The Grand Duchess of the North Was Secretly a Villainess

After introducing Caien to Eloine, we returned to the drawing room.

'It's strange to say that Eloine knows Caien better than I do and introduces him.'

It was not wrong to say that Caien still lost his memory.

'Eloine expression is so bad. After all, it must be because her younger sister brought the Crown Prince into the castle.'

More than that, I had something to discuss with Eloine.

"Brother, how many of my knights do you think know the face of the Crown Prince?"

Eloine looked uncomfortable. He stared into the air and answered my question a little later.

"I'd say only Johaim, because he accompanied you every time you came to the capital. Oh, I'll have to include your aide, Jayden."

Eloise once went to the capital with Johaim.

'Well, no matter how much the Grand Duchess was, she wouldn't have been confined in the North forever.'

"According to imperial law, the Crown Prince doesn't engage in external activities until he becomes an adult."

As Eloine said, it was after he became an adult that the Crown Prince was engaged in external activities. It meant that very few people knew his faces unless they were a high-ranking nobles who went to and from the Imperial Palace.

'In my current situation, the imperial law can be seen to be extremely advantageous.'

The more people know Caien face, the harder it is to hide him. After a moment of silence, I asked Eloine.

"I'm thinking of telling Johaim. Anna and Jayden already know."

"..... it, sounds like you're going to put your Highness in the North. What are you going to do from now on?"

Plan for the future.

'The male lead went to the capital when he was 20. For the next five years... I made up my mind, but I sigh first.'

I was going to work hard until the male lead became emperor anyway. Until then, I had to hold out so that I could completely subjugate the monsters.

'And after that, the plan is to enjoy the lazy estate life. It is said that rest is sweeter when you work like a dog.'

The only thing that had to be done was 'Raise the male lead as emperor!' was added.

'I'm already tired.'

It's not as simple as it sounds, but a strange desire to win has soared.

'It's like playing a Kingmaker game.'

I called Eloine, looking straight at him.

"Older brother."

"Why?"

"Remember what I said about the need for a swordsmanship teacher for the Crown Prince?"

One of Eloine eyebrows rose slightly.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am."

At my words, Eloine licked his lips and ruffled his hair.

"I'm asking if what I'm thinking is correct."

"Yes."

I said in an assertive tone.

"It means that we will push out Duke Ilysian, who will soon become emperor, and place the Crown Prince on the throne. In the near future."
 

*****

Caien, who was about to enter the drawing room, stopped at a sound coming from inside. He had something to ask Eloise, and he had just come to the drawing room.

'Were you still with Eloine?'

These were voices that would not reach ordinary people.

"......."

But Caien was not ordinary people, if he listened, he could steal a conversation.

"What should I do?"

Caien muttered with an expressionless face. He looked down at the floor with a cold gaze, and finally leaned against the door. Eloise's voice faintly penetrated into his ear.

"It means that we will push out Duke Ilysian, who will soon become emperor, and place the Crown Prince on the throne. In the near future."

An unknown expression appeared on his cold face and then disappeared. Caien turned back and walked into the room.
 

*****

"By the way, what do you think?"

I twisted my fingers across the flowing hair and asked in a light tone.

"His Royal Highness memory loss."

At the sudden death of their father, the assassins chased and barely reached the north, but the gates were locked, and the forest was full of evil things. He must have had a hard time penetrating the crystal stone and entering the forest.

'He was also injured.'

It wasn't a situation where it didn't make sense to lose your memory because you must have been physically exhausted as well as mentally traumatized.

".....Memory loss wouldn't be that common."

That was the problem. Is it enough to cause memory loss?

"Didn't you ever see the Crown Prince up close when you were in the Imperial Palace?"

"Because there's very little for a Saintess to be close to the Crown Prince. I don't know if it's from far away."

I can't believe he haven't even seen Eloine up close.

'I know a little about the male lead past... but I can't do it like this.'

It was when I was lost in thought, twisting my hair habitually.

"Maybe this is your chance, Ellie."

I glanced at Eloine and remained silent. I understood clearly what opportunities he was talking about.

'Chance to abandon the Crown Prince.'

It was a simple story.

For now, it was highly likely that Duke Ilysian was the emperor's assassin. So, it was enough to contact the Duke that I had found the Crown Prince.

'Ilysian will kill Caien to sit on the throne, if he is the assassin.'

In fact, it was an issue that could not be rushed to. Nowhere in the original was it confirmed that Duke Ilysian was the assassin.

'The problem is that I have to be defensive.'

The point of my possession was before the Emperor died. The fact that the Emperor died even though I didn't use my hands was the same as saying that there was a different force behind it.

'We don't have any clues, so we have to be as defensive as possible. It would be nice if Duke Ilysian was an uncle who cared for his nephew, but there's a possibility that it isn't, right?'

The history of several countries, including Korea, flashed through my mind. Behind these incidents, it was usually the Imperial family who were greedy for the throne.

'I can't trust anyone except my people.'

"An opportunity to step out of the gamble for the throne."

Eloine spoke up when I remained silent. To put it bluntly, if Caien dies, I won't die at his hands.

'But I need a Caien.'

I've worked like a dog for the past year thinking about the future, but now I can't give up.

'I can't live just by killing the monsters for the rest of my life, can I? To get rid of the monsters, I need a Caien.'

But I couldn't tell Eloine about the future.

"No, we can't."

I kept silent, pretending to be troubled for a moment, and then answered coldly. Eloine had no other excuse.

"If we hand it over to the Duke Ilysian, there is a high chance of killing the Crown Prince."

"If that man is greedy for the throne, it will be."

"He doesn't seem greedy?"

Elaine replied with a crooked smile to my question.

"No way."

"When the Crown Prince dies, the body will be shown to the public, and Duke Ilysian will be recognized as the perfect Emperor, because he is the only heir left in the Imperial family."

I couldn't give the Duke Ilysian power.

"The Emperor’s has been assassinated by someone. Duke Ilysian has a good reputation, so the nobles will gather around him. There will be a sense of crisis. If that happens, the power of the emperor will be strengthened after the man ascends the throne. For the time being..... there is no way Duke Ilysian will miss that opportunity."

"......"

"Who's going to get in the way of his eyes when he's on the throne?"

Our eyes met.

"We are."

I twisted my lips and laughed coldly. In any case, there was no harm in keeping Duke Ilysian in check under the current situation.

"But he won't be able to relax until he finds the Crown Prince's body."

"It means he can't afford to worry about the North. They'll be busy looking for the Crown Prince."

"So there's only one thing we have to do, brother."

To put Caien on the throne by any means.

'If I didn't touch the Saintess like in the original, he won't kill me. I will save his life, raise him, and put him on the throne.'

The Saintess would be the hostess, as I didn't touch her.

"We have to raise the Crown Prince well and put him on the throne."

"If that's what you mean, I won't say anything else."

The problem was Caien memory loss.

"The problem is his memory....  do you know anyone who could help us?"

Eloise rarely leaves the north, so Eloine would have a wider network.

Eloine swept his chin for a moment, contemplating, and replied a little late.

"There is, but... I'll look for it."

"All right."

I nodded. First of all, it looks like I have to help Caien find his memories.
 

*****

I sighed inside and swept my hair.

'But I'm glad that Caien condition has improved a lot.'

Recently, Caien was holding my hand whenever he slept.

'Maybe because he's the Crown Prince, he's very sensitive to movement.'

When I secretly left my hand so that Caien wouldn't wake up, it was already close to dawn.

'I'm tired. It's good to get close by just holding hands.'

I entered the drawing room, asking a passing maid for wine and a simple meal.

"Older brother."

".....Has His Royal Highness fallen asleep now?"

"Maybe it's because he's been through a rough time, he keeps tossing and turning."

After a little while, the maids came in with bread and wine to eat. When I nodded to Eloine to sit down, he sat on the sofa on the right. I took a sip of wine, leaning against a chair.

My face was reflected in the opposite window.

'Wow, look at your face.'

The tilted head and half-down eyes seemed normal in the eyes of others. .....but it feels like my eyes are soaking wet from exhaustion.

Eloine crossed his legs and clasped his chin as if he was worried about something.

"Ellie."

"Yes."

"How are you going to inform your knights?"

"I should let them know. It is important to increase the power of the North."

It was impossible to hide Caien existence forever. Eloine nodded at my words.

"The bigger the power, the better. Only then will we be able to defeat the other nobles in the battle for Imperial power and support the Crown Prince."

"I'll use His Royal Highness to solidify the power of the North."

Since Caien came into my territory, I was going to make the most of this situation.

“What is the probability that there are spies of other nobles in my castle?”

I asked as I drank the rest of the wine.

"Isn't it better to ask the probability that there isn't?"

"As expected."

It sounded like there was a spy.

"Only my brother and a few of my aides know that the Crown Prince is here now."

They were the people who would never betray Eloise. In addition to the close aides, there were a few trustworthy beings.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to catch the rats using the Crown Prince."

"Southern rat?"

It was a term referring to a spy planted by Duke Ilysian.

'Come to think of it....'

Eloise's diary suddenly came to mind. The Grand Duke duty does not end with stopping the monsters.

'It's only for the bigger picture to stop the monsters.'

Eloise, and I had a separate responsibility to prioritize in the future. Protecting the North itself.

The question of 'from whom' was not necessary. Whether it's a monster, a different country, or an Emperor, I have to protect the North.

'To do that, we have to filter out the spies first. It's funny to think about it like this.'

The owner of the North was Eloise, me. No one can leak information about the castle and territory I govern without my permission.

Even if the opponent is someone who will soon become the Emperor.

"Yes, southern rat."

I murmured in a languid voice, turning the glass.

"What are you going to do with it?"

Eloine laughed, pulling up one corner of his mouth.

Like someone who knows what my answer is. I moved my finger and tapped the glass. The glass rang with a cold resonance.

"I'll deal with it myself."