SWRD 22

Chapter 22

As the disappearances continued for several months, even the royal capital began to take notice.

Concerned that chaos might spread in the capital, the royal palace chose not to make the cases public, instead investigating them quietly behind the scenes.

However, even after the palace initiated its investigation, the situation did not improve. Disappearances continued, and the reasons behind the previous ones—as well as the whereabouts of the missing—remained unclear.

At their wit’s end, the palace sought help from the Craford family.

The one assigned to solve the issue was Kylid Craford, who had previously resolved difficult problems for the royal palace.

After several days of intense investigation, Kylid discovered a subtle but distinct pattern in the incidents.

Based on this pattern, he roughly deduced the time and place of the next disappearance—but failed to prevent it from happening.

Kylid then told the Duke and Ethan that if he failed again, he would report his failure to the palace. This conversation was overheard by maids Chloe and Luna.

That night, while cleaning up tea cups in Elisa Craford’s bedroom, Chloe and Luna chatted about the conversation they had overheard.

And at that moment, Elisa Craford—whom they thought was sound asleep in her bed…

‘…turned out to have heard everything the maids said, and decided to solve the case herself.’

After piecing it all together in my head, I slumped in my chair.

“This is such a huge misunderstanding…”

Disappearance case? What’s that? I had no idea.

But thanks to an unbelievable coincidence, I became the one who solved the case.

‘The place where I encountered the kidnapper just happened to be where Kylid had predicted the next disappearance would occur.’

And not just that—both the date and time lined up exactly.

Anyone would misunderstand the situation like this. Even I would mistake myself for a genius.

When Chloe and Luna were supposedly having that conversation while cleaning the bedroom, I really was asleep. But… maybe my subconscious remembered what they said and led me to the scene at the exact date and time?

‘No way.’

Just kidding. I was simply manipulated by a threatening letter.

The fact that it led to all this… it’s still shocking to think about.

‘I must have been incredibly lucky.’

…But there’s still something I don’t get.

‘Why couldn’t the palace or Kylid resolve the disappearances until now?’

Judging by this case, Kylid had accurately predicted both the location and time of the incident.

And the kidnapping I witnessed wasn’t subtle or elaborate at all.

Sure, it was in a secluded alley, but they were still openly dragging away a fully conscious person…

And they couldn’t catch such a sloppy criminal for months?

‘Is this a world where the police are incompetent?’

…Come to think of it, in My Daughter Is the Villain, the guards always showed up after Elisa had already resolved the situation.

Hmm.

A world where law enforcement is practically useless… that’s kind of dangerous…

Will I be okay living here after running away?

“Young Lady.”

Lost in thought, I only belatedly noticed Enfi entering the bedroom.

I looked up at him as he approached.

“What is it?”

“You have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

But Bella doesn’t have any friends…

“Who is it?”

After tossing and turning, I gave up trying to sleep and got up.

Sitting blankly on the bed, the voice I had heard earlier echoed in my ears again.

“Thank you.”

The “visitor” had come all the way to my room to see me, despite my injured ankle.

When I saw the person, I was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Thanks to you, I survived. Of course, maybe I wouldn’t have died even if I’d been taken…”

She looked like my mother.

…Though under the light, I realized she didn’t actually resemble her that much.

“I would’ve been separated from my family. Even if I had lived, it wouldn’t have felt like living.”

Still, there was definitely a resemblance.

I stared at her endlessly, then turned away in case it looked strange. Her voice came through even more clearly after that.

“I have a daughter…”

“…”

“Thank you so much for letting me see her again.”

“Walk… I should go for a walk…”

Muttering to myself, I slipped out of bed. Of course, I had to walk very slowly. I still couldn’t put much weight on my right ankle.

Luckily, the pain had mostly subsided thanks to the painkillers prescribed by Dr. Sarah before bed.

I slowly left the bedroom.

Given the state of my ankle, leaving the building didn’t seem like a wise choice…

Alright. Let’s pick a destination.

“Sleepwalking?”

Before I even got halfway there, I ran into Kylid.

He glanced down at my bandaged ankle and spoke again.

“You managed to walk all this way, stubborn as ever.”

Stubborn…

“Walking’s not that hard, you know.”

“From the way you’re answering, you’re not sleepwalking.”

“Yeah, I’m awake. Came out fully conscious. And this has nothing to do with you, so don’t butt in.”

He’s not a doctor, so I don’t want to hear any nagging from him.

I tried to walk past him…

Gasp.

…but the moment I stepped forward, I staggered. A sharp pain suddenly shot through my ankle. Why now, of all times?

I thought I was going to fall flat on my face—but surprisingly, Kylid didn’t let me.

Thanks to him catching me, I managed to regain my balance. Embarrassed, I gave a small cough.

“…Thanks. You can let go now.”

“Where are you going?”

“Huh?”

“Your destination. Where is it?”

“…The kitchen.”

Since I had just been helped, I answered honestly—and that’s when my vision suddenly shifted.

It took me a few seconds to realize what had just happened.

Kylid had slung me over his shoulder like a sack of rice!

“What are you doing?!”

“If you flail around and fall, you’re the only one who gets hurt.”

Just imagining the disaster made my body go limp. Kylid’s voice came again.

“Better than holding you up the whole time. Just bear with it.”

“…”

I stayed silent as Kylid began walking. My mind was in turmoil, but I had nothing to say.

Kylid didn’t just escort me—he carried me to the kitchen.

And his strange behavior didn’t stop there.

Clink.

I stared at the cup placed in front of me. I peered at the milk inside, then spoke.

“What did you put in it?”

Kylid, now seated across from me, answered.

“Honey.”

…I didn’t mean it like that.

…Forget it. I quietly picked up the cup and took a sip of the milk.

It was warm.

…He even warmed the milk?

I finally set the cup down and asked the question that had been bugging me.

“Before you saw me in the hallway—did you hit your head?”

“No.”

“Did you fall down the stairs?”

“No.”

“…Did Dr. Sarah tell you you have a terminal illness that she can’t cure?”

But that can’t be. As far as I know, Kylid’s supposed to live at least until the ending of My Daughter Is the Villain.

Maybe it was a misdiagnosis?

“No.”

Kylid’s answer came again. I looked into his blue eyes and spoke.

“Then why are you acting like this?”

“Do I seem crazy to you?”

“…Yeah.”

I answered honestly, and Kylid let out a small laugh. I paused. His smiling face felt unfamiliar.

“Maybe I am.”

“…”

“But I’m not doing this because I’ve lost my mind.”

Then he wiped the smile from his face. That’s not to say he looked cold—but his voice, now devoid of any jest, reached my ears.

“Thank you.”

“…”

“Thanks to you, we caught the culprit.”

I snapped back to my senses. When he thanked me, for a moment I thought I had fallen into some parallel fantasy world—not My Daughter Is the Villain, but a whole different isekai. That the person in front of me wasn’t Kylid, but someone from a different world who just looked like him.

But after hearing what he was thanking me for, I calmed down a little. I collected myself and replied.

“You’re the one who caught the culprit. I just…”