The Duke's Bed Warmer

Chapter 201: Showdown

After a week later, Maren walked into Austin’s study with a sealed envelope bearing the Astorian seal.

"I received this envelope just now from my Arcasedian contact," Maren said as she opened the seal.

Inside there were two letters and a dozen of documents. The two letters from Dorian and Laura.

"Open the Dorain one first," Austin said.

Maren nodded and opened the letter. Dorian’s letter was surprisingly short.

Your suspicions about the Arcasedian connection are correct. Laura traced the messages trail to a merchant house in Kaelara funded by Valdren’s faction. The name behind it is Lady Serilda Voss. She is Valdren’s sister.. She recruited Austin’s father in the network and is the mastermind behind it.

Both Austin and Alina froze and glanced at each other. Before they could speak, Maren began to read Laura’s letter.

What you are thinking is correct. The Valdren succession depended on the Ashrael line being extinct. Although they managed to kill Lady Isadora, they couldn’t harm Alina. They knew killing both Isadora and Alina would make them suspicious.

So Serilda planned a large conspiracy spanning over Alina’s whole life. She wanted Alina to be in a place where she had no rights, no status, and no power. They thought that she would disappear into a duke’s household and will never know about her heritage.

Ravenmoor had been chosen because it was remote and because Austin’s father has been an important part of the network. But everything changed when Austin fell in love with Alina.

Silence filled the room. For years, Austin had been chasing shadows, looking for answers. And now when the answers were in front of him, it was impossible to believe them.

"So the debt...the contract...everything was planned so that I could never know who I was," Alina murmured. "And every single thing I’ve done since arriving here is the opposite of what they wanted."

Austin nodded, agreeing with her.

"You were supposed to be silent just like other sold women."

"They really underestimated me," Alina laughed.

"No," Austin said. "They underestimated us."

They spent the next few days reading through every document Laura had sent. Every letter was connected to other in some way or other. Most of them were letters in Lord Ashby’s handwriting, asking permission from Serilda. There were several payment records and few letters had instructions for Ashby. They had finally unfolded the whole conspiracy.

"Tomorrow Ravenmoor will finally begin its new Chapter," Austin said after they finished preparing all the evidence.

Next afternoon, Austin walked to the library alone. Alina waited outside the door while Maren stood at the end of the corridor with guards covering every exit.

Ashby sat in his usual chair with a book in his lap and tea beside him. He immediately smiled when he saw Austin entering.

But Austin instead of smiling this time, put the stack of letters on the table beside his tea. Ashby’s smile disappeared immediately.

"What is this?" Ashby asked.

"Laura Vale sent them from the merchant house in Kaelara."

They had expected Ashby to deny and play innocent. But he probably too was tired of playing this game for so long.

"So my hunch was right," he smiled. "How long have you known?"

"Weeks," Austin replied. "Tell me about Cecily’s fire."

Ashby’s smile widened as if Austin had asked him something he was waiting for him to ask.

"Cecily found some letters in the old room. Those letters were written between your father and Serilda. She couldn’t understand them properly so she talked about them to her piano tutor since you were away. The tutor told me because I was the only person in the castle everyone trusted."

"And you decided to kill her by setting the fire?" he growled.

Ashby shook his head.

"I set the fire to destroy the documents. I thought she was in the main wing that night. My mistake."

"Your mistake burned my sister!!!!" Austin yelled.

"I know, but when I realized it was too late."

What disturbed Austin most wasn’t the explanation. He already knew about it but how normal Ashby sounded. He had no guilt and regret. He was explaining everything like talking about a misplaced document. Like burning Cecily alive had been a mistake in planning rather than a crime.

And only then, Austin understood why Holloway had called him dangerous. Ashby wasn’t cruel because he did terrible things. He was cruel because he had stopped seeing people as people a long time ago.

He wanted to choke him to death right there with his own bare hands but he clenched his fists, controlling himself. He had a few more questions for him.

"And Alina?"

"It was Serilda’s plan. She had planned it the moment she got to know about Alina."

"For twenty two years you sold women, engineered debts, and destroyed families...just to keep one girl invisible."

"To keep one bloodline dead," Ashby replied. "A living heir with a legitimate claim would destabilize everything Valdren built. Serilda believed this method was better than killing her.

She thought she was being merciful. But you ruined her plan by falling in love with your bed warmer."

"Lord Ashby. You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Lady Cecily Moore and for participation in a criminal conspiracy spanning two kingdoms," Austin said.

Ashby set his book down, marked his page, and placed his spectacles on the cover.

"I’m ready," he said.

Guards immediately entered the library and Ashby without any resistance offered them his wrists. He didn’t say a single word in his defense. The guards took him to the castle’s prison chambers.

The castle erupted in chaos within minutes. No one knew what was happening. All were trying to find out what crime their most beloved and loyal noble had done that he was walking through the castle in chains.

The moment he disappeared in the corridor, Alina entered the library. Austin immediately wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"He said the plan failed because I fell in love with you," Austin whispered. "You were supposed to disappear but instead you became the most important person in my life."

"Because the network made one mistake," Alina murmured.

"What?"

"They assumed you would look away. But you kept looking until you saw me."