Princess Victoria's Secret |

Self-incriminating Innocence

It had only been a quarter of an hour since Princess Victoria arrived at the city gate and was stopped by the guards, yet in this short span of time, the man had managed to come up with a convincing explanation. The guard who was leading the group continued to speak, addressing Princess Victoria directly, "Are you trying to deny it, Your Highness? Your injuries, your hairpin, and your bloodstained dress, these things cannot be fake. We have evidence that links you to the crime."

Everyone's attention was now on Victoria, and as they turned to look, they saw the supposed "lethal weapon," lodged in the left side of Neil's chest, near his heart. Victoria's blue dress was also stained with blood.

The hairpin was made of black gold and had two small flowers engraved on it. At first glance, it appeared quite plain, but those two small kite-shaped green flowers were a unique characteristic of Little Venice. Anyone who saw them would instantly know that the hairpin belonged to Princess Victoria.

Victoria recognized the hairpin immediately, and she remembered that she had come to the Capital of the Ember Empire as a proton when she was nine years old. For the past six years, she had been pawning valuable items to survive, but she had never been able to part with the hairpin. This hairpin had once belonged to her mother, the original owner's wife, and it was the only thing that remained from her mother in this reality.

Victoria walked calmly over to the guard who had spoken out and looked down at him with a cold gaze. Seeing her unshakeable expression, the guard lowered his eyes guiltily.

"Tell me, am I pregnant?" Victoria asked in a demanding tone. The guard replied, "Your Highness, it was you who told Neil that you were pregnant, which is why he went to great lengths to get you out and escape. Perhaps you were only using her pregnancy as an excuse, and your goal was to kill Neil to silence him! But we already have proof that they are husband and wife, and there's no way that it can be fake. Otherwise, he would not have dared to go against the law and take the princess away to commit this crime of deceiving the monarch! "

Victoria was almost convinced by the words that were spoken to her. If she were to be pregnant, the doctor would be able to tell by checking her pulse and would easily expose her. However, the guard also insisted that she and Neil were already married, which posed a major problem.

Victoria was not like the other princesses who had grown up in the luxury and comfort of the palace. She was born and raised in Little Venice, and did not have any witnesses to prove her innocence. The guard dared to scold her only because he knew of her powerless position.

If a senior servant were to perform a physical examination on her, they would have all the power. As a defenseless person, there was no one she could trust to test her body.

The medical examination itself would be a great source of embarrassment. If word of this were to spread, she would not only be unable to marry the Second Prince, but also anyone else with connections to him. Furthermore, as a representative of the Ember Empire, the shame would be even greater for the ruling family. Victoria was always the one who suffered when it came to questions of her innocence.

Victoria lowered her eyes, but just as everyone thought she was at a loss, she suddenly let out a cold laugh, revealing a creepy smile. Neil, who was kneeling in front of her, saw it clearly and could not help but shiver.

Victoria stepped forward and pulled out a hairpin from Neil's chest with one swift motion, causing him to tremble in pain. The hairpin was black with a mottled red stain. She wondered why they had to be so ruthless in their attempts to falsely accuse her.

Pauline watched with fear and asked, "Victoria, what are you doing? Are you going to kill me too, to keep me quiet?" She anxiously waited for Victoria to kill Neil in a fit of rage. But Victoria smiled and ignored her.

She turned to Neil and asked, "You said that your injury was caused by me, right?" He gritted his teeth and replied, "That's right."

Victoria chuckled and commanded, "Stand up!"

Neil gazed at Kris, who responded with a tone of frustration, "Victoria, what is it that you're trying to accomplish? Is this situation not already embarrassing enough?"

Victoria stood firm, her lips curling with determination, as she declared, "Your Highness, despite any personal feelings you may have towards me, we are still engaged to be married, are we not? You wouldn't want this embarrassment to be for nothing. Am I correct in assuming that you would have preferred to have found my lifeless body today, or not found me at all, rather than having to endure this public spectacle so close to the city gates?"

Without giving him a chance to reply, she continued, "I can prove my innocence. I swear that I won't place any blame on you. Are you not satisfied with this, Your Highness?"

Victoria's words had a profound impact on Second Prince Kris, causing him to realize that he didn't want her to die and didn't want her to be at the mercy of the guards.

Pauline, noticing that Kris was on the verge of giving in, quickly interjected, "You claim to be innocent? So what if you think you can prove it? Victoria, if you truly want to maintain your dignity and protect your Little Venice, you should take your own life right now!"

Victoria rolled her eyes at Pauline's words. She knew that if she were to die now, it would bring ruin to both her and her father's reputation in Little Venice.

"I want to see how you will prove your innocence," Second Prince Kris declared, and with a flick of his wrist, someone brought him a chair. He adjusted his robe and sat down, eagerly waiting for Victoria to present her evidence.

An unassuming carriage painted in a dull gray color came to a stop just outside the perimeter of the gathering crowd. The curtains of the carriage were slightly lifted, revealing a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes that glimmered with a cold light and directed their gaze towards the center of the commotion.

The city gate was surrounded by a throng of people who had come to watch the spectacle unfold. The dense crowd made it impossible for any other carriages to pass through.

One of the guards in the carriage, Kurt, spoke up, "Your Highness, would you like me to clear a path for you?"

Charles Archibald, the occupant of the carriage, remained silent, his attention fixed on the young girl standing in the middle of the crowd, drenched in blood. Although his mind was hazy, he couldn't mistake her identity. It was the same vulgar woman who had fallen into his arms.

She was the proton from Little Venice, the source of his curiosity. He was still unaware of how she was able to relieve him of his blood curse, leading him to wonder if there was a connection between Little Venice and the curse. The thought of it caused his face to darken. If there was indeed a connection, Little Venice would have no reason to exist.

With a firm determination, Charles opened the curtains of the carriage and stepped out, despite Kurt's exclamation of concern. The flare-up of his blood curse left him weak and unable to function normally for days or even weeks. Today, he struggled to even walk, but he was driven to take a closer look at the proton, to determine her identity and unravel the mystery surrounding her.

With the permission of Second Prince Kris, Victoria continued to address the man who was accused of being an adulterer. She repeated her demand for him to stand up and asked if he did not understand her words. Neil, who was tall and imposing, stood up and bit his lip. Victoria instructed one of the guards to help her tear off Neil's shirt so that the wound could be exposed. She originally wanted to access a pair of scissors from the medical space to cut his shirt, but she decided against it as scissors would be considered a symbol of wealth and an ordinary person should not have them. The prince nodded and the guard tore open Neil's clothes. The wound was revealed to be on his left shoulder and chest, and it was still bleeding freely, eight hours after it was inflicted.

Victoria laughed and asked how a wound from eight hours earlier could still be bleeding if Neil claimed that she had caused it the night before. Everyone understood that the wound must have been inflicted more recently. Neil tried to defend himself by saying that the wound had started to heal, but Victoria had reopened it when she pulled out the hairpin. However, she pointed out that as a princess with no combat training, it was unlikely that she had the strength to cause such a wound. She also questioned why Neil, as an experienced guard, could not have removed the hairpin himself.

Victoria held up the hairpin and asked the prince if he thought she had the strength to assassinate someone with a hairpin. She walked back to Neil and explained that if she had truly stabbed him, the wound would have been at an upward angle, but it was actually at a downward angle, which indicated that he had knelt down obediently and let her attack him. With a dark expression, she spoke to him coldly and asked for an explanation.

!

Neil was at a loss for words, struggling to find a believable response to Victoria's sinister words. As he remained silent, she continued to speak, taunting him with her knowledge of anatomy and the methods she would use to take someone's life. She boasted about her strength and pointed out how she could have aimed for his eyes or throat, but instead chose to go for the pectoral muscle, which was well protected and would make the task more challenging and enjoyable for her.

Victoria sneered at Neil's lack of response, and he could see the cruelty in her eyes. She whispered in a low voice, emphasizing the deadly precision of her plan. She moved the hairpin to hover over his chest, explaining how she would strike between his sixth and seventh ribs, piercing his left lung and causing his blood to flow into his lungs. She described how he would be unable to cry for help and would slowly suffocate, feeling his blood draining away, his hands and feet growing cold, his vision blurring, and unable to utter a single word before he died. Neil was horrified, unable to escape the chill that ran down his spine as Victoria's words echoed in his mind.