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Chapter 14
That’s right.
Velroa still doesn’t know what this means.
“This is how you do it.”
I held out my own pinky finger.
“You link your pinky with someone else’s and promise to keep your word.”
“Euuuh?”
Velroa tilted her head sideways.
“Come on, Velroa, you try too.”
At my urging, she awkwardly extended her pinky and carefully touched it to mine.
Strictly speaking, she didn’t exactly link them—more like just gently pressed it against mine.
“Okay, now we hook our fingers like this.”
Well, as long as I did it properly, it counts!
“Promise!”
“Yaaah!”
Velroa clumsily mimicked me, beaming with a big smile.
“Kya-ha!”
Aww, she bounces back so quickly!
“But hey, Velroa.”
Once she was fully calm, I called out to her again.
“Earlier, the lady had a scratch on her face. Was that your doing?”
Velroa didn’t answer.
She simply averted her gaze and pretended not to hear.
That alone was answer enough.
“Velroa.”
I gently adjusted her in my arms and made eye contact.
“You don’t like getting hurt, right? The lady probably doesn’t either.”
Velroa’s head drooped completely. I smiled and brushed back her hair.
“You didn’t mean to, right? It was an accident? Then let’s go say, ‘I’m sorry,’ to the lady.”
“Uuuh.”
“If you do, I’m sure she’ll say it’s okay.”
Velroa’s eyes darted around briefly before she nodded.
Brave little one.
I remember being like that too.
Maybe not from when I was three, but when I was little—so little that admitting I’d done something wrong felt impossible.
I just wanted to run, the situation was uncomfortable, and I wanted to scream I didn’t know anything and cry to make it all go away.
Velroa must feel the same way now.
“Oh my.”
But Velroa didn’t run away from what she did.
When the lady returned to the room, Velroa slowly approached her.
“Auuuuh.”
Just as I taught her, she bowed deeply at the waist.
She faced it head-on, bravely.
“It’s okay. Look here, young miss.”
The lady bent down so Velroa could see the scratch on her cheek.
“Thanks to Miss Anette applying the medicine and your concern, it’s all better now.”
Whether it was the medicine or not—
The wound was barely visible.
“Uuh?”
Velroa turned the lady’s face this way and that to check, then met her eyes.
“See? All healed. All thanks to you!”
“Mm!”
Believing she had truly helped, Velroa nodded enthusiastically. Her face lit up.
She turned back to look at me, as if asking, Did I do good?
I gave her a big nod and a thumbs-up.
“Heeheehee!”
Velroa, who faced her mistake with courage, smiled brightly.
“Your Grace.”
Duke Leandro looked up from the documents he was reviewing.
“It’s Dean. May I come in?”
“Enter.”
The door opened, and Dean, who had gone out for an investigation, stepped inside.
“Did you find it?”
Leandro didn’t even look his way, keeping his eyes fixed on the papers as he asked.
“Yes.”
Dean bowed and pulled something from inside his coat, placing it on the duke’s desk.
“We obtained several sellers and the secret ledgers they were hiding. The moment we mentioned Milton’s name, they all cooperated.”
Though he said that, the ledgers Dean had brought were stained with blood in several places.
Then again, perhaps this level of ‘cooperation’ was considered mild for Dean.
“The sellers are being held in the underground prison. What would you like to do? Would you like to go see for yourself?”
“I’ll do that later. What’s next?”
The duke’s eyes never left the ledgers. With each page he turned, the evidence against Preston became clearer.
“Ermia Tekins, that—”
Dean cleared his throat. He had been about to add a rude epithet, out of habit.
“The investigation into your fiancée is also complete.”
“And?”
It was a prompt to get straight to the point.
Understanding the duke’s intentions, Dean continued without delay.
“When we dug deeper, the results differed from the previous investigation.”
He placed the report on the desk.
It revealed that Ermia was actually an innocent victim, and that the Tekins family had pinned all the blame on her.
“But aside from that, nothing else seemed suspicious.”
“Nothing?”
For the first time, Leandro looked up from the documents and made eye contact with Dean.
“Not a single thing?”
“No, Your Grace.”
Dean solemnly nodded and handed over the investigation file.
Leandro scanned it quickly. Just as Dean said, the file contained nothing but evidence of Ermia’s innocence.
“We investigated thoroughly. But… it’s strange. Not a single odd detail emerged.”
Despite his words, Dean’s expression was filled with growing suspicion.
“That’s what makes it more suspicious. People don’t change like that overnight.”
He shook his head, as if still unable to believe it.
“Look, Your Grace. She’s never even had a proper education.”
Indeed.
From her early teens until now, there were no records of Ermia having any private tutors.
If anything, the only ones who had taught her were those employed before her biological mother passed away.
And those people were immediately dismissed by the new countess and Count Tekins, right after the funeral.
Before the bells even stopped tolling, they had driven them out and brought in a new wife.
“But the fiancée you met today—she might as well have been someone who received a top-tier education.”
Her speech, her thoughts, her conclusions—
They weren’t things someone who grew up without education could demonstrate.
And she was terrifyingly quick and precise.
They had peeled back the layers of the so-called villainess, only to find she was innocent.
But beneath that, something else lurked.
“She’s suspicious, Your Grace. We need to dig deeper. If you give me more time, I’ll investigate thoroughly.”
“There’s no need for that.”
The duke’s tightly closed lips curled into a smile. A sharp fang peeked out for a moment.
“It’s not like I don’t trust your investigation.”
Leandro tapped the report he was holding.
“We’ll end it here.”
“But she’s clearly hiding something!”
“Dean.”
The duke slowly raised his eyes to meet Dean’s.
“Be honest with me.”
Leandro leaned back in his chair.
“If I gave you more people, more money, and more time—do you think you’d find anything else?”
“…”
Dean fell silent. Because the duke was right.
He didn’t think he had lacked information.
Time was tight, but they had unearthed a lot.
And if they spent more time now, they’d only find scraps—not new revelations.
“There’s no need to go in circles.”
The duke stroked his chin.
“After all, the one holding the answer is right beside me.”
He lowered his gaze back to the report on his desk.
The final line of the report on Ermia Tekins burned into his mind.
[During all trials, remained silent during final testimony.]
The meaning was clear.
The greatest resistance Ermia Tekins could offer was silence.
‘Even death row inmates never give up their final statement.’
The duke clicked his tongue.
