?

　　Anne, June and the head chef left the study now that all the information they had to share with us was enough. Rodrick had left to continue with his duties, and I told him to keep an eye out for Lady Marie. Those who remained in the study were Cassian, Augustus, Aiden, Gideon and me.

　　“How do you propose we go about looking for said drugs? I doubt the person who mixed it with Isaiah’s tea would be leaving the drug around in the open.” Augustus spoke, breaking the silence that was looming around us for a long moment.

　　“We could try to trace it back to the seller. There are not many people in the underground market who sell Ivy’s Kiss. If I could locate some and find out who bought the drugs from them recently, we could potentially have another witness.” Cassian speculated.

　　“Will the sellers be willing to disclose this information? Besides, are they not in possession of illegal drugs? Them admitting anything would only put them in danger.” Aiden commented.

　　“On the contrary, if we remained anonymous and if we had enough money to buy information, then there is no problem in obtaining such information.”

　　“Is that not illegal to do…?” Aiden questioned.

　　“Oh, my dear innocent Aiden, these are desperate times which call for desperate measures. Besides, I am not going to do it myself and risk getting exposed. All I have to do is send one of my men to get the information for me.”

　　“You sure do have many advantages of being a benefactor for the Hollows.” Augustus muttered.

　　“Are you trying to insinuate something here, Ghost Prince?”

　　“Don’t call me that.”

　　“Oh? And here I thought you were rather fond of that title.”

　　“A philanderer such as yourself should know a thing or two about titles.”

　　“Could the both of you cease this childishness?” I called out before things escalated further, although it was interesting to see Augustus fight back compared to having him always passive and quiet. The both of them glared at each other before looking away.

　　Cassian then turned his attention to me. “Well, what do you think, princess? Do you want me to locate the seller of the drug and hope that they remember who bought it recently?”

　　“That should be our last option since information obtained from the underground market is akin to a double-edged blade. The court might not appreciate where this evidence is coming from.”

　　“Hm, you do have a point. The underground market is seen as somewhat scandalous.”

　　“So does the Hollows and yet here you are.” Augustus remarked.

　　I gave him a warning look, but he merely averted his gaze. Augustus was right, the Hollows have a similar reputation to the underground market whereby both are extremely dangerous and illegal. But thanks to Cassian’s involvement with the Hollows, we were able to find an abundance of evidence against Lady Marie and her followers. They could be incriminated for what they did to Rosaline and my father, but we still have some missing pieces when it came to Isaiah’s case.

　　“Gideon.” I called, causing the old man to turn to me in shock. “Do you think we are able to conduct a surprise search of all the help’s belongings?”

　　“If we had a good enough reason then yes. But as Prince Augustus mentioned earlier, the chances of the culprit carrying or leaving the drug unhidden is rather foolish. What if we are unsuccessful at locating the drug? What if they had already disposed of it? It has been a few days since the incident happened after all.”

　　“I am aware of that but my idea of conducting a surprise search is not to look for the drugs.” The men’s gazes all fell on me, completely perplexed at my announcement. “It’s to see their reaction.”

　　“Oh! Those who are guilty would expose themselves, is that what you are thinking?” Cassian enthusiastically asked.

　　“Exactly. It may or may not work but it is worth a shot.” I nodded.

　　“Hm, I see what you mean but there must be a reason for us to even conduct a surprise search.” Gideon reasoned.

　　“That should be the easy part, right? All we need is a missing item and a person who is theatrical enough.” I said, eyes moving towards Cassian by reflex. Soon the others followed, and we were looking at him eagerly and waiting for him to realise.

　　“Ugh…” Cassian made a face before letting out a defeated sigh. “Alright, let’s hear it. What’s your plan, princess.”

　　*

　　Nervous chattering filled the space of the hall as confused maids, butlers and other palace staff made their way to the centre of the hall. There were guards positioned by the walls with Captain Evander and Rodrick present as well. I glanced over at Cassian who was already getting ready to do the performance of his life, and all I could think about was hoping that no one will see through this fa?ade.

　　“Everyone, thank you for gathering here on such short notice.” I started, my voice was loud enough that it made everyone stop talking and brought their attention to me. I looked over to the side where Augustus, Aiden and Gideon were pacing around the crowd, looking at everyone who gathered. “Unfortunately, the reason why I have gathered all of you here is because—”

　　“Because someone stole something precious of mine!” Cassian bellowed, nearly causing me to jolt from his unexpected cut-in. “And it was one of you!” he said furiously, pointing out to the crowd dramatically.

　　The chattering continued and I could see the confused faces of the palace staff members. I glanced over to Augustus, wondering if he had spotted anyone acting strangely but he merely shook his head to me. I turned back to address the crowd.

　　“I do not want to believe that one of you—no, that any of you are capable of stealing from my husband. All of you have been serving under my family for a very long time and it truly breaks my heart to find this out.” I sighed, reaching out for Cassian and he pulled me into an embrace.

　　“My beloved wife believes in all of you, but I do not. That is why she has respected my decision to conduct a formal surprise search of your person and the belongings of everyone present.” Cassian added and I was starting to question the morality in our plan, as we were initially lying to everyone here.

　　The chattering amongst the workers grew louder, some gasped by the announcement that a surprise search was going to happen. I glanced around the crowd, wondering if I would be able to spot anyone who was reacting strangely.

　　“Silence, everyone! There is no reason to complain because, Duke Ashborne is our honoured guest, and we are truly ashamed that this could happen under this roof. We need to find out the truth and restore Duke Ashborne’s trust in us.” Gideon called the attention of the others. “Now, please, cooperate with us so this can be done and over with as soon as possible.”

　　Gideon started to give the instructions to everyone and with the help of the guards, the search for Cassian’s non-existent precious item began. I slowly parted for Cassian’s hold as Augustus and Aiden approached us.

　　“There was one that I noticed acting strangely when the announcement of the surprise search was made.” Augustus told us in a hushed voice.

　　“I believe we might have noticed the same person.” Aiden added.

　　They then turned to the crowd, Cassian and I following their gaze. We spotted a maid who was on the older side. She had her hair tied into a tight bun and I immediately recognised her as one of Lady Marie’s maids, the very one who was with her earlier when we bumped into each other in the corridor.

　　“She’s one of Lady Marie’s,” I commented.

　　“She was unnaturally unresponsive to the announcement when everyone else was either shocked or in disbelief.” Aiden said.

　　“We need to keep an eye on her. Her calmness could mean that she just does not care.” Cassian mentioned.

　　“Or it could be that she knows she was not involved in this crime hence why she is not responding.” Augustus said, always the rational one.

　　“Either way, we need to let Rodrick or Evander know so they can keep an eye on her.” I told the three of them. Aiden reacted quickly as he nodded and walked away, heading towards the guards.

　　“Well then, we have already placed the bait. Let’s see where that leads us.” Cassian smirked.