The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 99: The Truth (1)

Chapter 99: The Truth (1)

"You," Zaila interrupted, with her gaze directed at Rosela. "How can you enter the Palace so easily, Lady Rosela? You’re not even invited. We cast a protective spell around the whole area for the safety of our queen and have even strictly instructed the guards not to let anyone in without our permission."

"I.. I passed by the entrance and I heard the commotion inside," Rosela answered with a frown.

Dani gazed at Krisha and Zaila said, "Get the guards on duty here right now. They need to be questioned! Also, call for the Ministry of Justice this instant and inform His Majesty of what’s going on right now."

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she grumbled, "Someone just died. This is a serious case and should be dealt with properly by the officials concerned. A mere Scion shouldn’t trespass the crime scene without permission!"

Rosela’s face paled at Dani’s words. Meanwhile, Mineah smirked as she shook her head. This woman really was something.

Looking at the servant that just tried to accuse her, she could see the beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. The girl looked nervous, and she could see an opportunity at that.

"Don’t worry," she gently began as she addressed the poor girl. "Just tell the truth, and I’ll make sure that you won’t get in trouble."

"What are you saying?" Rosela scoffed.

"Ignore her," Mineah insisted, using her right eye to compel the servant. "Don’t let her control you like this."

"Don’t listen to her," Rosela quickly barked at the poor servant. "You know what you saw. Just tell us what really happened."

The servant gulped. Just from what Mineah was gleaning from her thoughts, the girl was conflicted between her loyalty to Rosela and her own conscience. Still, she knew that the girl was innocent enough. She simply just had to wait for her defense to come from the girl that just accused her.

"I... Actually, I’m not sure..." the servant gasped and shook, her conscience winning out against her loyalty. "I just got here..."

Rosela’s tune immediately changed. "What?!"

"The Queen... She saved me, I think," the servant weakly murmured.

"It would seem that the only witness is unreliable," Mineah immediately scoffed, taking control of the situation as she exerted her queenly authority. "That just means that a more thorough investigation is needed."

"One that will be conducted swiftly," Rosela all but growled. "We can’t have these dark objects scattered around where innocent people might pick them up."

Mineah almost chuckled as the crowd around them promptly dispersed with a bow. Thankfully, everyone seemed to be on her side based on how respectful their bow was to her. That just meant that nobody truly believed that she was at fault.

All the while, Rosela was visibly fuming on her side of the hallway. Giving the woman another mind reading, she wanted to see just what the bjtch was thinking after she firmly shot her down.

[Dammit! Was I careless?! This should’ve worked! It worked last time when I did it on Dahlia!]

Mineah’s thoughts screeched to a halt. Did she hear that right? Rosela did something to her own sister?

’This needs investigation,’ she worriedly thought to herself. ’If that’s true...’

If it’s true... It meant that Rosela was the one responsible for Dahlia’s death.

"Announcing the arrival of Minister Haman from the Ministry of Justice together with the Queen Mother," the guard informed.

Mineah turned around to see the new arrivals. There, a man who looked the same age as Nikolai walked towards them with the Queen Mother walking beside him.

"What is going on in here?!" the Queen Mother asked.

Beside her, Haman simply observed, his eyes darting particularly at Mineah as if expecting her to explain. It wasn’t the first time that has happened, and honestly, she already knew what was going on in this man’s head.

She had read his thoughts during his visit together with the rest of the Rossi Clan beforehand, and she knew that he had malicious thoughts of her, fantasizing about her body and her blood.

As if undisturbed by the sudden additions to the scene, Rosela stepped up to approach the Queen Mother. Unfortunately for her, she was just about to reach the older woman when Mineah quickly took charge.

"Queen Mother, the person involved is the servant girl here," Mineah briefed, making sure that she had blocked Rosela from saying her piece. "Please let her speak. She’s the one who witnessed everything. And please don’t let anyone leave this building for now. We don’t want any bystanders creating unreliable stories on their own."

"In fact, there’s no need to make things complicated," Mineah further added. "The only way to find out the truth is for the Queen Mother to compel the witness to tell the truth of what really happened."

Rosela was quick to speak. "But that’s not how-"

Unfortunately, she was once again rebuffed when the Queen Mother raised her hand to her, signaling for her to stop. Then, without wasting any moment, the Queen Mother turned to the witness as she compelled, "You, be honest with us and tell us everything that happened here."

All the while, Mineah didn’t let her gaze stray from Rosela’s eyes. She wanted to see what exactly was on her mind, and she was going to savor every minute of it.

[This can’t be!? How can things turn out like this!?]

’This viper... Did she really think that her ridiculous plan will work against me?’ Mineah inwardly scoffed. She couldn’t believe that Rosela would think that she was stupid enough to not try and stand up for herself like this.

"It’s Lady Rosela. A while ago, she gave me those dark magic things and asked me to scatter them everywhere since she wanted to frame Her Majesty for it," the servant droned. "Please... I... I didn’t know that they were dangerous and deadly. I only thought it was just about black magic and that was forbidden inside the palace."

[Lai, I will need more of your energy,] Mineah informed her husband as she closed her eyes to quickly recharge herself. [I’ll explain everything later.]

[Do what you must, Mine...] Nikolai replied without even asking her of anything. Also, Nik was around, so she was sure that he must be seeing what was happening.

[One more thing... Is Rosela resistant to compelling?] she asked.

[She is, but not with a powerful Exordium,] Nikolai answered.

Mineah hummed in thought. She couldn’t help but wonder now if she could compel a Scion like Rosela. She just hoped that the woman wouldn’t develop an ability to protect herself like putting a barrier against hypnotism and compelling.

"This... How dare you frame me for this!" Rosela barked at the servant. "A while ago, you just said that the Queen did this, and now you’re saying it’s me!?"