The next morning, Ivy and Dea had breakfast with others and got on the carriage. Dea left Caelum in the villa just in case something happened. She and Ivy sat together while Solis was driving the carriage.
- "How much do you know about what happened before I left and when Mother brought me into the castle the first time?" - Asked Dea.
- "Not much, I know that when she first brought you, she said you had a hard life, and as your mind tried to protect you, it made you forget everything. So, she said not to ask much so as to not bring more pain to you. As for the matters when you were 8, I know some strong force wanted to control 12 countries from behind, and as a part of a scheme, they wanted to get rid of you, so you had to leave. I also know that we have lots of traitors who obey them, so we could not trust anyone."
- "Well, you basically know everything," - Said Dea.
- "Yeah, basically, so when are you going to tell me everything?"
Dea looked at Ivy and then said, - "It's not safe, I will deal with everything, you don't have to worry."
- "Not safe, my ass. Whether I know it or not, it's not safe anyways, moreover, I could protect myself better if I knew the whole picture."
Dea looked at her for a while, not saying anything.
- "Come on. Have you forgotten that I am the big sister? By the way, I also worry about you."
- "I don't know anything about what happened when I was three or before that."
- "What about now?"
- "We still don't know who is behind all this, but I managed to find out who they control in our country as well as the situation in other countries."
- "and…?"
- "They controlled seven people who have quite some power in our country. First was premier minister Regan Graves. She wanted power, but she was not the kind of person who liked to be controlled, the only reason she got involved with these people was because of her daughter."
- "Do you have anything to do with what happened to them?" - Ivy asked uncertainly.
- "Everything."
- "So, six are left."
- "No five are left."
- "But you said there were seven, so since you dealt with Regan six are left."
- "What do you know about the Blood Palace?"
- "Blood palace? Like an assassin organization that was destroyed 2 years ago?"
- "Yes."
- "Well, they were the first assassin hall in our country for years. Hard to contact, they killed lots of mother's loyal people but were slaughtered by someone 2 years ago no one knows who did it."
- "Lord of Blood Palace was one of the seven. They were also the ones sent to kill me back then, 2 years ago, I had them killed."
- "I see, so that's why you said five are left. So, who are the others?"
- "The third one is our dear sister Anita. Oran wants the crown, and so does she, so they made a deal with them, that was the reason why they went for my life in the first place."
- "That bitch. How can she plot to kill her sister?"
- "Next is Scorpio's third prince Noel. Scorpio has long been under their control together with Sagittarius, Gemini, and Pisces. Other countries are still not under their control. After the war with Scorpio, Prince Noel was sent as a hostage here, but in reality, he is quite scheming. After him comes Mother's confidant Marie. She was the one who gave us out that day. She has also been poisoning the queen for quite some time now."
- "Poisoning? Is Mother going to die?"
- "No, don't worry. We found out about it long ago. Nothing is going to happen, we discovered it on time." - Hearing that, Ivy was relieved.
- "The next person is one of the four generals, Fidelia. She was also the one who tried to kill Mother this time, and if I am not wrong, she must be Anita's biological mother"
(so, let me explain this as Libra is matriarchal, hundreds of years ago they invented a potion so males would be the ones to give birth instead of females.)
- "That explains why she is nothing like us," - said Ivy.
- "And that brings us to the head of it all, Amelia's father, Oran. Do you remember where he came from?"
- "They say he was accidentally injured by mother during hunting and was brought back."
- "Yes, and his origin is unknown. As I have observed in all the countries, they send one of their own to supervise everything, and that person is the one that's hidden the best. In our case, Oran."
- "Ohh, I see."
As they talked, the carriage stopped at the entrance of the array guild, and Dea and Ivy got out. They went in, and Solis followed behind. One of the workers greeted them.
- "Crown princess. Princess Ivy. Welcome."
- "We will be going to the capital." Said Solis.
- "Yes. Of course, follow me please." - Said the attendant as she started to lead the way.
After they arrived at the capital, both of them entered the palace without changing clothes.
- "Mother," - called out Ivy as she entered the queen's private bedroom.
The queen was sitting at the table going through some papers, and when she heard a voice, she looked up.
- "You're back."
- "Mother, you were almost killed, you should not be working!" - complained Ivy.
- "That's why I need to work. If I show weakness, our enemies will become bolder." - Said the queen.
While watching mother and daughter interact, Dea was standing there, not saying anything until the queen looked at her. - "What are you planning to do with Fidelia?" - she asked.
- "There is not enough evidence to prove she did it. Killing her would bring unrest to the common people, she is quite influential."
- "Can you tell me in detail what happened?"
- "Well, as you know, once in a few years, I go hunting with some officials and guests. This time I went with Fidelia, General Sil, and a few foreign envoys, a few ministers, and a few lower-ranking officials. I got separated from my group while following a white mountain lion and was attacked by assassins in masks. They used weapons dipped in some kind of poison. I managed to escape while they followed, and finally, my people rescued me."
- "Did you manage to find out what kind of poison they used?"
- "My people were unable to identify anything. Why?"
- "Nothing. Maybe it could give us some clues."
- "Well, I have an arrow they shot us with. Wait a moment." - As the queen said that, she took out a box from the hidden compartment and handed it to her.
When Dea opened a box, she looked at the arrow. It was a bit strange, the tip had some carvings on it, and she recognized a poison. Actually, it was three poisons on the tip.
- "There are mixtures of three poisons here, it is almost the same as what Blood Palace used."
- "Almost?" Asked the queen.
- "Well, the mixture that Blood Palace used was more complicated. Even though it had three poisons in it, only one of them is the same, as for the other two, Blood Palace used another mixture as the second and third poison, so it's more complex and more deadly too. These people however were either unaware or maybe were unable to make it the same as Blood Palace, so they made a cheap duplicate."
- "Okay, but how can that help us?" - Asked Ivy this time.
Dea turned to the queen and asked - "Call all the officials of the court who are in the capital. Fidelia must definitely be there."
- "What do you have in mind?" - Asked the queen.
- "Just trust me, call all of them for an emergency. Don't give anyone time and send guards with messengers as well as decree so that none of them can make any excuses."
- "Okay," - said the queen. She did not have any glimmer of distrust in her eyes and called right away - "Lionel"
- "Here."
- "Go and do everything as the princess said."
- "Yes, Your Majesty."
After everything was done, Dea and Ivy decided to let the queen rest and make preparations for tonight.
Dea just noticed that the queen's confidant Lionel had a very similar name to her new companion Leonel. Seeing that she was thinking about something, Ivy asked curiously, - "What are you thinking about?"
- "I just thought that Lionel and Leonel have very similar names." Said Dea.
Hearing this, Ivy chuckled - "Actually, this story is quite funny. The year Lionel became mother's confidant, Leonel was born. Leonel's father is mother's old friend, and when she saw his name, she liked it, so she changed one letter and gave Leonel that name. Not to mention he is from Leo."
- "Hmm."
- "Anyway, what do you plan to do tonight?"
- "You just need to sit and watch the show."
- "Well, I can't wait." - Said Ivy playfully.