Father narrowly survived, but Alan and his mother, Cindy, were executed.
Though it wouldn't have been surprising if Alan had been killed on the spot, the knights present at the scene merely subdued him without inflicting harm.
The gatekeeper and butler, despite Father's orders to keep Alan out, had allowed him entry. The maids, ever sympathetic, had shown compassion toward the boy abandoned by his father.
Among the Duke's household staff, there were those loyal to Alan—what might be called the "Alan faction."
And the Alan faction likely extended beyond just those present in the study that day.
If the other staff or guards decided to fake Alan's death and help him escape, it could become a serious issue.
Thus, rather than executing Alan within the Caldwell Ducal household, they handed him over to the gendarmerie.
The gendarmerie, unwilling to harbor the volatile spark of a "would-be assassin of a Duke," sentenced Alan and his mother, Cindy, to death the morning after their capture. This decision was promptly relayed to the Duke's household.
Neither Gloria nor her uncle, who had rushed over upon hearing of the incident, objected to the ruling. That afternoon, Alan and Cindy were beheaded.
Their bodies were buried in the graveyard behind the execution grounds—a place reserved for unclaimed criminals, marked by a single communal gravestone.
Buried only for the sake of disposal, their graves were unlikely to ever see flowers laid upon them.
How pitiful, Gloria mused. Perhaps one day, I'll place the brass clover crown there for them.
If the servants hadn't discarded it, it should still be lying somewhere in the Duke's warehouse.