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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Feel Despair, Too. (3)
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At the sudden mention of the second daughter, the Chief Investigator furrowed his brow.
“The second Young Lady?”
“Yes. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but… *sigh*. Our second daughter has a lot of grievances with the family. If she had stayed in the Eastern Territory, she would have lived as the princess of the Eastern Territory, but since I brought her here, she became a mere Young Lady, so it’s understandable that she’s dissatisfied. That’s why she tries to tarnish the family’s reputation at every turn…”
As Rachel spoke, her eyes welling up, the Chief Investigator closed his mouth, looking troubled.
“I apologize. This whole incident, I suppose, is simply because our second daughter heard rumors about that man, grew curious, and tried to meet him briefly, which then led to this disaster. I will teach her well, so for today’s matter… no, no. I shouldn’t be making such a request.”
Rachel pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes.
Just then, Countess Ketileon spoke.
“But that’s strange.”
The Western Territory noblewomen had refrained from speaking, wary of Rachel, but Countess Ketileon said it as if it were nothing.
“Didn’t we just encounter the youngest Young Lady of this house near here?”
Rachel’s heart sank.
Countess Ketileon, whom Rachel had summoned intending for her to witness Ariana’s incident and spread rumors in the Imperial Capital, had instead become Rachel’s undoing.
Rachel glanced back, but Countess Ketileon was looking at the Chief Investigator.
“Who might you be…?”
“I am the wife of Count Ketileon, from the Empire.”
“Ah, Countess. Could you elaborate on what you just said?”
Rachel hastily interjected.
“Let’s not do that. First, let’s see everyone off, and then…”
“Duchess, we are investigating a murder. Those involved must remain until the investigation is complete.”
The Chief Investigator, affiliated with the Empire, was unyielding even towards Rachel.
At his cold tone, Rachel bit her lower lip.
To hide the trembling in her fingertips, she clasped her hands tightly together and glared at Countess Ketileon.
The Countess spoke as if Rachel was of no consequence.
“Earlier, on our way here, we encountered Young Lady Victoria. For some reason, both the Duchess and Young Lady Victoria seemed very flustered. Then the Duchess told Young Lady Victoria to hurry back.”
“When did I say that?”
“That’s how it appeared to me, Duchess. This is the Bronte family forest, so it was odd why you sent Young Lady Victoria back as if she had come to a place she shouldn’t be. Everyone even said it would be nice if Young Lady Victoria joined us for a walk, but you sent her away, didn’t you?”
The Countess looked at the other noblewomen and asked.
The noblewomen hesitated, avoiding a direct answer and averting their gaze, but to the Chief Investigator, their behavior seemed highly suspicious.
“Duchess. I need to speak with the youngest Young Lady.”
“She’s only fifteen, Chief.”
“Oh my. If we’re talking about age, isn’t the second Young Lady only sixteen? It’s just a one-year difference, Duchess. If the second Young Lady can do it, the youngest Young Lady can too, surely. Besides, isn’t the youngest Young Lady of this house said to be more mature than her older sisters?”
At Countess Ketileon’s words, Rachel’s face turned pale.
For some reason, the more she tried to escape, the more tightly a dense net seemed to entangle her feet.
An ominous premonition told her that no matter what she did, she wouldn’t be able to quietly extricate herself from this situation.
‘It’s fine. At worst, it’s just a sixteen-year-old’s scheme. If I handle it calmly, I can turn the situation around.’
Rachel calmed her churning heart.
As everyone said, Victoria was smarter and more mature than her sisters, even Ariana, so she would surely be able to navigate this situation well.
+++
Suddenly summoned to the drawing-room, Victoria blinked and looked around at the adults standing before her.
The noblewomen she had just met, men in investigator uniforms, and Rachel, whose face was pale.
Judging by everyone’s expressions, the atmosphere was unusual, but she couldn’t tell what was going on.
‘Did Ariana die, or something?’
It was clear that Rachel intended to do something to Ariana today, and Victoria had a rough idea of what it was. Perhaps something went wrong, and Ariana ended up dying at someone else’s hand.
Victoria feigned ignorance, smiling sweetly as she greeted everyone.
“Hello.”
She greeted them with perfect poise, but no one returned her smile. Her heart thumped.
‘Ariana must really be dead.’
Just then, Rachel stepped forward.
“Victoria, you…”
“Please remain silent, Duchess. I will ask the questions.”
Victoria was startled by the Chief Investigator’s rude demeanor. For a mere Chief Investigator to dare adopt such an attitude towards a Duchess was astonishing.
But seeing Rachel, whom she expected to be furious, surprisingly comply and step back, Victoria steeled herself.
‘If Mother is acting like this, then it must really be a serious matter. I need to be careful.’
Victoria looked up at the Chief Investigator with a polite and demure gaze.
“Do you have questions for me?”
“Second Young Lady. Did you go to the Bronte Forest today?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Why did you go?”
“That…”
She had received a letter. Rachel’s letter, telling her to come to that place.
But she couldn’t mention the letter’s contents, which named Ariana, so she lied.
“I just wanted to take a walk. I like walking in the forest.”
“According to the noblewomen’s testimony, the Duchess chased you away, Young Lady. Is there a reason you’d be scolded for walking in the forest?”
“Pardon? Ah… that… I interrupted the adults’ private time…”
“But the noblewomen said it was an atmosphere where it would have been fine for you to join their walk, Young Lady.”
“Yes, well… even if it was fine, I’m young, so I might have interrupted their conversation, don’t you think?”
“I see. In that case, have you been to the pergola today?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Then why was this found at the pergola?”
The Chief Investigator pulled out a handkerchief.
Victoria recognized the handkerchief as her own, but she had forgotten that she had given it to Ariana. She had been so flustered by Ariana’s behavior at the garden party that she had done it unconsciously.
So she just blinked, staring blankly down at her handkerchief.
“That…”
“It is yours, isn’t it, Young Lady?”
“W-well, yes, but…”
“Then why was this found at the pergola, a place you claim never to have visited, Young Lady?”
At the Chief Investigator’s sharp question, Victoria’s heart pounded.
Victoria realized that things were unfolding differently than she had expected.
‘I’m being implicated as the culprit in the pergola incident. I need to answer carefully.’
Victoria composed herself and spoke.
“I don’t know. Perhaps a maid stole it?”
“Aha. A maid stole a handkerchief with your name embroidered on it, not even a piece of jewelry?”
“A child with sticky fingers can steal anything. Oh, come to think of it… I didn’t want to mention this because it might be a blemish, but my sister Ariana sometimes steals my things too.”
Victoria was convinced that the person who died at the pergola was Ariana, so she blamed Ariana for stealing the handkerchief. She assumed that if Ariana had stolen it, then finding the handkerchief there would be perfectly understandable.
But for some reason, Rachel swayed as if she might faint, and the investigators’ and noblewomen’s expressions hardened even further.
“That’s truly odd. The evidence points to the youngest Young Lady of this house, yet why does everyone in this household seem so eager to make the second Young Lady the culprit? Is there some hidden circumstance I’m unaware of?”
At the Chief Investigator’s words, Countess Ketileon let out a small laugh and retorted.
“Indeed.”
Observing the unfolding atmosphere, Victoria realized belatedly.
‘Ariana didn’t die there!’
Her heart plummeted.
‘What do I do?’
She couldn’t take back the words she had spoken.
She looked at Rachel for help, but Rachel seemed barely able to compose herself.
“Since everyone here seems so eager to make the second Young Lady the culprit, I suppose I should hear her story. Where is the second Young Lady?”
+++
Ariana was not in her room.
Only then did Rachel feel a sense of relief.
‘She stirred up trouble and ran away out of fear!’
Still, if she said Ariana seemed to have run away, the Chief Investigator might find it even more suspicious, so she called over a maid who was cleaning the hallway and asked.
“Do you know where Ariana is?”
“Yes, well…”
For some reason, the maid glanced nervously at the noblewomen and investigators.
Victoria raised her chin slightly and stepped forward.
“Why? Where is she? Did she perhaps leave the estate?”
“Well…”
“Speak up.”
“She’s doing laundry in the backyard behind the kitchen.”
At the maid’s answer, the noblewomen burst into hollow laughter.
They had anticipated how Ariana was being treated due to the incident at the garden party. But hearing that she was actually doing tasks typically performed by maids made them let out a bitter laugh.
The Chief Investigator and the other investigators, unaware of the full circumstances, exchanged bewildered glances.
“The Young Lady is doing laundry?”
“Yes…”
“Since when?”
“For quite a while, it seems…”
As the maid’s answers continued, the color drained from Rachel’s and Victoria’s faces.
The Chief Investigator observed the expressions of the two mother and daughter and shook his head.
He could now guess how this case was unfolding, but he felt he still needed to confirm it, so he headed to the backyard behind the kitchen.
There, the Chief Investigator witnessed an astonishing sight.
A maid with short red hair and a young maid with sky-blue hair were washing blankets. As far as the Chief Investigator knew, the only girl in the Western Territory with ‘sky-blue hair’ was the second Young Lady of the Bronte family.
The Chief Investigator, unfamiliar with the rumors of high society, had no idea how the second Young Lady of the Bronte family was being treated.
Therefore, even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it, so he cautiously opened his mouth.
“Second… Young Lady?”
Then the radiantly beautiful girl with sky-blue hair turned her head.
Her fair skin, bathed in the pouring sunlight, shone dazzlingly, and the smile that bloomed on the girl’s lips was brighter than the sun.
“Yes?”
It was a clear and cheerful sight, unlike a Young Lady, dressed in maid-like clothes and doing maid-like work.
Even the Chief Investigator, with a heart of steel, felt his chest ache at the sight.
Ariana, who had been treading on blankets in a large basin, stepped out of the basin when her name was called, walked barefoot, and stood before Rachel.
And with a bright smile, she looked up at Rachel.
“Mother, what is it? Is there something else you need me to do?”
Rachel swallowed a dry gulp and a scream simultaneously.
That sight appeared differently to the Chief Investigator and everyone else present.
A cold mother who wouldn’t even answer her daughter’s words.
Instead of Rachel, who remained silent, the Chief Investigator asked.
“Young Lady, where were you today?”
“Today? Oh, I was…”
Ariana glanced at Rachel.
“I… was where Mother told me to be.”
