Episode 63. The whole story
Odette’s body reacted before her brain could recognize the owner of the voice.
“…… Ellie?”
She urgently turned her head, revealing a figure in a flipped robe approaching, accompanied by Russell.
“Is it really you, Your Grace? How did you get here…….?”
Even without checking the face hidden within the robe, Odette knew.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she grabbed the person in the flipped robe and confirmed.
“Ellie, you’re safe……! Are you hurt? I thought something happened to you…….”
Unlike her usual composed self, Odette’s words rushed out incoherently.
She took Odette’s hand in hers and asked.
“……I’m fine, how did you know?”
“Blake has your hair…… Is your head okay?”
“What? my hair?”
With a puzzled expression, Ellie flipped back the hood of her reversed robe.
Then her red hair was revealed in the moonlight.
There were no cuts, just long, well-maintained hair.
Odette’s theory had been correct.
Apart from a slight scratch on her cheek, Ellie appeared unharmed. Odette hugged her friend tightly.
“Oh, thank God. I’m so glad…… I was so worried that something happened to you……..”
“Were you so worried that you came all the way here in the middle of the night? Tomorrow…… it’s the wedding, right?”
“Of course. You’re the most important person to me…… Even if it wasn’t the wedding, I would have come to find you.”
“Y- Your Highness.”
At Odette’s words, Ellie’s face twisted with a mixture of emotions.
Finally, she burst into tears.
Odette embraced her even more deeply.
It was a tearful reunion.
* * *
To understand the full story, we need to go back in time a bit, to the time when Ellie blacked out at the masquerade ball.
After being dragged away by a mysterious assailant.
“…… Your Excellency, it seems the woman who was following us has disappeared.”
Russell quickly noticed Ellie’s absence.
In fact, from the beginning, both Walter and Russell knew she was following them.
Ellie thought she was hiding well, but it was impossible for them, who were good at detecting signs through years of training, not to recognize even the slightest sign of a clumsy noblewoman like Ellie.
The only reason that they let her do it was because they knew it wasn’t anyone else but Ellie, Odette’s handmaiden.
The problem is, this is not a safe place.
“Is it possible that she stopped chasing voluntarily, or that she lost sight of us?”
“No. She was wearing a mask earlier, so she must have intended to follow us into the ballroom, and she was purposely moving on my signal, so there’s no way she could have lost us.”
Russell intentionally clapped his hands or flicked his fingers to ensure the attention remained on him.
He wasn’t being chased, he was begging to be followed.
Walter checked the general situation and nodded.
“I’ll have to check it out, but it’s almost harvest time.”
With those last words, Walter set out to ransack the suspect’s mansion once it was clear that Ellie was missing.
The same mansion where Ellodie was staying.
“W-what are you doing! Get out now! How dare you raid a woman’s residence who lives alone like this? It’s impolite!”
“There was an order from His Excellency to check all the mansions, once we’re done, we’ll go back, so please cooperate.”
“I said get out now!”
Ellodie protested against the sudden raid.
Her main argument was that Walter had no right to do this, as she had only recently moved out of Ertmann’s residence and taken up residence in a small mansion.
“If you think such outrageous actions will be tolerated, you’re gravely mistaken! I will go to the newspaper tomorrow and expose this outrage-“
“Sir Russell, there’s a hidden cellar here!”
“……!”
The resistance was cut short by the discovery of Ellie passed out in the cellar that Ellodie had hidden.
Ellodie was confined to her residence, and Russell took Ellie to a doctor to check on her condition and bring her back to her senses before bringing her back to Ertmann.
This brings us to the present, where they’re encountered with Odette, who comes to Ertmann residence in the middle of the night.
This was the entire story of Ellie’s kidnapping incident.
* * *
After the situation calmed down to a certain extent, Walter joined in and moved to the office.
After hearing the whole story, Odette’s feelings became quite complicated.
“……So, Ellie was spying on Walter, and going to the masquerade ball without me knowing, after that Ellodie Montoire kidnapped Ellie.”
What the hell had happened without my knowledge?
Nothing was taken lightly.
Odette asked, feeling herself wake up from the sleep that had not even come.
“Ellie, is this why you refused my offer for a bodyguard? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m sorry. But how could I tell you something like this when Your Highness is about to be married……. I was planning to confirm it myself and tell you, I swear.”
Ellie sobbed, rubbing her eyes, which were still red and swollen from the aftermath of her tears.
“How could I remain quiet when I hear that His Excellency goes to places like masquerade ball!”
“…… Haa, alright. Then Walter, why did you go to that place? Is that why you couldn’t tell me about your night out?”
Odette’s gaze shifted to Walter, and he looked a little tired.
But he didn’t dodge the question.
“As I said before, I planned to let you know later. Russell can testify to the fact that I did not go to the masquerade ball for the reasons Ellie suspected.”
“If it wasn’t something like that, why didn’t you tell me?”
“…… It’s about Louis Clovis.”
Odette’s mouth dropped open in shock at Walter’s admission.
“You couldn’t tell me because it was about Count Clovis?”
“Besides that, it has something to do with your brother, so I didn’t want to make you upset for no reason.”
Walter briefly explained that Louis seemed to be involved in the bootlegging business.
“The bootlegging business, especially if it involves nobles, is not a trivial matter.”
“Of course, indeed. It implies a substantial amount of unreported funds that secretly circulating.”
It was obvious how the money that had been made out of the eyes of the Imperial family would be used.
This means that if done incorrectly, the Royal family could be harmed.
“So when Cedric returns to the capital, he’ll probably be the first to tackle this issue…… which could be a bit risky depending on the circumstances. I thought it would be prudent to find out in advance before Cedric returns.”
“Depending on the circumstances, it might be risky?”
“If Cedric initiates an investigation, the nobles who involved in this bootlegging business may feel threatened and unite against it, posing a potential danger.”
And it was uncertain what harm they would inflict on Cedric.
“I didn’t want you to worry.”
Of course he would have told her if he’d known it was going to happen, Walter sighed.
He looked a little embarrassed when he said that.
Perhaps it was because he remembered how he had kept this matter secret until he rejected Odette’s temptation a few days ago.
In the end, both Ellie and Walter kept their mouths shut for Odette’s sake.
‘I can’t say anything more about this.’
He couldn’t blame her, for it was his own selfishness that had led to this trouble.
Odette sighed as she touched her temple, and Ellie awkwardly raised her hand.
“Then, Me too……! There’s something I’d like to ask Your Excellency! No, I have to ask!”
“What is it?”
“Your Excellency said that you’ve been in and out of the masquerade balls investigating the bootlegging business, but if that’s the case, how were you able to pinpoint Ellodie Montoire?”
Having been kidnapped herself, Ellie was not able to fully trust Walter.
Even though this matter was resolved so vainly, she did not forget that it could have actually been a very serious problem.
If Walter hadn’t realized right away that it was Ellodie who had kidnapped Ellie, the search would have been quite difficult.
Especially since Ellodie had become somewhat irrelevant in the current situation, and it would have been hard to think of her without a good reason.
How on earth did he know that Ellodie was the culprit.
He chuckled at Ellie’s question, and answered.
“Of course I don’t either. It’s true that Montoire supports Ellodie’s social life, but that’s only because of the relationship between Montoire and Ertmann, not because of her.”
However, this doesn’t mean that Walter was careless enough not to notice if Ellodie was up to something.
The reason Walter released Ellodie was actually because he pushed her to do something ‘nonsense’.
Of course, he had no intention of talking about such things, so Walter explained what had come to the surface.
“All the money that Ellodie Montoire spends is being billed to Montoire through Ertmann. However, the jewelry that Ellodie Montoire recently purchased was listed as stolen.”
In simpler terms, Ellodie was secretly creating illicit funds, avoiding Ertman’s scrutiny.
This could involve giving away gems instead of payment or discreetly selling them to acquire money.
“To be so secretive, especially if dealing with large sums, it’s only natural to exercise caution. That’s all there was to it.”
“That makes sense, alright!”
Ellie nodded, finally satisfied with Walter’s explanation.
No, to be honest, Ellie still had some doubts.
‘I can see that the Duke’s relationship with Ellodie Montoire is clean.’
But that’s not the only part of a person’s secret.
Walter said he hadn’t told Odette that he’d been investigating the bootleggers because he didn’t want to cause her unnecessary worry.
‘Judging by the situation, it seems like Your Highness has also sensed that the Duke is hiding something.’
Is there really something about the bootlegging trade discussions that should be kept hidden under the circumstances?
If he really cared about Odette, he would have explained the circumstances that would have made it look like he was having an affair.
At least that would have been the case if it had been Ellie herself.
‘If Your Highness had noticed that I was secretly going somewhere and asked, I would have told her the truth.’
But that’s not what Walter did.
‘The Duke is hiding something.’
