Her Graceful War Song by Summer's Blaze

During her investigation, Carissa learned a troubling piece of information from a young chamberlain. The caltrop Cecil had been playing with had indeed gone missing, and a palace maid had picked it up.

The chamberlain had witnessed the moment the caltrop was picked up, and recognized the maid in question as Clara, who served Penelope, one of Salvador's concubines.

It was clear to Carissa that Penelope had no reason to harm Connor. Her relationship with Grace and Sylvia was rather indifferent. Thus, Carissa formally petitioned Victoria for permission to conduct an inquiry within the harem and see if Clara was secretly loyal to someone else.

As expected, Carissa uncovered that Clara had entered the palace years earlier as a low-ranking maid, assigned to laundry duty and forced to endure a hard life. She was from the same hometown as Lyra, one of Grace's trusted maids.

Lyra helped Clara by making arrangements with the head maid, sending her to Penelope's residence to work as a cleaner. Over the years, the quick-witted Clara managed to earn Penelope's trust, becoming one of her closest confidantes.

Further examination of the palace records revealed that when Clara was first sent to Penelope, her place of origin had been altered. Carissa only found her actual hometown in the records from the year Clara entered the palace. If she had not been particularly diligent, she might never have noticed the connection between Clara and Lyra.

Following this lead, it was easy to uncover that Clara had secretly been in contact with Lyra, and it also revealed that Grace had planted people in various places.

Over the years, Grace had acquired many valuable things. Even during the years when she wasn't in charge of the harem, she was still able to easily obtain everything she wanted, whether it was rightfully hers or not.

with her, while Kylie thought that giving her a few gifts

give her gifts to please her.

easily that reputation had

she discovered that the people Grace had planted would always speak well of her in front of their own mistresses. They would

for so many years just for

The king instructed her to continue her investigation, though he ordered that no action be taken regarding Caden

Carissa understood Salvador's

His instruction to continue the investigation was designed to lull Grace and the others in

false sense

that the truth might never be revealed. As the weeks passed, they would grow

merely buying time to mentally prepare himself for the harsh reality that his

of state were temporarily entrusted to Jeremiah and Rafael. Derek stayed close by, making sure he never left the king's side. He kept bringing

Carissa came again to report, detailing how one of Salvador's close attendants, a man

Derek's godson. Although he didn't usually serve in the royal study, when Salvador returned to the palace, it was mostly him who stayed by the