Chapter 537
Despite Heinrich’s refusal to join me, I had no intention of just letting him die. Thus, I kept a close eye on developments and had Sarkegar continue to report to me on the situation at the Kernstadt camp.
When the three Schwartz siblings left the camp, I sensed that something was about to happen, and took Harriet with me and tailed them. I initially thought Louise von Schwartz might harm Heinrich, but to my surprise, Louise ended up killing her other two siblings. Moreover, I learned the shocking truth that, while Heinrich was indeed a bastard, he was not the king’s bastard but Louise’s.
Charlotte had said that it was impossible for Louise von Schwartz to commit such a foolish act as assassinating Heinrich. The conspiracy to assassinate Heinrich had not involved all of them, but only the second and third siblings, and might even have been an independent action by either one of them.
In the original story, Louise von Schwartz had not been involved in the assassination plot at all. She lost her son because she failed to account for her siblings’ foolishness. Whether she knew the truth of the matter or not, she had been executed alongside them in the face of the emperor’s wrath.
Some of the events in the original story were passing events that went by quickly, containing hidden causes or details that were unknown to me. This was another such instance.
Charlotte’s suspicion that Heinrich might be an illegitimate child turned out to be true—but he was not the child of the king or queen. He was the son of the princess.
However, the expected outcome had changed as well. Something completely different had happened—Louise von Schwartz had not just stood by; she had killed her own siblings with her own hands. I didn’t know what had happened, what emotion had come over her to trigger this, but in the end, Heinrich survived.
Louise von Schwartz, whom I thought would be one of the main culprits behind Heinrich’s death, had actually stepped in to protect Heinrich.
Judging by her dazed state after killing her siblings, committing such an act had been a terrible shock.
In the original story, Louise had not chosen to side with either her siblings or Heinrich. Her passivity led to Heinrich’s death and her own. In this timeline, though, Louise had made a choice.
I didn’t know what excuse she, the Commander of the Kernstadt army, would make for the deaths of her two siblings. The deceased also had roles to play, and the issue of what their followers would do would surely arise, but it was better than having Louise or Heinrich die.