Not only did he save my life, but also the fact that he was Valerie’s stepfather added a sense of closeness to Karl inside me, making his sharp tone feel unfamiliar.
“You said you don’t consider me the culprit….”
“How I view a suspect is a separate issue.”
“A suspect?”
His attitude, treating me like a criminal, made me uncomfortable.
“While the suspicion of the crime is not clearly proven, the person under internal investigation. We call them suspects. Since the Viscount’s alibi has not been clearly established, he is still a suspect.”
There was a chill in the air. If I were truly a lying criminal, I felt like I would confess immediately under the sharp words of this man.
When he had risked his life to save me, why did he now have such a stern expression? A strange sense of betrayal crept up.
“Why are you staring like that, Viscount?”
“…Nothing.”
I felt silly for feeling offended by his cold demeanor. But don’t Karl and I share a child? A lovely child named Valerie, who clearly resembles him.
I may lack Celeste’s memories, but Karl must remember everything. I couldn’t understand why he was so indifferent to Celeste.
How would he react if he knew he was the father? Would he be shocked?
Having confirmed the relationship with the child, I couldn’t just leave things buried.
“The child…”
The child’s whimper broke the silence briefly. Both Karl and I instinctively looked towards Valerie, who was asleep in the middle of the bed.
Although Celeste’s child was present and accounted for, the future was still uncertain.
Raising a child alone in this era held unknown implications. The perception of unmarried mothers wasn’t positive even in modern times, let alone now.
Of course, Celeste wasn’t truly alone, with many employees and great wealth to support her… If she could endure the public scrutiny.
Is it hard for Valerie to grow up without a father? But if I ask the father to take responsibility… Karl’s eyes met mine again.
“Why are you staring again?”
“What did you see me looking at…”
Awkward silence. Karl, who seemed to have something to say as he approached, inexplicably fell silent and got lost in thought. Feeling uncomfortable with just the two of them in that quiet space, Valerie started tidying up Karl’s neatly made bed.
“I asked because we should do some cleaning before reaching the capital.”
“Pardon?”
“Exactly two months ago, Duke Schwaben passed away.”
“Oh…”
“Did you know that Duke Schwaben was found dead in his mansion?”
“Oh, no. I had no idea until you mentioned it.”
“Are you claiming to have no knowledge about Duke Schwaben’s death?”
“Yes, of course.”
Being interrogated about something she didn’t do was unpleasant. The accusatory tone made her feel uneasy, as if she was already being treated as a suspect.
“I’ve been here for almost half a year, and I have no connection with Duke Schwaben.”
“Are you saying you had no relationship with the Duke at all?”
“No, of course not. Why do you suspect me of being interested in the Duke’s wealth and committing some wrongdoing? I’m not such a greedy, bad person.”
“Why do you think I consider you a greedy, bad person for coveting the Duke’s property and committing some wrongdoing?”
“Isn’t that it? You’ve come here suspecting that I coveted Duke Schwaben’s estate and did something to benefit from it?”
The quiet atmosphere did not last long. The culprit was Valerie. The sounds of something pouring, falling, followed by Valerie crying out to leave, silenced them.
“This is strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“Suspecting that you coveted Duke Schwaben’s estate and did something, sounds like you already knew that a significant fortune would come to you after the Duke’s death.”
It was embarrassing. In retrospect, it made sense. The relationship between Celeste and Duke Schwaben was only revealed to the world after his death, so Celeste should have been unaware of it if she was truly innocent.
But the insinuation that she knew beforehand made her inevitably a suspect.
“Oh… I made a mistake.”
“What are you saying?”
I blurted out inadvertently.
“Oh, no, nothing. Anyway, it’s truly sad and heart-wrenching that the Duke passed away.”
Expressing sympathy for the death of someone she had no personal connection with might sound strange, but it was genuine.
No matter what, the Duke, who met his end at a young age with blood mixed with Celeste a little, didn’t feel as distant as other men.
“This has nothing to do with me. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it.”
But what’s pitiful is pitiful, and what’s unjust is unjust.
Since the moment of possession, efforts have been made not to die unfairly and in vain as in the original work, it was impossible to return to the path of death.
He worried in vain that he might be implicated in the death of Duke Schwaben and gave up all the luxurious life and joyful social activities in the city and hid in the countryside.
Who would accept that the price paid for enduring the boredom of rural life for six long months was ultimately walking towards the inevitable death?
“I can definitely tell you one thing. Investigating this will just be a waste of time.”
Karl brushed his head, his touch quite rough, possibly out of frustration.
“Well, the situation has changed a bit.”
“Changed? How so?”
“Our mission was to arrest the culprit who assassinated Duke Schwaben on the emperor’s orders. But the mission has now been dissolved.”
“If the mission has been dissolved…”
Karl hesitated to respond. It was the first time I saw him hesitate like that. What on earth was he trying to say?
“The person who assigned me the mission passed away suddenly.”
“The person who assigned the mission?”
Why are people suddenly dying one after another? I started to shiver.
Anyway, Karl said he was acting on the emperor’s orders. But if the person who assigned the mission is now dead…
“That’s right. His Majesty the Emperor has passed away.”
“What?”
I almost jumped out of my seat. The Emperor is dead? Why? When?
“The Emperor, I mean, His Majesty the Emperor has passed away. Why is it so quiet? How can the sun of a nation set and there be such silence?”
“That news is still highly confidential.”
My head was spinning. I couldn’t understand what was happening and how.
In a world where magic and sorcery garner slightly more trust than science, there would be no secrets that could be hidden if one wished to hide them.
“I suppose they could be hidden.”
“I didn’t hide anything. I simply delayed revealing it to prevent chaos around until the truth of the matter was understood.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Hiding and not yet telling are distinctly different.”
“…Sounds like a riddle.”
Karle sensed something ambiguous in the Duke’s words. If the news of the emperor’s death was top secret,
“Why are you telling me this?”
What reason could there be to reveal that secret to a criminal who must be brought to justice? Why stay silent yesterday but speak up today?
“I’ll be honest. There are many uncertainties before I can label you as the culprit outright.”
The man who had spoken of arresting the suspect with a voice as cold as ice, followed by saying he doesn’t seem like the perpetrator seconds later, truly left him puzzled.
When did the emperor die in the original story? He pondered while looking at the man.
“But the fact remains that you are currently the most likely suspect.”
So what now?
“Bye-bye.”
And with that, the conversation ended. It was because Valerie, who he thought was sound asleep, had awakened.
