Chapter 19
After the investigation was complete, the Crown Prince dragged a maid into his office where Michelle was sitting lazily. Her carelessness was unsettling, but his plan was foolproof so he wasn't worried much.
The only thing that worried him was that for some reason, the poisoning happened sooner than he expected, but he brushed that off, thinking that his mistress, the Emperor's Concubine, was the one who told the maid to do it earlier.
"Michelle Grace, you were the one who ordered this maid to poison my father!" he shouted as he entered the office. "You are guilty of regicide!"
But Michelle just smiled and leaned back on the couch. "Come on, Your Highness! Did she tell you that?" she asked lazily, her purple eyes narrowing into beautiful crescents. "Did you decide to believe the words of a mere maid?"
The Crown Prince was about to say something, but Michelle suddenly clapped her hands and the door to the office opened again with Mare entering, dressed in the clothes of a maid from the Imperial Palace. "Did you call for me, Master?" Mare ignored everyone else and bowed her head towards Michelle.
When Mare entered, everyone in the room froze. The single word "Master" was like a bitter food the Crown Prince had to swallow. "Michelle Grace, what is the meaning of this?!" he stared at Michelle, his gaze twisted in rage. "Why is an Imperial Palace's maid addressing you as master?! Did you plant a spy in the Imperial Palace?!" he roared, his fave red with embarrassment.
Mishelle smiled lazily as she crossed her legs. "Yes!" she replied nonchalantly. "Mare is my personal maid and during her time in the Imperial Palace, she found out quite a few interesting things... Say, Your Highness... Do you want to hear it?" Michelle's purple eyes were narrowed into smiling crescents, but deep inside of them lied terrifying coldness.
Seeing the coldness in Michelle's eyes, the Crown Prince gulped, feeling intimidated, but once he realized that he was actually afraid of Michelle, a wave of rage overcame him. "Michelle Grce, how dare you plant a spy in the Imperial Palace?! Did you do it so you could poison His Majesty?!" he roared, his face red with anger and embarrassment. It was utterly shameful for the Crow Prince to not realize that a spy was planted in the Imperial Palace.
Michelle smiled lazily, her expression relaxed, which highly disturbed the Crown Prince. "Mare, do give me the vision stone and the voice stone," she said languidly, her stance elegant even as she was just sitting on the couch carelessly.
"Yes, Master!" Mare reached into her sleeve and took out a green and a yellow stone, handing both to Michelle.
Seeing the two stones, the Crown Prince had a bad feeling. Vision stones and voice stones were stones filed with spiritual energy which were able to record, either only sound or sound and vision too. Basically like a video camera or a voice recorder.
What the Crown Prince feared was that Mare recorded something that would prove Michelle's innocence, and even worse, something that might prove him guilty. But he couldn't do anything. Michelle had already brought up the Archduke once, so if he acted rashly, he would be in real trouble.