Chapter 248: IS THAT REALLY THE THIRD PRINCESS?
The nobles present all knew.
If the Oswalts for whatever reason decided to poison one of the children that were friends with their son, they wouldn’t have done it with their servant and make it so obvious. Wouldn’t that be exposing themselves?
Then that could only mean...
That someone was trying to implicate the Oswalts.
George’s face darkened. This same tactic of using poison. Could it be the same person who was poisoning his wife?
Fedor took a step forward with a serious look on his face.
"This matter will be investigated, your Grace. It’s a good thing no one was harmed." As he said this, his eyes brushed past Aristia and he gave a slight, unnoticeable nod.
He addressed the crowd. "Let’s not let this matter ruin the evening."
Since the King had spoken, the nobles had no choice but to enter the palace, escorted back to the banquet hall by the servants.
Now, it was only the parents of the children involved left outside.
"Why did you leave the banquet hall?" Marquis Eldridge scolded Alicia.
Marchioness Eldridge looked like she wanted to say something, but kept silent.
Seeing Alicia lower her head in response, Aristia’s head snapped in his direction.
"Marquis Kyle Eldridge."
Everyone turned to her, but she didn’t care.
"If we hadn’t come outside to eat the snacks now, we would have eaten it after the banquet. By that time, the servant would escape and Marquis Oswalt and his family would have been blamed for the death their goodwill caused." She paused and stared the man dead in the eye before continuing.
"Maybe Alicia would have been the one to eat the poisoned sweet and die. Maybe no one would eat it until everyone left the palace and returned to their homes. Then maybe any one of us could have eaten it and died. Or maybe... share it with family members." She let her words sink in everyone of them before asking her questions.
"What would happen when the whole family died? Wouldn’t my uncle be blamed for the deaths because no one would know about the sweets, thinking they had been poisoned in the palace?"
With each question, Marquis Eldridge was left stunned.
His eyes lowered in thought, unconsciously stopping on his little, only daughter and child.
Somehow, the image of the dead servant convulsing before he died overlapped with that of his daughter.
’If she had died...’ he couldn’t even complete the thought, but it rang on and on in his mind.
On the other hand, Alicia was stunned. She kept staring at Aristia with a blank face, not expecting that Aristia would scold her father for her.
Even the way she called his name, almost with a hiss.
But no one said a word, because they knew that what she said was true.
[That’s for you, Alice.] Aristia said.
She was able to tell that Alicia wasn’t close to her father.
The way he spoke to her was cold, and Alicia was too nervous when speaking to him.
[She’s the only child and she’s a daughter. Maybe Marquis Eldridge isn’t satisfied that she’s not a male heir.]
Aristia now felt a dislike for the man. [Sucker. If he’s not treating her well, he can just give her to me. There’s plenty of room in my mansion.]
While Aristia was disdaining Marquis Eldridge in her mind, Marquis Oswalt was looking at her with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
With the way she spoke to Marquis Eldridge, he began to feel that her actions earlier was not an act.
Thinking of the times he saw her with his wife and son, he shook his head, wondering how he ever believed she was what the rumours said. She was probably pretending all along. She really was too smart. Perhaps even smarter than all the royal children. But he wouldn’t say this.
If Aristia knew what he was thinking, she would have laughed because she was really different since she was not the original Aristia.
However, unlike the adults who kept serious faces even though Aristia scolding Kyle Eldridge was funny, Wesley Kiran had no trouble laughing.
Everyone shot questioning glances at him, but he only shook his head. The way Aristia spoke was just too funny.
Marquis Kyle’s face darkened.
Avery Eldridge blushed in embarrassment. "Brother..." She said, tapping Wesley’s arm. It was funny indeed, but she couldn’t laugh at her husband.
"Brother in-law." Kyle Eldridge gritted out.
"Ah, ah. My apologies." Marquis Wesley waved his hand and straightened up, trying to stop his laughter. Seeing his brother in-law being scolded by the little princess was just so funny to him.
Maxim turned to Alistair beside him with a look of resignation. His eyes were saying. ’I just don’t know what to do with your brother.’
Alistair shook her head too with a smile. Her brother could even laugh even though his children were involved in a case of poisoning.
But he was always a cheerful person. She and Avery were used to it. He was also quite protective. It was just that he was the type of person who said that if nothing bad happened in the end, then it was okay. That was why he could laugh so easily.
[I guess he’s the ’all’s well that ends well’ type.] Aristia thought.
"Anyway..." She said. Everyone’s gazes shifted to her. "Since no one died..."
"..."
She paused when she received looks.
"Ahem." She cleared her throat. "Since nobody that matters died, we can return to the banquet hall and eat delicious, unpoisoned food like nothing happened, while we leave the snow to bury him until someone does something, no?" She asked with raised brows.
Of course the servant probably mattered to someone out there, but he didn’t to anyone here. And he tried to kill someone that mattered to them, so Aristia didn’t feel a tad bit guilty about her words.
Her words returned the place to silence, only to be broken by loud laugher.
Everyone’s brows twitched and they turned to the one and only person responsible, Marquis Wesley Kiran.
Aristia smiled and pointed at him. "Now this guy knows how to take a joke."
Wesley stopped laughing immediately.
"What? What does that mean?" He asked, then turned to Wilson.
Wilson only glanced at him before holding Catherine’s arm and beginning to move towards the palace.
Wesley turned to Aristia but she had already left with the rest of the children. He only faintly heard her say to Lauren. "Don’t worry, Laura. Everyone can still share with you."
Marquis Eldridge was just about to ask if that really was the third princess, only to see the royal family smiling dotingly.
Even his wife and his sister were the same.
George only had a mild look of interest in his eyes.
Wesley was still in a state of confusion before realizing that everyone had left him, his wife included.
He threw his hands up in exasperation before following along.