Even the crown prince had been completely unable to gauge the old man's true identity.
Wasn't that the very reason the Hoenir had stayed hidden in the shadows? I'd been lucky enough to witness his exceptional eloquence from our very first meeting, and I'd realized he was no ordinary old man.
"But the marquis is eighty years old. Is he still leading the Hoenir?"
"He stepped down as head of the Hoenir after His Highness the Grand Duke took the throne."
"And even that was three years ago. Who's his successor?"
"...You wouldn't know her, Your Highness, but it's a woman named Clara."
The crown prince couldn't possibly have imagined it. That the one who'd attempted the assassination at the Mainhof count palatine family's banquet had not been a French assassin but Klugen, the Rose Knight, and that Klugen's wife was Clara.
The chain of cause and effect was tangled and complex, and it was quite a sensitive matter, so I had no choice but to omit this part. He was better off not knowing.
