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Chapter 8
The Baker Couple Were Murdered!
Fernando wished that Janice would live happily forever in the Roman Ducal House.
As long as the elderly couple was there, he believed that happiness was guaranteed to come true. But that did not mean he wanted things to turn out like this.
“…You?”
“Yeah.”
“You got kicked out? Garen, you got kicked out?”
“Yeah!”
“Wow!”
Fernando exclaimed in admiration.
To think someone had managed to throw out Garen, who was famous for being lawless…
Our Janice. I thought she was capable, but she’s even smarter than I imagined!
Uncle-fool Fernando grinned from ear to ear. Garen threw a pillow at him.
“Shut up and get out. I’ve slept less than two hours!”
“You won’t die. You won’t die from sleeping that little. But how did she kick you out? Did she hit you? Did she barge in while you were sleeping? Or swing a sword at you?”
To be honest, Garen’s behavior yesterday had been so terrible that even if he had been stabbed, he wouldn’t have had any excuse.
No matter the circumstances, once it was confirmed that Janice was his biological daughter, he should have apologized for not taking care of her for seven years. Instead, he tried to take away her house and throw her out.
Of course, there were some circumstances that could partially excuse him, but from Janice’s perspective, Garen was undoubtedly her greatest enemy.
“You want me to get stabbed?”
“No, but Janice is really good with a sword. Maybe she takes after her uncle. She’s good at every sport she tries.”
When the Bakers were still alive, Janice had been famous as the leader of the neighborhood children.
Boy or girl, older or younger, bigger or smaller—everyone was under Janice’s command.
Watching her, Fernando had often thought that blood truly couldn’t lie.
She was smart, tactically gifted, and stubborn despite her small size. If someone wronged her, she’d find a way to get revenge no matter what.
The more he listened, the more it sounded like someone he knew very well.
Garen frowned.
“Get out. I’m going to sleep.”
He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, but Fernando ignored him and continued pestering him.
“Come on! Tell me how she beat you. I’m curious. Hey! You bastard! You worse-than-Garen little punk!”
Finally, Garen opened his eyes.
Fernando brightened immediately.
Garen let out an irritated laugh and dragged Fernando toward the door.
“Good decision. How about some wine? Wine? Whiskey works too. A story this entertaining needs alcohol and snacks. What should we eat?”
Being defeated was humiliating enough.
The last thing he wanted was to give a detailed report on exactly how he’d lost.
He had no intention of drinking in the middle of the day, nor of sitting across from Fernando laughing and chatting.
“Get! Out!”
Garen shoved Fernando outside and slammed the door in his face.
Then he locked it.
“Garen! Garen! Open the door! Hey! You bastard!”
Fernando caused a huge commotion outside.
Hearing the frustration in his voice, Garen finally felt a small part of his bad mood ease.
But regardless of his irritation, lack of sleep was the real emergency.
He threw himself onto the bed.
And immediately fell asleep.
* * *
A warm spring day arrived, and with it came a fairy of spring to the ducal estate.
In a household that had always been dull and unchanged, Janice’s existence was light, salt, joy, and happiness itself.
For the champions of justice who had driven away the villain Garen, every day was a happy day.
The day before yesterday had been shopping day.
Yesterday had been dessert café day.
Today was decorating Janice’s room day.
Unlike the previous days, which only the elderly couple and Janice had enjoyed, today all the servants were having fun together.
The pure white furniture they had bought several days ago, gorgeous lace curtains, and adorable decorations were all being brought into the estate one after another.
Watching Janice’s room gradually take shape, the old lady made a grand declaration.
“I shall open the family’s treasure vault and let you choose a gift!”
“You should look around and pick something yourself. It doesn’t have to be a decoration. Take anything you want.”
The old lady led the way.
The old general followed behind her.
Janice was dragged along as well.
Inside the treasure vault were bouquets made of rubies and sapphires, diamonds as large as Janice’s fist, and even trees that grew jewels, said to be gifts from distant foreign lands.
The Roman family’s treasure room looked exactly like the treasure islands she had seen in movies and television in her previous life.
Janice’s eyes widened.
But among all those treasures, something else caught her attention.
“This… is… him?”
She stared at a portrait more beautiful than any painting and asked with a trembling voice.
“He was eleven years old then. Truly the prettiest child in the world.”
The old lady answered proudly.
“Pink dresses suited him especially well.”
The old general added.
Janice looked back and forth between the two of them with a complicated expression.
The blond child in the pink dress was so beautiful it made her doubt her eyes.
The child standing beside her and kissing her cheek was handsome and dignified.
They looked like a picture-perfect young couple.
Except for one tiny detail.
The beautiful girl was actually a boy.
And that boy was Garen.
Janice had only looked because the child was so beautiful.
But she had accidentally discovered Garen’s greatest black-history moment.
“Those were good times. After he found out he was a boy, he refused to let us dress him up no matter what…”
“…What do you mean, after he found out he was a boy?”
“Oh my! Didn’t I tell you? You can see it yourself. Isn’t Garen incredibly pretty? Since he was so beautiful, I thought it would be a loss to humanity not to dress him up beautifully. What else could I do? Naturally, I had to put him in pretty clothes! Until he entered the Academy, Garen thought he was a girl.”
The old lady laughed cheerfully.
“That was around the time Fernando suffered his shock. His first love suddenly turned out to be a boy…”
“That’s right. Goodness, that child was so fragile. He was sick for an entire week. The Marchioness scolded me endlessly because of it. Boys are just too delicate. I wanted a healthy, sturdy granddaughter, but…”
The problem wasn’t boys.
The problem seemed to be the old lady.
Janice swallowed those words before they escaped her mouth.
She usually found Garen annoying for no reason, but this time she genuinely felt sorry for him.
“…You’ve lived a hard life.”
“Hm?”
“Nothing. He looks beautiful. Absolutely perfect.”
Someone probably kicked their blankets in embarrassment after growing up.
But why should she care?
She was enjoying this far too much.
Hiding her wicked thoughts, Janice smiled brightly.
The old lady smiled back at her granddaughter’s smile.
Seeing his wife happy made the old general happy too.
And then—
“…What exactly are you looking at?!”
Someone flew in like a butterfly and charged forward like a bee.
Rushing over, he threw a cloth over the portrait.
“What are you showing a child?!”
Garen exploded.
Then he pointed at Janice.
“You! You! Close your eyes!”
“Why?”
“Just do it!”
Janice puffed up her cheeks at his shouting.
Watching the stubborn child refuse to listen, Garen ground his teeth.
“Photos! Your family photos! I’ll give them to you!”
He had intended to give them to her from the beginning.
If Janice hadn’t started singing that ridiculous song, he would have handed them over days ago.
He had simply been too distracted and forgotten.
Remembering Janice’s one weakness, Garen proposed a deal.
Janice immediately shut her eyes.
“They’re closed now. Don’t lie! Grandma and Grandpa are witnesses!”
At least her eyes were covered now.
Garen glared at his parents.
He was her father, after all.
How could they show something like this to his daughter?
“Seriously, what is wrong with you two?!”
“What did we do?”
“There were plenty of normal things to show her! Why this? More importantly, where did this painting even come from? I know I destroyed every copy!”
He looked horrified.
He had personally eliminated every trace of this embarrassing history.
Yet it kept coming back like a cockroach no matter how many times he got rid of it.
The elderly couple pretended not to hear him.
Garen clenched his teeth.
But there was nothing he could do.
He let out a long sigh.
“Anyway, look at me. I need to talk to you.”
“We don’t have anything to discuss.”
“It’s important.”
He gestured toward Janice.
Realizing what he wanted to discuss, the couple finally grew serious.
“What about my family photos?”
“Go to my room.”
After sending Janice away, Garen ignored the numerous reminders of his embarrassing past still visible around him and continued.
“We have a problem. The Bakers’ laboratory caught fire. Just now.”
“You mean Janice’s adoptive parents?”
Garen nodded.
“I ordered a reinvestigation because something seemed suspicious. I think someone found out. Someone searched the Bakers’ laboratory, killed a person there, and then set it on fire.”
“Are you saying the Bakers didn’t die in an accident either?”
“Probably not.”
“The dead person? Any witnesses?”
“No witnesses. The most likely victim right now is a man named Michael, one of the Bakers’ assistants. But I’ll need to investigate further before confirming it.”
Like a subordinate briefing his superiors, Garen calmly reported everything he had heard, seen, and learned.
He explained how someone had been monitoring and threatening Fernando since the Bakers’ deaths.
He listed the Bakers’ bank records, the people they had met, their recent interests, their research projects, their investors, and any suspicious behavior they had shown.
Everything was organized neatly and logically.
As they listened, the elderly couple’s expressions hardened.
They didn’t know exactly what had happened to the Bakers.
But they could make a rough guess.
It seemed the ancient ruins the Bakers had been researching had somehow entangled them with a mysterious organization.
Many people were interested in ancient ruins.
Even more invested money into them.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the elderly couple and Garen had no interest in ruins.
What interested them was the mysterious force that had entered the Empire.
And the possibility that Janice might become endangered because of them.
“If the laboratory burned down… what about the house you bought?”
“I’ve already taken precautions.”
To lure out the culprit, Garen had intentionally loosened security around the Bakers’ house.
According to the couple who sold him the property, signs of someone searching the house had existed from the moment they moved in.
But that was no reason to lower their guard.
Garen handled his work thoroughly.
The old general nodded.
Aside from his personality and character flaws, his son was remarkably capable.
“You’ve done well. We’ll need to pay close attention from now on.”
“I’ll make every preparation.”
“Good. I trust you. Still… what a tragedy for that couple. They were good people. To think they were murdered…”
The old general was speaking when—
“Murdered?”
Someone interrupted.
