"Why?"
Once I asked him curiously, his expression turned serious.
"I'm jealous. I want to be close to you too."
"Hmm."
"It was foolish, Your Majesty. Please forgive my impoliteness. I came here because Miss Evely had strange thoughts."
"Strange thoughts?"
"I want to hide this ability as much as possible because you might be afraid of me, but I still tell everything to my beautiful ice that I can't get close to... ah, I'm sorry. The Eastern Empire suspects the Western Empire attacked their mages."
Due to Grand Duke Kapmen's incoherent words, I did not immediately understand the relevance of what he said.
After about thirty seconds, I asked in surprise.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Grand Duke Kapmen's eyes narrowed briefly as he spoke.
"Looks like there's a good reason to suspect..."
Instantly, I remembered the order given by Heinley to McKenna and the dean of the magic academy's attitude towards me.
It seemed that Evely had indeed regained her mana, but she tried to hide that fact from me.
Grand Duke Kapmen added as he stared at me,
"They lost the conclusive evidence in the middle of the investigation, so the matter will not be made public."
For a moment, I thought these words had been just to reassure me after he read my thoughts.
My legs weakened at once, so I sat down on the couch. My heartbeat quickened and my expression darkened.
I had tried to pretend not to notice the situation, but it had already come to this point...
Grand Duke Kapmen didn't think it would turn out this way, so he hesitated and put his hand to his forehead.
"Shouldn't I have said it?"
"Don't worry. Thanks for letting me know."
It wasn't Grand Duke Kapmen's fault. He was surprised to learn that the Eastern Empire's mages suspected that the Western Empire was mainly responsible for the phenomenon of mage decline, so he came to inform me.
After Grand Duke Kapmen left, I remained sitting on the couch.
I felt as if my mind was flying through the dark evening sky. When I came to my senses, Heinley knocked on the door.
"Come in."
I spoke weakly. I didn't have the strength to get up, so I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes.
I didn't even have an appetite. No matter how many delicious dishes Heinley prepared, I didn't want to eat today.
Should I ask Heinley directly about the phenomenon of mage decline? Even if it came out of his mouth that he wanted to harm my country? The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l-B1n.
I felt a heavy pressure in my chest, until Heinley's voice reached my ears.
"Queen? What is this box?"
Ah, the box!
***
When Duke Elgy brought in the fake parents, he advised Rashta never to agree to a paternity test.
Naturally, if she were to take a paternity test, it would quickly be discovered that they were fake parents.
Recently, the controversy over her fake parents had been raised by the appearance of her real father. So Rashta took Duke Elgy's advice and insisted that she would not take a paternity test.
