Vol. 15 Ch. 7: The Late Old Woman's Confession, the Young Prince's Wish

The envelope tucked into Felix Ark Ridill's diary contained a letter. It appeared to have been written by Mercy Abbott on the brink of death.

It read as follows, in trembling handwriting:

'These past few days, my cough has grown worse with each passing day, and even sitting upright has become difficult. I fear I have little time left. Before this life of mine comes to an end, I wish to set down here every sin I have committed, every regret I bear, all of it. Please, let the person reading this letter be little Isaac, and not the Duke of Clockford.

I can still remember the night His Highness died as though it were yesterday. That night, at His Highness's request, I had everyone cleared from the back entrance. He had said he absolutely wanted to look at the stars outside.

Now that I think about it, it was a cloudy night. Why was His Highness so stubbornly insistent on looking at the stars outside...? Ah, whether I realized it at the time or not, I should have stopped him. Instead, I indulged His Highness and granted that sweet yet pitiful wish.

Afterward, when I heard that His Highness had fallen from the roof, I felt as though my blood had turned to ice. I do not know why His Highness, who had been looking at the stars outside, was on the roof. I only had the firm conviction that it must somehow have been connected to my clearing everyone away.

I was terrified beyond words. Could His Highness's fall from the roof have been my fault? If the duke heard about this, what sort of punishment would he inflict on me...?

Unable to bear the fear, I committed a sin.

His Highness always kept a diary diligently. So perhaps he had written in it that he asked me to clear everyone away. If someone saw that... Thinking this, I did the unthinkable and secretly took His Highness's diary with me.

When I returned to my room and read the diary, I learned a horrifying truth...