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“That woman… how dare she humiliate me like that?” Pierre Weber was fuming. He kicked one of his antique chairs, before shoving the vase next to the bookshelves, sending it crashing on the wood tile in his office. Unperturbed by the loud crashing sound, Pierre started throwing things that he could hold unto towards the wall, making his office more chaotic and loud.
“That woman is— “
“Pierre!” Mikaela’s voice immediately stopped him from throwing another of his antique vases on the painting just above his fireplace.
“I told you not to come inside.” His voice turned calm, opposite to the high pitched voice that he used earlier when cursing Lily. “Don’t come in… you will hurt your feet.” He said when he noticed her took a step towards him.
“Are you alright?”
“Is that even a question?” he snapped. Realizing his mistake, his face immediately turned gentle. “I’m sorry.I— I just… I have been really stressed and I need some time alone.”
“Are you — Are you sure?” Mikaela bit her lips. “The kids — They can hear you.”
“Then… take them to the other side of the castle. I just… I needed some time.”
Mikaela nodded. She gave her husband’s office one last look before leaving.
“Your highness.” The steward of the house gave a low bow as he waited for Mikaela to pass him he then walked inside the Earl’s study after knocking. “My lord.”
“Clean this up!” Pierre uttered in disgust. “Everything! Clean them up!” he said, his face contorted into an ugly scowl. That Lily… that woman will soon know how wrong she is for offending him!
“Yes, my lord.” It didn’t take long for the other attendants to clean the entire area and leave the room sparkling once again. After all, this was not the first time that something like this happened before.
“My lord, I receive some reports that Madam Zhou already settles in the palace. She is well protected. Surprisingly, her husband is a capable man. Aside from that ride, her husband’s people suddenly arrive to make sure that she is safe. From her water to her food, everything needed to go through them. At this rate, sending a poison in her room will be hard.”
“I know!” the Earl responded. Unlike Leandro and Mikaela, as well as the other members of the Grand Duke’s family, this woman is very cautious. He narrowed his eyes before he poured himself some of his favorite scotch. “And her husband?”
“Well… he will arrive on the seventh. I have his flight details — it is saying that he will leave Hong Kong tonight and will arrive on the morning of the seventh.”
“The last time I heard, Mikaela said he will arrive on the ninth.” The Earl said. “They have been changing their schedule.” He concluded.
“Do — Do you want me to do some more research about this man?” his steward who had served his father as a knight suggested. “I mean… these people. They are a threat to the Royal family. They are a threat to you — the future Grand Duke of this country.”
The mention of the word ‘future grand duke’, immediately made the Earl smile. “Lily already clarified that she is not a threat to… my throne. In fact, she returned that useless rock that each of the Royal Family owns. Even her brother was quite nonchalant about it.” He narrowed his eyes at his fireplace. “And for some reason… that woman is quite believable.”
The steward nodded as he continued to stand a few feet away from the Earl. “But once the people will know that her grandfather was supposed to be the king, we might have a problem. Fredrick might have been removed in the family tree but… he is still a royalty. We cannot have them tell anyone about it.”
“Lily already refused when the grand duke offered to introduce her as his niece during the banquet tomorrow with the other royal families in Luxembourg.” Silence followed the Earl’s words. As someone who had been secretly working against Grand Duke Phil, the Earl of the Dorf Castle also had ambitions for himself. However, these ambitions are useless if he is not the one in power.
First, he needed to remove the Grand Duke on his way. “You know what? I believe… this is the perfect time for us to do our plan.” He smiled.
“You mean…”
“Kill the Grand Duke and pin it to Lily. Her presence is just the biggest excuse that we have.” The Earl started to chuckle. Isn’t he a genius? Once the Grand Duke dies, they will soon increase the dose that Leandro had been drinking to end his life as well. Then… Mikaela will become the Grand Duchess with him as the new Grand Duke.
Isn’t this the perfect plan?
Smiling, Pierre walked towards his seat. “We should make it seem as if she was the one who planned all this.” To him, something like this is really easy. Lily already had her people with her, it will be easy to use this opportunity to make people think that she was the one who poisoned the Duke and his son.
Plus, it is believable. After all, she and her brother also had a claim to the throne. It would be easy to say that Lily was only pretending her disinterest so people would not accuse her of murdering the royal family.
“My Lord, forgive me, but I think it will be hard to frame Madam Zhou. First, it would not make any sense for her to commit the crime while she was in our lands. It is not only very stupid, but she could easily use this as an excuse to get out of the situation. Second, she could also use her current status as another excuse. She is a very wealthy woman. Why would she want to become a queen in a small country like ours when her business is already thriving not only in Europe but also in the other parts of the world. That is just… it would not make any sense.”
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