Dare to Lie [Novel] Chapter 4 – A Small Investment

To Count and Countess Brow, buying a few dresses was clearly an investment—a small price to pay to sell off what they possessed at a high value.

Seeing how eager they were, marriage talks might already be happening behind the scenes. The party might just be an excuse for a meeting disguised as a chance encounter.

As I offered a slight smile in lieu of a verbal thank-you, the young maid assigned to me at this estate approached.

Watching her withdraw after a polite, shallow curtsy, I felt a strange sensation.

Until just a few days ago, I had been a maid exactly like her.

Typists clattered away at their machines, someone shouted for another person, and behind the officers conversing in serious tones, mailmen and newspaper reporters hurried to and fro.

Amidst the noise, Ash was reading the documents he’d received from Louis as if he intended not to miss a single character.

Louis viewed the matter as a simple accidental fire. He suspected it had likely been caused by a mistake made by the maid the Baron’s daughter had brought from their estate.

However, to Ash’s eyes, something about the case didn't sit right.

‘They say the fire seems to have started in Rosaline Tesis’s room, but why did the flames grow so large so quickly?’

What kind of flammable materials would be in a noble lady’s room?

It would have been understandable if the fire had started in the kitchen, but in that room, where there would have been an oil lamp at most, why on earth…?

That wasn't the only thing bothering him.

He could accept that the bodies of the Baron and his wife, found in front of Rosaline Tesis’s door, had died while trying to save their daughter. But the two bodies of male and female servants found inside the daughter’s room, and the body of the maid found in her own room, were suspicious.

‘Why didn't any of them escape the rooms?’

This was especially true for the maid on the first floor. Since the fire was presumed to have started on the second floor, it was only natural for a maid in her room on the first floor to have run outside. Yet, she had died in her room.

‘The pieces don't fit.’

Having finished the documents, Ash’s fingertip stopped on the name of the only person among the residents who had survived: Rosaline Tesis. She was just as strange.

‘Why did this woman alone survive?’

Perhaps it really was a coincidence. Just as written here, she might have been lucky enough to survive because a fire broke out while she was out for a walk alone.

And then again, perhaps it wasn't a coincidence.

For now, he transcribed the essential details into his notebook.

Just then, Sergeant Greg Norman approached with an awkward expression.

He handed a thin case file to Ash.

The file stated that Emma had already left the house and spent six days in the police station holding cell. Then, on the final day of her restitution period—the day the fire broke out at the townhouse—she had applied for bail with three million Gilden and gained a day of freedom.

Greg continued his explanation, scratching his cheek with an embarrassed look.

At first, he thought she might have fled for fear of being unable to pay, but then the townhouse caught fire, and he remembered Emma had said she would try to borrow money from the Baron and his wife.

Ash frowned and asked immediately.

Greg remained consistent with excuses meant only for the nobility. No one was willing to acknowledge the plight of Emma Hampton, whose life had been ruined by a power struggle between two young noblewomen.

It wasn't that Ash felt some holy sense of responsibility to rescue the weak. He was simply frustrated by a police organization that often missed the essence of a case due to a biased perspective.

Greg left the area with an awkward expression.

Ash watched his retreating back for a moment before turning his eyes back to the documents.

‘Everyone believed one of the bodies at the fire scene was Emma Hampton. Louis didn't know she’d been fired, and Greg believed it because she said she was going there to borrow money. But to be precise…’

His eyes scanned rapidly between the lines of text.

‘Isn't it true that there’s no evidence that it’s actually Emma Hampton?’

Ash wrote this question in his notebook. It seemed he would have to take a closer look at the recovered bodies and the scene.

Ten days after the party was first mentioned, I was heading to the MacCallan earldom with the Brows, wearing a magnificent dress the Countess had bought for me.

To an outsider, it might look like I was their daughter, which was likely exactly the image they wanted to project.

I supposed so. No matter how much the prestige of the nobility had declined compared to the past, the key positions in the country were all occupied by nobles, and an Earl had to be considered a person of considerable influence.

Just looking at the palace-like mansion made me feel intimidated.

Count Brow said, lowering his voice slightly.

A policeman…

I thought of the man I’d seen at the temple cemetery during the funeral of Baron Tesis and his wife.

At the time, I had instinctively known he was the new person in charge I’d heard about.

I couldn't remember every detail of his appearance, but his unique ash-brown hair, sturdy build, soldier-like gait, and the impression that he was handsome remained vivid in my mind.

At those words, the Countess clicked her tongue and shook her head.

Of course, the key positions in the police department were all held by nobles, and high-ranking officials naturally gained honor and power, but high-ranking nobles didn't look kindly on mixing with commoners for work. The cases the police handled weren't exactly beautiful, either.

That was why I was curious, too.

‘Did he go astray because he’s illegitimate?’

At the same time, I felt strangely satisfied to confirm that my impression of him as a soldier hadn't been wrong.

Count Brow whispered to me again.