CHAPTER 306: A MAGICIAN WAS INVOLVED [BONUS CHAPTER]

The first thing that Arabella caught from Risa’s thoughts was relief upon seeing she was alright. It wasn’t guilt. Not regret. And not a sense of disappointment that her mission failed.

Instead, Risa was relieved and grateful. After all, if Arabella had died or remained unconscious, Risa could’ve been executed immediately along with Bert and the other maids who vouched for her.

Lucille could be stripped of her title as a princess or be a princess in name only and be imprisoned. She could get banned from Medeus as well.

And if Arabella had died, Ferdinand would ensure Lucille and all who were possibly involved, die as well.

"Your Majesty, it wasn’t me. I swear, even if someone rewarded me with a kingdom, I would never dare harm you," Risa was teary-eyed.

But the most puzzling thing was that, no matter what Arabella and Ferdinand asked, it truly wasn’t Risa. She did not add poison to Arabella’s wine nor did she go to the banquet as a maid nor go to the kitchen as a helper.

Arabella confirmed by asking the right questions and peeking at Risa’s thoughts. But Risa was truly just hanging out with other maids in her own room that day. They were having a tea party of their own.

They questioned Bert as well and it wasn’t him either. He was rather surprised to see Risa was there that day but he simply thought there must be a lack of manpower so she helped out.

’If it was none of them, then who was it?’

Arabella wondered if Risa had a twin or a sister that looked exactly like her. But Risa said she had none.

Risa had a younger sister but they didn’t resemble each other that closely to be mistaken for the other. Moreover, Risa’s sister was in Obrusca.

Thus, it only meant someone pretended to be Risa.

It was a magician’s doing. Risa and Lucille were the ones being framed this time. Which meant the culprit knew about Lucille trying to drug Arabella last time.

"Ferdinand, it’s not them," Arabella said when they were finally on their own.

"Strange. I didn’t sense any animosity or malice from them towards you either."

[They were simply scared they would be executed. They knew the weight of attempting to assassinate a royal. Their scent didn’t give off any guilt or malice. It was only fear. I and my wife are clearly more powerful than that Princess so it would indeed be questionable for them to obey her unless she had something over them. But Arabella already asked them if they were threatened. Their reactions would have shown if someone important to them was taken hostage but they easily shook their heads and said they were not.]

"Yes. I believe it wasn’t them," Arabella couldn’t let them be punished for a crime they did not do. But how should she explain it?

"How can you be so sure, Your Majesty? They could be great at pretending," Alwin inquired.

Arabella jumped in surprise. She didn’t hear Alwin arrive because she was lost in thought. He was also there during the whole questioning.

"I was initially convinced that Lucille instructed Risa to do it. And Risa in turn got Bert involved. Or Lucille wanted it that way. However, after speaking with the two, they do not seem guilty at all. They seem to be speaking the truth. And now that I thought about it more, I realized Lucille wouldn’t take this kind of risk after her first plot failed. If she tried to do something again, it wouldn’t be with the same methods. And she would have waited until Ferdinand had announced his decision," Arabella explained.

"I see," Alwin nodded.

[Right. King Neville is the princess’ father. They seem to get along well so she probably wouldn’t sabotage her own father like this.]

Ferdinand agreed as well.

"Can we speak with those who witnessed against and vouched for Risa again?" Arabella wanted to read the thoughts of the kitchen staff who vouched that they saw Risa in the kitchen and storage area and with the maids whom Risa had tea with in her room.

"Yes, of course," Ferdinand gestured for Alwin to go gather them.

"Uhm, Alwin, did you use magic to check in case a hypnosis spell was used on them or something like what happened in Safiro and Arno?" Arabella inquired.

"Hypnosis spells?!"

Both Alwin and Ferdinand were wide-eyed.

Ferdinand had been too worried about Arabella to worry about anything else so he left the investigation to Riley and the others.

Alwin was busy with healing her but he also helped in the investigation.

"The poison used was a normal human poison that can be easily bought in the market. It was usually used for rodents. Riley and I didn’t detect any traces of magic in the poison or wine so we didn’t," Alwin realized they should have indeed checked.

After finding Risa, they were also convinced Lucille was the culprit because of the incident last time. As such they didn’t suspect a magician could have been involved. Likewise, they did not feel the presence of any magician in the venue or near the vicinity that day.

"I was just thinking, assassins from other continents tried to kill me while we were on the way to Medeus. They had completely stopped once we entered Medeus. But, what if it was them again? What if the motive was to sow discord once again?" Arabella found a way to relate her former suspicions.

She formerly thought Lucille could have been tempted by someone from Fynnia or Griffith. But since Lucille was clear now, Arabella could only think of someone from outside the continent to do this.

After all, if it was someone from the kingdoms here in Eliora, they would have waited until Ferdinand agreed to join the Council or announced that he would be sending troops to the western borders. But her husband hadn’t done any of that yet.

"Hmm. That is indeed possible. They haven’t done anything suspicious and had been staying outside Medeus for the past few days. They didn’t dare enter. But they could have companions already planted here," Ferdinand agreed.