“I am William Dubois, My Lady.” The young man in front of me speaks. Penelope advised me to talk with him. William is apparently one of the most trusted guards to Isaac and I have no idea how Penenlope even managed to bring him here.
“Nice to meet you, William.” I speak as I stand up and take a few steps in his direction. He is around my age, and reminds me in some ways of Isaac and Arthur.
“You might be wondering why I called you here, well it was because I need a favour from you.” I continue. I know that fraternising with a trusted guard of Isaac might not be a powerful move, but I still am hoping for some kind of bond with him. Because if William is so close with Isaac, he most certainly is not indoctrinated like all other guards by Queen Charlotte and I can’t have somebody spying on me, so I am taking this chance. William shifts in his shoes as he turns his gaze towards me. He says nothing so I continue.
“As you know, something happened in one of the abandoned cottages on the Royal grounds. And it is my duty to work with your King to help the entire situation in Germany and France, and I am thinking that that might have something to do with it.” Spending nights alone did me well, I came up with new strategies and theories that might help doing business with Isaac, so that I can get back sooner with a large sum of money instead of a daunted reputation.
“But I am a woman, and I have zero association with the crime, I can do nothing without permission of the King, which leads me to my favour. Could you get me into that house?” I ask him. He looks at me with a frown on his face, he looks like he is seriously considering the offer.
“If I do that I can be beheaded for showing betrayal to the Queen who is now the ruler of the French court.” He speaks. I should’ve expected this answer, I should’ve known that he can do nothing without Isaac around.
“Which is why I will help you, My Lady.” I look up in shock. He stands there like a true guard. But how can I trust him? What if this is all a trick?
“Why should I trust you, after you told me that?”
“Because if I know your reputation correctly, you are the one that plans everything step for step, so you must most likely know that I am only loyal to his Majesty, and his Majesty only. So the Queen will not disrupt your plans, because I have no interest in spying on you for her.” He’s smart.
“I am starting to like you already.” I tell him, a smile splatters on his face before we get to business.
“Do you know when the King arrives?”
“Tomorrow around noon.”
“When will the King decide what will happen?”
“Tomorrow evening a meeting will be held where all diplomats and the ones associated will have their word.”
“Why do you trust me?”
“Because there is one thing we have in common and that is our hatred towards the Queen and the Queen mother. Also the King trusts you, so there is no reason for me not to.” Does the King trust me? I am seeing the process.
That evening when the two ladies of mine were pleasuring men for information that I will receive tomorrow, I was sneaking out of the castle with William by my side. He is truly a sophisticated gentleman, I have the feeling that he isn’t a commoner but someone who was raised by nobles, I will have to ask him once we get closer. We are connecting to one another, as I said, he is nice and kind and -most importantly- hates the Queen.
“Why do you believe that this crime has something to do with the alliance between France and Germany, My Lady?” William asks as we walk into the dark forest and follow the path towards the cottage that had been inspected earlier in the day.
“Call me Victoria, please.” I tell him before I proceed to answer his question. “and I think this has something to do with it because I find it strange to how six commoners got in the Royal gardens when the walls are guarded day and night.”
“You believe someone let them in?”
“I see no other option, or they were maids serving here, but nobody recognized the bodies.” I mumble in thought.
When we reached closer to the cabin I opened the door and everything was exactly as it was before, except the bodies were gone. They were being examined by the physician. I walk towards the dried pool of blood that is still noticeable on the wooden floors, this is where the woman was laying.
“Don’t you find it strange that five men hung themselves but one woman was murdered in a corner?” I talk to William who walks closer to me and crouches down next to me.
“Perhaps they murdered her in an accident, and felt guilty so they hung themselves?” I shake my head at his words.
“Then why come all this way, to this cottage to murder a woman?”
I stand up and look to the ceiling, the five ropes are still hanging and moving with the wind as the windows are left open. I noticed that one of the ropes was almost cut, you can see a clear mark where the rope was almost cut through.
“Were you here today, William?” I ask him as I touch the robe with my leather gloves.
“Yes, quickly.”
“Did you perhaps see a knife somewhere here, perhaps one of the men had it?” I told him. It would make sense that one of them tried to cut another one off, or perhaps the woman did it, because why otherwise would there be an almost cut through rope.
“Not that I know of.”
“Did you get the documents I asked for?”
“Yes.” He shuffles in his jacket as he takes out a folder filled with papers. He hands the papers to me. This is all the information that the examiners found out earlier today.
Robert Johann; German
Abel Wagner; German
Dilcher Schuler; German
Frank Gellman; German
Grell Hamm; German
Emilia Gellman; French
“Oh my god.” I mumble. My blood ran cold.
“What is it?” William says as he stands next to me.
“They are all German except Emilia, who’s French and was brutally murdered. While the five men hung themselves. Emilia is married to Frank, which can lead to why there is a cut in the rope, she tried to save her husband. Who hung here?” I ask William as I point to the almost cut through rope.
“Frank Gellman.”
“She tried to save her husband, by cutting down the rope, it didn’t work, or she didn’t have enough time.”
“The examiners said that the men all died at the same time, which means that none of them could’ve killed Emilia, if your thoughts are true.”
“Then who did kill her?” Why does it feel like I know the answer to the question, but I just can’t see it clearly.