Translator: Nox

Chapter 13

The employees residing in the duchess's quarters were extremely skilled at serving the young miss.

Thus, I could just leave everything to them.

Eat delicious food until full, bathe in the luxurious bathroom, receive a fragrant massage afterward.

Then, I lay rolling around on the rustling bedding, organizing my thoughts in a good mood.

After that, I sprang up.

"......!"

I could see the employees startle in surprise.

They must have thought I was going to sleep?

But all this rest was merely a means to gain momentum for work.

The employees approached hesitantly and asked.

"Miss, was there anything inconvenient about your bedtime preparations? Please tell us, and we'll fix it immediately."

"Everything was fine. I just got up because it's time to start doing something."

"Ah, I see. Then what should we bring first? Clothes to change into? Jewelry? Cosmetics?"

"None of that."

I cut them off.

"I want a report as the duchess."

"Pardon?"

The employees were flustered.

'As expected.'

I nodded inwardly.

While receiving luxurious service befitting my duchess status, I had continuously felt a sense of incongruity.

There was no one else visible besides the working employees.

Even if she couldn't have a full staff like Duke Kanel, a duchess should at least have a butler or someone to bring her information...

'No one to ask even if I wanted to know something.'

Surrounded by all sorts of luxuries, Aristina in the Rosen Duke's Mansion was like a kite with a cut string. A precarious position that could be swept away by the wind at any moment.

I already knew my footing was shaky, but seeing this treatment made alarm bells ring.

I said to the employees.

"If there's no one suitable to report to me, then bring one of the ducal house's aides from here in the mansion."

"The aides?"

"Why? Anyone receiving a salary from the ducal house must obey me, the duchess. Am I wrong?"

"Gasp! No! Of course not! We'll bring one right away!"

Two employees dashed off like the wind and soon returned with a middle-aged aide.

"With our house's major incident concluded, for the ducal house aides to report nothing to the duchess, the very party involved! Do I really have to call you myself like this to ask?"

*Well, the young miss never showed interest in such things...*

The aide looked somewhat aggrieved but stood at attention since I was technically right.

"I'm sorry, Duchess. Please forgive me. What would you like to know?"

"First, the fates of the criminals. The ringleader of the incident, Charlotte Remiel. For someone from a financially strained house to prepare a gold bar to bribe a ceremonial maid means her parents were probably involved to some extent, right?"

"Exactly. The investigation revealed Lord Remiel and his wife were actively complicit behind their daughter. All three had clear murderous intent, targeted two ducal houses, and nearly affected the imperial family, so they can't escape the death penalty."

"Is that certain?"

"Yes. I believe the execution date has already been set. The accomplices also knew full well that you and Duchess Hyperion would die yet proceeded for money, so they'll receive severe punishment as well, but..."

The aide shrugged.

"Noah Mayer, the imposter gardener, died falling while fleeing, and ceremonial maid Brrien Evans was found dead this dawn from the same poison."

I see.

Being such a commoner at heart, talk of people dying does give me chills a bit.

But leaving vile criminals alive only invites a backstab later—it's a classic death flag.

With my existing death flags already lining up, I checked just in case any more were added, but...

It was fortunate they had paid for their crimes decisively.

"And didn't two gardeners disappear?"

"Ah, yes... There was a report of two gardeners found collapsed in the supply warehouse. They were on the verge of death from not even drinking a sip of water for days."

"My goodness! They fled like they were escaping in the night, only to hide there and endure for days? So what happened?"

The aide glanced at me and rolled his eyes.

"I don't know what happened, but... His Grace met them personally, clutched his forehead calling them dim-witted fools, but acknowledged their merit and reinstated them with some money."

"I see."

I nodded once.

That resolved another curiosity. Of course, the most important remained.

"That's enough. I'll look into the rest myself. Aren't the aides compiling records of this incident? Bring those."

"Yes, understood."

The aide went downstairs and brought a thick copy of the records.

'Let's see.'

I read it meticulously.

The motive was clear, the process clear.

No hints of another black curtain behind the Remiel family or suspicious third-party involvement.

It was just their crime.

'The one who murdered Aristina has no particular connection to them and merely took advantage of the confinement to commit the murder...'

They could have been executed anyway, yet they killed her with their own hands.

Who could it be? A grudge, perhaps?

Worried the imperial family wouldn't execute her? Needed to kill her themselves to feel satisfied?

Or someone who benefits more the sooner Aristina dies?

'Or a serial killer's pleasure killing?'

A sudden thought struck me, and I reached deep into my pocket to pull out the Silver Shard.

A 'U'-shaped silver fragment. Both ends gleamed sharply. Probably cut from an 'O' shape originally?

I stared at it for a while, then a hypothesis flashed.

'Could that dirt-covered holy knight who returned to Luellian earlier have been searching the forest for this?'

Reporting it nowhere to be found made Luellian's gaze sharpen more.

Suspecting that I, whom he met in the forest that day, might have picked it up after seeing it sparkle.

'It fits.'

Still just a hypothesis, but their actions matched that scenario perfectly.

'If that's the case, it's probably something important.'

I feared him. But precisely because of that, I needed to hold something in my hand. Something that could be a weapon.

After pondering briefly.

I put the Silver Shard in the safe and locked it with the password.

Looking around, a crescent brooch on the teddy bear's cape caught my eye. Roughly the same size as the Silver Shard.

I removed it and put it in a small pouch.

'If he's looking for this, I could use it to strike back at least once.'

My mind eased.

I fiddled with the pouch briefly, tucked it away securely, then sat at the desk and spread out papers.

"Lots to do."

Though Aristina's memories remained as information in my head, some were vivid, others hazy.

Especially the murder moment was a complete blank, so I had to investigate from scratch one by one.

'First, organize the list.'

I immediately picked up the pen and got to work.

Information on various people I knew. Knowledge from gossip overheard in court.

Mobilizing every means and method at my disposal, I diligently compiled the list.

As night deepened.

Even as other lights in the Rosen Duke's Mansion went out one by one, the light in my study stayed on.

* * *

"Clear it away."

"Yes, Your Grace."

The servants silently cleared the dishes.

Amid the lingering bitter herbal scent in the air.

Duke Kanel wiped his clean hands with a handkerchief and looked down at the desk.

<Emergency Contingency Plan>.

This time he really thought it was the end, planning to hand everything over to the branch families and clean up. He himself would atone for life for failing to raise his daughter properly.

Yet somehow it resolved?

The duke still couldn't believe it.

*I really thought it was that wastrel's doing without a doubt.*

But perhaps his daughter's character wasn't that irredeemable?

*Still, she's hopelessly inadequate.*

He shook his head bitterly.

His only official heir was like that, but fortunately the branch heir had talent.

*That's what matters. Ability.*

For the family, he had to look at the big picture. Even as a cousin's orphaned son, that child was quite capable.

*I need to decide soon.*

The duke leaned back in his chair.

But... just before closing his eyes, a iridescent light brushed his vision.

"Hm?"

He opened his eyes. A mystical veil like the aurora draped faintly everywhere.

"What?"

The duke's eyes widened.

This was the light of the ancestral spirits that had protected the family for generations. Invisible to others, but clear to him as family head.

He immediately rose and knelt.

"Descendant Kanel receives your oracle."

But nothing happened. Looking closely, the glow wasn't directed at him but spreading softly outward.

What is it?

Thinking it strange, the duke followed the light upstairs. Walking around, it converged at one spot.

'Here?'

He shushed the guarding soldiers and opened the door. And froze in that instant.

His daughter was asleep on the sofa.

Not particularly surprising in itself, but...

Faint ancestral spirit forms encircled the sleeping daughter.

Whispering and nodding, stroking her head in approval.

As if discovering a praiseworthy descendant.

Duke Kanel furrowed his brow.

*Am I seeing things now?*

As if truly illusions, the ancestral apparitions vanished.

He looked down at Aristina sprawled alone on the sofa.

"Mm..."

Feeling empty sleeping nearly naked, she reached out sleepily, fumbling around.

*Foolish girl. There's a blanket right beside her.*

A slight nudge, and the blanket would reach Aristina's hand.

"......"

The duke silently stared at it.

*Should I push it? Or cover her?*

An unfamiliar thought popped up.

He didn't know why such a random idea came. He could cover blankets over aides, employees, vagrants, hunting dogs ten times over, but never for his daughter...

As he stood frozen.

"Your Grace?"

A voice came from behind. Chief aide Unis.

"What brings you here at this hour? Were you watching over the young miss?"

The duke panicked immensely.

"Ah, no! Let's go!"

He turned hurriedly without properly looking at the aide.

*Yes. Sleep well. Not knowing what news awaits tomorrow...*

One envelope stamped with the imperial seal on his desk right now.

It vividly appeared before his eyes.