The Facts (Serena POV)

In my office, the documents store room, I helped with managing the academy. I was in charge of the documents about the academy affair like students, tutors, and staff. The documents stored at this room were various and complete. They even included data from the first time the academy was built by the first emperor and the first Gordson's head.

That day, under the pertex of regular data management, I sorted out academy documents to find data about Prince Francis and Olivia. Based on their data at the academy, I could figure out who their tutors were, their scores, and other things regarding the academy.

From the data I found, I could say that Olivia was a great child. Her score was so high and she mastered a high level subject since she was young. That was a great achievement even for someone who came from an academy based family like me or her.

She graduated from the academy around the same age as me, fifteen years. Yet, she achieved a lot of great things before it. She worked for the Ashford family since she was nine years old and became the duke's advisor around twelve or thirteen years. I wonder what she did to get that position.

She was even better than her older sister, Lydia Whitley. Lydia was a great child though. She graduated with almost a perfect score when she was fifteen, but she ended up managing a small family business. When Olivia betrayed the family, Lydia's position was raised and she started to help her father and the duke.

For Prince Francis, all of his tutors were Whitley's people. I didn't need to look at these documents just to find that out, since that was an obvious fact. His scores were really low, but he got a high score at annual evaluation.

After the annual evaluation, Prince Francis' scores kept increasing and it drew a lot of attention. His tutors were surprised and even his majesty started to have an interest in him. That was when the Ashford family was so anxious so they sent a proposal to the Gordson.

The Ashford ended up losing their face when Prince Roosevelt lost at the sparring with Prince Francis. Prince Roosevelt, who came from the Ashford family, who was good at sword fighting, lost to a prince that just learned how to use a sword. That was such an embarrassing situation.

My question was only: how did Prince Francis manage to climb that high in such a short time? Was there any relation with Olivia helping him? The timeline just matched up one to each other. And if there really was a relation with Olivia, how did that girl help him?

No, my main question was, if Olivia really helped him, then why? Olivia came from the Whitley family who opposed Prince Francis. What she wanted and was it worth it with her being abandoned by her own family? Or, did she know something about her family?

'Knock knock…' someone knocked the office door, distracting my focus.

"Come in!" I yelled as I put the document on my table, and that person opened the door, entered with a tray and a cup of tea in her hand. She was my maid who served me.

"Do you want something, my lady?" I waved my hand, as a 'no' and asked her to leave me alone.

She understood my signal and left me.

What should I do to get the answer? I had only data related to the academy activities. How could I investigate that family or gather more data about this problem?

I took the teacup and sipped it, as I was thinking of a way. Olivia Whitley, Olivia Whitley, just what did she do in the last one year? Also where was she and how did she manage to hide this long?

Wait, suddenly I remembered something. The current head of the Whitley family, was actually not the previous heir. I wasn't sure about what happened at that time, but if I remembered it right, then where's the previous heir of the Whitley family and what happened with them?

I picked a piece of paper and a quill, then took note of all data regarding every Whitley family member. I suddenly had an interest in this 'unique' family.

In the afternoon, I finished taking notes. As expected, Asher Whitley, the current Marquis of Whitley, wasn't the previous heir. The record about him didn't mention him being the heir after the final test of the successor class. Instead the one who was mentioned to be the heir of that family was his older brother, Miller Whitley.

In order to get information, I checked the noble's family tree. Noble's family tree and background was a basic lesson for a noble, so I could check it easily from a book in my room.

Based on the information I read, it was confirmed that Asher Whitley wasn't the heir. But I didn't find the answer on why he could be the head and where Miller Whitley was.

Both of them were competent and they got a really good score in each of their exams. They were also the best in their class and the final test result was also high enough to be qualified as the heir. But Miller Whitley's score was slightly higher than Asher's. That was one of the reasons he was the one who was appointed.

After the previous head died, Miller Whitley went missing. So, that was why Asher was raised as the marquis. This event was even included in 'Noble's Family History' subject, but somehow I couldn't remember about it until I read it again.

Maybe I was too young to realize this before, but Raphael Whitley's name was only mentioned as Miller's son. There wasn't any further record about his condition after his father was missing.

Should I tell my father about this matter? There was a possibility that Asher Whitley was the one who killed Miller Whitley to get the seat as the marquis. But since the marquis' position was empty, he was the one who qualified to sit there and no one complained about it.

If father noticed it, then he could use this fact to weaken Whitley, one of Ashford's supporters. Then Gordson would get stronger and father would acknowledge me.

Or, should I just keep it as a secret and find where Raphael Whitley was? That way I could weaken Whitley with my own hand. The result would be greater than only reporting facts to father.

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Hi Everyone!!!! I'm back with a new chapter.

What do you think about this chapter? How do you feel about the facts you just find out? Do you have any theory?

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See you at the next chapter