Julia was smart and had been doing her best to avoid dangerous situations but it appears that she had been doing everything on her own. She needed to discipline and educate her maids about her ways as well if she doesn’t want to trigger other kingdoms.
Beth was quite naive to think that she could get away with just getting herself punished after doing sothing that could have triggered the anger of three kingdoms.
"Lahar would not take this sitting down. My family would be furious if they learned about this as well. And my husband is already seething."
Arabella was trying to make Beth understand the weight of her actions since she doesn’t understand that what she did was not at all protecting her family. It only put her family in more danger since she had triggered the anger of more people.
Beth had no ti to fear Lucille right now. What she should fear were the three foes she just triggered. Valeria, Lahar, and Lobelius all at the sa ti.
If Arabella had not convinced Ferdinand to leave the maid’s punishnt to her, Beth and her family would indeed be executed.
Ferdinand didn’t like being toyed around with. Framing Arabella to have cheated not only pissed him off but greatly insulted him as well. He was underestimated too greatly. They thought he would just believe what he sees at first sight without further investigating.
Moreover, Arabella was his wife so of course, he would still listen to her first before everyone else even if the accusation about her was cheating. Ferdinand would hear her out first. Arabella was rather impressed and gave her husband a kiss when he said these.
But what angered Ferdinand the most was the aphrodisiac that was given to Andrew. Arabella could have been forced by Andrew if he lost all his senses due to the drug added to the wine.
Thankfully, Andrew had not finished the whole glass. And after speaking with Andrew, they learned that he had already built so kind of resistance with aphrodisiacs since ladies who had taken a liking to him often made him drink or eat foods with it; trying to get him in bed even if just once.
If Andrew didn’t have that kind of weird resistance, the aphrodisiac effects would have been stronger and he would have already lost himself to lust almost imdiately.
What they added to the wine was quite potent and dangerous. It wasn’t just among the common aphrodisiacs sold here and there.
Ferdinand had the said drug investigated by Riley separately due to the dangers it poses.
This made Arabella realize that Lucille was probably not after getting a chance with Andrew. Lucille was probably just out for revenge so she no longer cared what happened to Andrew, thus the potent drug in the wine.
. . .
"Beth, I don’t rember you as a person who would do sothing like this. Why did you do it? I don’t recall you ever having a grudge against Her Majesty or Prince Andrew. Please tell us honestly why you did this," Julia tried to convince Beth to be honest.
"I cannot help you since what you did was a cri. But if soone put you up to do this, please tell us," Julia urged and Beth slowly looked up and finally t their eyes.
"I already have an inkling of who it is. All I need is a verification. If you make honest statents, we can lessen your punishnt. But if you continue to lie, then all of you will be punished. Or is the person you are covering up for that important to you? Are you alright with getting executed along with your whole family while whoever put you up to this will go scot-free and live like they knew nothing about this?" Arabella added.
[T-they already know?! If they can lessen the punishnt, then can my family be spared?]
Beth finally realized that she had no reason to cover up for Lucille if her family would be executed with her. Thus, Beth finally admitted that it was Lucille who threatened her to do this.
Lucille gave her quite a good sum of money too as compensation. But Beth used it to pay the palace maids instead since she didn’t want to do the cri herself.
And Julia actually already knew that Beth was the mistress of the Count. Julia just kept her mouth shut since it wasn’t her place to ddle in her maid’s personal affairs. Beth and the Count were in love so Julia didn’t want to break them apart.
"Then do you know where the drug was added to the wine that was bought?" Arabella asked and Beth told them it was from a shop in the city.
It was Lucille who told Beth about the shop.
’Does this an Lucille is involved with drugs? Or she just knew through other sources?’
King Neville was the current representative of deus so Lucille could have used her father’s influence to acquire information.
Since Beth, admitted to everything, Arabella agreed to forgive her but only if Beth would work for her instead of Lucille.
What she ant was for Beth to be a double agent so Arabella and Julia would know if Lucille was up to sothing else.
Julia had been obeying Lucille for years but a cri like this was different. Julia also saw this as an opportunity to free herself of Lucille’s control so she readily agreed to Arabella’s proposal of working together.
Arabella had already discussed it with Ferdinand, Andrew, and Sera so they already knew the plan.
The story they would release was that the attempt failed because Andrew did not drink the wine. He only slled it and asked the maids to change it. Thus, he was perfectly fine. And that Arabella suddenly had sothing urgent to discuss with her older brother Benjamin so she canceled her appointnt with Sera. Thus, she did not even go to the room where Andrew was.
This was a test to see how Lucille would respond.
It was also a test to see if Arabella could trust Julia. If Julia could be trusted with this, Arabella could form connections with Julia’s kingdom.
If Barlowe has a good relationship with Valeria, Lucille would not be able to boss around Julia anymore.
Barlowe had rare commodities available only in their Kingdom. They could begin by trading this with Valeria to show they had a good relationship.
However, Arabella needed to ensure first and foremost that she could trust Julia.
If Julia would just bend to Lucille again despite this incident, it would be hard to trust Julia. Especially since the current Minister of Trade in Valeria is quite strict and keen.
Even if Julia and Barlowe have close ties with the Empress, he would not be partial if Julia causes trouble for them due to following Lucille’s bidding.
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A/N:
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