Catarina and The Prince | Tales From The Court Of Ravaeryn #1

43 | hydrangea

1712, Eastern City, Levere

Each and every person comes with their own strengths and flaws. You may be beautiful, but you are also vain. You may be strong physically, but you are afraid of the dark. Marguerite's strength is undoubtedly her intellect, her sharp wit, and her flaw, her greatest ruin is the assumption that no one is as smart as she is.

There, in that discreet tavern in the middle of nowhere, sat two men, their features glum and grim. One was taller than the other, one had black hair and the other had no hair, but they both shared one thing, the thirst for revenge. These two were none other than the Duke of Lorewell, Elliott de Fontaine, and the Count of Levere, Vince Olivier.

"I had hired a team of investigators to look into the events surrounding the death of my daughter," Vince began grimly. "Onlookers said that they saw Nathaniel le Prince carrying my daughter out of the ballroom hours before she was thrown from that window. Her corpse showed signs of assault, Elliott. I think it was that le Prince bastard who...."

Vince could not finish his words. This was his little girl, his dear Winnie, not a nameless corpse found in the streets. This was his daughter, who he had raised with love and care, and she ended up dead, splattered against the palace compounds.

"She was such a pitiful girl, Elliott. Winnie wanted to be beautiful above everything else, but she had inherited her Papa's face instead of her mother's. I gave her everything she could ever ask for, Elliott. Dresses, jewelry, pets, anything a little girl could think of. I wanted her to be happy, to finally find someone who loves her for who she truly is, but even towards the end of her life, she never got that. How afraid she must have been, Elliott, to be touched by that wretched beast, to see nothing but the faraway ground underneath her feet."

"I am very sorry," Elliott sighed. "I too, have done some digging into my daughter's poisoning. But it appears that I have uncovered something much worse."

"What could be worse than having your own daughter so close to death?"

"I discovered that the circumstances of the poisoning were similar to my wife's death all those years ago. The perpetrator had used the exact same method, even the same poison."

"But who? Marguerite le Prince was nothing but a babe at that time," Vince retorted.

"Oh yes, but her mother is also well-versed in the field of poison. She had been spotted entering the black market multiple times, presumably to top up her little supply. And back in the day, she also ran a boutique of her own, Le Petit Fleur. It rapidly came to be out of business following the success of my wife's own The B, and a few weeks after her boutique was closed down, my wife ended up dead, taking our unborn child with her."

"Do you think that Alberta le Prince did it?"

"Oh, I am certain."

"Then, what should we do?"