The sound of rain tapped against the windows of the administrative office.
Estella was informed of the royal purveyor application being put on hold three days after, through Leonhardt's intelligence network... through the barony's maid to the civil officials. She had also received two other reports.
The sound of rain masked their conversation by the corridor windows.
"Ludwig has made two moves."
Leonhardt's voice was low and concise.
"First. He visited the baron house and tried to force Millefeuille to write a letter to the Crown Prince. The letter will contain words of remorse along with a plea for another chance."
Estella's fingers twitched slightly on top of the documents.
He intended to use Mille as a pawn again. He was trying to pull the girl who had been forced away back onto the board.
"Second. He's attempting to have one of his debted viscountcy houses submit a petition to the Royal Council requesting a re-examination of his royal purveyor application."
He was attempting a direct breakthrough against the hold on the application. His first approach was an emotional one... exploiting any lingering feelings Alvin might still hold for Mille. His second approach was through the system... overturning the suspension through petitioning.
"Two moves at once. Even if one fails, it's enough if the other succeeds."
"A merchant's way of thinking. Diversify the investment and increase the odds of a return."
Leonhardt nodded.
"We've received information regarding the first move from a maid at the barony."
Leonhardt paused for a moment; it was unusual.
"Millefeuille didn't write the letter."
Estella looked up.
"She didn't write it?"
"She received Ludwig's instructions, but she didn't go through with them. According to the maid's testimony, Millefeuille stared out the window for a while after hearing the instructions, and then simply said, 'I can't write it.'"
Estella fell silent.
Mille had defied her father's instructions.
That girl. The girl who had wielded tears as a weapon and moved the court as she was told... or perhaps she had done that of her own accord.
What has happened since she was sent back to the fief? Estella had no way of knowing but she could imagine. Days where no one came to rescue her no matter how many times she cried. A life where the baron house's servants didn't give her special treatment. Time passed by for her indifferently unlike when she was in the court.
Days spent in a world where crying had no meaning had killed something inside her and left something else behind.
That took the form of that single phrase, "I can't write it."
She probably wasn't actively defying him nor did she have an awakening. It was just that she had an option other than crying and obeying for the first time. That probably was all there was to it.
But that alone had thrown a curve to Ludwig's plan.
That same afternoon.
Leonhardt's voice sounded slightly different than usual when he informed her,
"My brother spoke to me."
Estella stopped in her tracks.
"He said, 'If there's something I don't know about Millefeuille, tell me.'"
Alvin had asked his brother this on his own.
Estella knew about the rift between those brothers. The rift started when Alvin ordered Leonhardt to stop helping her, and continued when his administrative duties were handed to Leonhardt. She thought that the rift was deep and frozen solid.
"What did you do, Your Highness?"
"I told him the facts."
Leonhardt's voice was flat but maintaining that flatness required more effort than usual.
"The full extent of the Elbach Company's schemes. How Ludwig had arranged Millefeuille's adoption. How he wielded power over multiple noble houses through his loans. That he sought to gain access to the court by applying to be a royal purveyor. Everything."
"And Prince Alvin..."
"Said nothing. For a long time."
Leonhardt looked out the window. It was still raining.
"Then he said just one thing. 'Millefeuille... was being manipulated by that merchant from the very beginning?'"
Deep in her heart, Estella recalled what had happened in the hearing chamber the day Alvin had defended Mille, believed in her tears, and tried to condemn Estella. Alvin had been driven by his emotions on that day and couldn't see anything else.
And now, that same Alvin had learnt the truth.
He, who had believed in Mille, and Mille herself were pawns; behind the girl who he had believed was driven by emotion stood a man who was motivated by self-interest.
"Your Highness. Do you believe it was... the right thing to do to tell Prince Alvin the truth?"
Leonhardt didn't answer.
Several seconds passed.
"I don't know."
Estella held her breath at those words.
It was the first time she had heard Leonhardt say "I don't know." He judged everything based on facts and logic. That was his principle. He gathered facts and made decisions based on them, so telling his brother the truth was the right thing to do.
But Leonhardt must have also known that those facts would hurt his brother more.
"Telling the truth is my principle. I can't hide the facts, but..."
Leonhardt's voice wavered slightly.
"I don't know if it was the right thing to do when I saw the look on my brother's face."
Estella couldn't say anything.
Even he had moments of doubt.
There were decisions that could not be resolved with logic alone. He knew that telling the truth was the right thing to do, and yet, his brother's silence had weighed heavily on him.
That wasn't weakness.
That was how Estella saw it. That wasn't weakness, but proof that something still remained between the brothers. If their relationship had gone completely cold, then he wouldn't have said that he didn't know.
"Your Highness."
Estella said quietly.
"You were the only one who could have told him the truth. Isn't that enough?"
Leonhardt looked at Estella.
He started to say something, then swallowed it back. Instead, he raised the corner of his mouth, ever so slightly.
"You say some strangely accurate things from time to time."
"I learnt it at my previous job."
"Where you worked for ten years?"
"Yes."
The sound of rain softly filled the silence between them.
That evening Estella returned to her room and stood by the window, watching the rain.
Mille hadn't written the letter. Ludwig's first plan had fallen apart.
But his second plan... the petition through the viscountcy house... was still in play. Duke Viktor's intervention and the viscountcy house's testimony would become the next focal point.
The battle against the company continued.
But what lingered in Estella's mind today wasn't about the company.
Mille's "I can't write it."
What had been contained in that single phrase. Not active defiance, but simply a quiet refusal that said, "I no longer have a reason to obey." She had taken her first step towards searching for herself beyond tears since she now lived in a world where tears don't work.
And Leonhardt's "I don't know."
A rare moment of doubt after telling his brother the truth. Logically, he knew it was the right thing to do but there were things that couldn't be resolved with rightness alone.
Both of them were beginning to face something within themselves.
Estella looked at her own hands.
What am I facing?
The answer had yet to take shape.
The rain continued to fall until nightfall.