Anton’s lie.
Since I picked up the locket pendant he dropped the other day, it has been stuck on my mind and never left. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was because I had seen it shining on the chest of someone else.
The person revealed her good friend, now deceased, had this pendant as well. She said that they had kept a picture of each other in it. That lady’s pendant had the picture of Anton’s mother in it, and the pendant of Anton’s mother had that lady’s picture in it.
And Anton was holding onto it. Perhaps he inherited it as a keepsake of his late mother. What does it mean he has it on his person in here? I couldn’t think of a reason.
“You noticed the pendant. Do you know its meaning?”
“Mother-in-law told me about it before. She told me she had a matching one with her late best friend. I heard that each had a picture of the other one stored in their pendants.”
Anton’s face contorted as he heard my words. As I thought, my Mother-in-law was somehow involved in this, after all.
“Did you tell Anna about Mother-in-law?”
“No, Anna wanted to know, but I never told her. I hate that person, after all. She was very close, but never noticed a thing. When have you noticed?”
“When I saw the picture in the pendant and thought carefully about it. I heard that your real mother was a maid of Duke Manela’s daughter.”
It was the night of my birthday. I recalled the talk I had with Fii when I couldn’t fall asleep. At that time, Fii told me that Anton’s mother was a maid of Duke Manela’s daughter, who accompanied her when she married.
And on the same day, I heard from my Mother-in-law that Anton’s deceased mother was a close friend of hers and that they had each other’s pictures in their locket pendants.
Later, after coming to this mansion and picking up the pendant Anton had dropped, there was a flash of inspiration in my head. Anton’s mother, who was a close friend of his stepmother. Anton who hated his stepmother. Fii, who was being chased by his pursuers and lived in hiding in the vine house with Anton’s stepmother.
When I thought about that relationship, there was something that came to my mind. I couldn’t help but ask to confirm it.
“You don’t mean to tell me that you’ve been in contact with those in Troyl who were looking for the Duke Manela’s daughter and that you have made them let their guard down by showing them that picture in the locket pendant, making them think you’re the prince she bore?”
I didn’t want to believe it while asking that question. He was a man who had even held the position of Commander of the Imperial Guards in Ligisia. I didn’t want to think that a man loyal to the imperial family would descend to be a deceiver in the land of Troyl, even if it was another country.
“As expected of you. You are exactly right. Thanks to that, you have narrowly escaped death, too.”
“Everyone in Troyl believes that you are the late Crown Prince’s son? Even the people of this mansion?”
“Yeah.”
Anton nodded with satisfaction.
“Anton, what have you done…!”
Anton’s affirmation nearly made me fall to my knees. He had lied to everyone that he was of royal blood. If the truth was discovered, he would be charged with perjury and could be sent to the guillotine.
The life of his supposed wife, myself, had been because of him. Is what Anton is trying to imply, but from the point of view of those who don’t know the circumstances, I am his accomplice. Just like everyone in this mansion.
Even though in reality I was simply kidnapped and imprisoned here.