Sure enough, Garcia opened her eyes and continued, “I am 90% sure that it wasn’t the 1st Prince, he was a person who only knew brute force. His brain is one big muscle so it was regular that he was fooled. Only … “when saying this, her voice had some spunk,” my 2nd brother would be this cruel. “
“You mean Timothy Wimbledon was the true culprit?”
“Apart from him, who else would know so much about Gerald? Also after this matter, he is the person with the greatest gains.” while speaking, Garcia was unconsciously tapping her finger on the table, “Even a blind person can see this! But he was father’s favorite, so he really didn’t need to do this!”
Her Highness was truly angry, Ryan realized. Seeing the Princess this heated up was truly rare. It seems that even though she had been complaining that her father was too eccentric, in the end she still didn’t want to see her father dying like this.
Ryan was able to understand this feeling, more or less. In a large family, the younger generation would always have such a feeling towards the master of the house – a mountain they would have to surpass, both revering and hating him. If she was right and this was truly planned by the second prince, then his actions could indeed be considered bloody and cruel.
“But he … Why would he do this?”
“Because he was afraid of me,” Garcia took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions, “he is afraid of my Blacksail Fleet.”
Realizing that Ryan wouldn’t answer, she continued to explain, “Timothy seems to have a spy in our city, which in itself isn’t surprising, I myself also have arranged eyes and ears in Valencia. When he discovered the existence of my Blacksail Fleet it became easy for him to imagine what I would do later. Valencia isn’t able to support an army that is capable of facing my fleet. So, he came to the conclusion to use Gerald as bait to get what he wanted.”
“So you mean, he wants an army?”
“He wants the throne,” said Garcia, “With my father’s death and now even Gerald’s death, he has become the first heir. I am afraid that he will press the ministers to crown him as fast as possible. Only when he becomes Wimbledon IV will he be able to mobilize all his vassals with their armies. “As she said this she shook her head, “However, as I have already said, as father’s favorite son he really didn’t need to do this!”
“Wouldn’t that be worse?” asked Ryan, worried, “If your 2nd brother gets crowned, won’t he declare the battle for the throne finished and call you and your siblings back? What will you do then?”
Garcia answered as if she felt it was completely beneath her dignity, “This step would be too straightforward, just because he was our father’s favorite son, it doesn’t mean that he will have the support of the ministers, especially because of his move to kill the former king – although he pushed the murder on Gerald and may be able to fool the civilians, I estimate that it will take a long time until he will be able to grasp full authority in Graycastle. So … “she looked cunningly at Ryan and said,” I have to change my plan a little. “
Ryan immediately fell on one knee and said, “I’m willing to serve.”
Garcia stood up, walked to the window and spoke to Ryan with her back to him, “The first thing he is bound to do after he claims the throne is to deal with me. However, his only possibility to pressure me is to command Joe Kohl, the Duke of the Southern territory. I estimate that the latter will use the king’s mourning period to delay sending out his troops – that old fox has always been reluctant to do business where he would make a loss. At most he wilhe was caught by the guards. He didn’t commit suicide to escape punishment, so in the end he was put to trial by several ministers, there he was sentenced to death by beheading.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Ryan subconsciously couldn’t believe it.
“Of course that isn’t the truth,” said Garcia, expressionless, “It’s true that my first brother is a relatively stupid man, but he isn’t so foolish to go on a suicide mission. If no one led him in that direction, he would never do such a thing.”
“Someone framed him?” asked Ryan.
“Let me guess …” The 3rd Princess closed her eyes and thought for a moment before she answered, “Someone probably put this detailed plan in order, and tempted Gerald by saying that they would help him – bringing people into my father’s courtyard. This must have been arranged by someone in advance, including the eradication, exchange and bribing of the guards. But those aren’t areas where Gerald has his strong points, since he is just too lazy to arrange something like this. The rest would be simple, it was only important to acquire a person who had Gerald’s trust, but would still betray him in the end.”
Ryan could add nothing. After all, these were only guesses. What truly happened was not important, the important part was only the result. He believed that this was also the thought of the 3rd Princess.