# 57
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* * *
“Heck, heck.”
Cornelia cried sadly.
“Grace, why on earth did you do this?”
She expressed her regret, but the dead could not respond.
No funeral was held for Grace and Lady Margaret.
They were officially treated as having left the Duke's family and returned to Margaret's hometown in the countryside.
In their residence, which was unexpectedly searched, a pile of poisonous herbs was found.
Right next to it, there was a medicine that had not been completed.
It was the same medicine that Margaret often presented to the Grand Duchess as good for health.
Moreover, the maid who was connected to the poisonous herbs and Elinor's sudden rumors had completely disappeared.
Matthias concluded that the three colluded to set the matter up.
"sorry."
Cornelia, who was snoring in front of a small grave, turned around.
“Eleanor is the victim, and yet I asked you to come here with me... However, no one wanted to remember Grace...”
“I'm fine.”
Elinor Cornelia calmed down.
“You said she was an old friend. It's normal to feel sad.”
"I didn't really know Grace would do something like that. I knew she loved my brother, and sometimes I would try to help her... but not to the point of threatening someone."
Cornelia shuddered.
“My brother said we shouldn’t think about creating a grave for Grace.”
“Because she is guilty?”
“Yes. But not having a grave at all is something I can't stand...”
I looked at the simple grave, devoid of a nameplate.
The grave, which had been created without Matthias' knowledge, looked more like a small mound of dirt rather than someone's grave.
"My brother kicked the two of them out. They're no longer from the Hilliard family. In fact, I still can't believe it. Did Margaret really give my mother poisonous herbs?"
Cornelia's face contorted with pain.
“How devoted Margaret was to my mother.”
“No one knows what is in a person’s heart.”
"Did Grace know? That Margaret was constantly supplying my mother with poisonous herbs?"
"So I'm even more confused. Confused. What if I remember someone who tried to kill my mother? What if my mother also melted into black magic…"
Cornelia burst into tears.
It seemed like her feelings had finally exploded.
Elinor hesitated for a moment, then patted Cornelia on the back.
The sound of her loud crying was amplified.
“Poisonous herbs are just poisonous herbs, nothing to do with black magic.”
Cornelia was wrong, handling or eating poisonous herbs does not lead to black magic contamination.
Perhaps the two were exposed to black magic through another route.
Elinor suspected the maid who had disappeared.
'Who are you?' Why did you do this?'
There was no common connection between the victims for it to be motivated by personal spite.
So, it made sense to consider it an attack directed against Hilliard.
Elinor felt that the culprit wanted to reveal the existence of black magic to the public.
Especially since he caused the accident during the final of the dueling tournament, where many strangers were attending.
'Thanks to that, I'm also in trouble.'
The Duke now sincerely entreats me.
Did he think there was no point in hiding it anymore?
Matthias openly acknowledged the territory's problem and ed for mercy daily.
His mannerisms became very polite.
He no longer called her the baby's mother or joked with her in a light way.
It felt like she was facing Duke Hilliard instead of Matthias.
'How long will the Duke be patient?'
Since he had personally witnessed a powerful holy force repelling black magic, he must be worried.
Charlotte did not come to the Duke's territory in the end.
Even with the temptation of opening the Garden of Five Colors, I failed.
But it seems that Matthias was not too disappointed.
Since he has a replacement named Elinor, he no longer has to hold on to Charlotte.
'Even if I run away, he will come to catch me.'
Unlike Charlotte, who could completely hide her location with a sacred object, Elinor had none.
'If I could tell the truth and ask him to wait until the child grows up.'
From Elinor's observations, it seemed that the child was still unable to use the Holy Power freely.
Thinking about it, the moments when the child used holy power were only when he was in danger.
At the very least, maybe he needed to grow as big as Tidian to be able to do something?
But by then, the duke's palace would have already collapsed.
Maybe this time, that time will come faster.
Because in the original story, such an unprecedented event, where people tainted by black magic appear in the dueling tournament, never happened.
‘…Maybe I just want to give up on everything.’
Except for the fact that the person who possessed the holy power was a child and had not been discovered, everything was at its worst.
Even that made Elinor anxious because she didn't know when he would be discovered.
I can't purify, Charles.
You must come and solve everything.
You must come…
“Heck.”
Cornelia, who had been crying for a long time, stopped clinging to Elinor.
She rubbed her eyes in embarrassment and said:
“Let us return to the Duke’s Palace now.”
“Is this okay?”
“Yes. If my brother finds out that I made a grave for Grace, he might get angry… and I’m worried about my mother too.”
As if trying to calm herf down, Cornelia let out a long sigh.
“I'll be back later. After I've done what I can do.”
“What can you do?”
“I will investigate how people became infected with black magic. Where did it start, who was involved in it, and why they did it.”
After she stopped crying, Cornelia, now with a clear face, stood up straight.
“So, after I find my own answers, I want to meet Grace again.”
Cornelia, who was only twenty years old, was confident enough not to be embarrassed by the title of Lord Deputy.
Cornelia's attitude affected Elinor as well.
'She said she would do what she could do first.'
So, what can I do in this situation now?
All the way back to the ducal palace with Cornelia, Elinor kept thinking and thinking.
* * *
“Ha.”
Matthias sat at a desk in the workroom, rubbing his tired forehead vigorously.
The presence of black magic that pollutes the territory.
It first appeared ten years ago.
At that time, the Emperor was visiting Hilliard Territory for inspection.
But when the emperor and the former duke's husband were inspecting the territory's borders, a problem occurred.
“Your Majesty the Emperor! Run away!”
“Protect His Majesty!”
Black magic suddenly exploded from a crack in the dry valley.
Black magic covered the head of the Emperor, who was passing by on a horse.
The former duke's spouses threw themves into protecting this majestic presence.
As a result, the Emperor survived, but the former Duke died, and the Grand Duchess was seriously injured.
From then on, dark magic began to engulf Hilliard's territory little by little.
“Your Majesty, help us. Hilliard cannot overcome this crisis without your help.”
“Get this disgusting child out of my sight now!”
The black magic incident was not intentional by Hilliard.
But the Emperor was angry with Hilliard only because the incident occurred in their territory.
So much so that he severely scolded Matthias, who was ing for help after suddenly losing his father and becoming bedridden with his mother.