"Let me ask one more question. That princess was moved out of the palace to recuperate—she was sent to Marienburg, right?" Solam had a feeling there was definitely something fishy about this!
"Uh... yes." Isabella froze for a moment, clearly beginning to understand what Solam meant. Still, she found it hard to believe, so she sought confirmation. "You don't mean this had something to do with Yalt, do you?"
But Solam did not answer. Instead, he asked, "The time that princess died... it wouldn't happen to have been sometime between May and August, would it?" That was exactly when Yalt had been stationed in Marienburg.
"...Yes." Even Isabella could connect the dots now. Still, she was dazed, unable to understand what this had to do with Yalt.
"How could there be such a coincidence in this world?" Solam lay flat on his back on the bed and muttered.
The timing fit far too perfectly. It was impossible not to suspect that Yalt had something to do with the princess's death. No—it should be said that this involved the royal family. After all, the royal family's reaction at the time had been far too strange. No one had reacted to the death of a princess, not even her own father. Her mother had been slightly better, but only slightly. She cried a few times, then acted as if nothing had happened.
That left plenty of room for speculation.
Thinking of this, Solam began organizing the information he had gathered so far.
First, Yalt must have been transferred out of Marienburg because of the princess's death. That could be inferred from the matching timeline. Second, Yalt must have known something.
Otherwise, Yalt would not have chosen to retire and stayed away from Beauclair for more than a decade. Was he running away?