I was originally doing! Sniff…!”

 

Violet collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down her face. “Ever since Marchioness Gent appeared, Your Majesty has been neglecting me!” She finally burst into loud sobs.

 

Ludwig smirked mockingly. So she’s determined to turn this into a mistake born out of jealousy. However, when it came to matters involving the divine beast, even Violet’s tears couldn’t sway the emperor.

 

“How dare you manipulate the divine beast to mock me and cause chaos, and yet show no remorse! Duchess Clementi is to be confined to her estate for a month, and she is also banned from entering the imperial palace!” The emperor glared at Violet with a look of disappointment before abruptly turning away.

 

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please listen to what I have to say!” Violet tried to chase after him, but the servants dragged her out of the room.

 

Ludwig watched the scene unfold with a cold gaze. Violet was the emperor’s most cherished concubine. For decades, she had been by his side, never leaving him for even a moment. To confine someone like Violet, and on top of that, to ban her from entering the imperial palace, was an extraordinary decision. Especially the ban on entering the imperial palace was practically a death sentence for her position as a concubine. During her absence, another woman could easily take her place by the emperor’s side.

 

Violet, without being the emperor’s concubine, holds no value at all. The same went for Claude. If his mother lost the emperor’s favor, he too would be cast out of the emperor’s attention.

 

Even though things were unfolding as he had hoped, Ludwig couldn’t shake off a sense of unease. There was one thing that kept bothering him. There was definitely an accomplice who tried to harm Lady Epirosa. He had a suspect in mind. It must be Gale Blanche and his family, who see Epirosa as a thorn in their side.

 

However, officially punishing them would complicate matters. Evidence and testimony are important, but with Violet denying it like that… It might actually be easier to eliminate them unofficially. Ludwig’s eyes gleamed with a murderous intent.

 

* * *

“We need to clean thoroughly! That way, Epirosa and Auntie will recover faster!” Stella’s voice echoed from outside the office. Since early morning, she had been bustling around, sweeping and scrubbing the mansion with her maids.

 

Hubert stepped out of the office. Stella was even wiping down a decorative table herself. “Stella, take a break while you’re at it.”

 

“Oh, Grandfather!” Stella looked up, startled, then gave a bashful smile. “It’s fine. This is for Epirosa and Auntie. Especially since Auntie just came home. We need to be extra attentive. We can’t have people saying her condition worsened after coming here.” She seemed genuinely concerned for the family.

 

“How admirable.” Though Hubert said this, he carefully observed Stella. Is she just trying to impress me? Or is she looking for something else?

 

At that moment, the image of Gale’s torn sleeve flashed through Hubert’s mind.