Lady Lily wrote her message on a scrap torn from a sightseeing brochure.
The "P10" engraved on the key indicates page 10.
Then we find "E" on the map,
and "3" is...
Here! Saint Mark's Square!
I'm amazed you figured that out.
We're probably looking for somewhere the Orlamundes make donations.
So, the Museum of History.
Which brings us to this holy scripture.
But surely it's of great historical value?
That would be the point. Didn't I tell you she wasn't normal?
Found it.
A letter?
I've always hated to lose.
I never doubted that the goddesses had chosen me.
That I was special.
THE RECOLLECTIONS OF LILY ORLAMUNDE
Not until that day.
21 YEARS AGO LILY, AGE 5
Look, Lily.
That's young Lady Castiel.
For the first time in my life, I felt defeated.
It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Lily Orlamunde.
My, what a dreadful face.
S-Surely such rudeness is uncalled for!
And etiquette demands you give me your name as well!
It's Scarlett Castiel.
But you gave offense to me first.
You harbor ill will toward me, don't you?
Such bearing marks you out as a fourth-rate lady.
Fourth-rate...?
One of my mother's pet phrases.
That was how Scarlett and I met.
18 YEARS AGO LILY, AGE 8
Several years later,
we were chosen to be the crown prince's playmates during his convalescence.
We went to spend time together at the royal family's summer retreat.
Can't you talk?
Wh-What insolence.
D-Don't you know who I am?
My, what a fool you are.
How would I know anyone who hasn't properly introduced themselves?
S-Scarlett!
I'm Enrique.
Come with me. I'll show you a sight worth seeing.
It's beautiful...
Isn't it?
It's a waste to spend all your time indoors.
Just look at what a wide world there is to see.
Oh dear. Running late, I see.
I need to submit this before my tutor gets back to his office.
He's crying again.
In that case, allow me to gain you time.
I won't help you. It's too tiresome.
Lily?!
Lady Lily!
Whatever is the matter?!
Don't just stand there. We're going to turn in your assignment.
B-But what about Lily?
Lily's telling you to get a move on!
Around that time, His Royal Highness started to laugh more and more often.
14 YEARS AGO LILY, AGE 12
Soon, the two of them were engaged, and I assumed they'd be married.
But with the arrival of Cecilia Luze, destiny started to go awry.
10 YEARS AGO SCARLETT IMPRISONED
What does Your Royal Highness mean?
Scarlett, a poisoner?
Surely she would never do anything so underhanded.
A moonbowstone earring was found at the Luze residence.
I'm certain it's one of a pair I gave to Scarlett.
Even so,
I don't wish to see her put to death.
How could I ever want that?!
Isn't there anything you can do?
It's hopeless. The king has decided it.
His Royal Majesty?
How strange.
Why would the king involve himself in the attempted murder of a viscount's daughter?
And what is Duke Castiel doing? His daughter is bound for the headsman.
Is he powerless to stop it?
Or does he choose not to?
A public execution?
I'd like nothing better.
I'll show them all that I shall be the one with the last laugh.
You never know how fate will play out.
Before I knew it, eight years had gone by since Scarlett's death.
2 YEARS AGO LILY, AGE 24
At the time, I'd come to devote myself to aiding the poor.
One day, while I was looking for a good place to establish a school...
Cecilia? What is she doing here?
Kiriki kirikuku.
It really is her!
Good news. The Holy Grail of Eris is finally about to resume.
Took you long enough. Do you know how many years I've waited?
Well, we can't afford another failure.
And neither can Faris.
So, how's progress?
I already have Viscount Luze hooked on Jackal's Paradise,
and I'm having explosives smuggled in from Melvina.
I can start a revolt at any time.
How splendid.
What were they talking about? Explosives? Revolt?
Don't tell me "The Holy Grail of Eris" is...
a Farisian invasion plot?!
From that day on, I began gathering information in secret.
My contract marriage to Randolph, on the condition of mutual noninterference,
made it easier for me to move freely.
I lose! You're good at this, lady.
So, you wanna know about Paradise?
The Roosters bring it in.
"Roosters"?
An outfit called Daeg Gallus, "the cock that crows at dawn."
Daeg Gallus...
Anyway, watch your back.
Once they set their sights on you, you're done for.
I was boxed in on all sides.
They had infiltrated everywhere I could think of.
There was nothing the likes of me could do.
Lady Lily!
If it does come to war, the first victims
will be these orphaned children.
Lady Lily, what's wrong?
"Kiriki kirikuku"?
If anything should happen to me
and people come asking about me, recite this spell.
If they react to it at all, you'll know they're very bad people.
If that happens, I want you to gather everyone and run.
You can do that, can't you, Tony?
What's wrong?
I want you to come with us when we go.
Yeah!
Lady Lily!
Lady Lily, don't go!
I'll do whatever it takes to stop bad things from happening to you!
So please...
Oh, what am I to do?
How can I safeguard these children's futures?
I've decided.
I'm going to make...
one last wager.
Your Royal Highness, it's been too long.
I heard you're here to see Cecilia. Is there some kind of problem?
Are you concerned for me?
I'm only going to visit your own consort.
The crown prince didn't marry Cecilia out of love.
He must have had some goal in mind.
I'm certain he's picked up on things himself.
But nothing has changed yet.
Honestly, what have you been doing for eight whole years, you fourth-rate prince?
You haven't given up yet, have you?
I see he's still a crybaby.
In that case, allow me to gain you time.
That's just like you, Lily!
What a marvelous idea!
Thank you so much for saying so, Your Royal Highness.
I thought I'd start by repairing the church on Leda Street.
Good.
Speaking of which, I happened to see Your Royal Highness the other day.
Goodness. Do you really think I'd go there?
I don't believe I said where.
By the way, do the words "the Holy Grail of Eris" mean anything to you?
In the event they happen to,
I suggest you rethink your plans.
You can't afford another failure, now can you?
Goodbye.
I'm merely a sheltered young noblewoman.
I can't stop their plans.
But if they think I'll accept defeat, they have another think coming.
Cecilia and her coconspirators said they can't afford to fail.
So I'll make use of that fact.
I'll make them think their secret is out and delay their plots.
I gave them a glimpse of my fake key in order to mislead them.
If I manage to get away, their misconception will become truth.
The real truth, as far as I know it, is in the museum.
"Destroy the Holy Grail of Eris."
I couldn't manage it,
but I'll let someone else take it from here.
Someone alive in the future.
How haughty and proud they'll have to be to dare look down on the gods,
and how unbelievably softhearted to risk everything for someone else.
It will take a miracle for someone like that to come along.
But what's wrong with believing in miracles?
They haven't come. I won my wager.
Till the very end,
I didn't understand how Scarlett could smile like that back then.
But now I'm glad that she did.
That's right.
If Scarlett can do it, then, naturally, so can I.
After all...
Lily Orlamunde has always hated to lose.
Then this means the Holy Grail of Eris
is a Farisian military operation... to invade Adelbide.
"In closing, to whoever finds this letter,
I place the future in your hands."
She's placed the future in our hands, huh?
I wonder what we can actually do with it.
Hey, got a minute?
A-Amelia!
Shh! Not so loud.
I'm dead meat if she finds out I'm still in the country.
She who?
Here.
This is everything I dug up on Crown Princess Cecilia.
Make good use of it.
And there you have it.
At a glance, Cecilia's mother was a prostitute.
Kevin Jennings found out and developed a crippling drug addiction,
and was placed in Saint Nicholas Hospital, run by Cecilia's charity.
What would Crown Princess Cecilia want with a hospital?
This is only a guess, but perhaps she was testing Jackal's Paradise.
In the name of "treatment."
Earl Campbell used to oversee that hospital,
and he's linked to Cecilia by Simon Darkian, Deborah's husband.
Her husband?
Enrique, Cecilia, the Darkians, Daeg Gallus, those sly Farisian dogs...
It's gotten so convoluted I don't know who to exact my revenge on anymore!
Won't someone think of me for a change?!
If this is how it is, I'll thrash everyone who had anything to do with my execution!
W-Wait a minute!
How does she expect to "thrash" all those eminent personages?
Reports on a ten-year-old investigation?
You're after the truth behind Scarlett Castiel's execution, I suppose?
I hear your fiancée has been poking around.
Come now. Don't you scowl at me.
I am your superior officer, remember? And commandant, at that.
I'm a real important fellow.
Say something already.
Well, I can see why you'd be curious.
That reminds me...
Weren't you accused of treason
and nearly executed yourself around that time?
It's Faris we ought to worry about now.
Have you learned anything about the missing seventh prince?
No, although I tried to probe the head of their delegation, Kendall Levine.
Whatever do you mean?
He seems disinclined to make the matter public.
I see.
Their king is bedridden due to illness, and I hear rumors of a succession dispute.
That's not all.
Faris is reminting coins.
Gunpowder, iron, and wagon production are growing rapidly as well.
It sounds like they're preparing for war.
Right. And if so, it'll be war with us here in Adelbide.
Do they have a casus belli?
Proper justification? They could easily trump something up.
They've always had a knack for that kind of maneuvering.
But we won't give them the chance.
That is the duty of those whose lives were spared.
I looked over all the investigation reports, but...
Hello there.
Fancy meeting you again, Holy Grail Girl.
I beg your pardon?
Miss Grail, isn't it?
Pardon her. "Grail" is synonymous with "holy grail" in Old Farish.
You come from Faris, then?
And you must be Earl Randolph Ulster.
We're here today to speak with you.
How do you know my name?
I hear you were most attentive to our dear Kendall.
His Royal Highness Ulysses, Seventh Prince of Faris, was abducted in Adelbide.
Faris will use retribution to justify declaring war on your country.
But that's—
All staged.
Daeg Gallus did the abducting.
They're pulling the strings from backstage.
Then who are you?
We come from Faris, sure enough. Only...
Her Royal Highness Alexandria, Third Princess of Faris, sent us.
We don't want war.
You don't...?
Please, will you work with us to stop this war?
It's all as Lily wrote in her letter.
So, um, why did the plan ten years ago...
Why did the Holy Grail of Eris fail?
You mean you don't know?
It failed because Scarlett Castiel was executed.
So that's what this is.
Have you finished building your hand?
Your Grace,
Scarlett's mother was Aliénore Shibola, was she not?
She was a lineal descendant of Cornelia of the Starry Crown,
the last ruler of the vast empire that Faris once was.
The royal family of Adelbide possesses reddish-violet eyes,
while Farisian royals have bluish-violet eyes.
And amethyst eyes, blending red and blue, have a special significance in Faris.
The true goal of the Holy Grail of Eris was most likely
to install a descendant of the old imperial family,
Scarlett Castiel, on Adelbide's throne
and transform us into a vassal state of Faris.
But Scarlett was executed a decade ago, foiling the plot.
Her death saved Adelbide from being murdered in its sleep.
But perhaps...
someone ensured events would play out that way.
In other words, my execution was my father's doing.
Adelbide avoided its fate with Faris thanks to my timely death.
My father would think nothing of sacrificing his daughter for his country.
Duke Castiel did that?!
How could anyone... be so cruel?
Let's go, Scarlett!
Let's go see Duke Castiel right now.
He isn't the kind of man you can simply go visit.
If today doesn't work, there's always tomorrow.
He's bound to see us eventually if we only keep trying.
So I'm going to call on the duke today.
Very well.
I'll arrange a meeting for you.
We appreciate Your Grace's generosity in granting us this audience.
May I introduce my fiancée, Constance Grail.
I-It's a pleasure to meet you.
Now then, my sincere young lady, what would you like to ask me?
Was it Your Grace who sent Scarlett to the scaffold?