SRHNVW 13

Chapter 13

“The butler,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes.

Just as I expected.

This was what the coachman claimed:

On the day Artea was kidnapped, he had followed the butler’s orders and transported some cargo to the place he was told—but he swore he had no idea what was inside.

“That makes no sense. You transported cargo from the duke’s household without knowing what it was? Didn’t it occur to you that it might be something important?”

“I-I couldn’t afford to offend the butler, sir. If I did, I might lose all future delivery work with the ducal house. I’ve been wronged! I’m just a lowly coachman—how could I possibly—”

“You don’t show even a hint of remorse.”

When I coldly hardened my expression, the coachman flinched and hurriedly spoke.

“All I transported was a wine barrel! How was I supposed to imagine that Lady Artea was inside it?”

There were only so many kinds of cargo large enough to hold a child.

Just as I thought—it really was a wine barrel.

“A barrel full of wine and a barrel with a child inside would feel completely different.”

“I just thought they’d put something heavy inside the barrel to make it easier to transport!”

Even if Artea wasn’t the only thing inside and other items were added, this was a coachman who had hauled countless loads.

He would have known it wasn’t wine.

“You didn’t say a single word even after Artea went missing.”

“……”

“Save your empty talk about reflection.”

On the very day the disappearance occurred, the coachman had transported that barrel.

And yet he never told anyone.

Even to himself, he must have known he wasn’t completely blameless.

A resigned look slowly spread across his face.

“The Duke of Erios was busy fighting monsters, and the butler is the one with real power in the household. Even if I thought something was suspicious, what could I have done…?”

With the duke gone for long periods, people ended up watching the butler’s mood instead of their actual lord.

“N-no, it’s not that the Duke was at fault—”

Only then did the coachman glance nervously at Erios beside me, but Erios kept his mouth tightly shut and said nothing.

I clicked my tongue internally.

He must be thinking a lot.

Still, I didn’t offer comfort—or blame.

Instead, I brought him straight to the knights.

This isn’t just the coachman’s problem. The knights who checked the supply wagon that day are also at fault.

If suspicious cargo was being smuggled out, the knights should have noticed and stopped it.

“The culprit behind Artea’s kidnapping has been identified—the coachman.”

“What? That bastard!”

After a moment of stunned silence, the knights tried to explode in anger.

“Playing dumb won’t help you.”

My sharp words cut in first.

“Does it make sense for a mere coachman to kidnap a noble lady on his own? You must have been accomplices.”

“Absolutely not!”

As expected, the knights immediately poured out their defense.

“It’s true that we let the supply wagon pass, but there really were only food supplies inside.”

“If you check with others, you’ll know. On the day Lady Artea was kidnapped, we never left the castle gate.”

I sneered.

“The coachman already told everything. He said he transported a barrel big enough to hold a child, and you didn’t say a word.”

“B-but alcohol storage is part of the butler’s duties—”

“And it’s forbidden without the duke’s permission.”

No one but the butler could enter the castle’s underground cellar.

That was how strictly the alcohol was controlled.

“And yet, knowing the Duke of Kiliette had gone on a monster subjugation, you didn’t find that strange? You, knights of the ducal castle?”

“……”

“You sent a barrel big enough to hold a child outside the castle without the duke’s order—and still didn’t speak up when Artea went missing. Why?”

If they couldn’t stop the cargo, they should have at least admitted their mistake and reported the suspicious circumstances when Artea disappeared.

But they didn’t.

“But in that situation, how could we—”

“We were worried that reporting something uncertain might disrupt the search…”

After a brief silence, the knights muttered excuses about how unfair it was.

I mocked them mercilessly.

“You were afraid it would come back to bite you, weren’t you? Am I wrong?”

“……”

“It was a long-established supplier, and although the cargo was unusual, you let it slide because it belonged to the butler.”

“……”

“Then why even bother with a search process at all? Everything passing through the castle is related to castle personnel anyway.”

The entire kidnapping process became clear.

The butler kidnapped Artea using sleeping incense, loaded her onto a supply wagon, and both the coachman and the knights cooperated without suspicion simply because it was ‘the butler’s cargo.’

“If something had happened to Artea, would you still be standing here so upright?”

The doll I had given her.

If the sleeping incense hadn’t been used, Artea might still be trapped by people she didn’t even know.

If their intentions had been just a little more malicious, she could have fallen victim to something far worse.

Those wounds could have lasted a lifetime…

And how much Erios must have blamed himself.

“We’re sorry! But please understand our circumstances!”

“We regret it deeply! Please forgive us!”

One knight dropped to his knees, and the others followed, begging for forgiveness.

Some even slammed their heads against the ground.

But then—

“Hah.”

A cold, scornful laugh escaped Erios, who had remained silent until now.

The knights’ bodies stiffened.

“You testified as if Artea’s disappearance was the nanny’s fault.”

Wow. They hadn’t just done it once or twice—they’d consistently shoved the blame onto her.

“If it ended with the nanny taking responsibility, you’d all be free. You’d known others here for years, but the nanny—who hadn’t even been here long—you probably didn’t feel sorry for her at all.”

The coachman earlier had been the same.

Even after telling the truth, he clung to the claim that he was wronged.

He never once asked whether Artea was safe, or how she was doing now.

—She’s a noble lady, so nothing terrible could’ve happened to her, right? But if we upset the butler, then we’re—

Even while saying they regretted it, everything ended in self-pity.

“Every other word out of your mouths is ‘the butler.’”

“Erios.”

“You were afraid of the butler—but weren’t you afraid of me, your actual lord?”

Since Erios had been away so long on monster subjugations, he’d appointed someone he trusted as butler…

And the result was catastrophic.

“I didn’t realize the rot had started from within my own house.”

Erios ground his teeth, the sound harsh and bitter.

“But there must be more accomplices. Artea woke up in a brick house.”

The coachman had unloaded the cargo in an isolated empty lot.

He might have carried it to the brick house himself, but after saying everything else, would he really lie about just that part?

More likely, he either left it in an empty house or dropped it off exactly where the butler told him.

More importantly, Artea said she heard people talking.

Yet records showed the coachman continued working the next day.

That meant someone else had moved Artea to the brick house—and stayed behind to watch her.

So who did the butler rope in?

After the monster subjugation, the Kiliette ducal house held immense influence.

Most armed groups were under its shadow.

To hire such groups, the butler would have had to reveal his identity and use that authority.

They wouldn’t accept a job from someone without a clear background.

“Which means there’s a high chance he gathered a gang of lowlifes he could hire without revealing who he was.”

And both the coachman and the knights had said similar things.

—It seems it was because of gambling debts. That damned butler of the ducal house.

—When he was in a bad mood, he’d lost everything. When he was in a good mood, he’d win big—and brag nonstop! I even went with him once!

Once they realized they were wrong, both sides started badmouthing the butler, desperate to wash away even a bit of their own guilt.

As expected—set them against each other, and they destroy themselves.

They had tried to pin the disappearance entirely on the nanny.

But under the circumstances, the theory fit disturbingly well.

“Gambling dens are perfect places to recruit people like that. If you wave money in front of them, they won’t ask questions.”

It was said he had suddenly begun demanding more bribes recently.

Why would he suddenly need money?

That’s why he wanted the nanny’s assets checked too. People always attack others through their weaknesses.

After hearing all this, Erios spoke calmly.

“Alright. I’ll go there myself.”

“You’re really going personally?”

“After being betrayed even by my butler, I don’t know who else might turn on me. I’ll handle it myself.”

Was he so angry he just needed to do something—anything?

Well, trusting one person had allowed his household to rot this badly. Anyone would be furious.

But is it really okay to let someone who’s clearly angry go alone…?

Everything was already set, but what if he lost control?

Right now he looked calm, pretending to be the composed adult—but he hadn’t always been like that.

Back when I first met him as a child… he definitely wasn’t.

“Fine. But if you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

In the end, I decided to follow Erios after all.