IRMDH 23

Chapter 23

“Ah…….”

Just like the time he told me to wear a red dress, the man vanished in an instant.

Blake immediately ordered the knights to search, and they moved in perfect order.

As I blankly watched that scene, all kinds of things that had happened so far floated to mind.

That time in the palace when I ran into him and thought he was a ghost.

The rumor that the crown prince had killed someone on Revilla Street.

And maybe even the incident of him vanishing together with Saint Seira.

All of that—it was clearly that man’s doing.

Not Blake’s.

“Are you all right?”

Almost before the command left his lips, Blake rushed to me in a panic.

He even flung aside the sword he had been holding.

Ah, there’s no need to imitate that man even in this way……

Or is it the other way around, that the man was imitating Blake?

I was starting to get confused myself.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Did that bastard do anything strange to you? Should I summon the physician right now?”

“……I’m not hurt, not at all.”

The sight of Blake placing his hands on my shoulders, looking me over to see if I was injured, was precious.

His fussiness was such a rare thing that I almost wanted to enjoy it thoughtlessly……

But given the circumstances, that wouldn’t be right.

I shook my head and clasped Blake’s cold hand tightly as I said:

“Your Highness, you don’t have a twin brother, right?”

“No.”

“Then who on earth was that man just now?”

“What did he say to you?”

Blake asked through gritted teeth.

I could tell from the storm in his eyes that he still hadn’t calmed down.

All right, I am his wife, aren’t I?

He’s this desperate to make sure I’m unharmed, after all.

Or…… is it just that if I die, he doesn’t know what might happen to his own body, and that’s what makes him anxious?

“Um…… he said that he was my husband.”

Blake swore openly.

Wow, so fierce.

Given his background of being raised in the back alleys as the child of a maid, his rough tongue was mostly a habit picked up in childhood.

When he was really angry, or when he was alone, he sometimes muttered curses to himself.

To hear his habits from the novel this close—it was strange.

Of course, there were more important things to confirm right now.

“More than that, there was something he said that’s been bothering me.”

“What did he say?”

“He claimed he killed a knight, and that he killed nuisances…… vermin that got in his way, something like that.”

He spoke so brazenly that I almost blurted out, ‘Oh, I see!’ in reply.

“But if he was impersonating Your Highness and killing people, then what do we do?”

“……He said ‘nuisances,’ did he.”

Who would that man consider a nuisance?

At first I thought he meant Blake, but Blake was standing right in front of me, alive.

What exactly did he say?

He’d said even nuisances had been killed, so why wasn’t it the red dress.

Wait a second—dress?

“Uh…… don’t tell me…….”

That one word, dress, brought to mind a certain person.

That man had warned me before, hadn’t he?

In anger, that he might just kill ‘that bastard.’

And sure enough, recently ‘that bastard’ had caused trouble.

Ian Harmel.

He ignored my opinion and sent a pile of dresses.

And to make things worse, he sent them not to me but to the crown prince’s palace—perfectly infuriating.

Not only to me, but to Blake as well.

If that man had heard the news, he must have been furious too.

So then…… could it be……?

Surely he didn’t really kill him?

Blake’s silent, grim face told me he was thinking the same thing.

I kept telling myself it couldn’t be, and yet I couldn’t shake the possibility.

“It can’t be…… right?”

Saying it aloud made it feel uncomfortably real.

I said it couldn’t be, but my mind was already drawing gruesome scenes.

So vivid they made my skin crawl.

“In any case, even if you’re not hurt, you still need to see the physician.”

That was all Blake said.

I swallowed a sigh of frustration.

If that man really had killed Ian……

Then I truly had no idea what I was supposed to do anymore.

Everything was chaos.

When did things become this twisted, when did the future become so impossible to see?

First the male lead’s death, then the female lead’s disappearance……

And if now even Ian Harmel, just an extra, had been murdered?

“Haa……”

I let out a long, anxious sigh as I paced.

My suspicions had turned out to be true.

Ian Harmel really had been killed.

By a mysterious man who looked exactly like Blake.

Who’s next? Why do events that never appeared in the original story keep happening?

My vision went dark.

The moment news of Ian’s murder spread, Blake was immediately named the prime suspect.

Or more precisely, the Empress and Prince Alec’s faction seized the chance to confine him in the crown prince’s palace.

Even though there wasn’t a shred of evidence he had killed anyone.

Even though multiple witnesses testified that there had been two crown princes.

Those testimonies were ignored.

Because in politics, all you need is the tiniest crack to wedge your way in.

Opportunists, the lot of them!

Blake’s confinement under the guise of ‘investigation’ only made me more uneasy.

And it had already been more than a week.

Now I was counting the days, lips raw from biting them, waiting desperately for news.

“Your Highness! I got it, the permit to enter!”

At last, Lily burst through the door with a shout.

“Ah, thank goodness!”

Finally, permission to approach Blake.

I snatched the permit from Lily in relief.

“The mood seems to be…… like his confinement will be lifted soon,” she added, worry in her eyes.

Of course the nobles supporting Blake wouldn’t just sit by.

A crown prince imprisoned for over a week with no evidence?

Absurd.

The fact it had dragged on this long only showed how fiercely the two factions were clashing.

No doubt things were being worked out behind the scenes.

I nodded as I accepted the permit from Lily.

But she still looked pale from the grim atmosphere hanging over the palace.

And she, too, had seen that man who looked like Blake with her own eyes……

Just remembering it, she hugged her arms around herself with a shiver.

“Who was that man, really? He gave me such chills.”

“I don’t know…….”

I was just as desperate to know.

A face exactly like Blake’s.

And yet, in every little habit, every tone of speech, every expression, he was Blake’s opposite.

But at the same time, he somehow gave off a strangely similar feeling.

A man who had never once appeared in the novel.

And he himself had called himself ‘Dominic.’

Could it be that as a side effect of reviving Blake, some kind of double had been created?

The thought made my skin prickle.

Even as ominous possibilities filled my head, I kept moving.

“Thank you, Lily. I’ll be back.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

I quickly packed the food Lily had prepared into a basket and hurried toward the crown prince’s palace.

It had already been a week since Blake had been confined in the name of investigation.

And if I wasn’t by his side, he wouldn’t even be able to taste his food.

He probably hadn’t slept properly either……

He was likely on the verge of collapse.

That’s why I had been so desperate for a permit to see him.

The Golden Festival?

How could they hold a ball when the crown prince was accused of murder?

Of course it had been canceled.

Meanwhile, Alec and his supporters used the opportunity to tear into Blake.

But with no decisive evidence, and with many witnesses swearing it was someone else’s doing……

It seemed likely he would be released soon, at least.

“……You may enter.”

As soon as the knight who searched me gave curt permission, I darted past him without even a greeting.

I flung open the door to the room where Blake was being confined.

And the first thing I saw was his back, standing by the window, arms folded, gazing outside.

His long legs and relaxed posture looked completely calm.

He turned his head the moment he heard me.

“Master?”

What the—why does he look perfectly fine?