My older sister is a villainous rich girl

……

The queen was trembling, unsure of how to respond.

She didn't even quite understand why the situation had suddenly turned out this way.

On the other hand, His Majesty the King was in high spirits and spoke in a light tone.

"The Queen dared to collude with foreign assassins, plotting to kill me... How can such a wicked woman be worthy of sitting on her noble throne?!"

At his command, the guards who had been scattered at a certain distance rushed forward again, preparing to detain the woman who was in the center of everyone's attention.

Witnessing this scene, Simon was the most agitated among everyone present. Seeing the Queen being forced to kneel before the guards, he struggled frantically, shouting, "Let her go! This has nothing to do with the Queen!"

Simon had never regretted his decision to kill the king in front of everyone as much as he did at that moment.

He could have had many more opportunities to make his move.

But he was not willing to give up.

He didn't want his nearly twenty years of revenge to end in obscurity. He wanted to drag this man, surrounded by people and in the most prominent moment, into hell unexpectedly because of the resentment he had accumulated over the years.

Therefore, he had carefully prepared and waited for this moment.

At the magnificent and grand banquet, his subjects, his wife and children were all gathered together. What a perfect opportunity it was for him to perish here!

Unexpectedly, he had already realized what was going on and had been deceiving himself all along.

Simon finally realized that perhaps... this person was not as incompetent as he appeared.

Noticing that the king's cold gaze remained unchanged, Richard, standing beside him, grew anxious and once again tried to defend the queen, saying, "Father, perhaps there are other hidden stories behind this matter. We can investigate first—"

"A hidden story?" The king sneered coldly, "The hidden story is that your mother had an affair with her former lover and plotted to kill me so that you could take the throne!"

The queen seemed to be provoked by the accusation and suddenly came to her senses. "I didn't!"

“I have never done anything with Lambert!” she said urgently. “He was one of my guards, and we were very good friends.”

Richard frowned deeply as his father ruthlessly exposed his mother's private matters in public.

He felt helpless.

"Hmph, do you think you can just say you don't have it and that's it?"

The king raised his head and shouted at the guards, "Drag her away immediately!"

"No one is allowed to move!" Richard suddenly roared, shielding the Queen with his bare hands.

He couldn't let his mother be convicted like this, and he didn't believe she would do such a thing. If she were taken away in public like this, the scandal would spread throughout the entire capital the next day.

Chapter 491 How to get through this?

No, I'm afraid that no matter how much we try to block the news, what happened tonight will inevitably be leaked.

"Richard—are you also plotting rebellion?!"

The king's rage was like a thunderbolt, and all the nobles dared not utter a sound.

Richard mustered his courage and looked directly into the king's eyes.

"Precisely because this matter is of great importance, it is essential to clarify the facts," he said in a deep voice.

"Insolence!" The king, not expecting his son to dare defy him in this situation, turned grim. "Do you think I only have one son?"

As the king finished speaking, the other nobles couldn't help but turn their gaze to Lawrence, who looked completely bewildered.

Richard also looked at Lawrence, and their eyes met for two seconds.

“I believe… Lawrence would agree with me,” Richard said.

Lawrence glanced at his mother and brother below him, then at his furious father, and opened his mouth in vain, but ultimately remained silent.

Richard's words seemed more aimed at persuading the nobles present than at persuading the king.

"As everyone knows, the Queen never interferes in politics and has always simply fulfilled her duties in managing the daily affairs of the royal family. She has not even left the palace for many years. How could she possibly have an affair with her lover or even plot a rebellion?!"

Before the king could speak, Richard raised his voice and argued, "Yes! I know my mother is not passionate enough and does not share your interests, and is not to your liking, Father. But as Queen, she has never done anything against her status, so why should she suffer such humiliation! Is it simply because she is not loved by you?"

"..." The words the king wanted to say to him got stuck in his throat.

I always felt that his words about "not being enthusiastic enough" and "having similar interests" were implied.

"Ha...haven't left the palace for many years? I'm afraid that's not the case." The king suddenly calmed down.

"Just a while ago, she was boating on Qingxi Lake with her ex-lover."

Every word felt chilling.

The queen wanted to clarify, but had no way of doing so.

“Wasn’t that something you tacitly approved?” Richard said slowly, without backing down.

"It was you who repeatedly hinted that Lord Simon was a valuable asset to my mother's side, and even made an exception by entrusting him with important matters, which led to my mother's increased contact with him. When the Stuart delegation first arrived in the capital, my mother also refused all requests for an audience from the delegation of her homeland simply because you were unwilling to receive them."

Faced with his increasingly assertive attitude, the king finally realized what was happening. "What, are you accusing me?!"

“Of course not,” Richard said, neither humble nor arrogant.

"It just so happens that there are many guests at today's banquet. Clarifying the misunderstanding on the spot can also prevent damage to the royal family's reputation...isn't that right, Father?"

The king fell silent.

"How do you want to clarify this?"

Upon hearing this, Richard turned his head and looked in the direction where Wayne was.

Wayne met his gaze, seemed to understand what he wanted to ask, and nodded solemnly.

Seeing his actions, Richard seemed more confident.

"—This isn't the first time you've attempted assassination, is it?" Richard's question immediately sparked subtle murmurs from those around him.

Simon was taken aback for a moment, then gave a wan smile. "You saw through me?"

“At first I wasn’t sure, but luckily I have a witness,” Richard said. “So, as an envoy of the Kingdom of Stuart, why did you assassinate your own prince Raphael?”

Simon seemed to have no intention of hiding anything from this question, and he frankly said, "Because it is the order of our country's first prince."

These words sparked another round of quiet discussion.

It's not hard to imagine that all sorts of rumors and gossip will suddenly emerge in the coming period.

Richard's expression remained unchanged. "What good would that do him?"

"What benefits could there be? It's nothing more than not wanting his brothers to take away his power." Simon's tone was full of disdain.

“Actually, in the original plan, Your Highness, you were a higher priority target than Raphael…” As he said this, he looked up at Wayne, who was already standing far away, with great resentment.

If that person hadn't been in my way, I might not have failed.

Could it be that the outcome of my trip was already foreshadowed back then?

"So, when did you start planning to assassinate my father?" Richard continued to ask.

Simon paused for a moment before replying, "I had this idea long before he and the Queen held their wedding."

His voice was low, but it sounded exceptionally clear in the otherwise silent hall.

"But at that time, I was only thinking about it. What really made me decide was that later, I infiltrated the Kingdom of Lornes under another identity to inquire about her situation..."

The Queen was clearly surprised when she heard about this.

“She’s not happy…” Simon said sadly.

Before marrying into the Maysfield family, she didn't know any relatives or friends from Lornes; it was a completely unfamiliar place to her. Later, she also failed to gain the favor of her so-called husband; the king had long been separated from her and had other lovers, making their marriage a mere formality!

At the head of the table, the king's face looked extremely grim.

Although he knew that this matter was probably no longer a secret, it didn't mean he would allow others to openly say it and slap him in the face.

Simon clenched his fist as he spoke. "At that moment, I made up my mind that no matter what... I had to get her out of this situation."

"Lambert..."

Looking at him, the queen's eyes filled with tears, her heart breaking. "Didn't I already say that all of that is in the past?"

The no-longer-young man smiled weakly, "Do you know how much preparation I did for today?"

"Whenever I feel like giving up, I see the image of you crying helplessly in the palace. For that, I was willing to change my appearance and join the First Prince's service, doing all sorts of shady things for him, enduring all kinds of hardships and suffering."

"But as long as I think... that one day I will have the ability to save you, all that pain is nothing to me."

His face was clearly smiling, yet it was filled with despair.

"And now you're telling me—it's all in the past?" He seemed to have forgotten where he was, with only the Queen in his eyes.

How do we get there?

Lambert's tears finally fell, and he roared, "Tell me, how am I supposed to get over there?!"

Chapter 492 Perhaps, fate is playing tricks.

"Is everything you've done really for my mother?"

Richard stepped forward, blocking the view between the Queen and Simon.

At this moment, Prince Richard was frighteningly rational.

“My mother didn’t ask you to do this, did she?” he said coldly. “From beginning to end, it was just your wishful thinking.”

"...Wishful thinking?" Simon's emotions also began to become unstable.

"You're saying I'm just being wishful?"

really.

As expected of people from the Maysfield family, even the blood flowing through their veins is cold.

Even Richard, her own son, wouldn't care about her feelings...

"Discard your delusions about what my mother's private life is like," Richard said expressionlessly.

"Before this, hadn't you not seen each other for nearly twenty years? You, and the princess you remember, are no longer the same as before."

“For her now, Lornes is her true home, where her relatives and friends are, as well as me and my brother. Stuart, on the other hand, is a completely unfamiliar place to her, where her old friends and relatives have long since faded away with the passage of time… She is no longer the princess of Stuart, but the queen of Lornes.”

Richard said calmly but firmly, "She has completely adapted to life here. As the queen, she has never needed you to save her. Everything you have done is for your own benefit."

“That’s not it!” Simon shouted. “I did all that just to make her happy—”

"That's just to satisfy your own desires!"

Richard interrupted him.

"...Whether it's your so-called sacrifices or your plot to assassinate me or my father, when you did these things, you never really thought about the terrible consequences my mother would face. You were just immersed in the drama you had created for yourself."

"It wasn't my mother who truly pushed you to this point, but yourself who firmly believed that a princess rescue drama was unfolding on stage!"

Simon was stunned after receiving such a comment from Richard.

Standing outside the crowd, Wayne couldn't see the Queen's expression, which was turned away from him.

But he noticed that the queen's tightly clenched fists were no longer trembling.

"The farce is almost over," he said in a low voice.

Chris, puzzled, uttered an interjection: "Huh?"

“Even if the Queen is temporarily swayed by past affections, her most valued son has made his stance so clear that making a decision won’t be difficult for her,” Wayne sighed. “…To keep Richard, the Queen was even willing to send Lawrence far away.”

Subsequent developments unfolded exactly as Wayne had predicted.

The Queen tried her best to control her emotions and managed to regain her composure.

“Lambert, I’m so sorry,” she said.

“I didn’t know that the past had caused you such a big misunderstanding, but I never expected anyone to save me, nor do I need such a thing.”

Compared to before, the queen's tone became much colder.

In some ways, she bore a striking resemblance to the king at the head of the table.

"When I left Stuart, I said I hoped you would live a good life, but what you did was the exact opposite of what I expected."

The words spoken by the Queen pierced Simon's heart more than any sharp blade.