The System opened his mouth.
He closed it again.
For once in his loudly opinionated existence, he had nothing.
"And furthermore," Heena continued, pressing the advantage with the pleasant relentlessness of someone who has been waiting to say this for a while, "even if the mother was completely blinded by favoritism — she didn't need to kill Seera. She could have forced the arranged marriage through immediately. Used social pressure to keep Seera quiet and submissive while the boy took the power. That's the move. That's what an aristocrat does."
She picked her teacup back up.
"Murdering the only biological heir is an extreme, desperate measure," she said softly. "A mother doesn't do that out of attachment. She does it to protect a secret. The story we've been given is a lie, and there is a massive, rotting piece of this puzzle missing somewhere in that estate."
She smiled over the rim of her cup.
"And I am going to rip that family apart until I find it."
