Madam and the Stable Keeper (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 68

It was so unbelievable even with my own eyes that it felt as if time itself had frozen.

No matter how I looked at it, the woman in the portrait was unmistakably Madam Leah in her slightly younger years. Even the painting before me bore a striking similarity in style to the small portrait inside the locket she had received as a farewell gift.

The painting on the wall depicted four women, and judging by their similar facial features, they appeared to be sisters.

Since Madam Leah stood tallest among the four, it seemed she must have been the eldest.

In that instant, Edith recalled the information Benjamin had previously shared with her.

“The Lexion family inherits magic through bloodline. It’s said that the Duke and Duchess’s eldest daughter—though not widely known—was terminally ill because she inherited too much magical power.”

“In truth, my assignment from the Capital Gazette was to investigate one of the Duke’s rumors: that the eldest daughter of House Lexion—what was her name again?—had secretly given birth.”

If Madam Leah was indeed Princess Leah of Lexion, then all the oddities Edith had puzzled over now made perfect sense.

It explained why, despite being a wandering noblewoman, she owned such expensive jewelry and garments, and why she executed Capital-style etiquette with such effortless perfection that even Mrs. Gray couldn’t emulate it.

If she had originally been the noble firstborn daughter of the Lexion estate, none of it would have been unusual at all.

But it wasn’t just her identity that finally clicked into place.

Edith clearly remembered the conversation she’d overheard in the secret passage between Elizabeth and Eisen.

“I plan to bring in about forty assassination operatives disguised as hired help.”

“We must eliminate anyone capable of aiding Walter. If someone that skilled is left alive, he’ll surely cause trouble later.”

Now it made sense—why would two individuals, backed by House Gerturk (the Empress Consort’s own house, known for closely monitoring the Lexion family), go to such lengths to kill the stableboy the Viscount had imprisoned?

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