Summary
Duke Münze Roheol, famed as the Shield of the Empire, was mu*dered by bandits on a mountain road.Her suspicious death sent a powerful shock through multiple kingdoms. Did no one suspect that the Emperor himself might have orchestrated her removal to eliminate an influential feudal lord?
Of course they did. Many sharp minds reached that conclusion. They simply could not voice it, out of fear of the Empire.But then, did those people have any reason to dig into the unjust death of a foreign duke?
They did not.And so the world fell silent in shock.Just as the deceased had wished.—With a single exception.
It was right after attending a funeral held without a body.Grand Duke Raphael Ehve looked down at the flowers chosen to honor the noble dead and spoke quietly.“We must find Duke Roheol.”Despite having personally confirmed the horrific scene, Raphael—an old friend of the duke believed to be dead—reasoned with cold clarity.You’re not dead, Muze.
There’s no way you could be.
Two years later, in the capital city of Elshop, Kingdom of Ario.While investigating a series of disappearances, Elssier, captain of the Silver Fox Unit, visits a bookstore upon a subordinate’s recommendation.“Even if a noble comes in, we don’t sell books here. The owner says anyone who takes these books will be chased to the ends of the world and made extremely miserable.”“……”“Oh dear. Come to think of it, I’m the one who made that decision.”In that bookstore—which sells no books—lived an utterly hopeless fool, the kind that makes people clutch the backs of their necks in disbelief.
