Likens found it increasingly impossible to read Rodi.
‘I don’t know how she figured it out, but…’
Her deduction held some truth.
Over the past few months, three bodies had been discovered—people previously written off as missing persons or runaways.
His subordinates had dismissed it as mere coincidence, but Likens had found it exceedingly suspicious.
In the end, Likens spent his day off heading to the archives where every case on record was stored.
“Keep up the good work.”
Offering a brief greeting to the archivist, he set to work in earnest.
Sifting through the records, he paused before an old, thick binder.
The report’s title read:
— The Deaths of the Young Duke and Duchess of Magzeta
…His grip on the file tightened before he could help it.
— Summary: The Young Duke and Duchess of Magzeta vanished after taking a boat onto the lake. Following a six-month search, the sunken vessel and two mutilated corpses, one male and one female, were recovered.
Likens fought to maintain his composure as best he could.
— No further signs of homicide were detected on the remains; the case was closed after circumstantial evidence suggested an accident or double suicide.
“…”
The document chronicled the deaths of his own parents.
‘I’ve read this so many times… yet I can never get used to it.’
He quickly turned to the next case.
A staggering pile of unsolved crimes and disappearances had accumulated over the past fifteen years.
Likens scrutinized every single word, refusing to miss a detail.
“Hm…?”
Then, all at once, an oddity caught his eye.
‘Something feels wrong here.’
He began combing through the records he had already read.
‘Here, too. And here. In this case as well.’
Having read through fifteen years of accumulated records, he found a single thread connecting several of the missing persons.
Likens muttered, bewildered,
“Could it be…?”
After setting the files back in order, he suppressed his churning thoughts and headed toward the Magzeta ducal residence.
Just then,
“Young Duke Magzeta.”
He ran into a middle-aged gentleman at the entrance to the estate.
The man had reddish-orange hair streaked with silver and warm, chestnut-brown eyes.
“Count… Heiser Gor.”
Heiser Gor.
He had been close friends with Likens’s parents. Having watched over Likens since childhood, he was like an uncle to him.
A pleased smile spread across Heiser’s lips.
“It has been a while, Young Duke. Have you been well?”
“Yes, and I am glad to see you looking hale, Count. What brings you to the estate…?”
“I came to visit Duke Magzeta.”
Heiser smiled warmly.
“He seems quite lonely lately. I thought he might appreciate some company.”
It was hardly unusual. His grandfather cherished Heiser like his own son, given how close Heiser had been to the late Joen.
“You shouldn’t leave the Duke feeling so neglected, Young Duke.”
“…I will do my best.”
With a teasing look, Heiser added,
“I am sure he would be overjoyed if he had a great-grandchild to dote on.”
“…”
Catching Likens’s uncomfortable grimace, Heiser chuckled softly.
“Haha… Only teasing, only teasing. Well, I must be on my way.”
As Heiser turned to leave, Likens called after his back,
“Count, may I ask you something?”
Heiser looked back, curious.
“What is it?”
“The day my parents passed away… did you notice anything unusual?”
“…”
After a brief pause, his expression stiffening, Heiser shook his head.
“Fifteen years ago… as I stated to the investigator back then, nothing particularly stood out. Aside from Joen having argued with Lord William and being terribly upset, of course.”
Joen Magzeta.
Likens’s late father.
“…I see.”
“Why ask about an event from fifteen years ago so out of the blue?”
“Simply… because the memory crossed my mind for the first time in a while.”
Heiser offered a look of sympathy.
“Young Duke—no, Likens. As I’ve said before, it was a tragedy born of one unfortunate event piling on another. Dwell on it too much, and you’ll only torment yourself.”
“Thank you for the advice.”
Likens saw Heiser off with a polite bow, then turned back.
A deep shadow lingered over his face.
✦ ✦ ✦
It was an afternoon steeped in gloom, rain drumming steadily against the earth.
Rodi, who had been indulging in a rare, peaceful rest indoors, received a guest.
“…Lord Magzeta?”
Leaning against the doorway, she offered a gentle smile.
“Aren't you angry with me?”
Folding his umbrella, Likens replied curtly,
“I have no recollection of being angry.”
“Liar.”
Rodi smirked playfully.
“You were furious.”
Hesitating, Likens let out a faint sigh.
“…You are the only one.”
“Pardon?”
“The only person who would call me a liar.”
“Is that so?”
“Most claim that I am exceptionally diligent, a scrupulously flawless heir.”
“My, aren’t we blowing our own—”
“Yet you are right.”
“…?”
Likens gave a dry chuckle.
“I am a liar.”
Before Rodi could process the unexpected confession, her eyes widening, he brushed past her and walked into the house.
Watching his retreating back, Rodi grumbled,
“I haven’t even invited you in yet…”
“You expected me to come anyway, did you not?”
A moment later, seated in the drawing room, Likens asked,
“How long have you known?”
“Known what?”
“There is no need to feign ignorance now. Following your words, I examined every disappearance and cold case from the past fifteen years.”
He stared fixedly at her.
“And I found a common thread linking the victims.”
Feigning curiosity, Rodi asked,
“And what was that?”
“Blond hair.”
Hearing those two words, Rodi smiled knowingly.
‘Just as expected of Likens.’
His mind was as sharp as ever.
“Blond hair, you say?”
He had clearly taken the bait she dangled before him.
“I see little point in pretending you do not know.”
With an unreadable expression, Likens continued,
“A review of those missing over the past fifteen years revealed an unnatural prevalence of blond hair.”
“…”
“Because it spanned over a decade, with intervals of several months between each disappearance, no one seems to have noticed until now.”
“To put it simply, then,”
Rodi rested her chin in her hand and remarked casually,
“it means a murderer is targeting only blonds?”
“Yes.”
Likens nodded.
“It also means a serial killer has been roaming the streets of the capital for over a decade.”
He added, visibly troubled,
“The culprit is remarkably cunning, moving with such caution… that no one caught on for all this time.”
The sheer number of people reported missing in the imperial capital each year was staggering.
Most were runaways or absconders, and clerical delays in logging transfers to other cities often caused individuals to be logged as missing.
Naturally, the city guard and the knights could hardly comb the entire empire in search of them all.
If months of investigation yielded no trace of a victim, most cases were closed as ‘unresolved.’
‘The killer must have exploited that very blind spot.’
When a blond disappeared only once every few months instead of in rapid succession, piecing together a shared pattern was nearly impossible.
“I was a fool.”
Likens had been appointed Imperial Palace Knight Commander two years ago.
Which meant a serial killer had been stalking the capital under his watch for the past two years without him ever noticing.
…Dozens of crimes might break out across the capital daily, but that was no excuse.
“How did you realize this?”
Rodi gave an evasive answer.
“Well, unlike you, who deals with countless incidents every day, all I see are the newspapers. I simply felt that notices looking for missing blonds seemed to turn up quite frequently.”
Likens stared hard at her.
‘Is that truly the case?’
In the past, he had believed Rodi was an open book.
A shallow woman, driven by jealousy, beholden entirely to her own desires.
‘And yet…’
Lately, she was anything but easy to read.
Though she seemed to act straightforwardly on the surface, she was complex, her true thoughts nearly impossible to fathom.
“Have you no further thoughts to share?”
Rodi shot back with a pout,
“Didn’t you tell me that a civilian should stay out of it?”
Of course, even as she said this, she already knew the identity of the culprit.
