Chapter 83
83
"Mireille, I don't know what you're talking about. This isn't mine."
"But you're the only one who uses this in the castle."
LeBlaine smiled and held up the item.
"You mean hair dye."
"I don't know what that is!"
"You don't know hair dye? I mean dye, dye. You really don't know?"
Mireille's face hardened, and LeBlaine said,
"Should I tell you then?"
"No, thanks."
"This is used when dyeing fabric."
"I said no-"
Just as she was about to shake her off and run away, LeBlaine grabbed Mireille's hair.
"It's also used when dyeing people's hair."
Her voice dropped instantly.
LeBlaine looked at the trembling Mireille and spoke again.
"Like when you dye your hair to deceive the Dubleds."
I looked at Mireille, who didn't know what to do and avoided my gaze.
That's right.
That hair, the symbol of Dubled, was the result of dyeing.
When Mina transmigrated, I saw her red hair turn black as it grew out. When people asked what happened, Mina said,
[I dyed it. Or rather, I bleached it.]
That's when I knew that people's hair could be dyed.
But even among those who haven't experienced Mina, there are people who know that hair can be dyed.
'Dollmakers.'
Dollmakers who make Ball-jointed dolls often dye them to meet customer's requests.
I had also specified the hair color and pupil color when purchasing a Ball-jointed doll through the Chairman, so I could easily guess that Mireille had used hair dye.
The hair dye in Mina's world seemed mild, but the hair dye in our world is not.
It's a very toxic dye that's only used on non-living things.
The reason Mireille kept collapsing wasn't just acting, but because she dyed her hair every time it grew out, so she was really in bad shape.
"You found someone who looked like Lisette and dyed her hair, didn't you?"
"……."
"Blue eyes aren't a rare color, so you were lucky that you, who looked like Lisette, had blue eyes."
"……."
"You fake."
"No, I'm not!"
Mireille shouted like she was having a seizure.
"I have the Dubled's aura! How do you explain that!"
"That's not the Dubled's aura, it's Yohan's magic."
"……!"
"When Yohan returned to the Empire, the attack wasn't to take his life or kidnap him. It was to put magic into you!"
At the thunderous shout, Mireille, startled, slumped down.
I gritted my teeth and grabbed her shoulder roughly.
"Do you know how long Dad waited for Baby Bird? Do you know how much Javelin suffered to find Baby Bird, how sorry Leah felt for her?!"
"……."
"You should have been real instead. You should have just been a Baby Bird who was just a bit annoying!"
"……."
Mireille pushed me away roughly.
"I just did what I was told because I was told I could live as a noble Young Lady if I went here! I was told that if I just dyed my hair on time, I could live a life of luxury forever……!"
That's when it happened. The surroundings brightened.
'They're here.'
The corpse-like pale Mireille looked at the numerous employees holding torches and the people standing in front of them.
Dad and my brothers, Leah, Javelin, and the Chairman.
The Chairman brought the people, matching the timing when Mireille confessed her identity, as discussed.
We were able to match the timing because we shared the progress through the Communication Stone.
The Chairman and I arranged the story as 'the Chairman was suspicious, and I, who was in the room next to Mireille's, spied on her at the Chairman's request.'
Mireille was immediately dragged to the castle. The terrified child confessed everything as soon as she was caught.
And we learned a surprising fact: Mireille was not nine years old, but twenty-one. She was also a prostitute.
She was the daughter of the innkeeper couple who she said had raised her. Her parents didn't really run an inn, they were farmers.
The whole thing was done in collusion with her parents.
The innkeeper couple, who had been staying near the Territory of Dubled to receive the crumbs Mireille gave them, were dragged in.
They were brutally tortured and answered everything they were asked, foaming at the mouth.
"A man came and said…… he would make our daughter a noble Young Lady……."
"Yes, yes, he said he would give us wealth to play and eat for the rest of our lives if we did as he said……. He said that if our daughter went to Dubled, we could rule over the nobles……."
Dad looked at Mireille, who was frozen next to the innkeeper couple.
"What happened to your body?"
"I don't know! Really! I went to a place guided by a man with my eyes covered, and after terrible pain, I became like this!"
'They used divine power.'
I wasn't the only one who thought so.
Noth looked at the head of the Magic Tool Bureau.
"If she was made younger with divine power, why couldn't the Bureau Chief catch it?"
"It's not that the magic is 'maintained' to change the form, but that the body was already completely changed by divine power."
The head of the Magic Tool Bureau clicked his tongue and looked at Mireille.
"She'll collapse soon even if we don't make her pay the price."
Mireille flinched and raised her head.
"Collapse?"
"If people could regain their youth, who in the world wouldn't use divine power? They avoid it because there's a risk they can't even try."
"What does that……."
"Your bones and flesh will all melt away in the near future."
At those words, Mireille screamed as if in despair.
"That can't be! It's a lie!"
"How foolish."
"Please fix me. Save me! I'll tell you everything. Please……!"
She crawled over and begged, but there was no one who could turn her back.
After Mireille's family was all dragged to the prison, I talked with the Chairman in the greenhouse. I turned my back to the Chairman and looked out the glass window, asking.
"What about the vassal who found Mireille?"
"He's clean. No one deliberately recommended the travel destination to the vassal."
"So he already knew the travel destination the vassal was going to."
"Yes."
Then it's even more troublesome.
Does that mean there's a spy in Dubled?
"What's the connection with Duke Valois?"
"Duke Valois is said to have bought Mireille. He seemed to like her quite a bit, and visited her often."
I paused and turned around.
"That's it?"
"That's what Mireille says. It's possible that Valois used Mireille without her even knowing."
I fiddled with the end of the table and narrowed my eyes.
'Either way, I need to contact Valois.'
"Okay. Keep looking into Valois."
"Yes. But there's a problem……."
"Why? Is it hard to investigate Valois?"
"It's not that……."
The Chairman said with a troubled expression.
"The timing was a bit off when we brought the people in to match the moment Mireille confessed."
"……How?"
"Well, people heard from 'Do you know how long Dad waited for Baby Bird?'"
I, who had been so nervous, slumped my shoulders.
It's okay up to there.
If it had been before that, they would have suspected me, but from there on, it can be packaged as the anger of a somewhat clever child.
Leah walked down the hallway with a half-crazed look on her face. LeBlaine's three maids were restless and tried to support her, but she weakly waved her hand.
"Go do your work."
"But……."
"I have work to catch up on too."
"……I'll help."
It was better to focus on work. Rather than blaming herself for believing in that damn lie and having hope all night.
Leah entered LeBlaine's room. It was to tidy up the child's bed.
But.
"Why is the room……."
It was clean to others, but the skilled employees could see it.
The location of the clothes in the dressing room had changed, and the inside was colder than usual.
LeBlaine was sensitive to the cold, so her maids always kept the room temperature somewhat high.
"Oh my……."
Not only Leah, but all the maids who had served LeBlaine had been transferred to Mireille, so the other employees hadn't been able to take care of the details.
"Oh dear, Baby Bird must have caught a cold."
"I think her voice sounded a bit stuffy when I saw her in the evening."
There were traces of rummaging through the closet in the dressing room.
It was Leah and the three maids who chose LeBlaine's clothes. They all enjoyed choosing clothes for her, so LeBlaine might have wanted to wear clothes she chose herself, but she would have held back and worn the clothes they gave her.
"She must have been cold after all. It looks like she was trying to take out thick clothes."
"She should have asked the other servants."
"Then it would have reached the master's ears, and Javelin, who put us with Mireille, would have been in trouble."
"She's smart, so she must have been careful."
While the maids quickly adjusted the Magic tool for heating, Leah found a ointment jar on LeBlaine's bedside table.
"Did Baby Bird get hurt somewhere?"
As soon as she asked the maids, the door burst open and Henri and Isaac entered.
"Did the kid get hurt?"
"What are you talking about?"
"There's ointment."
Henri reached out, saying, "Give it here." He checked the smell of the ointment and frowned.
"This is medicine for bruises."
"That can't be. She would have gone to the doctor if she was hurt."
"No, she couldn't have. Because there would be a fuss if she went to the doctor."
"What?"
"She must have gotten hurt when Mireille pushed her."
There was a small red area on the ointment. It seemed like something had been torn along with the bruise.
There were traces of a meal on the table next to the bed. While Mireille and the Dubled people were eating together, she always ate alone here.
Leah covered her mouth with both hands.
'I was crazy, Leah Shavanol.'
Baby Bird was someone who had a habit of doing everything alone.
She knew best that unless it was something really necessary, she wouldn't come forward and ask for anything, and that she often hid when she was sick, so you had to watch her carefully.
Intoxicated by the joy of finding the fourth, blinded by the guilt of not protecting her, she made a young girl who didn't even know how to be spoiled curl up alone in this big room all along.
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