(no subject)

so, ok. in Book 3, Chapter 68, Akua tries to kill Black only to notice it wasn't Black at all, it was Assassin. Except she doesn't believe it's Assassin:

“Assassin,” she said. “No, a fake. You are in Procer, I know it. The Prince of Orne died choking on his own correspondence.”

Ah, I thought as an old detail finally clicked into place. It’d always niggled at me, that Black’s favourite executioner would have a signature. His little ironic deaths. Wasn’t half the point of having a skilled assassin that the enemy never knew you’d killed one of their own at all? The point of a signature, I grasped, was that people recognized it. Watched out for it. It’s like the Eyes of the Empire, I thought. The deadly hidden in the obvious. How many people has Assassin killed over the years that had perfectly natural accidents no one ever thought to question?

I always interpreted this realisation Catherine has as cutting both ways: Assassin is perfectly capable of killing people and not signing their work, and some things that look like Assassin signing their work are just weird accidents that happen sometimes. Akua thinks Assassin was in Procer recently enough they can't have made it to Liesse, but she is wrong, it wasn't them.

Later on, we meet the new Princess of Orne, sister of the 'assassinated' prince:

Adeline had ruled Orne for less than a year now, ascending to the throne after the assassination of her brother at the hands of what was speculated to be the Assassin himself.

The point of view for this chapter is Rozala Malanza, so her believing it really was Assassin doesn't prove anything. But then:

Princess Adeline of Orne, whose brother and predecessor had been killed at Black’s orders.

That's Cat's PoV! she apparently believes he was assassinated!

Am I reading the first bit wrong? Are we meant to only draw the conclusion that Assassin can kill without signing their work, not that things that seem to be Assassinations are genuine accidents on occasion? And if so, what is the significance of Akua saying Assassin is in Procer, if apparently they were in Procer yet still made it to Liesse in time?