Chapter 27
Midnight Murder
Deeng, deeng! The twelve chimes signaling the start of the funeral all faded away. But the ceremony itself showed no sign of beginning.
“Is this even possible?”
The Cardinal, who was supposed to lead the ceremony, had vanished. The priests who came with him only said they didn't know where the Cardinal was.
“Who was the last person to see Milode?”
Unable to wait any longer, Liene stepped forward and gathered the priests and subdeacons from the temple. Everyone looked at each other with bewildered faces, but no one could give a clear answer.
“Surely someone must have seen him. When did you last see him?”
“Well…”
The priests put their heads together and whispered for a long time before relaying the general situation. It was certain that the Cardinal had left the temple. Everyone had seen him coming down dangling from the rope. After the priests came down first, the coffin was lowered, and the six coffins were loaded onto the cart. Some priests said they saw the Cardinal on horseback, while others said they didn't. Combining the various accounts, it seemed the Cardinal's whereabouts became unclear after arriving at the royal chapel.
“Who was the closest to assisting him?”
“Hmm, well…”
The answer became vague here. Those who attended to the Cardinal were the acolytes. Usually, young subdeacons were chosen as acolytes, and they took turns serving him.
“But no acolytes came down from the temple today.”
No acolytes accompanied them today. The reason was that with seven priests accompanying them, there was no need for acolytes.
“Then we must find other witnesses.”
Those who transported the coffins by cart were Tiwakan. Liene, standing in front of the altar, turned and looked for Black among the people sitting in the chapel chairs. Behind the altar were the six coffins, and behind them, the people attending the funeral were sitting in chairs or kneeling on the floor. Black was sitting in the front row.
“Lord Tiwakan.”
He, too, had a face that suggested he suspected something was wrong.
“What is it?”
“The Cardinal's whereabouts are unknown. May we hear from those who accompanied him from the temple?”
“Yes.”
Black readily answered and turned his head to the back. It was a small gesture, but Fermos keenly sensed the signal and approached.
“Yes, my lord.”
“The Cardinal has disappeared. Do you know anything about it?”
“Yes? The Cardinal?”
Fermos also seemed to know nothing about it.
“How could such a thing happen… I will look for him right away.”
“If there was an accident, there must have been intent.”
“Of course, my lord.”
Fermos hurried out of the chapel. By this point, the people waiting for the funeral could not help but realize that something was wrong. A small murmur spread.
“Do you think… someone did this on purpose?”
Liene asked in a lowered voice. The statement that if there was an accident, there was intent, could only be interpreted that way.
“There must be someone who is dissatisfied.”
“Ah… I see.”
Liene glanced at the members of the Kleinfelter Family sitting in the very back row. Lyndon Kleinfelter was there. Laffite did not come, perhaps conscious of those who would recognize his face. If it was a deliberate accident, Lyndon Kleinfelter would be the culprit. But it didn't make sense. Outwardly, today was Laffite Kleinfelter's funeral. They, too, had to pretend they didn't want to postpone the eldest son's funeral.
“Still, I don't understand the reason. They may not like holding the funeral in the royal chapel, but there's no other suitable place anyway.”
“Then it means they are dissatisfied with something other than the place.”
“Something else?”
“Like a person, for example.”
“……”
It was at that moment that she had an ominous feeling. The Cardinal… was he angry about the fact that he took Tiwakan's money and decided not to postpone the wedding date? Is that why he's taking it out like this? …No, he's not the kind of person who would just take it out like this. He must have thought of something worse… Thump! Her thoughts were interrupted by the chapel door being opened urgently.
“My lord! I think we've found the Cardinal!”
It was Fermos. He burst into the chapel with the mercenaries.
“Yes? Where?”
The problem was that, despite saying he had found him, the Cardinal was nowhere to be seen.
“I think he's in here.”
“What… did you say?”
Everyone's gaze followed the tip of Fermos's finger. Fermos was pointing at one of the six coffins. * * * Groooan… The coffin lid began to move. Fermos, who had gone out to find witnesses, had learned other information instead. He had heard that one of the coffins seemed particularly heavy.
“There's no better place to hide a body than a coffin.”
Fermos muttered, watching the coffin lid slowly opening. A person had disappeared, and a coffin had become heavier, so the natural answer was that the person had gone into the coffin. Groan… Thump! Finally, the coffin lid was completely opened.
“Ah…!”
Liene let out a small cry. There were two bodies in the coffin. The body on top, which looked like it had been forcibly crammed in, was indeed the Cardinal.
“As expected.”
Fermos muttered, fiddling with his monocle.
“Since he was hidden like this, it wasn't an accident… someone deliberately killed him.”
No one could deny those words. Liene turned her head sharply and looked at Lyndon Kleinfelter. He, too, looked flustered and leaned forward to look at the Cardinal's body. That's why she was confused. Was he not the culprit? It had to be him. Why did he have such a surprised look on his face? As if he knew nothing about it.
“We'll need another coffin.”
At Fermos's words, the priests finally realized the death and wore blank expressions. Some knelt down and recited prayers.
“Then who will lead today's funeral? Is there a contingency plan for this?”
The sudden question flustered the priests.
“Well… nothing yet…”
“Are you saying we have to postpone the funeral?”
“Ah, it seems… if the Cardinal's seat is vacant…”
“Oh dear. I suspected as much. Is the next Cardinal candidate decided? Or do we have to start with that?”
“……”
All seven priests closed their mouths and rolled their eyes. The Cardinal candidate had not been decided. And it was the Council of Nobles who decided on that candidate. Lyndon Kleinfelter stood up from his seat.
“Since the matter is urgent, we must convene the Council of Elders as soon as possible to decide on the Cardinal candidate, Princess.”
“……”
Liene gritted her teeth slightly. How brazen.
“Of course, Lord Kleinfelter.”
“We will soon complete the meeting and present a new Cardinal.”
It was no different from saying that the next Cardinal would be someone who would follow his will.
“Let's go.”
Lyndon Kleinfelter led his group out of the chapel. Although it was supposed to be the funeral where the eldest son of the family was buried, he didn't even show a sign of caring.
“Don't think you've lost with something like this.”
Someone grabbed her hand from behind. It was Black.
“……Yes?”
Liene raised her chin and looked at him. His clear, mirror-like blue eyes reflected her.
“I am now in charge of Nauk's security. All we have to do is find the culprit.”
“Ah……”
Liene let out a small exclamation. Black was right. Lyndon Kleinfelter was overlooking one fact. The reason he had been able to get away with whatever he had done so far was because there was no force to check the Grand Council. But that was no longer the case. The Arsak Family had welcomed a new Guardian Knights, and now the security of Nauk was their responsibility. Lyndon Kleinfelter had dug his own grave. The crime of murdering the Cardinal was something that could not be covered up with any amount of power.
“It was an own goal, then.”
However, one problem remained.
“If we can find the evidence.”
There needed to be grounds to hold Lyndon Kleinfelter accountable for murder. * * * The bodies could not be left unattended. In the end, the funeral was postponed, but the bodies were buried in the ground. The six bodies were buried in the ground and returned to the soil. The Cardinal's body remained alone in the chapel because a coffin had not been prepared. The funeral, which was a mess from beginning to end, was all the more sorrowful for that reason. Liene comforted the weeping bereaved families until dawn and sent them away with a gold coin each.
“There was a reason why the Princess is poor.”
Fermos scratched his cheek and muttered. The moonlit road was quiet. The horses, as if knowing they were returning from the grave, walked silently without even a snort. Black deliberately kept a good distance from Princess Liene and followed behind. He knew that the corpses buried today were made by his hand. It wasn't that he regretted it or was disgusted by the killing. He was just worried that Princess Liene might think that way.
“It's a virtue of a leader, but I think you should also take care of your own situation. I heard you even had to alter your mourning clothes because you didn't have any.”
Black twisted his lip line after a moment of silence.
“She must have accepted the proposal because he is that kind of person.”
“Well, that's true, but…”
Fermos scratched his cheek again. The more he knew about Princess Liene, the more complicated he felt. He should have proposed earlier, when Princess Liene didn't have an official lover. Even then, there would have been noise, but people wouldn't have died like this. Fermos considered it a rare miracle that there were so few corpses in a place Tiwakan had touched, but seeing Princess Liene bowing her head in front of the bereaved families made him uncomfortable.
“But how did he end up killing the Cardinal? He didn't seem that stupid.”
Fermos changed the subject. This was actually more important. Kleinfelter was going to be a stumbling block until the day Black married Princess Liene. It was quite troublesome to try to solve something that could be easily done with force without bloodshed. But that didn't mean he was just going to cut off heads as usual. He was beginning to get a sense of what Black wanted. What Tiwakan's leader wanted to get back wasn't just the land of Nauk or Princess Liene, but his entire lost past. If so, there should be no bloodshed. Taking something by force was taking it away, not getting it back.
“Did he really think he had hidden the evidence so perfectly? Evidence can be found somehow.”
“That's the question. He looked surprised when the body rolled out of the coffin. It wasn't an act.”
“Ah… then he didn't intend to kill him? Or maybe he hired an assassin who made a mistake…”
“Something must have gone wrong.”
“Then we can dig into it from there. If we know where the mistake was made, we'll find the evidence.”
“Yes.”
Black, who usually cut his words short, added a word after a moment.
“Don't miss it.”
“Yes. Um… yes?”
Black, having finished speaking, went ahead. Fermos, left behind with a slightly bewildered expression, clicked his tongue to himself.
“He must be very worried.”
Black approached Princess Liene and matched her pace, keeping a reasonable distance instead of standing right next to her. Fermos, who had never imagined Black like that, muttered as if he had given up.
“Who would have known that my lord would become like this…”
Anyway, it was amazing. * * * Thwack!
“Are you out of your mind!”
A small storm raged in the Kleinfelter Family. Lyndon Kleinfelter was raging as if he would turn everything in sight into a wasteland. Someone hit in the forehead by the letterbox he threw was bleeding silently.
“Why did you handle the job like that! What were you thinking, putting the body in the coffin! You should have handled it so that no one would know who killed him!”
Someone was the one who killed the Cardinal at the behest of the Kleinfelter Family. The sight of him silently bowing his head made Lyndon Kleinfelter even angrier.
“You idiot! Did you do it on purpose to get caught, or why did you do that!”
Thwack, thwack! Lyndon Kleinfelter started kicking relentlessly.
