A chilly atmosphere spread through the banquet hall. They began to glance at each other, watching for reactions. The nobles present knew. There was no way Hildegard, the Emperor's closest confidant, would intentionally try to insult the Emperor, so it was certain that someone had framed her.
Even if Hildegard had really made a mistake, in the end, a 'person who framed her' would be needed. Because the Emperor wouldn't try to punish Hildegard.
"Hildegard, who did you hand that gift to?"
"Um... it was a servant wearing gray clothes. That is... the servant in charge of gifts at the entrance of the banquet hall."
Before Liv could respond to those words, Greta, reading Liv's thoughts, quickly issued an order.
"You go and bring that servant."
The servant who had opened the gifts disappeared outside the banquet hall following Greta's order. A moment later, a servant entered the banquet hall with an anxious face and quickly knelt before Liv.
"Your Majesty, I'm truly innocent! I don't have the authority to open gifts, and the gifts were immediately transported through someone else as soon as I received them!"
"How were those gifts transported?"
"Martin took them. That is... the servant working with me in the banquet hall."
This time, the servant named Martin was brought before Liv.
"I immediately moved it to the room next to the banquet hall where gifts are stored. I also never opened the gifts during that process!"
This time, the person who transported the gifts from that room to the banquet hall was brought in. That servant also denied any wrongdoing, saying he hadn't done anything.
All of their words must be true. Their job was to 'transport' the gifts, and they couldn't open the gifts as there were dozens of eyes in the palace corridors.
"Then someone must have tampered with the gift when it was in the empty room."
Liv quietly looked at the maids wearing green dresses. Among them, she could see a figure trembling noticeably.
"Greta, who else entered that room?"
"The room with gifts for Your Majesty is managed by one of us. In this case... Miss Gentzen managed the room."
At that, Olivia, pointed out by Greta, turned pale and waved her hands.
"Your Majesty, it really wasn't me!"
As Liv silently stared at her without saying anything, Olivia, thinking everything had gone wrong, began to cry.
"Sob, I really... I'm truly innocent..."
At that moment, the woman standing behind Olivia carefully raised her hand.
"Your Majesty, Miss Gentzen really didn't do anything."
Olivia's eyes widened at Elena's unexpected support.
"Because, um... I checked inside the room just in case, and Miss Gentzen was just sitting in a chair in one corner of the room, getting annoyed at the servant transporting gifts to hurry up. She didn't lift a finger."
Olivia's face became strange at Elena's words, which were unclear whether they were helping or criticizing her, but soon she realized Elena's words were helping her and nodded vigorously.
"Th-That's right, Your Majesty! I only got annoyed at the servant! I didn't do anything!"
Liv already knew the answer. Olivia probably didn't do anything, as Elena said. Even though she had previously ordered Elena to watch Olivia, she didn't expect her to carry it out this well. Even without Elena's testimony, Liv thought Olivia wouldn't have done anything. Because...
'That look in her eyes was real.'
Liv had seen the genuinely flustered look in Olivia's eyes during the maid interview. Her eyes contained only trouble, without any hostility towards Liv.
Then who could be the real culprit?
In fact, there was already someone she suspected...
"Count Schulze."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Check the brooch carefully."
At those words, Hayden strode forward and carefully picked up the dress. He examined the dazzling golden brooch from various angles, then raised his head with a subtle smile.
"As Your wise Majesty already knows, there aren't many craftsmen who can perfectly carve such intricate family emblems."
"Indeed."
"And most of them would have refused this request... A craftsman capable of such carving would be worldly-wise and already know that the Steinberg family, guilty of treason, has fallen. Even if offered millions, they wouldn't... make such a brooch that could insult Your Majesty."
"Then?"
"The person who made this brooch must not be a craftsman who freely accepts commissions, but one employed by a specific family. Such a person couldn't refuse the request."
At those words, Liv turned her head to look at Olivia.
"The Gentzen family doesn't have any contracted craftsmen, right?"
"Y-Yes, Your Majesty! That's right! I'm not the culprit!"
Olivia nodded vigorously as if grasping a lifeline.
"Then which family with a contracted craftsman of this skill level could it be..."
At those words, the faces of several nobles from families employing craftsmen turned pale. Since employing a craftsman usually required an upper-class family with outstanding wealth, the atmosphere became even more tense than before. At that moment, Liv's gaze fixed on one spot.
"Head Maid."
"Yes?"
"I understand the Meisner family recently employed a craftsman who came from the Merna Empire."
When Walter visited Liv recently, he mentioned that a famous craftsman from Merna had come to the Holy Hilysid Empire, entangled in the power struggles of nobles. He said he wanted to employ that craftsman, but unfortunately, the Marquis Meisner family had taken him first.
"If it's a craftsman from a foreign country, he wouldn't know the meaning of this family emblem."
"Your Majesty... are you suspecting me?"
Greta's brown eyes became moist with tears.
"I'm truly innocent! It's true that our family recently employed a craftsman, but really, it has nothing to do with that brooch..."
"Then we can call that craftsman and ask."
At those words, Greta's expression subtly changed. She bit her lip and continued speaking.
"I don't know where that craftsman is right now... Because we sent him to a distant region from the capital for material procurement recently..."
At that, people's faces became knowing. Even to them, this looked like a situation where Greta had planned something and sent the craftsman far away to destroy evidence.
If Liv had focused only on suspicious people circumstantially without concentrating on the brooch, she wouldn't have found Greta. And if she hadn't heard about the Meisner family's craftsman from Walter, she wouldn't have pointed to Greta as the culprit.
Liv looked at the servants kneeling in the corner. If nothing happened while Olivia was in the room, then one of them must have secretly done something while transporting the gift. So one of them must be lying.
"Count Schulze."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Lock them all in the underground prison."
"Yes, I will do so."
"It seems I'll have to use the same method I used on August."
At those words, the servants' faces turned deathly pale. All of them working in the palace knew that the previous Emperor had committed suicide. They didn't know exactly what method was used, but the fact that the vicious August had committed suicide meant that Liv must have made him suffer terribly...
"Your Majesty, I'm truly innocent!"
"Please spare us, Your Majesty!"
While the servants were begging Liv for their lives, one of them raised a trembling hand high.
"Your Majesty! It's true that the Head Maid ordered it!"
At those words, the banquet hall fell silent and all eyes turned to him. He closed his eyes tightly and continued speaking.
"In the process of transporting the gift, we stopped at another room midway and attached the brooch... The Head Maid handed over that brooch. I really just followed orders..."
"Your Majesty, he's just lying to save himself! I'm truly innocent!"
However, Greta's expression as she shouted this looked so wronged that it was difficult to tell who was telling the truth just by looking. But Liv already knew the truth.
"Head Maid."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I...!"
"Why did you try to frame Miss Gentzen?"
This wasn't to frame Hildegard. Anyone could see that Hildegard wasn't the culprit. So this was to frame Olivia, who looked the most suspicious in this process.
"Did Olivia catch you leaking information about me to Marquis Meisner?"
At those words, Olivia raised her head. Her expression was one of wondering how Liv knew. Greta also had a surprised expression.
Liv smiled slightly at that sight, then ordered Greta and the servant to be locked up.
"Your Majesty, I'll handle the rest."
"...Alright."
Liv answered in a small voice without turning to look at Emmett. Well, in fact, what followed wasn't the Emperor's job. It was the job of the Emperor's husband.
As Greta was dragged away and people were bewildered, Liv quietly looked at Olivia. She looked relieved but still confused. Seeing that, Liv recalled the conversation she had with Elena recently.
-Your Majesty, but it seems the Head Maid particularly dislikes Miss Gentzen. Or is it the opposite?
-Why?
-I saw Miss Gentzen confronting the Head Maid recently, asking if it wasn't her who said something. I couldn't hear what was said though...
When Liv had previously mentioned 'using August to bring down the Zibel family' in front of the maids, she had to hear it again from Marquis Hendel's mouth at a meeting a few days later. Marquis Hendel was close to Marquis Meisner. On the other hand, he wasn't that close to the Gentzen family.
Then it was obvious who had leaked that information. Olivia must have noticed this fact and confronted Greta about why she was leaking information outside.
So in the end, this was just Greta's foolish ploy to frame Olivia as a criminal and escape Liv's suspicion. Perhaps because she was still a young noble lady, it was clumsy.
"I'll be going in now, continue with the banquet."
As staying here would only ruin the atmosphere of the banquet, Liv stood up. Emmett also tried to stand up to follow her, but Liv waved her hand.
"It would be better for Grand Duke Lartman to remain."
At those words, Emmett's expression became strange, but Liv just left the banquet hall with her maids. The atmosphere in the banquet hall was quiet for a moment, but as soon as Liv disappeared, people were busy talking about what had just happened.
"My goodness, does this mean the end of the Marquis Meisner family too?"
"Marquis Meisner has been trying to test Her Majesty for a while now."