When The Silver Bell Of Charlotte's Pharmacy Rings (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 198

Meanwhile, Matiel first interrogated every single servant working in the Crown Prince’s palace to investigate Largo’s whereabouts. He suspected that if Largo had been kidnapped, someone inside the palace might have assisted the abductors.

However, all the servants in the Crown Prince’s palace claimed to know nothing about Largo’s disappearance. Unexpectedly, a clue emerged not from the Crown Prince’s palace but from the Crown Princess’s quarters, where Jibshia had been imprisoned.

After she lost her position as Crown Princess, most of the maids and ordinary housemaids who served her left the Crown Princess’s quarters. One of the two maids kept behind—ostensibly to serve but actually to keep watch—told Matiel the following:

“His Highness the Crown Prince came in person, and the two of them argued fiercely for quite some time. Their voices grew loud, and we even heard the sound of things breaking… but when we went in afterward, neither of them was there.”

“So they vanished?”

The maid nodded. Matiel could now guess how they had escaped outside.

Royal chambers, especially those belonging to important figures, contained several secret passages. Most led to other locations within the palace, but some were designed to open directly outside—a hidden emergency exit, allowing occupants to flee unseen in case of unforeseen danger.

Matiel entered the former Crown Princess’s quarters and found the door leading outside. Following a dark corridor, he encountered another door—one that should normally have been locked from the inside—but it stood ajar. This clearly meant someone had used this door to slip out of the palace before Matiel arrived.

Opening the door revealed a passageway connecting to the palace’s northern entrance. Largo and Jibshia must have exited through here. As Matiel walked down the corridor, he spotted a small scrap of cloth fluttering, caught between a pillar and the railing.

It was fabric commonly used for women’s garments. Since it showed no signs of age and the frayed threads at the torn edge still looked fresh, it had clearly only just come loose—most likely from Jibshia’s clothing.

‘Did she cling here, resisting?’

Matiel could easily picture Jibshia pressing herself against the pillar and gripping the railing, trying to avoid being dragged away by Largo. Had she cried out? Perhaps. But no one would have heard her. This corridor was used solely for escape; no one ever came here otherwise.

Why had Largo dragged Jibshia away? Anger seemed the likeliest motive, yet doubts remained. He must have known long ago what she had done—so what could have provoked him to lose control now?

Along the corridor, besides the initial scrap of cloth, Jibshia had left several other clues—fragments of dropped jewelry, torn lace, and the like.

Matiel recalled a fragment of a fairy tale from his childhood and let out a hollow laugh. If Jibshia had deliberately left these items to alert someone to her plight, it was all in vain.

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