Please Be A Traitor - Chapter 45

I raised my head and grasped Karpel’s arm in my hands.

Then I turned my gaze to Nina.

The blade of the sword that touched her neck seemed to emit a crimson light.

“She was trying to take your life.”

Nina lowered her arms as if she had given up everything as she listened to Karpel, who spoke with no emotion in his voice.

Her pen dropped from her grip and skidded over the carriage’s floor.

I replied, clutching Karpel’s arm.

“She’s a member of the Zelude family.”

Nina’s closed eyes glistened and lighted up.

I was simply guessing and saying that to stop Karpel, but Nina’s eyes were wide with expectation and anxiety as she looked at me.

I could feel Karpel looking at me.

“Zelude?”

Karpel mumbled something as though perplexed, but he did not draw his sword.

It was when I pulled his sleeve that he withdrew his sword and put it in its sheath.

Employees halted the carriage in the meanwhile, and escort knights swarmed to it.

“Are you alright, My Lady?”

I wasn’t alright.

All I could do was hold on to Karpel.

Karpel commanded them instead of me because I didn’t say anything.

“Switch the carriage.”

“Gasp, Y-your Highness, P-Prince! Y-Yes!”

When they heard Karpel’s stern order, the knights who were staring into the carriage hurried back and forth.

Karpel took me, who was holding him, in his arms as he left the broken-door carriage.

Karpel also ordered Nina, who was stiff and unable to move her body

“Follow me as well.”

Nina trembled a little as she tried to stand up.

It looked like she too didn’t have enough strength in her body.

I, then, called the maids who got off from the other carriage.

“Assist her to the carriage as well.”

“Yes, My Lady.”

I, Karpel, and Nina boarded the employee carriage that the maids were riding after adjusting the seats and cushions.

Nina’s neck appeared to have been slightly sliced by Karpel’s sword, but she seemed to be fine.

The carriage began to move once more.

I’m glad to see Karpel standing next to me, the novel’s final boss who didn’t intend to kill me straight away.

As a result, I was able to calm down my frightened body.

I was able to calm down and was relieved to see him.

“Karpel, why are you here?”

“……”

When I noticed him being silent, I remembered the last conversation I had with him.

“Don’t tell me, did you come to the villa? So you’re serious about coming……”

“No. I’m looking into something with the Duke.”

Karpel interrupted me and said.

He stated he and my father were looking into something, but I had no idea what they were looking into.

“Can you tell me what you and my father are looking for……?”

I was curious, so I tried to ask, but I shut my lips because I didn’t think it was appropriate to mention in front of Nina if it was about internal matters, such as the Krenberia family’s factional conflict.

Nina stared at us, then at me, and then lowered her head dejectedly.

I was indeed familiar with her red hair, eyes, and closed mouth.

Again, she looks almost identical to the now nineteen-year-old Marquis Zelude. This young lady was Marquis Zelude’s twin sister.

The Marchioness adopted the Marquis’ five-year-old illegitimate child and made her the lady of the Marquis Zelude household after the former Marquis died suddenly.

It happened long before I was born.

However, not both twins were adopted by the Marquis’ family at the time.

Clara Zelud was adopted as Lady Zelude in the year when the crown prince turned seventeen.

The Emperor was concerned about the Crown Prince’s absence of a lover at the moment, so he arranged a month-long grand banquet to choose the Crown Princess.

I was uninterested since Karpel was my one and only love.

Marchioness Zelude desired to establish a relation between the family and the imperial family, so she sought for the Marquis Zelude’s twin sister who she had abandoned in the past, made her social debut, and was successful in establishing her as the prospective Crown Princess.

Since she wanted me to become Clara’s strength as the Crown Prince’s fiancee, the Empress had asked me to invite her to tea time, although I only invited her only twice.

Clara Zelude, who had unexpectedly entered aristocratic society, was unable to open her eyes properly.

Because her circumstances sounded similar to Karpel’s, I was courteous to Clara, who was born with the noble lineage of the Marquis of Zelud but was separated from society.

However, after meeting her for the second time, my patience had run out and it no longer suited me.

Anyway, Clara has always been kind to me, even now.

There were numerous rumors surrounding Clara’s debut.

For example, she took a fake evidence to verify her identity and become lady of Marquis Zelude’s household, or there was a rumor that she wasn’t Marquis Zelude’s sister but his lover instead.

I remembered I heard it when I invited Clara for tea time for the second time.

“There’s a woman who’s jealous of you becoming a nobleman and insists she’s a real Lady Zelude.”

“It’s rash of her to put her life on the line merely to be jealous of your lineage. You don’t have to pay attention to such, it’s fine.”

“Yes? What do you mean it’s fine if you don’t pay attention?”

“Pretending to be a noble is a crime that may lead to immediate execution without a trial. So, since she’s putting her life on the line by claiming to be one, she’ll finally give up.”

“Oh… I see.”

Clara was obviously frightened when she heard me say it.

When I remembered that, I realized that in the original story, the crown prince’s fiancee withdrew when Shabelle was given the throne.

Clara wasn’t the kind to back down without a fight. She was a self-respecting woman with a strong authoritarian personality.

If she had just resigned, it would have been because she had been discovered to be a fake.

Shabelle takes over the society as soon as she becomes a prospective Crown Princess in the novel.

Clara could never be Shabelle’s follower, a woman from a lowly background who rose to the top of society only because she was the prospective Crown Prince.

However, there was a character who became Shabelle’s best friend and drove the duke’s daughter to the corner in the original story.

Thalia Zelude.

Marquis Zelude’s sister.

If my prediction is correct, Nina is Thalia.

As a result, Clara, the impostor, is targeting Thalia with the help of her teacher, Viscountess Sevey.

Perhaps Shabelle is the one that assists Thalia in returning to Marquis Zelude.

‘There was no passage which described that the Crown Prince’s fiancee was Clara Zelude. Shabelle, who is shielded by the crown prince, is protecting Thalia, so when she was discovered, she just stepped down.’

I’ll have to have a check up on it right now.

“Hello, my name is Inaila Krenberia. Is Nina your name?”

“My real name is Talia. Baron Vigor uses the alias Nina.”

Wow, this is true.

Despite my certainty, I was shocked that my real reasoning was correct.

Nina, I mean Thalia, looked absolutely desperate.

She was in a situation where she had no power and her life was in danger.

Furthermore, Karpel, who has a handsome but stern expression on his face, is seated next to me, putting even more pressure on her.

I gave Talia a piece of cloth between the reports I had.

Talia graciously and automatically took it. Only then did Talia turn and look at me.

“You look a lot like Marquis Zelude. Is that a coincidence?”

“……Ah.”

Talia paused and couldn’t speak, perhaps because my question came out of nowhere.

“Can you tell me why you jumped into my carriage? To die in order to prove your innocence?”

“I wasn’t attempting to kill myself; I was only attempting to halt the carriage.” But as soon as I went onto the road, I became dizzy and passed out.”

When I peeked out the window to see what was going on, the attendants were dragging Thalia away.

She was lying directly in front of the horse, whose movement had come to a halt. The horseman tried everything he could to bring the vehicle to a halt.

“Still, it’s dangerous.”

“Because I thought it was my last chance. I believed it would be my fate if I died.”

“Are you willing to die? Didn’t you request that I send you to the Marquis Family?”

Thalia clung to the item in her grasp.

“When I was five years old, I broke up with my brother. We’re both young, so if I send this, he might not remember me. I only wish to alert Louis that Clara is not his sister.”

“If you’ve worked for a noble family, don’t you know it’s easier to find someone to send you a note than to jump into a carriage?”

Thalia bit her lower lip and clenched her teeth.

“I suppose that wasn’t simple.”

Although many young ladies are aiming for the single young Marquis, there will be no one to connect him with a maid like her.

“But wouldn’t you have a chance to follow Marquis Zelude if you were the Sevey Family’s maid?”

“I’ve never worked for Marquis Sevey.”

Oh, it appears that Nina’s wanted flyer was a fabrication.