Chapter 136
The secret space continued to be organised until daybreak.
It’s a shame that the records he’d worked so hard to collect are gone, but most of them were materials that Killian had seen countless times, enough to know them by heart with his eyes closed.
Moreover, now that Estelle’s status as an illegitimate child had been revealed, there was no longer a need to keep most of the documents.
Since the materials were mostly combustible, the two of them burnt the documents in the fireplace.
They carefully inspected the ashes to ensure no traces remained.
“We should cool the ashes with water and scatter them in the soil behind the mansion.”
“It may not be the best fertiliser, but it’s suitable for burying evidence,” Garfield, now covered in ashes, joked.
Outside, the sun was already peaking over the horizon.
Sounds of diligent servants moving about could be heard.
“Will we finish in time?”
“Don’t worry. This estate is in my hands.”
Garfield reassured with a confident smile.
“I’ll take care of disposing of these ashes. But what worries me is…”
Garfield pulled out something he hadn’t burnt: a black moon’s white mask.
“It’s quite sturdy from being baked so thoroughly, and considering its rarity, even a fragment could serve as evidence.”
The masks collected by Fideut were made of an unusual material.
If a fragment were found, its material could serve as evidence.
Moreover, it was so hard that it couldn’t be ground into powder in the current situation.
“May I ask Miss to take care of this?”
Since leaving it at the mansion could be a source of trouble, it would be better to take it outside and dispose of it.
Sophia accepted the mask, briefly pondered something, and smiled.
“Okay. I’ll handle this properly.”
Garfield smiled with relief. But soon, a smile flickered across his face as he looked at the clock.
“Uh… Miss, there’s one more thing I’d like to mention.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“As far as I know, Her Majesty the Empress won’t just sit back and wait until His Excellency is exposed as the culprit.”
Garfield cautiously lowered his voice.
Garfield warned that the Empress would likely take aggressive action to frame Killian as the culprit.
‘I have entrusted you with Rosarphi…’
The Empress summoned Garfield and ordered him to hide the evidence so that Killian could be accused of being the culprit.
Though Garfield would handle Rosarphi on his own, if she’d ordered others to do the same, Killian would be branded a murderer without a chance.
“In other words…”
“You mean His Excellency’s innocence must be proven before Her Majesty the Empress acts,” Sophia quickly understood Garfield’s meaning.
If she were the Empress, Killian would be an imminent threat.
‘I would like to kill Killian myself, but if Killian dies, the focus of the investigation into the Black Moon will shift to Killian’s death…’
Rather than trying to kill Killian outright, they’d rather force him into the Black Moon.
In order to keep the secret of the Rosariphi organization she owns, Killian must become a sacrificial lamb.
Garfield nodded in gratitude to Sophia, who understood his concerns all at once.
“I apologize. It’s a heavy burden for you, Miss.”
Garfield hung his head helplessly.
“No, Mr. Garfield has done enough already.”
Garfield smiled with bittersweet relief at Sophia’s comfort.
Sophia pondered actively on how to prove Killian’s innocence.
“…Perhaps I can handle it on my own.”
Sophia tapped her chest as if to reassure him not to worry.
Grateful, Garfield expressed his thanks with a smile.
“By the way, you keep calling me ‘Butler ’until the end.”
Although he had asked her to address him more casually as ‘Garfield’ sometime ago, Sophia hadn’t adjusted her manners.
“Oh, did that make you uncomfortable?”
“No, in fact, I rather liked it.”
Initially, he found it strange and intriguing that a noblewoman like her consistently used such expressions.
But soon, he could sense respect in her words. She seemed much more refined and noble than those who easily treated me as inferior.
Maybe that’s why he felt good every time he met Sophia, and he wanted to take care of her a little more.
“It is a great pleasure not only for His Excellency but also for me to meet you, young lady.”
Sophia smiled happily at Garfield’s words.
“I feel the same way.”
It was fortunate that Garfield was Killian’s butler.
—
“…Where did you go and come back from?”
“Yikes!”
Sophia, who was secretly returning to the count’s residence, looked back in surprise.
“Ian…!”
“…You went out at this hour?”
Ian stared at Sophia, who was wearing a robe.
Sophia looked at Ian’s attire. He must have been practicing alone since dawn, as usual.
Sophia looked away from him, thinking that it was terrible that he hadn’t missed any training even after what had happened yesterday.
As Sophia tried to go inside without replying, Ian grabbed her wrist.
“Where did you go?”
“Do I have to tell you everything?”
Sophia frowned at his persistent questioning.
“It’s odd to go out and come back at this hour. Don’t you know it’s dangerous for a woman to be alone at midnight?”
“What’s dangerous? We’ve caught the Black Moon, haven’t we?”
As Ian pressed, Sophia coldly shook his hand away.
His expression hardened.
“Are you blaming me now? For what happened to the Grand Duke?”
Sophia’s gaze turned hostile.
It’s not that he doesn’t know why she does that. He was surprised to see Killian yesterday too.
But it wasn’t Ian Fraus’s fault.
He still believed Killian was the Black Moon and thought his crime was severe.
Even if the torture might be somewhat inhumane, it wasn’t comparable to the murder committed by the Black Moon.
So there was no reason for him to receive such a look from Sophia. But why does she trust Killian endlessly?
Why is she closing her ears and not listening or seeing what he says and the evidence he has found?
“Sophia. Think again…”
“I have nothing to say to you, Ian.”
Ian wanted to explain more about Killian’s crimes, but Sophia turned away coldly.
“Sophia!”
Ian called after her, but she didn’t look back and ascended to her room.
—
That morning, Lady Chanelia’s notice was scattered throughout the capital.
[Exclusive! ‘Black Moon’ Revealed to be Grand Duke Rivelon – Shocking Revelation]
Within half a day, the rumour spread to every noble in the realm.
“Grand Duke Rivelon was the Black Moon!”
“Ian caught him, didn’t he?”
“No wonder the military police were so jittery!”
It became widely accepted that Killian was the Black Moon, with various circumstantial evidence treated as if it confirmed his guilt.
Even those who had supported and liked Killian now had to align themselves with the royal family or remain silent. The fear of being implicated in treason was too great.
In addition, the extra edition also contained slanderous content disparaging all that Killian had done up to that point.
His stern treatment of a military police officer’s mistake was exaggerated, and there were rampant speculations about his refusals of suitors.
[We must thoroughly expose the hypocrisy of the two-faced Prince Killian Viprons Rivelon.]
Whether true or not, people accepted Lady Chanelia’s notice without question.
No one attempted to verify Killian’s guilt or the accusations against him; they were only interested in inflating the rumours.
Especially to those who had resented Killian or been refused bribes and marriage proposals by him, his downfall seemed a fitting punishment.
“Damn it, Sophia, that girl brings nothing but disaster to our family!”
Count Fraus, who had received the extra edition, shouted angrily so that even Sophia, who was in a corner room of the mansion, could hear.
Sophia hadn’t even been pushing for an engagement, yet she had become a traitor to her family.
It seemed as if Sophia had stubbornly pursued the engagement herself.
With Sophia and Killian’s engagement, the Black Moon’s prospective in-laws have become the family, so if they are implicated, the Fraus family will also be finished.
“Still, our Ian caught the Black Moon! That’s an incredible achievement!” Lady Rubisella rejoiced wholeheartedly, contrasting the angry count.
With Ian resolving the Empire’s longstanding issue of the Black Moon incident, his reputation was bound to soar even higher.
“Calm down. There won’t be any fallout for us,” she assured.
The engagement with Killian was also arranged by the royal family in the first place. And since Ian captured the Black Moon, there’s no way he’d be implicated.
While persuading the count, Lady Rubisella couldn’t help but draw comparisons between Ian and Sophia.
“If it weren’t for Ian, our family would have been in trouble because of Sophia.”
“We should really kick that girl out or something…!” Lord Fraus muttered angrily as if tearing apart the notice.
Just when they thought something useless had finally found a purpose, it ended up ruined like this. Now, there was no reason to keep Sophia around.
However, Sophia had already distanced herself from all this turmoil.
She had anticipated that Killian’s capture would become public knowledge. Regardless of what people said, she believed in him.
Therefore, she remained unaffected by the gossip, focusing only on what she needed to do.
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TRANSLATOR:
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