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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: The Case's Conclusion
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“He was alive…”
That day, Elajan had struck Jestin, knocking him unconscious, then tied him to a stone and thrown him into the lake. After that, she cleaned up the surroundings and returned to the Count’s Estate.
But Bellison had witnessed it all.
He had happened to see Jestin and his mother heading somewhere affectionately and, curious, secretly followed them.
And witnessing his mother kill Jestin, he froze like a statue, unable to move from the spot.
After everything was over and his mother had left, he finally forced strength into his trembling legs, trying to flee the spot.
If only he hadn’t seen Jestin struggling to pull himself out of the lake at that very moment.
‘H-He’s alive!’
Seeing Jestin collapse as if unconscious after crawling out onto the lakeshore, Bellison sank back down to the ground.
Jestin was coughing and still disoriented, but he was clearly alive. In his hand was an old, rusty dagger.
‘…He must have cut the rope with that.’
The moment he fell into the water, Jestin fortunately regained consciousness. He struggled to cut the rope tied to the stone on his foot and, in doing so, discovered an old dagger lying on the lakebed.
Jestin had used the rusty dagger to cut the rope and escape the water.
‘W-What should I do!’
Bellison didn't know how to handle the situation. If Jestin returned to the Count’s Estate alive like this, his mother would be ruined.
And of course, his own future wouldn't be guaranteed either.
“Cough!”
“……!”
At that moment, Jestin coughed violently again and slowly began to open his eyes. And then his gaze met Bellison’s, who was standing to one side.
“Be… Bell… Bellison…”
“A-Agh!”
The moment he saw Jestin struggling to call his name, Bellison stopped thinking and rushed towards him. He began stabbing Jestin’s neck with the old, rusty dagger that Jestin had been holding.
He stabbed him over and over, like someone possessed, until Jestin stopped breathing.
“……”
A moment later, looking at Jestin’s dead body on the ground, Bellison was utterly distraught. He couldn't comprehend what he had just done.
But that only lasted for a moment. Terrified by his own actions, the only thought filling Bellison’s mind was how to hide it.
First, Bellison began loading the largest stones he could carry onto a boat.
Then, with the ropes the men had used and discarded nearby, and Jestin’s corpse, Bellison loaded them onto the boat and headed to the spot where the men had thrown his brother moments ago.
Next, he began tying stones all over Jestin’s body. He hoped that, no matter what, it wouldn’t float to the surface.
Having finished the task, Bellison pushed the dead Jestin directly into the lake.
“I… I killed him.”
“……”
“……”
After hearing his confession, everyone remained silent for a long time.
Cliff trembled as he watched Bellison kill Jestin, who had been alive, and forced his shaking hands into fists, trying to restrain himself. Lucian sighed, his gaze fixed on Cliff, ready to stop him if he exploded at any moment.
“…No.”
Elajan, who had been momentarily stunned by Bellison’s words, suddenly cried out desperately to those around her.
“N-No! It’s not true! I killed him! I killed him!”
It had to end with her. Now that it had come to this, she had to bear all the sin and put an end to it.
She couldn’t let Bellison pay for this crime too.
“Mother…”
“Silence! Don’t say another word!”
“I killed him. It wasn’t you, Mother!”
“I said be silent! I killed him, I did!”
“No, you didn’t!”
The two of them argued for a while, each claiming to be Jestin’s killer, neither showing any sign of backing down.
“Stop it. There’s no need to fight like that.”
“……!”
“……!”
But at that moment, a strange voice quietly interrupted their argument. Elajan and Bellison, along with the others, quickly turned their heads to where the sound came from.
“Since both of you will be held accountable, there’s no need to quarrel.”
“Y-Your Highness Idis.”
“……!”
It was Prince Idis, who had appeared before them. He approached where Elajan and Bellison stood, offering a chilling smile.
“The one who attempted to kill and the one who killed, their sins are equally grave… Take them away.”
“Yes!”
And at his command, knights who guarded him instantly appeared and began dragging away Elajan, Bellison, and the men who had been kneeling to one side.
Jestin’s body, which had been laid to one side, was also carefully recovered by the knights, and they left the scene.
Jestin’s body was the evidence that would prove their guilt.
“N-No! Bellison! Bellison!”
“Mother!”
Elajan and Bellison frantically called out to each other, weeping, but no one offered them a sympathetic glance.
“What brings Your Highness here?”
Sei-an, who was the only one appearing unperturbed by Prince Idis’s sudden appearance and quick clean-up of the area, slowly approached him and spoke.
“Coincidence.”
“……”
“I happened to be passing by and saw it.”
“A coincidence?”
“Yes.”
“…Am I supposed to believe that?”
“Are you daring to disbelieve my words?”
“……”
At Prince Idis’s retort, Sei-an stared at him with a momentarily bewildered expression.
He genuinely wondered what business a person of such high standing as a prince would have passing by the lake near the Count Devilran’s Estate at such a late hour, of all places.
Yet, how could he speak such obvious falsehoods, yet be so brazen about it?
Sei-an sighed and gently shook his head at Prince Idis, who truly seemed to have been born with the blood of a prince.
“By the way, there’s something I’d like to ask.”
“What is it?”
“If my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me, was the deceased perhaps a twin?”
“……”
A moment later, Prince Idis’s gaze landed on a certain spot, and he continued speaking to Sei-an with an intrigued look.
“What is that person over there?”
“……”
At his words, Sei-an, Lucian, and Cliff also followed Prince Idis’s gaze.
“……!”
“Jestin.”
A figure identical to Jestin, whose body had just been carried away, stood quietly to one side.
It was the doll that Sei-an had made and sent to Elajan.
“Is Jestin’s soul really inside that doll?”
“No way. Absolutely not.”
Cliff, unable to tear his eyes from the doll, quietly questioned Sei-an.
He couldn't help but wonder if Jestin’s soul might genuinely be inside that doll. The doll was so incredibly similar to Jestin.
“If a deceased soul were to reside in such a doll, the soul would suffer great damage. No matter what, that’s a created doll, not a human.”
Everything Shainos had told Elajan was a lie. Sei-an had merely made the doll shed tears when Elajan first saw it.
It was a lie Sei-an had instructed Shainos to tell, so that Elajan, scared out of her wits, would search for Jestin’s body herself, allowing Sei-an to discover its location.
“……”
Listening to Sei-an’s explanation, Cliff still couldn’t take his eyes off the doll that looked exactly like Jestin.
Then, Cliff slowly walked towards it.
“…It’s not you, after all.”
Jestin had always greeted him with a bright smile.
But even with Cliff standing before it, the doll offered no smile.
Cliff offered a bitter smile, then reached out and gently stroked the doll’s head.
Just as he used to do for Jestin.
“…I’m sorry.”
“……”
Then he quietly offered his apology. With Prince Idis’s sudden appearance, he hadn’t been able to say what he wanted to Jestin, so he conveyed it to the being before him instead.
“I’m sorry I didn’t realize sooner.”
He was sorry, truly sorry, that he hadn’t noticed the broken and twisted conflict within the Count’s Estate and hadn’t been able to prevent Jestin’s death.
“……”
Cliff silently gazed at the doll, which showed no words or movement, for a moment, then gently embraced it.
“Brother… I’m sorry…”
Then he quietly closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, thinking how pathetic he was for failing to protect even this one small child.
