ISHM 32

Chapter 32

In any case, since the beginning had gone according to his intentions, it meant that the ending would follow mine.
I slowly nodded.

“Of course, if we divorce, you’ll be sufficiently compensated for everything you’ve done so far, along with ample alimony.”

“Hah…!”
Sir Fret let out a sigh of disbelief and fiddled with his shirt cuffs. Then he spoke to Johannes in an aggrieved voice.

“There are truly so many things I didn’t know…?”

“Now that you do, there’s no problem,” Johannes replied lightly.

Sir Fret squeezed his eyes shut. Meanwhile, I tried to hide my awkwardness, fidgeting with the tableware for no reason, and cautiously slipped into the conversation.

“I already owe the Duke one hundred million Berg. That alone is more than enough compensation. On top of that, you said I could continue studying pharmacology. So no matter how long it takes, fulfilling the role you want is my responsibility.”

Johannes shifted his gaze to me. For a brief moment his brow furrowed, then returned to its usual neat composure.

“And how long do you think I’ll want you to play that role?”

At his lowered voice, I lifted my head.

“…Pardon?”

A marriage with a clear purpose.
At most, it would last about five years. Even stretching it, perhaps ten…

Surely he wasn’t about to say it would take a lifetime. But even so, it was too late to back out now.
He hadn’t demanded that I repay the hundred million Berg, but I still wanted to pay its worth properly.

Assuming I became a pharmacist…

Even then, it was long.

I frowned as I looked at him. Johannes gave a small snort of laughter.

“Why are you taking it so seriously? I’m joking.”

“No! It absolutely must not be a joke. About the heir—”

“More importantly… what happened with the murder case?”

As Sir Fret was about to bring up the topic of an heir again, I hurriedly changed the subject. I wasn’t particularly curious, but it was the only thing that came to mind at the moment.

Johannes seemed surprised that I’d ask about the murder case. His eyes, which had been relaxed until just before, narrowed.

“Are you truly curious? It may be unpleasant.”

“…Yes. For now.”

Given my past record of lying, he didn’t seem fully convinced, but judging from Sir Fret’s sharp gaze, he appeared willing to humor me.

“If you wish.”

As he cut into the lamb, red with fresh blood, Johannes began to speak.

According to him, just as the first informant had said, it was a gruesome murder. At first, the investigation focused on grudges, but that suspicion was quickly dismissed. There wasn’t even a trace of a connection between the victim and the perpetrator.

The killer had brazenly smashed the victim’s head several times with a hammer. I couldn’t relax my frown even once at that part.

Seeing me like that, Johannes asked if he should stop, but I shook my head. Since I had already started listening, stopping halfway would only leave me more unsettled.

“Please continue.”

Rather than killing him in the square, the murderer had killed him elsewhere, sealed the body inside a suitcase, and thrown it into the fountain in the square. Some time later, the suitcase surfaced, and thus, ten days after the murder, the crime was discovered.

“So people were passing by that spot for ten whole days,” I said.

Johannes nodded.

There were two suspects: the victim’s mother, who had supported him financially until he was nearly forty, and a longtime friend who owed the victim money.

In the end, the culprit was revealed to be the friend. A predictable answer, nothing surprising.

I frowned and gestured toward the newspaper headline.

“No matter what, how could someone kill a friend like that…?”

“That’s not it.”

The firm reply made me tilt my head.

“People sometimes want to hear the answer they desire rather than the truth. The world is full of lies.”

I fell silent. I felt I understood what he meant.

“So if I’m understanding this correctly, you’re saying an innocent person was made into a murderer?”

Johannes nodded.

“…Why?”

“Because it was the best way to satisfy everyone’s desires.”

The best way.
The image of that faceless person’s family flashed through my mind, and a hollow laugh escaped me.

“I’m not sure it satisfies the desires of the person who was branded a criminal overnight and thrown into prison.”

The answer that came back was disarmingly plain.

“He was sufficiently compensated. He’ll be criticized, but the remaining family will live comfortably for the rest of their lives.”

“…And since the culprit has officially been caught, the citizens no longer have to live in fear.”

I didn’t ask whether he had been involved. Naturally so—every important matter in Müssen passed through Johannes Schultz.

In the end, it meant that he had permitted the act of buying an innocent person with money and silencing them.

If you looked closely, it wasn’t much different from my situation.
The only difference was that I was lucky, and that man was not. That was all.

His eyes still revealed no emotion. Like a calm sea, there wasn’t the slightest ripple.

My throat went dry. I forced myself to swallow before finally turning away.
Because my hair was pulled tightly back without a single strand loose, the nape of my neck felt painfully exposed.

I recalled one of the most important questions and asked,

“Then what about the real culprit?”

Edward Windsor stood by a window in Baverin Castle in the capital, Baden, gazing outside with a bored expression.

“I’ve heard that His Majesty inquired about the Duchess,” said his aide, Moritz Weber, approaching him. Edward slowly turned his head.

“Oh. Has His Majesty decided he doesn’t even want to summon me to ask in person now?”

“……”

“I’d like to hurry up and make a report and be done with these troublesome matters too, but unfortunately, I’m still thinking. I can’t quite grasp what kind of person the Duchess is.”

Edward ruffled his hair as he recalled Edith Prim’s clear, pale face.

“Johannes Schultz isn’t the sort of man who’d marry a commoner woman just because he fell for her looks.”

Yet the two looked like genuinely loving lovers. Had Johannes ever been that at ease with women before?

At least on the days Edward had seen him, Johannes had never shown interest in women even once.

As Edward bit his lip, Moritz carefully handed him the documents he was holding.

“So… this is the information you asked for on the Duchess. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy. It’s ambiguous to even say she’s hiding her identity. The villagers all say she’s an ordinary young woman.”

The file Moritz handed over was just a single page. That alone spoke to how unremarkable she was.

“The only unusual detail is that she’s studying pharmacology, but even that can hardly be called special.”

“Hm…”

Truly dull—there was nothing to see but her appearance.
Had Johannes Schultz completely let go of everything after the death of the previous Duke Schultz?

If so, that was good news for Edward. Having reached a convenient conclusion, he asked in a bored tone,

“The reason for the marriage?”

“It seems Duke Schultz paid off all of the Duchess’s debts.”

“Debts?”

Muttering to himself, Edward gestured for him to continue.

“From the looks of it, she got properly caught up with a loan shark operation that Count Swabia had been running under the table. According to the naval officers at the scene, the Duke even proposed right then and there.”

“What?”

Johannes Schultz proposing in a place like that?

Edward burst into wild laughter, as if he’d lost his mind. Apparently used to this sight, Moritz stood silently at his side as Edward laughed himself to tears.

Soon, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, Edward’s lips curved into a beautiful arc.

He really must have gone mad. Johannes Schultz—completely insane.

“Did he really fall in love? That would make things far less entertaining.”

Edward continued,

“Tell His Majesty she’s a woman of no particular importance. I’ve already planted a suitable seed of suspicion in her, so unless it’s true love, she’ll run away on her own.”

“Yes. I’ll relay that. And… it seems you’ll soon be appointed as the chief of the Müssen Police Bureau.”

“Müssen?”

Moritz nodded cautiously.

“With this murder case, public sentiment in Müssen is unstable. Distrust toward the police is widespread, and the reputation of Duke Schultz—whom they only just managed to bring down—is rising again. Because of public opinion calling for reform of the Müssen Police Bureau…”

“So His Majesty intends to send me as a scapegoat.”

“He’s sending a reliable problem solver.”

“Enough. It’s not like this is the first time.”

The headache of the Windsor royal family—Edward Windsor.
By now, he was accustomed to being used as a piece on the board. Edward waved his hand dismissively at Moritz.

“I won’t be bored. You may go.”

“…Shall I dispose of the documents?”

“No, leave them. They’ll be something to pass the time with when I’m bored.”

Until the moment Moritz turned and left, Edward didn’t wipe the smile from his face. Only after the footsteps faded did he reach for the papers on his desk.

And just as he was about to toss them into the wastebasket—

Edward’s gaze stopped on a single line. He clenched the paper tightly again.

“Edith Prim…?”