Chapter 3
Hugo roughly shook off his unkempt hair and left the hotel.
“Hey, Hugo!”
At the familiar voice, he turned his head to see Logan leaning against a pillar at the hotel entrance.
“…Why do you look so miserable?”
“…Me?”
“Yeah. You look like a debtor running away from a usurer.”
“…You’ll find out why soon enough.”
Logan rubbed his tired eyes and responded. His already sunken eyes looked even more haggard.
He led Hugo to where the carriage was waiting.
“Hurry up and get in.”
“…Is it okay for me to get in?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Hugo glanced between Logan and the carriage.
“It seems like a direct express to hell.”
“…Pft,”
At the unnecessary sharp comment, Logan shuddered and waved it off.
“Not hell, stop talking nonsense and get in already!”
Then, he shoved Hugo, who was a head taller than him, into the carriage.
Well, strictly speaking, it wasn’t hell. They were heading somewhere worse — a place where even the devil would tremble, to face his superior.
—
Frazer was reading the documents handed to him by Edmund. They were the details about Eric Foster, the man who had run away with Caroline.
“He’s not a relative of Baron Foster?”
The grip on the edge of the paper tightened. Edmund bowed his head and replied.
“Correct. It turns out that even Baron Foster doesn’t know him. After investigating, we found out he’s from a very distant branch of the Foster family, so distant that he might as well be a stranger.”
“What else?”
“He apparently dropped out of medical school in the capital.”
At this unexpected revelation, Frazer’s eyebrows twitched. It seemed this man was more intelligent than he had initially thought.
“Why did he drop out?”
“It seems it was due to financial problems. Other than that, there’s no other noteworthy information…”
“That’s enough for now. You may leave.”
“Yes, sir.”
Frazer stared intently at Eric Foster’s medical school admission letter. Except for the semester before he dropped out, he had been the top or second in his class.
“Quit because of money, huh…”
Frazer muttered while resting his chin on his hand. The sunset, hanging halfway on the horizon, was already sinking into a deep red.
“Sir, it’s Logan.”
At the out-of-breath voice from outside, Frazer lifted his head. Instead of commanding him to enter, he walked to the door and opened it himself.
“…You startled me.”
“…”
“Why are you suddenly doing things you never used to do?”
Looking genuinely surprised, Hugo’s hand froze in mid-air as he tried to grab the doorknob. Logan swiftly slapped Hugo’s arm with a sharp sound.
Rather than speak, Frazer stepped slightly aside from the door. Logan and Hugo entered the office a little late.
Though Frazer had already caught on to their arrival from Logan’s non-stop chatter in the carriage, seeing Frazer’s unnervingly calm presence in person was still suffocating for Hugo. He tried to appear calm, straightening his posture as he sat on the sofa.
Soon, two maids brought in tea.
Frazer didn’t speak once during the time the tea was prepared and steeped. Instead, he leisurely inhaled the scent and savored the tea.
“How was the Lampfield business trip?”
Frazer only spoke when Hugo and Logan were on the verge of dying from the tension. Even then, the conversation was work-related, so Hugo had to discreetly wipe the sweat from his palms.
“Yes. The reaction was so explosive that just watching it made me laugh.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“Of course, it was more exhausting than enjoyable.”
“You and Logan both are such drama queens.”
“Haha.”
Hugo awkwardly laughed and waited for the next words. But Frazer, still smiling, only sipped his tea. It was clear that his intention was to make the two men squirm.
Just as Hugo was starting to resent Logan for making him take that carriage, Frazer pulled out an envelope. The two men stared at the letter that had been thrown onto the table with stunned expressions.
“…What is this?”
“Read it.”
Frazer nodded toward Hugo in response to his question. After hesitating for a moment, Hugo pulled the letter from the envelope at Logan’s gesture. The rounded handwriting, similar to its owner, was somewhat familiar to him.
“Read the last line.”
“Huh? Oh, right.”
Hugo quickly read through the letter and his eyes focused on the last sentence.
“Let’s meet before August, my love…?”
“Again.”
“…Let’s meet before August, my love.”
Hugo spoke the words of love, but in his heart, he couldn’t imagine saying such things to that cold-faced man, even though he was only reading Caroline’s letter.
“What day is it today?”
“Huh? August… ah,”
Hugo froze mid-sentence, about to casually state the date. Frazer, watching his reaction, twisted his lips into a grim smile.
“Right. I wasn’t mistaken.”
“…”
“But, why?”
‘Why, indeed?’ The desire to speak those words rose in Logan’s throat.
He had been told to separate work from personal matters, yet here Frazer was, sitting his two innocent subordinates down and making them listen to his domestic issues, which struck Logan as somewhat shameless. But as any top-tier worker knows, sometimes you have to know when to bow your head.
Hugo, oblivious to Logan’s thoughts, furrowed his brow and lowered his voice slightly.
“…Did something happen to the lady?”
“No.”
“Then…”
“It’s not Caroline, something happened to me.”
“…”
“She deceived me and ran away.”
Frazer said calmly while elegantly lifting his teacup. His gestures were impeccably calm and aristocratic.
At the word “ran away,” Hugo’s eyes widened.
Hugo glanced at Logan, then back at the letter, and again at Frazer.
He understood what had happened, but the word “ran away” was unexpected. It seemed so out of character for someone like Frazer, and it startled him even more to hear it spoken so nonchalantly by his superior.
“Are you sure?”
Hugo stammered, his eyes searching for some clarity, unable to focus.
“The date she told me was in the letter—July. The date she told the servants was mid-August.”
“…”
“She never went to Flyke, and the mail she sent to the caretaker disappeared without a trace.”
“…”
“She ran off with a maid who had been here for just two weeks and a 28-year-old butler.”
“How do you feel about that?” Frazer asked, but there was no expectation of an answer in his expression.
He might have thought he was keeping his emotions under control, but the anger, hatred, resentment, and absurdity towards Caroline all mixed and flowed out uncontrollably. Hugo felt as if the weight of these emotions was pressing down on his shoulders.
“…The lady wouldn’t do such a thing…”
“How do you know that?”
Frazer’s sharp words made Hugo gulp.
In this world, there wasn’t a soul Hugo could trust. This was a truth he had learned from working under Frazer.
“Alright, let’s say, as you said, that Caroline wouldn’t do something like that.”
“…”
“With that innocent face of hers, whispering sweet nothings in my ear, while secretly scheming behind my back.”
“…”
“Isn’t that more despicable? To me.”
Frazer set his teacup down with a loud clink. The tea inside swirled out of the cup and spilled over the edge. Frazer forced a smile, his lips twitching into a chilling grin that sent shivers down his spine. The stillness trembled like a storm.
“…Shall we search for her?”
The silence was broken by Hugo’s cautious voice. At his words, Logan also pulled out a fountain pen and a notebook from his bag.
“Well, what should we do?”
Frazer gazed at the spilled tea spreading across the table. The liquid expanded in a large circle, slowly widening its reach. He was relieved to see that the reflection of his own face in the water was distorted but still tolerable.
“I, just in case, sent someone to Low Valley…”
Logan’s voice made both Frazer and Hugo turn their heads at once. Logan had already taken action, realizing the seriousness of the situation.
He cautiously opened his notebook and continued.
“Not only the Wessel estate, but apparently, you haven’t even visited Low Valley or its surrounding areas at all.”
Low Valley was a small rural village in the southern part of the kingdom, and it was also Caroline’s family’s home.
“I sent someone to the Flyke post office where the mail was stamped, and I’ve also managed to locate Eric Foster’s family home. If anything turns up, they will contact us immediately.”
“…Doing something I didn’t ask for. I don’t know if I should praise you or scold you.”
“I’ll take it as a compliment, whatever it is.”
At Logan’s lighthearted joke, Frazer let out a small chuckle. Even though he found the slyness distasteful, Logan certainly had his uses.
“Alright, Logan. You go handle it.”
“…Again?”
“The performance in Lampfield is over, so it’s time to deal with other matters.”
“But it’s already 8 PM…”
“You’ll get paid more for it.”
“Well, that’s true…”
Logan grumbled but packed his bag diligently.
Once Logan left, only Frazer and Hugo remained in the office.
“Hugo.”
Frazer stared at him intently before speaking.
“I have something for you to do.”
“If it’s something you want me to do…”
Hugo swallowed nervously, meeting Frazer’s gaze. In this situation, there was only one thing he could predict.
