Reborn as a Mind-Reading Empress
Chapter 92: Count Elirion

Chapter 92: Count Elirion

Arabella learned that Gulliver’s overconfidence was because he thought he had already succeeded to evade his crimes by silencing those who could testify against him.

She gripped at the hems of her dress when she learned from Ferdinand’s thoughts that Gulliver had assigned someone to assassinate Odette after the selection of assistants.

Gulliver underestimated Odette and assumed she would not be hired as one of Arabella’s assistants.

And he had instructed his men to kill Odette while she was on her way back to Prudencia and make it seem like an accident or a bandit attack.

His men reported that Odette failed since she wandered around Riva looking for work but she was not accepted in any so she was likely to go home soon and they were waiting for the right timing.

But Gulliver’s men were caught by one of Ferdinand’s people from Estrella when they kept tailing Odette.

Ferdinand had apparently instructed Alwin to assign one person each to watch over Arabella’s assistants to make sure they were not up to anything suspicious and put her at risk.

Gulliver’s men were threatened by Alwin’s assistant to send a message to Gulliver that they have succeeded in their mission so the Marquess thought Odette was successfully assassinated.

News had not reached Gulliver yet that Odette was actually, already Arabella’s assistant. After all, all her assistants had not yet left the Valeria Palace and were busy preparing their chambers for their future stay.

Her assistants from the most prestigious houses had probably informed their households but it would be a tightly kept secret until a grand banquet was held by their families. And preparing banquets took a while so the news did not spread yet.

It had just been three days since then, after all.

The Marquess did not expect so much had happened in the span of three days because of Ferdinand’s capable people from Estrella who could just teleport here and there.

Gulliver thought there was not enough proof to convict him as the ringleader of everything that was happening in Prudencia so he was shirking it to others.

He even blamed not allowing the nobles’ children out of the palace on Theodore.

Gulliver cleansed his hands of everything and kept trying to appeal that he was just trying to do his job but Theodore was out of his control and mismanaged everything.

He was making it look like he was falsely accused because of Theodore’s failure and hardheadedness when in fact, Gulliver was the one calling the shots.

’This is total shamelessness. Did he think because he was a knight who had great achievement, all of his words would be easily trusted by Ferdinand and the investigators?’

It was true that a knight’s words were highly trusted and honored especially in Valeria. But a ruler wouldn’t be so gullible to just believe everything a knight on trial would say without getting everything investigated first.

[How did His Majesty end up coming here anyway? Who ratted me out? Odette was dead. She wouldn’t have reported me either since I have her younger siblings, they are still in the most secluded area in the palace. Her older siblings were not supposed to know about her death either since I clearly told my men not to tell anyone and pretend like she was just busy with some matters so she couldn’t write to them.]

Gulliver looked around the hall, eyeing the nobles and non-aristocratic faction trying to look for the culprit.

[There were no gatherings recently. Who could have sent a message to the capital? None of my knights would betray me since they are all loyal to me. I’m giving good pay to the mercenaries too so they wouldn’t betray me.]

Gulliver didn’t understand why Ferdinand who was supposed to be at the southwestern borders was suddenly here in the northwest. This was why Gulliver concluded someone was able to give a report either in Riva or to someone closely associated with the Emperor which was why he was personally here in Prudencia

[Is it Count Elirion?!] Gulliver eyed the said Count.

Count Elirion was the richest and most powerful noble in Prudencia. He was the leader of the noble faction. But he lost his only remaining heir when he kept trying to inquire about the hefty taxes and going against Gulliver.

The Count glared at Marquess Gulliver when they locked eyes. The hatred and anger was evident.

[Ah, so it was him indeed. That bastard. I will ensure to drain his riches once this is all over. I will ensure to ruin his household this time. He seems to have not learned a lesson from losing his heir.] Gulliver thought as his eyes shined at the thought of revenge.

From Alwin and the investigator’s thoughts, Arabella learned that Count Elirion was loyal to Prudencia and had almost all of his children participate in the war and he lost them all with only one son surviving because he was still young when the war occurred and was not in the frontlines.

However, that son was among the noble children who were recruited to work in Prudencia Palace through Gulliver’s plot.

Count Elirion kept demanding that his son be allowed to leave the palace after discovering Gulliver’s dark side. He also tried to combat Gulliver’s plots and ended up losing his only remaining heir. This was why the nobles in Prudencia feared acting up. He was the one used as an example to threaten the other nobles.

Count Elirion was also the first noble Alwin approached from the list Count Rowell had given them.

The Count eagerly revealed what he knew about Gulliver and promised to help in every way he can as vengeance for his son. Count Elirion’s cooperation further fast-tracked everything as the other nobles who sided with him before, easily agreed to help once a letter from him was shown.

Alwin and the investigators had also done a good job and had convinced most of the leaders of the noble faction to testify against the Marquess.

This was why Count Elirion had the confidence to glare at Gulliver now. They had Ferdinand’s backing which was what Gulliver was boasting about before.

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A/N:

We have stayed too long about the Prudencia issue when I originally planned it to be just 10-15 Chapters. But it’s like an entire arc now. Lol. It got longer as I wrote so I won’t show the whole exchanges of the trial anymore so we could finally move to the next stage.