Villainess [4]: Donavan’s Summons
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Red Pill [0]: Questions, Answers
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Janet’s beheaded double needed some fresh air, so she left the room and took a cursory peek through the closed double-door entrance at the two guards chatting it up: half of their conversation concerned Lady Fleming, while the other half concerned the ghost stories surrounding Elba House. Then she thought of her two compatriots tailing the Prince’s maid and butler there and wondered what those spies were up to, where they were, when her compatriots will come back, and what they’ll say when they do. And adding the guards’ conversation to her thoughts, she occupied herself for the next forty-five minutes, till something caught her eye.
She spied Kevin Sydney and Ridley Woodberry and the three female students she recognized from Janet’s classroom that afternoon all returning to their dorms: Kevin to Jeremy House in the Garrison Quarters by the perimeter wall, Ridley to Leeds House in between the Garrison Quarters and the Royals House, and the three girls to Guinevere House on the other side of the boulevard. Then, after a few moments, she spied the butler returning without the maid.
The guards nodded at Rick and opened the doors for him, so the clone followed the butler past the threshold into the foyer, where he knocked and opened the doors to Prince Blaise’s dorm and said, “I have news, your Highness.”
“What is it?” the Prince said.
The clone followed Rick inside and stood like a wallflower beside the doorway, while Rick said, “It’s the group Lady Fleming’s with. Sir Sydney and Lord Woodberry and three female students have returned to their dorms.”
“What about Lady Fleming?” the Prince said.
“Erica and I haven’t seen her exit the building,” he said, “so we think she’s still inside, but we don’t know how long she’ll be staying there. Erica’s keeping watch as I speak.”
“I see,” the Prince said. “Anything else?”
“Nothing else so far,” Rick said.
“Then go back out there and keep watch,” the Prince said. “There’s no telling what she’s planning in that Godforsaken house, so stay on your guard.”
“Will do, your Highness,” he said and ambled back out of the room as the clapping of horses’ hooves against the brick-paved ground resounded outside the front entrance. “Ah, it sounds like your coach is here.”
So the Prince put on his shoes and took up his book bag and followed his butler through the foyer to the outside, and Janet’s clone followed on their heels. Then, while the butler headed back over to Elba House, the coachman got off the front seat of a two-horse coach and opened the passenger door for the Prince at the end of the walkway. When the Prince climbed aboard, Janet’s clone got on the front seat, then shifted to the side after the coachman shut the door and got on the front seat beside her and urged the horses into a canter with the reins.
Unseen by the Prince or the coachman, the beheaded clone spent the next several minutes on an impromptu sight-seeing tour of the venues in the Student Commons Town as the coachman took various detours towards the Royal Palace to the west of the Town. Then, as the trees and foliage grew thicker on either side of a widening boulevard, the clone spotted an enormous fountain dead ahead before a perimeter curtain of defensive wall and a guarded gate, manned by a pair of guards on both sides, and the four-story facade of the Palace beyond it. Then, as the coachman rounded the fountain and passed the opening gates and nodded at the guards, the clone marveled at the balcony above the main entrance into the quad of the Royal Palace.
Once inside, the coachman took a detour towards the eastern side of the quad behind a row of six other coaches parked there, where he stopped his coach before the entrance into the King’s main antechamber and got off, and the clone followed after him. Then the clone waited for the Prince to get out of the coach and followed her odious target through the double doors, accompanied by Jeremy, the King’s butler.
“Am I late, Jeremy?” The Prince said.
“No, your Highness,” Jeremy said. “You’re right on time. His Majesty is expecting you.”
“How bad is it?” the Prince said.
Jeremy grimaced and said, “They’re all upset, especially Count Cosgrove.”
The Prince just stared at him for a moment, then said, “I wonder what he has to say.”
Jeremy remained silent as he opened the double doors and led his charge through the stillness of the main antechamber, till they reached another set of double doors that led into a larger antechamber used as a private audience room to receive uninvited guests. This set of double doors had the royal family crest of a firebird and a shield emblazoned over its body, over which were two longswords crossed over it and a motto spread underneath the whole design. It read,
> ‘Truth is my sword, wisdom my shield.’
“Good luck, your Highness,” Jeremy said. “Godspeed.”
The Prince smiled. “Thanks.”
Then the butler opened the doors into a circular room that had seen Janet’s clone enter its hallowed confines as an exhausted shell of herself after eighteen hours of repetitive questioning, a room that had borne the stains of her blood after the guards beat her for upholding the truth under the duress of answering the charge, a room full of Prince Blaise’s informants and Rosalie’s supporters and the Prince himself with Rosalie smirking beside him, a room that had witnessed her sentenced to execution on a false charge of treason, a room of iniquity that had forsaken its motto that night. Even when the Prince entered the antechamber, the clone paused at its threshold and wondered how she was even accused of writing death threats when she already had an alibi with her maids at her dorm on that night. Moreover, she wondered how leaving death threats against a mere commoner in the halls of the Academy could be construed into an act of treason, because there was no lèse-majesté involved. But then again, she figured that even the rumor of an act against Prince Blaise’s beloved was an act against the Prince and Rosalie as a future king and queen.
She shook her head of such thoughts and entered the chamber and looked at the current ensemble awaiting the Prince’s arrival outside the Judgment Circle: his Majesty King Blaise and Marquess Fleming and Captain Sydney standing on one side of the circle, and Father Robinson and Viscountess Durham and Baron Palmer standing on the other side, and Count Cosgrove entering the Circle with the Prince.
Then Jeremy the butler closed the double doors of the antechamber.
Standing by these doors like a wallflower, the clone eyed the other set of double doors across from her in the antechamber, through which the Prince and his Rosalie had passed to oversee her condemnation event.
She turned to Count Cosgrove as he said, “Your Highness, even though you are not under oath, I must warn you that what you say will affect your standing as a student of Lassen Academy and as a prince of this Kingdom. Do you understand?”
The Prince nodded and said, “I do, your Lordship.”
“Good,” Count Cosgrove said. “Now do you have your summons with you?”
“Yes, I have it here,” the Prince said, opening his book bag and pulling out the summons.
“Have you read the charges on it?” the count said.
“Yes, I have,” the Prince said.
“Do you acknowledge them?” the count said.
For a time, the Prince remained silent, till he said, “I acknowledge the first four charges, those of harassing Lady Fleming during Homeroom 2 and breaking school property and thrashing Sir Sydney and harming Lady Fleming during lunch, but I don’t acknowledge the fifth charge of sending the eviction notices to the three students mentioned in it.”
“All right,” the count went on. “Then we’ll start with the first four charges,” and turned to the Captain and said, “My Lord Margrave, you may speak.”
So Margrave Sydney, captain of the King’s Royal Guard, stepped forward and said, “Your Highness, in addition to thrashing my son, Sir Kevin Sydney, you’ve also insulted him and spat in his face. Why did you?”
“I was angry, my Lord,” the Prince said.
“Angry at my son,” the Captain said, “whom you called a ‘third-rate knight?’”
“Yes,” he said, “but it wasn’t because I looked down on him. I was just angry at the time.”
“Then,” the Captain said, catching the Prince’s gaze, “if my son had come from humble origins, would you have looked down on him?”
“No, my Lord,” the Prince said, averting his gaze to the floor, “I would not. Like I said, I was angry.”
“Anger is a double-edged sword, your Highness,” the Captain said. “If left unchecked, it could lead to misunderstandings and animosities that could dog your future prospects as king from political enemies to an uprising amongst our people and even to a war with another kingdom.”
“With all due respect,” the Prince said, “aren’t you making too big a deal out of a small thing?”
“A thousand miles across any terrain won’t stop a well-trained knight under marching orders,” the Captain said. “What will stop him is the little grain of sand in his shoe.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” the Captain said, “that in order to accomplish the big things, you must first resolve the small things. And in your case, you have many small things to resolve before they get blown out of proportion. Hence, this summons.”
“I know that!” he said. “It’s just that there are things outside of my control.”
“Then focus on things you can control,” the Captain said, “such as your conduct and your choices.”
“I’m not perfect,” he said.
“I’m not asking you to be perfect,” the Captain said. “I’m asking you to try your best,” and then he paused to catch his breath. “Your Highness, I know we all make mistakes, but you should know better than to act the way you did, not only to my son, but also to Lady Fleming. To think that you not only spat in my son’s face, but you also hurt a lady: that’s not the kind of king I want to serve.”
“God, if you really feel that way,” the Prince said, “then why don’t you just f—”
“Donavan, watch your language!” the King said.
The Prince winced and said, “I’m sorry, your Majesty.”
Silence reigned for a time.
Then the Captain said, “Your Highness, next to their Majesties the King and Queen, you have the most power to affect the lives of everyone around you. As such, you bear a responsibility to uphold this kingdom in your conduct, in your words, and in your choices. Is that too much to ask of you, your Highness?”
“No, it’s not,” the Prince said.
“I sure hope not,” the Captain said, “because I did not pledge my loyalty to this kingdom, nor did I bleed for this kingdom, only to have you spit on it!”
The Prince winced and grimaced.
Without another word, the Captain stepped aside, and Count Cosgrove said, “My Lord Marquess, you may speak.”
So Marquess Fleming stepped forward and glared at the Prince, sinking the temperature in the antechamber down by several degrees, and said, “Your Highness, I’m aware of your problems with Lady Fleming and have talked with his Majesty about them before, but as her father, I expect you to treat my daughter with the courtesy befitting a noble lady. But after hearing about your involvement in the charges concerning her, I’m concerned for my daughter’s safety. What do you have to say for yourself, your Highness?”
“With all due respect, my Lord,” Prince Blaise said, “I don’t harbor any ill will against Lady Fleming.”
“So when you threw that crystal at Lady Fleming’s feet,” Marquess Fleming said, “you threw it on impulse without intending to hurt her?”
“Yes, my Lord,” the Prince said.
“Because you were angry at that moment?”
“Yes,” the Prince said.
The Marquess paused for a spell, then said, “When you saw that my daughter was hurt, according to Father Robinson, you didn’t apologize to her for that. Instead, you only apologized to her for what you said about my wife, Marchioness Fleming, last week. Were you not concerned for my daughter’s well being at the time?”
The Prince glanced at the Captain before looking back at the Marquess and saying, “I was . . . I’m not . . .”
“I’ll rephrase the question,” the Marquess said. “Why did you apologize to my daughter for what you said last week when you should have apologized for what you did today?”
“I don’t know,” the Prince said.
“You don’t know why?” the Marquess said. “Or you don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“Look, with all due respect, my Lord,” he said, “I was angry at the time.”
“Too angry to think straight?”
Prince Blaise winced at his question and grimaced, then nodded his head and said, “Yes.”
“If you’re too angry to think straight when it comes to my daughter,” the Marquess said, “then that leaves me little confidence in you as a suitable partner, let alone as the next ruler of this kingdom.”
That’s when Prince Blaise clenched his hands into knuckle-white fists and said, “That’s because your daughter’s been bullying another classmate!”
“Can you really say that, your Highness,” the Marquess said, “when you’ve never witnessed my daughter in the act of bullying Miss Edgeworth with your own eyes?”
“When I questioned Lady Fleming during lunch,” the Prince said, “she confessed in front of witnesses!”
“Then does that mean, your Highness,” the Marquess added, “that you forced her to confess to crimes you yourself have not witnessed?”
“You keep twisting my words!” the Prince said.
“I’m only going off of your own words,” the Marquess said, “in light of what you have done to my daughter today.” Then he pointed at the circle on which the Prince stood and said, “Do you know where you’re standing?”
“It’s the Judgment Circle,” the Prince said.
“It’s also called the Dueling Circle,” the Marquess said. “Your Highness, you’re far more fortunate than you realize, because you are a minor. If it wasn’t for that technicality, I would have stepped inside that Circle to defend Lady Fleming’s reputation with my own sword against yours, man to man, in a trial by combat!” Then he pointed at the royal family crest emblazoned on the double doors of the antechamber and said, “Your Highness, look over there. What do you see?”
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The Prince looked at his family crest on the double doors, on which was a firebird and a shield emblazoned over its body and two longswords crossed over it. He said, “It’s my family seal and the official seal of this kingdom.”
“There are two crossed swords over the shield of that crest,” the Marquess said. “Look at the motto underneath that crest and read it. What does it say?”
The Prince did so and said, “It says, ‘Truth is my sword, wisdom my shield.’”
“When this kingdom was founded,” the Marquess said, “we used to settle disputes through trials by combat,” and he turned back to the Prince. “Look at everyone around you, your Highness. None of us are carrying swords, not even Lord Margrave Sydney, the captain of the King’s Royal Guard. But just because I’m unarmed does not mean I will overlook what you did to my daughter, not now, not ever! As such,” he added, “I’ve talked with Lady Fleming about her engagement to you, and she has agreed to annul it, and I’ve also talked it over with their Majesties the King and Queen before your arrival. As the father of the injured party in this summons, I have received permission to have the last say from their Majesties.”
With that, Marquess Fleming stepped aside.
Yet the antechamber remained silent, everyone (including Janet’s decapitated clone) left staring with pale faces and open mouths and wide disbelieving eyes.
Count Cosgrove broke that silence, turning to the father and saying, “Father Robinson, you may speak now.”
So Father Robinson stepped forward to the edge of the Judgment Circle and said, “Your Highness, I couldn’t trust your motives when I allowed you to interrogate Lady Fleming during lunch. So instead of having Lady Fleming take a truth potion, I poured it over the crystal I had her hold onto with the express intent to detect any form of interference on your end.”
“So you set me up?” he said.
“Yes, I did,” the father said, “but the way Lady Fleming went about it intrigued me, so I let her have her way just to see what she would do. Really, I thought she was going after you, but she went after Miss Edgeworth instead, and that’s not even the most intriguing part of it: Do you have any idea what I’m talking about, your Highness?“
“And what’s your point?” the Prince said.
“Your tendency to overreact, your Highness,” the father said. “Do you remember what you told Miss Edgeworth?”
“No, I don’t,” the Prince said.
“Of course, you don’t,” the father said. “Then will you tell us what you said about Marchioness Fleming?”
“No,” the Prince said.
“Why so?”
“Why should I tell you, old man?”
“It must’ve been pretty harsh then,” the father said, “because you told Miss Edgeworth not to say it in front of your peers in the great hall, so Miss Edgeworth apologized to Lady Fleming for what you said about her mother without saying what it was. Now I know I’m long-winded here, but all this verbal meandering led to a result nobody expected, especially Lady Fleming, who suffered at your hands. I hope you can acknowledge what I’m referring to, right, your Highness?”
“I know! Get on with it,” the Prince said.
“So on top of all the other things you did,” the father said, “you broke my crystal ball that you used in your interrogation of Lady Fleming, which you had me set up at lunch.” Then he paused a bit, as if choosing his words from forbidden Scripture, and added, “With all of that as context, are you aware that you almost destroyed evidence of tampering when you flung my crystal onto the ground?”
“What?” the Prince said.
“I’ll say it again,” the father said. “Were you aware of any kind of tampering with my crystal when you flung it onto the ground? Yes or no?”
“Of course not!” the Prince said.
“Your Highness, stop with all this bullishness,” the father said, glaring at the Prince’s insolence. “You and I were both there when Lady Fleming dropped that crystal from her hand. When that happened, I detected a slight but noticeable influx of fire magic infused into the crystal within its radius of effect: that was my first clue.”
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“Don’t interrupt me, your Highness!” the father said. “When I asked Lady Fleming if she felt a burning sensation, she nodded that she did: that was my second clue. Since the crystal you threw shattered and one of its shards struck her ankle, I used a detection spell before I healed her wound and detected trace amounts of fire magic: that was my third clue. From all these observations, your Highness, I’ve concluded that the crystal had been tampered with using fire magic and that you had tried to dispose of it—”
“This is nonsense!”
“—by flinging it onto the ground. Your Highness,” the father continued, “since you and Lady Fleming and I were the only ones within the crystal’s radius of effect, and since you have the fire affinity, tell me the truth: Did you attempt to falsely incriminate Lady Fleming in your interrogation?”
“No!” the Prince said.
“Are you sure, your Highness?” he said. “I’m warning you now to fess up and tell the truth while you still can.”
“I am telling the truth!” the Prince said.
“I sincerely hope so,” the father said, “because tomorrow during Homeroom 1 Baron Palmer and Viscountess Durham and Count Cosgrove and I are all going to question the witnesses that saw what happened today, and we’ll also ask the other professors to question the witnesses in their classes, too.”
“My God, I would never do that!” Prince Blaise yelled. “I know I’ve had problems with Lady Fleming, but I would never stoop to that level! Never!”
(The solitary clone smiled where she stood by the wall, thinking back to the bullshit charges leveled against her in this room in her previous life, and said, “Getting accused for something you haven’t done, how does it feel, your Highness? It tastes bitter, doesn’t it?”)
“Your Highness,” Father Robinson said, “this is a private affair amongst your peers in this room. Fess up right here and now, and this will stay private.”
“Damn your persistence!” Prince Blaise said. “If you don’t believe me, then that’s your problem!”
The father shook his head and said, “I tried to give you a chance to settle this, your Highness,” and he stepped away from the edge of the Judgment Circle.
Then Count Cosgrove turned to Baron Palmer and said, “My Lord Baron, you may speak.”
So Baron Palmer stepped forward and said, “Your Highness, you and I both looked for Miss Edgeworth this morning, but she didn’t turn up until the start of Homeroom 2. Did you see where Miss Edgeworth was at the time?”
“Of course, I didn’t,” the Prince said.
“Did you see where Lady Fleming was at the time?”
The Prince paused for a time, then said, “Yes, I did. You and I saw her this morning as we followed her up the stairs to your homeroom on the third floor of the Academy.”
“Then did you notice,” he went on, “that Lady Fleming was accompanying Viscountess Durham?”
“Yes,” the Prince said.
“Then,” the baron added, “did you witness Lady Fleming hitting Miss Edgeworth at any time this morning?”
“No, I didn’t,” the Prince said, “but she could’ve done it earlier this morning before you and I arrived.”
“Your supposition was contradicted this morning,” the baron said, “when Viscountess Durham questioned the maids in both Guinevere House and Mariana House. Their eye-witness accounts all corroborate Lady Fleming’s innocence. How can you not see that, your Highness?”
“Don’t talk to me about ‘innocence,’ Baron!” the Prince said. “For all I know, for all anyone knows, Lady Fleming could’ve threatened them to keep quiet!”
“You’re being unreasonable!” the baron said.
“And you refuse to punish the culprit!” the Prince said.
“Lady Fleming is not a ‘culprit,’” the baron said.
“Yes, she is!” the Prince said.
“Then how would you ‘punish’ her then, your Highness?” the baron continued. “Would you go as far as having Father Robinson set up an interrogation during lunch and falsely implicating her in front of everyone?”
“Fuck you!” the Prince said.
“Donavan!” the King yelled. “You’re out of line.”
The Prince winced and grimaced, and only then did he cool down enough to say, “I’m sorry, your Majesty.”
That’s when Baron Palmer looked over at the King and the Marquess and said, “Now do you see what I mean, your Majesty, your Lordship? When it comes to Lady Fleming, there’s no talking sense in him.”
“I see,” the King said.
“It’s a shame,” the Marquess said.
“Oh my God, not this again,” the Prince said.
“Then apologize to Lord Baron Palmer,” the King said, “for cursing at him.”
The Prince looked at the baron and sighed, then said, “I’m sorry, my Lord Baron. I didn’t mean to react like that.”
Baron Palmer just looked at the Prince for a time, then said, “I have no more questions,” and he stepped aside.
Then Count Cosgrove turned to Viscountess Durham and said, “My Lady Viscountess, you may speak.”
Viscountess Durham stepped forward and said, “Your Highness, before I turn this over to Count Cosgrove, I must talk about your conduct this morning. I never would have thought you capable of going after Lady Fleming like that if I hadn’t seen it myself, and it’s not just me, either. My entire homeroom class all saw you go after her, and if it wasn’t for Baron Palmer restraining you then and there, I can only guess what you would have done. My question is this: what were you planning to do to Lady Fleming if you had caught her?”
Prince Blaise stared at the viscountess with gaping mouth and wide eyes and said, “My God, what are you implying?”
“I’m asking the questions, not you,” the viscountess said. “What were you going to do to her?”
“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he said.
“You don’t know what I’m thinking,” she said. “I’ll rephrase the question: did you know what Lady Fleming was thinking when you went after her in my homeroom class?”
“I wasn’t going to hit her!”
“Do you think Lady Fleming would know that after you berated her outside of my classroom?” Viscountess Durham said. “Do you think Baron Palmer would know that when he had to restrain you from going after her? Do you think Lady Fleming would know that after you called her a ‘fucking bitch’ during lunch? Do you think she would know that after you thrashed Sir Kevin Sydney? Actions speak louder than words, your Highness! I can just imagine what Lady Fleming was thinking, let alone feeling! Do you have anything to say to that?”
“I would never hit her, period,” the Prince said. “No matter what you think, no matter what any of you think, I would never do anything like that! Ever!”
(“I agree, your Highness,” the clone said from the wall. “You’re too high and mighty to do it yourself. Instead, you’d have someone else beat up Lady Fleming for you and have her executed on your orders. Case in point, me.”)
Viscountess Durham shook her head and said, “I find that hard to believe, your Highness.”
“Damn your persistence!” the Prince said. “Why do you keep making this so difficult for me?”
“Really, your Highness?” the viscountess said. “You think this is difficult? I’ll tell you what’s difficult,” she added and pointed at Marquess Fleming. “Explaining to Lord Marquess Fleming what had happened to his daughter without him storming off in a rage to find you himself before your arrival. That’s difficult!”
The Prince winced and grimaced and stole a glance at Marquess Fleming, only to be met with his flaring basilisk glare, so he said, “Okay, okay, I get it!”
“I sure hope so, your Highness,” the viscountess said, “because there’s something else I brought up to his Majesty’s attention and his Lordship Count Cosgrove’s attention, but it’s outside of my purview to explain,” and she looked at the count as she stepped aside.
“My God, what else is there?” Prince Blaise said.
Now it was Count Drake Cosgrove’s time to speak, so he said, “Trust me, your Highness, Viscountess Durham is not joking. What she was referring to is the fifth charge on your summons.”
“I already told you,” the Prince said. “I don’t acknowledge that charge. I don’t know anything about it.”
“Your Highness,” Count Cosgrove said, “the first four charges are misdemeanors compared to this fifth charge. That’s why you were summoned here,” and he took out from his inner vest pocket three folded pieces of paper and unfolded them, one by one, and held them up before the Prince. “Do you know what these are?”
“They look like eviction notices,” he said, “but I’ve never seen them before at all.”
“On each of these notices,” the count said, “can you read the names of the three students mentioned in the body of the text, as well as the signature signed below?”
The Prince did so and said, “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, your Highness,” Count Cosgrove said. “You tell me what’s going on.”
“What do you expect me to tell you?” the Prince said. “How can I tell you anything if I have no knowledge of it?”
“That makes it even worse,” Count Cosgrove said. “I’ll give you some context, your Highness, so you’ll understand the severity of this charge. Lady Mindy Kessler and Lady Jean Drevis and Lady Saraya Drevis were given these notices this morning at their dorms, and when Viscountess Durham brought them into my Homeroom 4 class with these notices in hand, I dismissed my homeroom and brought the girls into my office at the Professor Commons Office. There I questioned them and found out that two other students had given them these notices and that these same students had attacked Lady Kessler in the hallway earlier this morning. With this in mind, I went to the infirmary and asked the nurse on duty what she knew about it, but the nurse said that Miss Edgeworth visited the infirmary and—”
“Wait a minute,” the Prince said, “why was she there?”
“I don’t know,” the count said, “but the nurse said that Miss Edgeworth went there to inform her that Lady Kessler had fallen down the stairs. In other words, she contradicted what Lady Kessler and the Ladies Drevis told the nurse afterwards.”
The Prince shook his head, saying, “That can’t be.”
“Weren’t you and Baron Palmer looking for her this morning?” Count Cosgrove said. “The nurse’s account places Miss Edgeworth at the infirmary at 7:16 a.m. before you and Baron Palmer were there looking for her, and Lady Kessler and the Ladies Drevis all said they saw Miss Edgeworth exiting the infirmary on their way there.”
“Miss Edgeworth wouldn’t lie like that!” the Prince said. “I can’t believe it. I won’t believe it!”
“Your Highness,” Viscountess Durham added, “I can confirm Lady Kessler’s time, as well. She was looking for Baron Palmer at 7:09 a.m. just as I was settling into my office at the Professor Commons Office, so that places her well within the timeframe in which she said she was attacked.”
“What about the two others?” the Prince said.
“The ones that attacked Lady Kessler?” the count said.
“Yeah,” the Prince said. “Who are they?”
“I can’t tell you,” he said.
“Why not?”
Silence reigned for a time.
Count Cosgrove looked again at King Blaise and said, “Your Majesty, should I tell him about the development?”
“What development?” the Prince said.
Another moment of silence.
“What’s going on?”
“Answer him,” the King said.
“Are you sure, your Majesty?” the count said.
“Someone forged my son’s signature,” the King said, “onto three phony documents under your nose, Count. Since he’s here because of these circumstances, he needs to know.”
Count Cosgrove deflated somewhat and said, “All right, your Majesty.” Then to the Prince: “The two girls that attacked Lady Kessler are Lady Jenna Childeron and Lady Vesper Felton. I’m sure you know who they are, right?”
The Prince looked at the count hard and said, “Yes, I do. What ‘development’ are you talking about?”
“They’re missing,” he said.
“Wait, what?” Prince Blaise said. “Missing how?”
“It’s just what I’ve said, your Highness,” the count said. “After I talked with Lady Kessler and the Ladies Drevis, I went to Viscount Arthur Newton’s homeroom and asked for Lady Childeron and Lady Felton, but he said that he hasn’t seen them all day today. So I asked where their dorm house was and went to Guinevere House and asked for the two ladies, but none of the maids or students there had seen them since this morning. I afterwards went to the High Court to see Judge Kendrick Mathews and almost got into an argument with him after inquiring if he had authorized a court order for the evictions of Lady Kessler and the Ladies Drevis without notifying me.
“Long story short,” he continued, “when I found out Judge Matthews issued no such court order, I had him issue a search warrant for me to search the dorm rooms of Lady Childeron and Lady Felton before I came here. In addition, I submitted these notices under the review of three forgery experts, and they concluded that someone had used water manipulation magic to forge your signature. I also wrote letters to the Childeron and Felton counties, notifying their families that their daughters have left the Academy and asking them to send me word of their arrival if they turn up at their estates. That’s why I came here and told everyone what I knew, and that’s why you’re here on such short notice.”
“My God,” the Prince said under his breath. “How serious do you think this is?”
“Serious enough to cause a panic,” the count said, “if this were to leak out.” Then the count looked over at King Conner Blaise standing by the Marquess and the Captain, and when the King nodded his head, the count said, “I don’t know what’s going on yet, but it seems that you’ve become a pawn in someone else’s intrigue. As such, as the Dean of Lassen Academy and the Sheriff of the Student Commons Town, I will get to the bottom of this, and I hope you’re not involved in any of it.”
“What are you talking about?” Prince Blaise said. “I wasn’t even aware of this at all!”
“That’s what I mean,” the count said.
“Because those notices have my signature,” the Prince continued, “you think I’m somehow involved in this?”
“Only as a pawn in someone else’s intrigue,” the count said. “I won’t assume you intended to go along with any of this, but I also won’t assume that your actions bore no consequence in this matter, not for the missing Lady Childeron and Lady Felton and certainly not for Lady Kessler and Lady Fleming. All we know is that somebody’s been playing you for a fool, your Highness, but we just don’t know who that is yet.”
Prince Blaise remained silent for several moments, as if he was turning the events of this afternoon through his head, and stared at the count, saying, “Barring absolute certainty, who do you think has been playing me for a fool then?”
“I don’t want to guess,” he said.
“Come on,” the Prince said. “I know you have at least some idea who that is, don’t you?”
Count Cosgrove glared at the Prince and said, “If you’re planning to bribe me or threaten me or otherwise coerce me into playing your game—”
“I wasn’t thinking that!” the Prince said.
“Nevertheless, I won’t listen to you,” the count said. “Your actions against Lady Fleming today and your insolence during this summons has proven to me, at least, that you are much too incompetent.”
“What did you just say?” the Prince said.
“As such,” the count said, “I motion to his Majesty that your so-called interrogation during lunch become null and void. You may be a prince, your Highness, but you don’t have the authority to put someone to death or banishment or expulsion or suspension or any other kind of formal ruling during school hours or on your free time, because you’re still a minor and you’re still naive.”
“That’s lèse-majesté!” the Prince yelled.
“It’s the truth, whether you like it or not,” the count said and turned to King Conner Blaise standing rigid outside of the Judgment Circle. “Your Majesty, you may speak.”
So the King stepped forward towards the Judgment Circle and said, “I agree with his Lordship, Count Cosgrove.”
“But, Father!” the Prince said.
“This is a summons, and I am your king,” the King said. “You will address me, accordingly.”
The Prince bowed his head. “Yes, your Majesty.”
“Also, along with what’s already been said,” the King added, “Father Robinson and Baron Palmer and Viscountess Durham have brought up to me yet another facet of your misconduct today. Though it wasn’t detailed in your summons, it still bears consideration. Do you know what that is?”
“No, your Majesty,” the Prince said.
“You used your status to threaten two Lassen Academy faculty members with getting fired from their positions,” the King said. “Once this morning against Baron Palmer when he had to restrain you from going after Lady Fleming in Viscountess Durham’s homeroom class in front of her students, and again during lunch when you cajoled a reluctant Father Robinson into setting up your interrogation of Lady Fleming. In each case, why did you threaten them like that?”
“I was angry,” the Prince said.
“As I’ve heard from Baron Palmer and Viscountess Durham,” the King said, “you were angry about what you thought Lady Fleming did to Miss Edgeworth before you arrived at school, but I thought that Viscountess Durham’s questioning of the maids in Guinevere House and Mariana House had cleared that up. It hadn’t in the least cleared it up for you, did it?”
“No, it didn’t,” the Prince said. “I still had my doubts at the time.”
“So in order to clear up your doubts,” the King said, “you cajoled Father Robinson into setting up Lady Fleming with an impromptu interrogation before the students as witnesses. What were you aiming to achieve?”
Now the Prince paused for a bit, then said, “I wanted to find out the truth from Lady Fleming herself.”
“And if she didn’t say what you wanted to hear?” the King said. “Or to put it another way, if what she said did not conform to what you already think is true—”
“That’s not what I meant to do!” the Prince said. “I would never resort to false incrimination!”
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To Be Continued