Chapter 53: Not Now, Not Yet
"Then, what happened next?" I asked, leaning toward Alessio with wide eyes, fully absorbed in the story now.
I had brought up the maid on a complete whim, but hearing it all laid out like this... it felt different. Realer, somehow.
"...She shared some intelligence with us. Mostly things she’d overheard, like Marius speaking to others either in person or through a communication pendant. It gave us more insight into what he might be planning, but... even then, she couldn’t provide solid proof."
My brows furrowed instinctively. I didn’t interrupt, but the unease showed on my face. Something didn’t sit right.
"I see."
"There were some documents she managed to steal from Marius’s secret room, later on," Alessio continued, his voice low and even. "But they were incomplete. The information included names, transactions, and schedules, but nothing carried a proper family seal. Without that, they were practically useless in court. Just paper, easily denied."
"Then... why didn’t she just wait and gather something more concrete before coming to you?"
Alessio sighed faintly. "We were planning to meet on the path through the orchard behind the greenhouse, near a small unused shed. She promised to bring more documents with real seals that we could use, and she agreed to testify if we kept her and her family safe."
He paused, his gaze dropping slightly.
"But... she never showed up. After that, there was nothing. I was ready to leave for the capital and perform my Descent ceremony, but with no witness, no evidence, everything was postponed."
"Then what did you mean earlier? When you said my attitude toward Marius changed around the time she came to you?"
His expression grew serious. "...It was around the same time she vanished that my men reported something odd about you. You’d always been bright, cheerful and kind, but then you turned quiet. Sad. You stopped visiting the garden for tea. You barely left your room. And there was that time you started crying and refused to see Marius altogether."