Ch.638Episode 23 – The Spy Who Returned from the Cold Country

# Intended silence is a technique representative of negotiation and interrogation.

Especially in structured interrogations and public briefings by intelligence agencies, every silence contains its own intention.

And the same goes for politicians.

“His words have noticeably decreased compared to before. Even though he’s not someone who usually holds back.”

“Do you mean it’s a silence with intention?”

“Rather than that, I’d say it’s a shamelessness like the bottom of a plate.”

## Episode 23 – The Spy Who Returned from a Cold Country

The side room next to the reception room was piled high with all kinds of documents.

Investigation materials from the attempted assassination of the royal family, personal information files on the royals, notes summarizing the conversation that just took place in the reception room and the reactions of the two princesses, and so on.

After clearing away the papers with a gesture, Camilla slipped a pen between her fingers and stretched.

“Circumstantially, Elizabeth is the likely mastermind behind Margarita’s assassination attempt. Valery, Margarita is her most threatening competitor, and Elizabeth is virtually the only one who would thoroughly benefit when those two fall from grace.”

But that’s not the only reason Elizabeth is suspicious.

Adding to that, Camilla fished out a single memo from the scattered pile of papers.

“This is a memo I organized based on the conversation we just had with Elizabeth, especially her unconditional reactions during our talk, and the assessments Frederick and I made after our previous encounter with her. Would you like to read it?”

“Sure.”

“For reference, the judgment criteria are based on the structured interrogation method used in SIS. Let me know if you need any explanation.”

I shook my head, saying it was fine.

“There might be differences in detail, but industry standards are the same in any country. Whether it’s interrogation or rhetoric, the fundamental framework is all the same.”

“I’m glad we can move quickly.”

The memo I received contained not only a summary of the conversation I had with the two princesses but also various reactions they showed, analyzed based on psychology.

It meant that everything was thoroughly dissected—why certain statements were made at specific times and what background and information they were based on.

Camilla brought another paper in front of her and began explaining as I looked at the memo.

“The Elizabeth that Frederick and I met in the reception room last time and the Elizabeth that Frederick met today showed stark differences in many ways.”

“Such as?”

“When she summoned us, she never lost control of the conversation and led it using the information she had. But today, Elizabeth maintained a consistently detached attitude. She only spoke when absolutely necessary.”

Camilla pointed out the difference between the princess’s attitude when we first met her in the reception room and the attitude she showed today, summarizing her assessment as “excessively defensive and passive.”

“Unlike before when she actively participated in conversations, today Elizabeth took a step back from all dialogue. It was as if she was clearly calculating situations where she absolutely had to speak up, and for the rest, she just focused on the conversation between Frederick and Anastasia.”

“Looking at the conversation records, Elizabeth certainly seemed to be sparing with her words.”

I examined both the handwritten paper of our previous conversation and today’s memo simultaneously.

The underlines scribbled with a tricolor pen and the tiny handwriting meticulously noted how actively Elizabeth had participated in conversations and how she had led discussions in the past.

Camilla continued with a confident voice.

“Elizabeth’s defensive conversational attitude today seems like intended silence.”

Intended silence referred to a technique favored by intelligence officers in negotiations and interrogations. More specifically, it’s a type of rhetoric.

Using silence to induce misjudgment from the other party, limiting statements and information to a minimum to hide secrets.

It’s also often used to buy time to think of strategically necessary statements by refraining from unnecessary conversation.

Camilla said that’s precisely why it was more suspicious.

“In the past, Elizabeth showed an attitude of trying to gain control and advantage using the information she had. She even explicitly offered to help me by mentioning a foundation established by the Rushan Federation. It clearly wasn’t out of goodwill, of course.”

“But today she excessively handed over control and advantage to others present.”

“If she wasn’t participating in the conversation because she knew nothing, Elizabeth’s social status, family relationships, and intelligence capabilities concern me. With her husband and family members working in various central administrative agencies, and herself in a position to privately utilize security police…”

“…Hmm.”

“Isn’t it strange that such a powerful person would have no information about an attempted assassination?”

This incident was a clear assassination attempt targeting a royal family member.

No matter how much of a competitor Margarita was, it would make sense that information would have reached Elizabeth, another royal, through some channel after a royal family member was nearly assassinated.

In fact, Princess Anastasia also expressed concern about my injury, suggesting she had received reports from investigative agencies.

Yet Princess Elizabeth, who had set people to follow me using security police, didn’t say a word. Considering how she had consistently flaunted her intelligence capabilities in the past, this was clearly an unnatural silence.

I folded my arms while holding the memo.

“What if Princess Anastasia is working with Elizabeth, and in today’s conversation, Elizabeth deliberately stepped back to let Anastasia lead the conversation?”

“Mutt and Jeff?” (A negotiation/interrogation strategy similar to good cop, bad cop)

Camilla touched her plump cheeks and then rested her hand on the armrest, narrowing her eyes.

“…Probably not. Anastasia has sufficient motive to assassinate her half-sister who is a competitor, but conversely, she has no motivating factor to join hands with Elizabeth, who is also a competitor.”

Prince Valery and Princess Margarita were strong candidates competing for first and third place in the succession race that had turned into a three-way battle.

Anastasia, who was behind in the competition, could eliminate both to succeed the throne, but for that very reason, she shouldn’t ally with Elizabeth.

After all, Elizabeth was just as formidable a competitor as the other two.

As long as the second-in-line successor who could inherit the throne first if Valery fell remained unharmed politically, Anastasia couldn’t succeed to the throne without pushing her aside.

Even if she gave up on the throne and aimed for the scraps offered by Elizabeth after she became empress, it would be the same.

In a world where Elizabeth had seized imperial power, it was reasonable to assume there would be no place for Anastasia, who had already shown ambition for the emperor’s position.

She would soon be at greater risk of losing power and being driven out like her sister and brother, and conversely, Elizabeth had no reason to join forces with Anastasia, according to Camilla’s opinion.

“Why would an older sister extend a helping hand to her youngest sister who has no real power and isn’t even a threatening competitor? It would be more rational to make an offer to Margarita if she could be controlled. Though Elizabeth doesn’t seem to have any intention of sharing power with others in the first place.”

“She’s full of ambition. With the ability to plot alone, she wouldn’t throw away the opportunity to monopolize the results. Not with her personality.”

The Elizabeth I knew wasn’t the type to share spoils with others. Wasn’t she the one who tried to take advantage until the end while requesting cooperation from the Abbas government?

And now she’s sharing spoils with Anastasia, who doesn’t even have a decent power base?

It’s a ridiculous, dreamlike notion not worth considering.

“Actually…”

Camilla, with the back of her head against the wall, glanced at me with her lips slightly pouted. A mischievous smile was added as a bonus.

“Neither Elizabeth nor Anastasia would have ever thought of joining forces to instigate an assassination?”

“They’re both the very ones who betrayed their families to somehow become emperor.”

With no loyalty left to protect each other, how could they possibly endure the constant threat of backstabbing?

Above all, we had long tentatively concluded that this attempted assassination was Elizabeth’s solo crime.

For one reason only.

Because of the tool used in the crime.

I received a new file handed over by Camilla, and she snapped a cookie with her front teeth. Then, munching on the cookie in her mouth, she pointed to the file with the remaining half.

“The weapon used by the assassin. Investigation revealed it was an assassination tool used only in the Empire.”

“Yes, a weapon used by intelligence department guys. They used it to eliminate dissidents who had fled abroad.”

The “cane” used in this crime was an assassination weapon adopted by the Empire’s five security agencies.

It had been in use for quite some time and was widely adopted by not only the Imperial Guard but also the military and even the security police. A few times, intelligence agents operating overseas were arrested or their safe houses were raided, resulting in the actual weapon being exposed to the media.

Coincidentally, Camilla’s papers were filled with related news clippings. She grumbled that she nearly went blind looking through old newspapers from at least 15 years ago in the library.

“Reading old newspapers, I found that the cane was also used in suspected assassination attempts involving security police. It seemed to work on a similar principle to the ricin-injecting umbrella used by Bulgarian secret police in London.”

“Pretty much.”

The official position of the Kien Joint Investigation Headquarters was that the crime tool itself was privately manufactured by the assassin. In other words, it was a weapon modeled after their assassination tool.

Just like how 3D-printed ghost guns are sometimes used in crimes around the world.

It’s easier to understand if you think of it as something an individual created in a similar way.

But Camilla seemed to think quite differently.

“I know the structure is simple enough that anyone could make it. When I asked Francesca, she said she could probably make one too if she had the blueprints. The problem is that not just anyone can get those blueprints.”

“Because it’s an assassination weapon used only by intelligence agencies?”

“Exactly.”

That was right.

This cane was essentially a unique weapon used only by the Kien Empire’s five security agencies. The blueprint itself was classified, and it had never been distributed on the black market like ordinary firearms.

In the first place, since the original was designed solely for assassination, how could they make enough for it to flow into the black market?

Normally, they would keep it buried in a safe house, take it out only when needed, and then put it back in its place. Naturally, the intelligence departments here also ordered only small quantities with the intention of reusing them.

And among the likely suspects, only Elizabeth could have taken out the blueprint of this cane and secretly replicated it.

No matter how royal Anastasia was, she couldn’t freely access confidential materials from intelligence agencies, let alone information like the blueprint of an “assassination weapon” that intelligence agencies wouldn’t easily hand over.

If that had happened, the Imperial Guard would have already reported it to Prince Valery. Anastasia would have been arrested for leaking classified information even before the attempted assassination occurred.

It was more appropriate to suspect Elizabeth.

No, there was no need to consider it—she had to be the culprit.

All circumstances and evidence were pointing squarely at the first princess.

However, if there was a problem…

“Would Elizabeth be satisfied with this incident?”

“Hmm, I wonder.”

Camilla, who had popped the remaining cookie into her mouth, answered with an indifferent face.

“This can’t be the end.”

“……”

“Unless it’s the end of the beginning.”

*

As the ominous silence continued, time flowed mercilessly.

Under the gloomy, ashen sky. Everyone maintained an uncomfortable silence, walking on a frost-like blade edge.

And as always.

The incident struck without warning, like a thief.

“Imperial Police Urgently Arrest Lady Angelika Arkadyevna Zubov and Six Others on Charges of Instigating Margarita’s Assassination.”

Princess Elizabeth had seized the Eastern Governor’s neck.