“My lady, could I ask why you are so interested?”

I took a moment trying to decide on the best answer, and replied with the truth.

“God revealed to me that Lady Catherine will be important in House Avington’s future.”

The author was technically a god, and bringing the downfall of our family did count as important.

Sir Williams looked at me with patience and mild surprise, pretending that he was taking me seriously. Though he wasn’t supposed to question my supposed connection to God, we all knew no such thing existed.

“And how exactly will she affect us?”

“She poses great danger and needs to be eliminated immediately, should she be found.”

His eyebrows lifted, as if he didn’t expect a nine-year-old to subtly want to murder someone. He lifted a finger.

“My lady, could you open the music box His Grace gave you?”

I was surprised by the sudden change of topic, but nodded. I had brought it from home, and it sat on my desk. The melody filled the room as I opened it, odd in the solemn air.

“What for?”

“Security. His Grace informed me that Marquess Tennesley had it enchanted to block high level magic listening spells, and it casts a silencing spell within a certain radius, so anyone outside about the size of this room can’t listen in.”

That was quite genius, to be honest.

“Why did Father not tell me?”

“His Grace didn’t think that particular feature would be needed, and he didn’t want to sullen the mood when he saw how much you liked the box. He didn’t want to worry you.”

That made sense, since telling children to beware of bugs wasn’t exactly reassuring.

“Almost all of Your Ladyship’s jewelry is already enchanted to keep out most listening spells, but it never hurts to be vigilant.”

I nodded. How had I not considered that before? Surely, our family was the target of many eyes, and we had measures to prevent spying. I needed to be more aware of these things.

“As you know, my lady, His Grace has decided to make you his successor. I trust His Grace’s decision and Your Ladyship, and all the Avington knights and I shall serve you to the best of our abilities, with our honour as knights. I have complete confidence that all Your Ladyship does is for the best of the grand duchy, but we can aid you the best if you place faith in us.”

He had a point, and I did trust him, since I knew he would die for us. Still, I couldn’t tell him about my past life. I hated how pathetic I was back then, and no one needed to know about it. Besides, there was always the risk of being accused of blasphemy or insanity. However, I could tell him some things.

“I have absolute faith in you and your knights, Sir Williams, but there are things that I’m not free to explain. A godly being granted me limited knowledge of the future, where a terrible fate befalls House Avington. In its center is Lady Catherine, and I’m doing my best to prevent it.”

Sir Williams was silent for a moment. Then, he sighed and shook his head.

“I am in no position to doubt Your Ladyship. All I ask is for you to keep what I said in mind.”

I knew how crazy I sounded, and I couldn’t help it if he didn’t believe me, though I was a bit disappointed. But I appreciated that he was willing to keep assisting me despite his disbelief.

“I will. So, explain to me how our knights were involved in that incident.”

Sir Williams’s expression became even more serious than before, if that was possible.

“No word of this can leave this room, my lady.”

“Of course, I understand.”

He nodded. I was getting impatient, but I didn’t want to disrespect him, so I held my tongue. It was no easy task, but I thought of the novel’s description of his death, and that sombered me.

“House Avington has close relations with a merchant, by the name of Gary Ratched. He is a business partner that has brought much profit, as well as done His Grace several ‘favours’.”

I knew the name. The current Baroness Bryant’s father, and the one that had ‘saved’ Damian. My heart sped up in excitement.

“This relationship began when Lord Damian was four. He had fallen seriously ill, and the merchant appeared with a cure that likely brought him back from the verge of death.”

“What was the cure?”

“I do not know in details, only that it allowed Lord Damian to make a full recovery.”

He must’ve known about the mana too, but he probably really didn’t know anything. If it had to do with the demon king as I’d suspected, no one could know. I wasn’t sure if I was glad to not have my theory confirmed.

“In exchange, he wanted His Grace as an ally, and for him to kill Baroness Bryant, and her child as well.”

“The baroness was the primary target, not Lady Catherine?”

“Indeed. Ratched’s daughter was in love with Baron Bryant, and she would stop at nothing to have him, while Ratched himself wanted a grandchild that would inherit the barony. His daughter wanted the baroness gone, but he was the one who wanted to remove the child.”

A shiver went down my back. That explained a lot of things.

“Somehow, the baron must’ve found out. His knights were waiting for us to ambush the carriage, and they took us by surprise. We managed to eliminate the baroness, but they stalled us and we lost the girl.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head bitterly. This one mistake would lead to our destruction. Oh, why couldn’t I have remembered my past life earlier? Well, I supposed it didn’t matter, given that I couldn’t talk anyways when I was two.

“The baron gave up the search for his daughter abnormally fast, announcing to the public that a body resembling her was found and that she was dead. However, it’s almost certain that he knows she’s not, and arranged for her to hide away, taken care of by his personal servant.”

This fit with the part about the servant from the letter, and explained why my knights hadn’t been able to find her. They were intentionally concealing themselves.

“We believe he did this to fool Ratched and make him give up on trying to kill her. It did work, for they hid well. We searched for them far longer than the baron claimed he did, and we gave up without finding anything.”

No wonder! If the full force of Avington knights couldn’t find them, then my lone squadron didn’t stand a chance. They weren’t slipping up, even after almost a decade.

That was strange, actually. How did a mere baron’s servant manage to evade our knights, the second best in the whole kingdom? Only the royal family was supposed to be able to do that. Perhaps they were just lucky.

“It’s expected that the baron will bring her back into high society when Ratched dies and the threat he poses is gone.”

I sat up straight. That was it! That was how the baron ‘accidentally’ found his daughter. Ratched must’ve died, and he felt it was safe.

Sir Williams seemed to have finished, and I began sorting through the list of questions I had.

“Does the baroness know about this?”

“To my knowledge, Ratched never told her, and she thought it was just her luck. She doesn’t care about the child either, only the baron.”

“When Ratched went to the castle the first time, he brought a small figure with him. Who was she?”

“His second daughter, I think. She helped in treating Lord Damian, but we heard she died shortly after. He favoured his first daughter,”

That wasn’t good. If Ratched could kill a woman and a baby, why wouldn’t he sacrifice his own daughter? The sacrifice in this would be literal, for the demon king.

“All right, thank you, Sir Williams. I’ll send for you if I have any more questions. Thank you so much for telling me this.”

“Please allow us to aid you in any way we can, my lady. Good day.”

He bowed and left. My thoughts whirled, trying to organize themselves.

I could see a clear timeline in my mind, everything fitting into place. With this new information, I needed to rework my plans.

I rang a bell, and Zoe soon came.

“Yes, my lady?”

“I’m going to write a letter, but don’t send it through the mail. Give it to Sir Williams and ask him to send it for me, he’ll know what to do.”

I couldn’t depend on eliminating the female lead before the novel began anymore, which was a huge disadvantage. Then, what if I took out the source instead? With the accident cleared up, my knights had no assignments.

I was going to order them to kill Baron Bryant.

Without his instructions, his servant couldn’t bring the female lead back. If he did, Ratched would order her death for me.

I wanted to write the letter right away, to reassure myself that I was still in control, but I didn’t want to lose my train of thoughts.

“Zoe, would it be possible to plant maids here at the castle?”

“It would be difficult, my lady. The castle only hires well-bred and good maids who likely have a stable income and thoroughly checks their background.”

No, I couldn’t risk that. I would ask Father instead, he must have eyes and ears here for when we weren’t at the capital. I should focus on what I could do.

“Get me some more envelopes, I’m almost out.”

“Yes, my lady.”

It may be hypocritical, but I wanted to be alone as I wrote out the order to assassinate. It felt ridiculous, a nine-year-old commanding her knights to commit murder, but the alternative could be my death, and I wasn’t going to have that.

Some things were necessary. Sir Williams trusted me to do the best for the grand duchy, and I was going to do exactly that.