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Chapter 8.
My.Kni.Home
“Ugh… my head…”
“Young Lady, are you finally coming around? Here, have some water.”
“…Thanks, Mari…”
The next morning, Himenah opened her eyes in her bedroom at the mansion, clutching her throbbing head as though suffering from the worst hangover.
“Are you feeling any better, my lady?”
“Roice… what happened to me?”
“Good grief, don’t you remember? You suddenly slammed the Chief Constable to the ground in the middle of the banquet, then staggered around, grabbed your head, and collapsed. It was chaos.”
Roice frowned as if scolding her for being hopeless.
“Ha… I’m doomed. What a temper I have… Instead of a public explanation, I threw a public fit. Father will scold me again for sure.”
“Don’t worry about that, Young Lady!”
“Why not?”
“Because after hearing about your… outburst at the banquet, His Grace packed his bags first thing this morning and left for the Anatole villa. He said it’d be impossible for him to show his face in high society now.”
“…Really? Well, that’s actually a relief.”
“But still, my lady, why on earth did you treat the Constable like that? You had such a good opportunity—you should’ve handled it more gently, coaxed him, and come out on good terms!”
Unable to hold in his frustration, Roice scolded her.
“I know, I was only planning to ask a few questions at first. But then he said something that really ticked me off. His way of thinking is completely twisted.”
“Wait, so you went into that kind of place with a man you hardly knew? I thought he was someone you already knew.”
“Knew him? Not at all. And… what do you mean that kind of place? What’s wrong with a balcony?”
“Oh, come on, I know all about it! After you went onto the balcony with the Constable, do you know how much gossip spread? They say it’s where men and women sneak off to, you know… to do this and that… those kinds of things.”
“This and that… those kinds of things?”
“Oh heavens, my lady! You really went onto the balcony alone with him?”
“Yes. There wasn’t really anywhere else to talk. All the other places were curtained off, but one balcony was empty, so we went there. Why?”
“Ah… right. Because of your injury, you don’t remember…”
Mari glanced between Himenah and Roice, then suddenly flushed red.
“My lady, I only heard about it too, but… they say during banquets, it’s common for men and women to secretly… share their love… on the balconies.”
“S-secretly… what?”
Startled, Himenah suddenly remembered how hesitant the Constable had been in front of the balcony.
“I-I don’t know what you need, but wouldn’t it be better to talk here instead of going inside…?”
‘Ugh, kill me now. What humiliation! That means everyone must have assumed… even Cailian saw that?’
She tore at her hair, then abruptly shot to her feet.
“Ugh, whatever! Actually, this works out fine. Even if I couldn’t clear things up in public, at least people will know it’s completely over between me and the Marquis! They saw with their own eyes that I’m perfectly healthy, so the rumors will settle themselves. Enough of that! Roice, go get ready to head out. We’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Where are we going?”
“The bookstore district in Grantole. I need to check something.”
Clip-clop, clip-clop…
“But my lady, why the sudden trip to the capital’s bookstores?”
“Roice, have you heard the rumor? About that female novelist who was murdered near there recently.”
“What! Someone was murdered? This is the first I’ve heard of it!”
“Really? Well, I guess not many would know. She wasn’t famous across the whole Empire, nor was she a high-ranking noble… Even Mari hadn’t heard of it.”
Himenah had only learned of it from the mansion staff. Most commoners, like Mari, were illiterate anyway. That was natural—throughout history, culture was monopolized and enjoyed by the ruling classes.
From what she’d overheard in the powder room, the murdered woman’s romance novels were likely only popular among a handful of young noble ladies.
Besides, in an era with magic and monsters, someone dying in a back alley wasn’t such a big deal. The body was mutilated, too, leaving no clues.
Still, Himenah couldn’t just sit idly by.
Whose body had the killer possessed?
Back in her previous life, after attempting to murder Author Ham, the killer had thrown her into this strange world—only to commit another murder here?
Was the murderer really just a psychopath?
‘If only I’d learned more about them before I died…’
The more tangled her thoughts became, the more she wanted to see the scene herself.
“Here we are, my lady. From this point on, the carriage can’t go in—you’ll have to walk.”
“All right.”
They got down at the central plaza and went into the backstreets lined with little shops. Fortunately, Roice knew the capital well, and soon they reached the alley where the bookstores were clustered.
Himenah went into the first small shop she saw and approached the owner.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes, welcome.”
An elderly shopkeeper looked them over sharply as they entered.
“I’d like to ask you something.”
“No, we don’t have it.”
“…Pardon?”
“I said, we don’t have it, miss.”
“Wait, what don’t you have? I haven’t even said—”
“Sir Knight, please obsess over me.”
“…?”
There was a pause. Then Roice jolted, hugging himself in horror.
“Wh-what did this old man just say? What does he take me for!”
“Good heavens, sir, what… unusual tastes you have…”
“Weren’t you asking for that book? The one written by the female author who died the other day. The one called My.Kni.Home.”
Oh. That was the title of the novel.
“Hahaha, yes, that’s right. That one… the knight thing…”
Himenah laughed awkwardly, pretending she knew.
“Today alone, you’re not the first to ask. I doubt you’ll hear anything different if you check other shops nearby.”
“Was the novel really that popular?”
“More accurate to say it became more popular after the author died. Even before then, it was well liked by young noble ladies. But she died with Volume 1 unfinished. So everyone’s curiosity grew—and then, just yesterday morning, her husband cobbled together Volume 2 from her drafts and released it.”
“When was that, exactly?”
“Yesterday morning. But they rushed production and only a few copies were distributed. Somehow word got out, and it sold out that very day.”
“How would anyone know so quickly…?”
“Beats me. A maid came by in the afternoon and bought them all up. Noble ladies these days, they’re so fast.”
“Shopkeeper, isn’t there any way we could get one? I’ll pay double.”
“Double? Miss, there are ladies offering ten, twenty times the price. Their maids begged me to set copies aside the moment any arrive.”
“Is that so?”
“Best thing you can do is send your maid tomorrow or the day after. If more come in, you might get lucky.”
“…Understood. I also heard the writer was killed near here. Did she happen to stop by this shop before her death?”
“Not here, no. But there’s a paper and ink shop down the next alley. I heard she visited there. Writers often go.”
“I see. Thank you, shopkeeper. Let’s go, Roice.”
“Yes.”
“Oh, wait.”
Just before leaving, Himenah turned back.
“By any chance, has a pretty young lady with blonde hair and blue eyes come by recently?”
“Blonde and blue-eyed? Hmm… I can’t say I remember.”
“I see… Thank you anyway.”
“Actually…”
The shopkeeper furrowed his brow in thought.
“About… two weeks ago, a young lady in a black cloak came in and bought My.Kni.Home Volume 1. I didn’t get a good look at her face, but I thought I glimpsed golden hair under the hood. Though… she didn’t seem like a noble.”
“…I see. Thank you.”
Leaving the bookstore, Himenah walked toward the paper shop district, recalling what she knew about the novel’s heroine, Ines Fidelis.
She was a survivor of the Black Dragon War seventeen years earlier. Her father had fled with her to the western Kingdom of Duce, living in hiding ever since. When Ines turned twenty, her ailing father left a dying wish: to be buried in his homeland, Acticos.
Fulfilling that wish, she carried his remains back east—and along the way, she encountered Cailian, wounded during an assassination attempt at the Monster Subjugation Tournament.
That was where their fated meeting occurred.
And that very tournament would be held this autumn. The one Emperor Zenos had invited the “Blue Molds” to.
‘So the killer possessed Ines, the heroine? If I ended up in the role of Himenah, an important supporting character, then surely the killer also took over someone important.’
“But my lady, why are you investigating this murder yourself?”
Roice pulled her from her tangled thoughts.
“Huh? Oh, well… because the murderer’s a vile criminal, of course! To stab a woman to death in broad daylight—it’s outrageous! We can’t just let such a villain roam free.”
“Sure, but why you? Why not leave it to the Constables?”
“Because that Constable is utterly useless! Do you know why I slammed him yesterday? He said, Why should you care about the death of some lowly writer? Can you believe that?”
“Well… he wasn’t wrong. Why would a noble lady like you care about the death of a minor commoner noble?”
“Roice! You call yourself a knight? Shouldn’t a knight care about the safety of the people? What happened to your sense of justice? Or do you want to disgrace the honor of the Blue Mold Knights?”
“Why are the Molds being dragged into this again? I never said I wanted to join! You were the one who forced—”
“So what, you’re backing out now? After swearing the oath together in front of His Majesty the Emperor? If you bail, and I’m left alone, how is that a Knight Order, huh?”
She smacked him on the head repeatedly as she ranted.
“Ow, ow! Why do you rope innocent people into becoming Molds? No way, I refuse! Do it yourself, my lady!”
“Hey, don’t you run away!”
Thump!
“Argh!”
Chasing him, Himenah suddenly collided with a man coming out of another bookstore.
He quickly caught her around the waist before she could fall.
“Are you all right?”
His arm was firm, the muscles in his grip solid.
“Y-yes, I’m sorry!”
Embarrassed to find herself in his arms, Himenah looked up.
“Huh? You’re…”
“Lady Sylvester!”
“The Constable… from yesterday?”
