“The puppies were doing well, as they were so cute.”

“Right. Squirrel informed me about everything you said. If you have any excuses, feel free to explain.”

I intentionally nudged Gabriel with a stern tone.

Upon that, his light green eyes widened with fear.

Trying not to stutter, but struggling nonetheless, Gabriel couldn’t offer any response.

“Sorry, I apologize…”

“I’m asking for the reason. Why did you say that?”

“But I—I didn’t say that. I’m sorry for causing you concern. But really… I didn’t say such things.”

“I didn’t say that? Didn’t Squirrel say you claimed someone like him could never be my confidant?”

Asking again, Gabriel quickly nodded. I was perplexed.

“Gabriel, see this?”

I said, “If you have any excuses about what you said, go ahead,” but I never mentioned what ‘said’ meant. Nevertheless, what did Gabriel say?

Sorry. And I didn’t say that?

What didn’t he say?

If he really didn’t say anything, he should’ve said, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

“What is this…”

It was half interesting and half annoying.

Squirrel blamed Gabriel, and Gabriel insisted on his innocence.

Here, Gabriel was the one actually harmed, so the sinner was Squirrel.

But… the words Squirrel claimed Gabriel said were too malicious.

“This timid guy, could he be two-faced when you get to know him?”

Occasionally, there were people among humans who used their tongues as weapons.

A despicable character enjoying spouting hurtful words without a care, relishing in the sight of others being hurt – I wasn’t fond of such personalities.

“Pl-please believe me… I really didn’t say that, Your Majesty.”

Thud.

Gabriel, who had knelt in front of me, pitifully shed tears. However, it wasn’t tears that moved my heart, perhaps due to his overly ordinary appearance.

Moreover, they looked more like crocodile tears.

“I’ll believe you this time.”

“Re-really?”

Gabriel, lifting his head abruptly, rolled his eyes.

“Yes. Squirrel will come to his senses, so don’t worry.”

I concealed my uneasiness and said that for now.

With Gabriel bowing repeatedly, he left, and after a while, when there was no sign of him, I asked Schopenhauer, who had been standing behind me all along.

“How high is the staircase where Gabriel rolled down? He really could’ve been pushed and fallen, but how could he not be injured?”

“It’s hard to say without knowing the specific height, but unless someone is skilled in falling, it’s difficult to handle the situation in that moment.”

“Is that so? But why wasn’t Gabriel injured at all, even if he was pushed and fell…”

I chuckled and tapped the table.
The reason I am confident that there are assassins among the officials is primarily because the threats of assassination stopped abruptly after my cruise.

Remarkably, Nightshade does not visit.

I couldn’t think of any other reason except that I had put him inside the Queen’s Palace.

Secondly, their backgrounds were excessively ambiguous.

One from a noble family’s third son, one a wandering commoner, and one a commoner expelled from a fiefdom.

Except for Terion, the other two are indeed suspicious.

Knowing that, I accepted them not to cut off the tail, but to strike the head.

The head of the organization that could infiltrate my cruise by disguising their status, eventually sending assassins whose appearance and abilities were good enough to catch Phaibel’s attention.

I want to know who that is.

“Moreover, their goal is not just assassination. Surely, they also aim to steal information from the Queen’s Palace.”

What the Queen eats, wears, people she meets, time spent in the bedroom, and the time spent walking – all of that was information.

The importance of high-quality information that only those residing in the Queen’s Palace could obtain was simple.

“If, for example, I like fish dishes and often eat them, I could buy the cook responsible for fish dishes. Or I could buy a maid and make her poison the dish with fish.”

However, everyone close to me in the Queen’s Palace was loyal.

No one had a reason to betray me.

Even holding their families hostage was useless because I had military authority.

There was a belief that if something bad happened to employees in the Queen’s Palace, the Astarot Knights would intervene in any way possible.

“So maybe at first, they tried to buy someone from the Queen’s Palace and failed.”

I raised the corner of my mouth gently.

“Now it’s time to show some weaknesses.”

Squirrel, who came every day to shake me, Gabriel, the victim of this incident who had not shown his face since entering the palace, and always stationed Terion.

The least suspicious among them is Terion.

According to Phaibel’s investigation, there was indeed a third son named ‘Terion’ in the Oclere family.

However, as Terion was the most talented among the three, I didn’t entirely believe it.

How would they know to buy Terion with a promise to raise his family?

“If he becomes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, maybe.”

Or unexpectedly, one of Enrique’s aides… or maybe something related to the temple?