(Cael's Pov)
"Alright, I'm don-"
"How did it go?? What did she say? Were we being hysterical or is it actually possible?"
"Hold it, hold it. You know that they're not in any danger as long as she's aware… right?"
"So what? I'm just asking."
"Seriously… you're gonna have a tough life if you get so worried over a gut feeling, you know?"
"I'd rather get worried over a gut feeling than letting 2 innocent people get blackmailed, or even worse in whatever case may come in the future. Thanks for the warning though, my dear older sister."
"That so? Well, suit yourself I guess. Either way, in this case at least, it turns out that your gut feeling is probably right, so I can't really say too much against it."
"…how can a King step this low? Shouldn't he be the one leading us?"
"Normally, that would be the case. But whether out of pure coincidence or bad luck, we ended up with the exception."
"And on top of that, he's also arrogant enough to act as if he's in the right… shouldn't Kings have a great sense of pride?"
"I'd also assume a ruler of a Kingdom needs to have a strong pride to some extent, but as I said, we clearly have the exception. But either way, thankfully enough for everyone, as long as me and Mio are around, he's really just a ruler on paper."
"For once I'm actually inclined towards valuing your position rightfully."
"You should always do that, you know… I'm still second only to Mio in authority after all…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night. But forget that, what did she say?"
She gave me a "you have to be kidding me…" look for about a second, then with a sigh of resignation answered my question.
"It's likely that they're being blackmailed, either with their son's safety or the family that was mentioned by them earlier from that case. Either way, they'll be fine now that Mio has confirmed that it wasn't just her who thought that. And as for these two…"
"Honestly, by the way things are going, I think I know what you're about to say. But go ahead anyway…"
"It's bad. According to Mio, those papers are really mostly just made up of alleged interviews with people who knew our grandpa, rumors around his alleged shady business, and things like that. The pictures are just as bad too, containing alleged surviving relics from the ruins of his mansion that burnt down. It'll be tough to not flatly point out their bullshit."
"I see… but I'm assuming she'll at least try to make it easier on them, right? Though I'm not so sure about how their careers will be affected. She did flatly tell them that it's over for them if they show her crap after all."
"Oh, that. She said it was an attempt at scaring them off, hoping that they'd just back out of this case instead of going on a career ending suicide mission. That's where she started doubting their circumstances herself, or so she said."
"Yeah, that was actually the moment where my guts started telling me these guys were giving up. I even saw the man's hand shake earlier, though I can't deny the fact that they're pretty good at hiding their emotions."
"…is that so? But regardless, I don't think you have to worry anymore. By now, she should be telling our parents to go easy on them too, so we just have to watch it play out."
"I guess that's true. We can't really do much else after all. I'm ending this mana communication then, I wanna focus on it, since I'm pretty curious."
"Alright, got it."
With that out of the way, at least now I could sort out my thoughts easier. I'm not particularly worried about their well-being anymore, but I am still wondering how this will play out, given the fact that it's supposedly genuinely just a bunch of nonsense. I know both our parents and Mio are way beyond smart enough to make it possible, sure, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious. Stretching something that's supposedly that bad isn't easy.
Shortly after, a screen appeared in the middle of the space between the desks and stairs. It was the same type of holographic almost screen that's used for live transmissions pretty much, but of course on a smaller scale. Afterwards, splitting the screen in half content wise, on the left side there was a bunch of writing, and on the right side a few pictures of some elderly individuals.
"I took the components of this first alleged interview you two wrote, and put them all on the screen. The other pictures as you can see are the alleged individuals that have been interviewed. I'll give everyone a couple of minutes to read everything, before we proceed."
I started reading the components, but I found it hard to keep a straight face. Not out of laughter though, but out of concern. I was honestly starting to doubt whether either Mio or our parents could work around this, at least enough to make it seem like a debate that they'd lose, instead of a flat out reality check, but it was tough.
"(Q) 'how did you know the late Ashford grand Duke? And what are your thoughts on his treason? I heard that it was a devastating fact to come to know, for anyone who knew him personally.'
"(A) 'I was actually one of his butlers… I had worked at the Ashford estate for around 20 years, prior to its downfall… that is."
"(Q) 'I see. It must've been really hard to deal with. But on the brighter side, due to their reveal as a treason, don't you think that maybe you should be relieved to some extent? After all, maybe now you're able to connect some dots you couldn't previously do. Maybe some unreasonable and questionable behavior that the Late Great Duke had?"
"(A) 'it was more than hard. Me and my family were lucky enough to have been on a vacation when the mansion got attacked, and that's the only reason we're alive. None of us could believe what had happened, our only clue being the later explanation of him having been a Treason…"
"(Q) 'and how did that news affect you? Was it enough of an explanation? As I said, maybe it helped you connect some dots."
"(A) 'at first, we couldn't believe it. Not one bit. After all, the Late Duke had treated all of us with nothing but kindness and respect… but…"
And if I had to take a guess, I'd say that this is where it became a fairytale, instead of an interview. My reason for that is fairly simple honestly, though we don't even have true proof that whatever has been supposedly said until now was true. Regardless, I think that there's a pretty obvious pattern here, that you may have noticed if you paid attention.
And that is, the fact that these 2 had asked the old man the same question twice, just in a different format, yet he ignored, or rather, he answered around them both times. Which is why, on the 3rd attempt, I think that's where they decided that they can't keep it how it probably was, and changed it. It's still just a guess, i don't think it's a bad one, considering what he said next.
"(A) 'if I have to be completely honest, I do now think that I may have ignored some signs."
"(Q) 'and what are those signs? Are you referring to possible relations to his treason, which may have simply been overlooked by you and other servants?"
"(A) 'something along those lines, yes. I was once helping with cleaning duties inside his office, and stumbled on something I don't think I was supposed to see. There were weird objects I hadn't seen or heard of anywhere on the continent before. I have no idea what their purpose was, or what they even did, but maybe they were commercialized from outside our continent? That's an option that came to mind after hearing the news."
"(Q) 'and are you certain that those objects were not of familiar origin? Perhaps from a different kingdom, but still within our continent?"
"(A) 'yes, I am sure. That kind of technology is something no one has ever made here. I have no understanding of it, however…. I think that may have been part of a commercial deal from outside our continent, yes."
And that was the end of the first interview. 3 is the lucky charm, huh? More like, if we didn't get anything by the 3rd attempt, we'd be done for, so we had to make it up. That's the vibe I got at least.
"I'm assuming most of you have read it by now, so let's begin, shall we? It was a fairly short but pretentious interview after all."
"Indeed, Great Sovereign. The man's name is Olith Sturn, and as he said, he used to work as a butler there. We found him through some extensive digging, and contacted him a few days ago."
"How are you certain that he's genuinely someone who worked for the Late Great Duke though?"
"Of course, we made sure that we had the right guy. Which is why…"
His wife then pulled out a different photograph, which as usual disappeared from her hand the next moment, and appeared in Mio's. She looked at it for about 3 seconds, before making it appear on the screen for everyone else.
"I see. This does look like an original one. A Seal of Authenticification, that all former Ashford estate staff had, in order to be recognized. Am I right?"
"Indeed, that's the first thing we confirmed he possessed before we even began the interview. We did ask if we could take it with us as well, but as you can imagine, it's probably a fairly precious thing. Putting aside the treason, apparently he'd been under excellent care at the Ashford estate."
"That's understandable. If I was him, I'd probably hold on to my seal as well. But what do you two have to say about this?"
"Olith… yes, I do remember a butler with that name. He was a really kind individual, who often brought me and Isolde snacks when we were out late at night in our yard."
"That's right, haha. He often covered for us as well, when we'd skip our training and lectures respectively. He's truly a kind man."
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear that you remember him since it'll make things faster, but you two can reminisce on your youthful experience another time.
More importantly, what do you have to say regarding his statement?"
"Well, I'm personally a little sad."
"Same here, honestly. I didn't expect this."
"And what's the reason for you two feeling that way?"
"I'm sad not just because we miss him of course, but also because it hurts to see him say something like that."
"I agree. Which is directly related to the main reason why I'm surprised. And that is, the fact that this is clearly a made up fairy tale, that's doing nothing but taint his name, and image."
"Wha-"
"What are you talking abo-"
"Both of you, silence."
"…"
"Continue. Why are you so sure that this is a fairy tale? The interview seems fairly legit, especially when you consider that he is a legitimate former Ashford butler."
"Of course, that part is definitely true, since we knew him personally."
"And while calling it a fairy tale may be a bit of an exaggeration, I'm 100% sure that the latter half of it is made up, and we have a few simple reasons for that."
"For starters, while yes, the old man was a fairly laid back Duke, talking casually with servants, and even letting his staff address him informally, he did have boundaries."
"More specifically, dad almost never allowed anyone inside his office besides me, my husband who at the time was a guard, his father, Aldric and his father, and lastly his head maid."
"And in fact, even me and Isolde had to properly knock at the door and wait for a reply to walk in, let alone anyone else."
"The head maid did all of the cleaning inside his office, so there was simply no possible way for Olith to have even been there, let alone find some supposed unknown technology."
The detectives got quiet. This time to my surprise, the man visibly let out a slight grim expression, clearly not expecting to be debunked this easily. On the other hand though, the King who was still silently watching, began tapping his finger on the desk, which I'd personally take as a fairly clear sign of anxiety. Though he was fairly good at hiding his frustration at the moment at least, unlike earlier.
"And you're 100% sure that he never made any exceptions? What if the head maid got sick, and Olith was sent by her to do the cleaning?"
"That's not a possibility. Granted, dad did in fact make exceptions in cases like that, but the head maid would always and only send her most trusted maids in her stead."
"And for that matter, Butlers never actually did any cleaning work indoors, at the Ashford estate. They mostly took care of things like cutting the grass, trimming bushes, trees, taking care of flowers, animals and so on. There'd be no reason for Olith to have ever entered the old man's office."
"I see. Then what do our dear detectives have to say about this?"
"While we understand the circumstances, we'd have to point something out."
"We are aware of those perks that the Late Great Duke had, however…"
"Great Sovereign, are you really sure that their words are as reliable as they may seem?"
"I'd assume that the daughter and son in law of the Late Great Duke would be pretty knowledgeable in such things, but what makes you think otherwise?"
"It's a simple thing really. And it's the fact that they were simply not that involved within the actual management of the household, due to them having been still only kids at the time."
"Anyone can use memories they had of their late parents as a kid, and determine what they think would've been completely impossible and out of question, but what parent truly tells everything to their child?"
I was expecting them to back down after Dad's last comment, but it seems like I couldn't have been more wrong. And to make it even better? It actually made sense. As a kid, you're only aware, or capable of understanding the little side of your parents that they show you. If they die before or when you're a teen or young adult, you don't really have much of a say in what they were truly like. After all, I'm pretty sure it's fairly common for parents to start treating their kids more as individual humans, rather than just their children, when they grow up into adults, no? Until then, you've essentially only seen their parent side, or their personal one.
Granted, Mio, dad and mom were holding back to make it easier on them, but at the very least I highly doubt anyone would think that was the case, unless they already knew. And since it's only a few people who actually are aware…? I'd say that their performance is actually more than sufficient so far.
"That's not a fair point. You can't really say you know what kind of people your parents were usually, if your only memories of them are from when you were a child. But on the other hand, we're talking about a rule as insignificant as who got to and who didn't get to clean his office, are we not?"
"That's exactly the point though, Great Sovereign. Which is why, we'd like to ask them something instead."
"Go ahead."
"Lady Isolde, did your father inform you whenever his office would be getting cleaned?"
"…I can't say he did. Neither me nor my husband had a reason to be there often as we already said, so it's not like we needed to know when entrance would be completely out of the question."
"And Sir Bartholomew, while I understand that you may think to be the most knowledgeable individual when it comes to who your mother allowed to clean the Great Duke's office… How much do you actually know about her? How are you so sure that she never made exceptions, if neither you or Lady Isolde were even notified whenever the cleaning was going on?"
"That's a pretty unhinged thing to say, you know?…"
"We're here to debate whether 2 potential treasoners should or shouldn't regain their power, which was second only to the royals themselves. If we're going to sugarcoat our words here and risk misunderstandings or unclarity, the outcome would be worse than just a single family having their feelings hurt."
"Sir Bartholomew, please don't take what my husband is saying as an insult, or personally. While we're here to prove the fact that the Late Great Duke was a treason, we're not actually holding any personal judgement towards you two. As we said, no parent shows their true colors to their children, so we don't believe that you two are bad individuals, If the only means of determining that is through the actions of someone else."
"Don't worry haha… I'm aware, and I'm sure Isolde is too. You guys do make fair points after all, so it wouldn't really make any sense for us to get emotional. However, I do still believe that it's a little of a stretch to jump from "you simply don't know your parents as individuals, you know them as your parents" to "you're completely unreliable sources, even though you're the only people who can actually testify for his innocence." Don't you think so?"
"While yes, me and my husband may not have known every single details of their life, nor knew them personally the way a friend may of had, if you have to bring all of that up just to justify a potential exception in a rule that we knew about our entire life, which version seems more far stretched?"
"Sure, neither me or her were informed whenever the office was getting cleaned, and that much is an undeniable fact. However, you're letting out variables which may, and did in fact occur from time to time, you know?"
"Variables?"
"Like for example, quite a few times before, me and Isolde have happened to pass by someone who was very obviously directed towards the old man's office, for cleaning duty. And I'm not necessarily talking about even seeing them enter his office with a mop in hand either."
"Then how can you be so sure about it? Seeing maids around the estate with cleaning equipment can mean anything and nothing at the same time. They clean the whole property every day after all, do they not?"
"Normally, if we were talking about any other noble like the individuals in this room? That would be a solid argument."
"And don't take this the wrong way or anything, since both me and Isolde are the same way as you. We don't think anything about you two personally, you're just doing your job. But you're making a fatal mistake, which is assuming that we operated like any other noble household. While yes, it's a pretty known fact that the old man was fairly laid back when it came to his servants and generally wasn't that imposing, I think you two are forgetting who, or rather, which household we're talking about."
As mom took over after that, I- no… every single individual in this room, even Mio, felt her words's power as if we were all hit by it directly in the guts.
"We're not talking about some 3rd rate, honorary or "high" ranking noble here. We're talking about THE Ashford Estate. The first founding household of the entire kingdom, and the only reason that his Majesty is even allowed now to sit at his throne. Without our ancestor's support, the current Royal family would've been a high ranking nobility at most. So what exactly makes you think that all we saw… were a bunch of maids with some buckets?"
The entire room fell silent. The detectives looked at them with a conflicted expression, probably trying to think of any kind of reply for that matter, but no words dared exit their mouths. This was… the power, authority and sheer dominance that mom, technically the only True Ashford left in the world, truly had.
And since Mio wasn't speaking yet either, this was probably a "go ahead, finish this off so we can move on" signal from her end, which is probably why even with almost everyone else in the room being overwhelmed by now, dad and mom continued.
"While yes, if my mother, the head maid, wasn't the one cleaning his office, only her most trusted maid did, that doesn't mean that she was the only one involved in the process."
"That's right. Quite a few times, we have seen how things were when the head maid wasn't the one cleaning, and to put it frankly, it wasn't just a one man job. At least 20 maids would all be standing right outside the office's door."
"Whether it was passing her more water, cleaning cloth, new brooms, mops, it didn't matter. Every single thing was replaced at a high rate to make sure the office would be immaculate."
"So it wasn't just a few maids running around the estate, with a few mops and brooms. It was an entire squad of maids making sure to be able to stand up to standard. In fact, we've once asked them why they needed so many replacements, and so you know what they said? It's honestly quite funny."
"They told us that every single mop and broom had a designated area. You see, it turns out that the old man was actually fairly microphobit. He took the cleaning requirements really seriously when it came to his office at least."
"Dad used to say that a mop shouldn't wash more than a meter square of dirt off the floor, and neither should a broom brush more than that. A cleaning cloth shouldn't clean more than 1 single compartment at a time, and so on. I've heard that she had to switch her wet cleaning cloth for every single drawer wall, you know? For example, one for the right inside wall, one for the right outside wall, and so on, so forth."
"Frankly speaking, there was simply no way that Olith could've ever been in there. Sure, my mother didn't always tell either one of us whenever she or her best maid would be cleaning. However, given how particular the old man was about the cleanliness of his office, the fact that we've seen entire squads of maids on cleaning duty in his office, yet never a single butler anywhere near that? I'd say that the "you don't know your parents as people, they probably did exceptions" narrative falls pretty badly. After all, once again, the Old man wasn't, and neither are we some average nobles, nor 3rd ranking, nor honorary, nor high ranking."
"We're the one and only…Ashford Household."