“Name.”
Unfamiliar names, different from what they had claimed as their own names until now, began to pop up one by one.
Clovis, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, continued to chuckle, muttering how funny these guys were. As he trembled at the mere presence of the Grand Duke, pretending to spill all the truths like a lowly man who dares to lie to the end, it was ridiculous.
“Still, it’s fortunate that they are still at a naive level. If they were truly hardened criminals, even if the Grand Duke had appeared, they would have been caught red-handed and continued lying.”
“These guys seem to be originally smugglers or black marketeers. Selling those foods to Celeste must have been based on someone’s influence.”
“Are you implying that there is someone else responsible?”
“As you say, do these lowly men have the audacity to use dark magic to harm someone?”
“Hmm. That makes sense. With such limited abilities, they may cheat someone but wouldn’t physically harm anyone.”
Karl nodded and refocused on the scoundrels.
“Did any of you set up a stall selling bread at the central-southern train station a month ago?”
“No, how could we…?”
“Answer only with yes or no.”
“Yes. We did have such an incident.”
“Why would smugglers suddenly sell bread? It doesn’t fit.”
“If they think it will make money, they’ll sell anything they can.”
“They must be trying to deceive once again. Why not be honest?”
“Oh, no, we truly thought it would make us money! That morning, someone big came and asked us to take charge of the stall for a day, promising a generous payment.”
“And who was that?”
“We don’t really know. Just a very tall man who suddenly showed up and asked us to take care of the stall.”
“A very tall man. Is that all?”
“I don’t know the name. Just a request to take charge of the stall…”
“A man I didn’t know, whose name I didn’t know, suddenly came and asked me to do something and I did it? Do they think we are fools? Can’t they speak properly?”
“Oh, no. Of course, even if a stranger comes and suddenly gives us a task, we wouldn’t just do it. We are not fools… We were trying to refuse, but that guy threw a thick envelope of money at us. A very hefty one at that.”
“He threw an envelope of money?”
“Yes.”
“How much was in it?”
The investigating officer looked surprised at the amount mentioned.
“He gave that much money just for running a bakery for a day? Isn’t that strange?”
“It did seem strange, but we needed the money. I mean, we didn’t ask him to secretly sell some magic potion or anything like that. Just asking us to sell some bread on the street stall in broad daylight, why would we find that strange? Giving a lot of money… Well, maybe he’s a rich and generous person, that’s what we thought.”
“That’s ridiculous…”
“Ah, yes. It was greed for the money. If someone throws a hefty sum of money at you, who wouldn’t be tempted? It didn’t seem like a bad thing at first glance. Although it felt a bit suspicious, we just closed our eyes and took the money. If we knew it would be this troublesome, we wouldn’t have done it at all! Darn it, this is an unprecedented situation.”
“So, I said not to take that money back then, right? It felt uncomfortable!”
“You were happy to receive a lot of money, weren’t you? Now why suddenly change your tune?”
As the investigating officer continued questioning about the demeanor of the man who threw the money, the group of guys who had been giving honest answers to each other started arguing. The officer separated the guys arguing loudly and resumed his questioning.
“Tell me more about the appearance of the man who threw the money.”
“I’ve already told you. He was very tall, that’s all I can recall. There was nothing particularly unusual about him apart from that. His face was like anyone commonly seen on the streets.”
“His age?”
“I wonder how old he his. In some ways, I feel like he could be in his thirties, but in other ways, he feels a bit older.”
“In his thirties probably, a tall man. Anything else memorable?”
“Oh, a tattoo. He had a tattoo on his hand.”
“A tattoo?”
“I didn’t realize it was there when his sleeve was down, but when he handed over the money envelope, I saw a tattoo between his thumb and index finger here.”
“What kind of tattoo was it?”
“I’m not sure. It looked like some kind of script, but it wasn’t our native language. It seemed like a foreign language.”
“A tall man in his thirties with a foreign language tattoo on the back of his hand.”
Tap, tap, tap. The investigator swiftly pounded on the typewriter. The person who entrusted the ledger to them that day either planned or committed the actual crime.
“But, I’m curious about something…”
One man conspicuously scanned the surroundings, genuinely showing curiosity in his eyes.
“Handing out the bread ledger wouldn’t result in a serious crime like this. Was there something else on that ledger that day…? Maybe hiding something in the bread, like a magic potion or drugs? Did we get drugged?”
“You really don’t know?”
“I’m asking because I don’t know.”
“The person who bought that bread almost died that day.”
“Really?”
The man jumped up from his seat. His face showed complete surprise at this unexpected answer.
“D-died? Why?”
The man seemed genuinely shocked. Karl and Clovis exchanged glances.
***
Our outing had almost reached its end. We had seen all the food, entertainment, and sights, enjoyed a pleasant chat session, and even our resilient Valerie seemed ready to collapse from her stroller. It was time for us to head back home.
It seemed Cecilia noticed my tired expression as she suggested it was time for us to return to the estate. I was grateful. Everyone seemed so excited for this rare outing that it was hard to suggest going back.
“Viscount, are you tired? I kept wandering without realizing. You must still be exhausted.”
“No, Leev. I had a great time.”
“Still, Viscount, after the upcoming engagement ceremony, we won’t be able to have outings like this so easily. We should enjoy them while we can.”
That was true. Although the mourning period and state ceremonies had ended, Emperor’s deceased Majesty and Emperor Karl, who was a cousin, could not have a grand wedding due to protocol.
Well, I wasn’t particularly keen on having a grand wedding, so I readily agreed with Karl’s suggestion to have a simple engagement ceremony instead.
Initially, I wasn’t sure if this marriage was meant for me. With a child between Celeste and Karl, and Karl’s intention to marry Celeste, I followed along, but I still couldn’t fully merge Celeste and myself…
I couldn’t be sure if I would live and die as Celeste forever, but you never know what may happen.
The disappeared Celeste could unexpectedly return. If that happened, she might be surprised to wake up to a husband and child.
Wait a minute. Would the original Celeste be surprised that she ran away with Valerie and had a baby? Could this have been part of her plan as well?
I don’t know. I thought that if we discussed the point at which Karl and Valerie met, all these doubts would be resolved. I only thought that if I knew what the relationship between the two of them was in the past, I would find the answer to how I should deal with Karl’s marriage in the future.
However, now that I have heard all the stories from Karl, instead of resolving my doubts, even bigger question marks have settled in my mind.
One question mark. How did Celeste know where Karl was? It is undoubtedly a place with tight security, being the residence of a noble duke, an unknown hiding place. How on earth could Celeste know and go there alone?
Two question marks. Did Celeste truly have a purpose in bringing Valerie along?
She went to meet a man she had never shared a word with, offered him a drink, and ended up in bed with him. There must have been some goal in it.
It didn’t seem like just a trivial purpose like having a crush. It was something that couldn’t be done with a clear mind.
So, it’s my guess that she had a slightly bigger goal in mind. For example, maybe she wanted to have a child, or for some reason, the child had to be Karl’s. Karl and…
Well, I really don’t know. No matter what direction or speculation I try, I don’t understand Celeste’s intentions at all. The more I worry, the more I feel like I’m falling deeper into a maze.
