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chapter 12
“Given that Artea disappeared quietly and there were no breaches in the security….”
“You once said it might be the work of an insider.”
“Right. And Artea didn’t disappear just anywhere—she vanished from the ducal castle’s garden.”
I began organizing the case together with Erios.
“Since she said the place she woke up in was unfamiliar, it seems she was moved while unconscious.”
“The sleeping incense is potent even for adults, but since her protective magic activated, she was able to regain consciousness fairly quickly.”
Putting it all together:
At first, Artea didn’t leave of her own will. But afterward, she moved on her own, thinking of coming to me—her aunt. By sheer luck, she caught a passing cargo wagon, met a security officer, and managed to arrive here safely.
“Let’s think about it the other way around. Why would someone want Artea to disappear?”
—Thank goodness… I thought even Aunt hated me…
Something Artea had said before.
She had clearly said “even” Aunt.
Which meant—
If there was someone in the ducal castle who hated Artea, who would it be?
‘Just think of who would be unhappy if Artea were around.’
-
Someone who wanted to eliminate her because they disliked her being the heir.
-
Someone who hated Artea for personal reasons and wanted her gone.
‘If it’s the first reason, one of the strongest suspects would be Erios.’
Was it cold of me to suspect her blood-related uncle?
But wanting to put one’s own child forward as heir, and finding a niece inconvenient—that was the most plausible motive.
‘But I don’t think Erios is the culprit.’
When I said I would take custody, he refused the easiest and most peaceful way to remove Artea.
That alone could have been an act—but the decisive factor was that he even proposed to me.
“But if someone really intended to harm Artea, isn’t using only sleeping incense a bit weak? Anyone else could inhale it too, and leaving her alone in a room feels sloppy.”
Of course, the incense had side effects—but for the abduction of a duke’s daughter, it was remarkably mild.
Which suggested that the goal might not have been elimination.
-
Someone who wanted to use Artea’s disappearance.
That option came naturally to mind.
Putting her to sleep and secretly removing her may have gone exactly as planned.
But they probably hadn’t anticipated that the child would actually run away during that window.
“And then, right on top of that, you proposed to me. They never expected the person who could support Artea the most to become the duchess.”
This was a chance to flush out the culprit.
“If I come here, they might panic and make a move. Or even if they don’t, they’ll tread carefully and stay quiet like a dead mouse. Either way, they won’t dare harm Artea again.”
I narrowed my eyes and spoke bluntly.
“So tell me. What was the butler doing while Artea was missing?”
The person who rushed over the moment he heard I’d been proposed to.
That was the butler, wasn’t it?
“He said the nanny was too drowsy to give a proper report. But I heard the nanny reported the disappearance as soon as she woke up?”
Erios had been away, and news of Artea’s disappearance spread incredibly fast.
Because the report was made immediately.
Yet the butler, despite receiving the report, discovered nothing meaningful during the search.
He assumed that since she was a child, she couldn’t have gone far, and wasted time searching irrelevant places—never once considering that she might have left the territory.
Of course, given a child’s short stride, that assumption might seem reasonable.
—Just how were you taking care of the young lady?!
Instead of focusing on the search, he reportedly wasted time scolding the nanny and maids.
He didn’t notify the entire ducal household or initiate a full search, claiming it would only cause unnecessary alarm and worry Erios, who was out subjugating monsters.
‘Individually, his explanations sound reasonable.’
But the way he strangely kept pushing the blame onto the nanny—
And how he immediately tried to get close to me once it seemed I might become the duchess—
It all bothered me.
“You said earlier that the butler is usually quiet and reserved, right?”
Yet this time, he interrupted our conversation and approached me first, speaking overly politely.
Things he’d never done before.
“A butler of a ducal household wouldn’t be chosen unless he were capable, right?”
He conducted a search, but found nothing of value.
And even the process itself was clumsy…
‘Of course, the nanny acting awkward around Artea is suspicious too.’
But I spoke directly with the nanny and the maid earlier.
The butler had said his piece—but I wanted to hear the story directly from the last people who had seen Artea.
To be honest, when I first heard of the disappearance, my initial thought had been the same:
How could a duke’s daughter vanish from the ducal residence?
What were the nanny and maid doing?
—It was my fault.
The nanny said she would accept dismissal without complaint, and that she would bear any punishment.
—Now that I’ve seen her return safely… I think I can accept anything.
—Punishment can be discussed after everything is resolved.
Of course, the last person to be with her is naturally suspicious.
But paradoxically, the existence of the sleeping incense cleared the nanny of suspicion.
I learned of the incense through the cat doll.
If she had inhaled it and collapsed into sleep, it must have been extremely difficult—yet despite that, she went to report immediately.
According to the butler, even while dazed and barely able to speak.
Most importantly—
‘She could have used the incense herself as part of a staged act. But if that were the case, she would’ve revealed the incense’s existence long ago. That would’ve cleared her of negligence.’
But at present, only Erios and I knew about the sleeping incense.
So then, what needed to be done was clear.
—We should first investigate whether the nanny was in financial trouble, and who she was close to.
“Then should we do the exact same investigation on the butler?”
I curled my lips into a villainous grin.
The butler was inside the ducal castle when the nanny reported Artea’s disappearance.
Artea was later found far from the castle.
That wasn’t something one person could have done alone.
‘So there must’ve been an accomplice.’
How was Artea smuggled out of the ducal castle?
Even if she’d been knocked out by the incense—
Since security hadn’t been breached, there had to be a way to remove her without being noticed.
Either an accomplice carried her out, or the butler handed her over.
“On the day Artea disappeared, a food supply wagon passed through the ducal castle.”
The supplier had worked with House Killiet for decades.
Naturally, security around them would be lax.
“What if they loaded the sleeping Artea onto the supply wagon and slipped out?”
“That would require cooperation from the driver or other servants, wouldn’t it? Cargo entering and leaving the castle is inspected by knights—you’d have to bring them in too.”
“Exactly.”
“And now that Artea’s disappearance is known, even if they were unknowingly involved, they won’t confess honestly. They’ll testify in ways that benefit themselves.”
But there was a way to make them tell the truth.
Lie to them.
The moment I met the wagon driver, I shouted at him in an overbearing tone.
“The knights already confessed! You loaded Artea onto the wagon and smuggled her out!”
“W–What?!”
He was the first person I met when I arrived in Killiet territory.
Of course, he hadn’t done such a thing.
Seeing his horrified face, I quickly pressed on.
“You dared to kidnap Lady Killiet?!”
I was the one controlling the situation.
Erios said nothing.
But just his presence was enough.
Dressed entirely in black that day, Erios looked like a grim reaper, his face utterly expressionless.
Taller than most men by a full head, radiating pressure even while standing still.
His icy silver hair and golden eyes held no light.
Meeting Erios’s emotionless gaze, the driver screamed.
“N–No! Absolutely not! I never did such a thing!”
And then he spilled the truth immediately.
“I only followed the butler’s orders and moved a single piece of cargo!”
