Chapter 30: Organization
The Duke's tone also shifted slightly, from solemn to somewhat aggressively dark, with apparent hidden rage.
"I thought our life would be safe as long as I stayed quiet. Over the past years, God knows how I wanted to take revenge and bring justice for my wife... but I can't. I... still have my son. I just wanted Arren to live safely and freely. My son shouldn't be involved in this. I needed to protect him. But..." the eyes shone with hatred and remorse,
"They really dare to harm my son after all these years. All these years I just wanted to live quietly and provide a safe environment for my son, but I guess things would necessarily bide with your wishes. Your Majesty..." The Duke stared straight at Spade. Spade could see the resolve in his eyes. He nodded and motioned for the Duke to proceed.
"I thought I'd just bury everything I know in my death," the Duke sighed heavily, "but I also knew it was impossible because Your Majesty was bound to question me about what I knew. The late Emperor... your father also told me about this. That at some point in time, Your Majesty would investigate what really happened that bloody year. But... I didn't expect it to be too soon, and the trigger was my own son."
"My father?" Spade couldn't stop himself from asking.
"Yes, Your Majesty. It wasn't difficult to see that what happened that year was the reason His Majesty's health deteriorated. Everything was chaotic. His Majesty at the time also investigated the people behind the incident, only to be disappointed and the evidence was at a dead end. The people behind didn't leave anything suspicious, they were very careful, and His Majesty suspected... they were also a higher ranking noble in the Empire," the Duke said.
When Spade heard this, he was surprised but quickly accepted it as logical. To be able to infiltrate the Empire so thoroughly and deeply... The only reason for this was that they held a high position in the Empire.
Spade was curious about one thing... Why did they stop the investigation and delete all the information in the database? Even he himself didn't get a lot of information when he delve deeper into that incident when he was investigating the case for Arren.
"What did you all learn from the investigation, and what are the duchess's connections to them?" Spade inquired directly. He was especially intrigued by the duchess's involvement in all of this. The person behind all of this would never want to kill the duchess unless... She knew way too much about them.