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Chapter 50
The lady who had risen from among the crowd slowly removed her mask. The woman beneath it was Lady Skunt, the one who had purchased the second painting at the count’s auction.
“The Duchess of Ameron is correct. I accepted her request and won that painting at the auction. The Duchess was worried that a forgery might fall into someone else’s hands, so she asked me to bid on it.”
“That makes no sense. There’s no proof that it’s a forgery.”
At this point, the count seemed cornered and clung to Haren. Faced with his desperate gaze, Haren looked toward his mother, the Duchess of Ameron.
She wrinkled the bridge of her nose.
“What do you mean there’s no proof? It’s right here. The signature.”
When she pointed to the signature on the painting, the count’s eyes widened. It certainly looked like solid evidence.
“Melchasky’s works never have signatures. I know—I’ve seen the imperial paintings.”
“Th-that’s because this one was painted before the imperial collection—”
“What nonsense. Just earlier you said this painting was the next work after The Sea that hangs in the imperial palace.”
A victorious smile formed on the duchess’s lips.
“We’ve brought the suspicious individuals.”
Tom, who had gone out to search, returned with two people—one man and one woman.
“What are your identities?”
When Haren asked the man, he lowered his head and answered in a weak voice.
“I am Orson Monzas, the younger brother of Count Monzas.”
“Your brother, then. Do you happen to know anything about that painting?”
The count stared at his brother with eyes wide open. Even to Haren, a third party, it was obvious what that gaze was saying: Don’t you dare open your mouth. If you do, I won’t let you live.
But Orson deliberately ignored that look. He stepped forward and dropped to his knees before Haren.
“They’re all forgeries that I painted.”
“Orson! Have you lost your mind? You’re lying to ruin our family!”
“Please be quiet. Now, say that again.”
“The signature you see there is mine. I left it just in case—my last shred of conscience.”
“Is that so? You painted the forgeries. Did you act alone?”
“No. I did it all at my brother’s orders. Count Monzas planned to sell the painting today and then cross the border to flee to another country.”
At the truth spilling from Orson’s mouth, the crowd gasped and covered their mouths.
Count Monzas nearly screamed as he lunged toward Orson.
Beside him, the Duchess of Ameron stood with her arms folded, her chin lifted so high it looked as though it might snap off. For a moment, Haren actually worried about her neck.
Now everything was clear.
The one who painted the pictures and the one who sold them—both culprits were standing right in front of Haren.
Still, there was one last matter to settle. Haren turned his gaze to the woman standing beside Orson.
“Then you are—”
The moment he pointed at her, the woman collapsed to the floor with a dull thud.
“She was in a basement room with a lock on the outside. She was crying, begging to be let out, so it seems she was being held captive.”
“Lay her on a bed at once and call a physician.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tom lifted the woman and carried her away.
“How on earth did you know, Mother?”
After the count had been dragged away and the search concluded, Haren asked the duchess, who was still holding her chin high.
“I knew from the very first moment I saw it.”
“Honestly, you didn’t. If you had known it was a forgery, you’d never have displayed it in the mansion’s main hall.”
At Haren’s words, the duchess laughed.
“As expected of my son—you know me well.”
“Then how did you find out? Who told you?”
“Haren, you and Flaria really made a wonderful friend.”
“A friend?”
There was only one person that could mean.
“Do you mean Espin?”
“Yes. Espin told me everything. He said it would be better for me, the duchess, to handle this rather than leaving it to him.”
Haren smiled at the cleverness of his friend Espin.
With rumors already spreading in high society due to the appearance of an illegitimate child, his mother’s reputation had been suffering. Thanks to this incident, however, it would rise again. If the forgery had been exposed later, after she herself had bought it, she would have been terribly humiliated.
“It seems Flaria and I truly have a great friend.”
“V–Vice Captain!”
As Haren was speaking with his mother, Tom came running up, out of breath.
“The woman who was the victim of confinement earlier has disappeared.”
“What? She collapsed earlier—how could she just disappear?”
“I don’t know. We laid her on the bed and went to fetch the doctor, but when we returned, she was gone.”
“Search the area, just in case. She didn’t look healthy—she couldn’t have gone far.”
“Yes, sir.”
At the same time Count Monzas was being arrested, I was sitting in Robert’s information shop, waiting for someone.
“The count and his brother Orson have been arrested.”
After hearing this from an employee who came up to the second floor, Robert kindly explained the situation.
Everything had unfolded exactly as I had told the Duchess of Ameron the day before. Satisfied, I smiled.
“Just as planned.”
“The count will be handed over to the Imperial Knights. That means you’ll have to be questioned too.”
“So what? I’ll just say, ‘I did exactly as the Duchess of Ameron instructed.’”
“You faked a fall yesterday just to avoid dancing with Archduke Holt—are you sure you can handle an investigation?”
A grin spread across Robert’s face as he brought up the dark history I’d created the day before.
“Was it that obvious?”
“Yes.”
If it was that obvious, then Travis must have noticed too. I sighed.
Knock, knock.
Just then, someone knocked on the door at the bottom of the stairs.
“Looks like she’s here. Come in.”
At Robert’s words, the door opened and someone climbed up to the second floor.
“Kourin, are you all right?”
Her face looked worn from the past few days, but when she wiped it with a handkerchief, some life returned to her expression.
It was amazing every time—how she could look like a completely different person just through acting and makeup.
Kourin removed the wig she was wearing, returning to the face I knew.
“Count Monzas has been arrested.”
“I know.”
Thinking she had brought the news first, Kourin blinked in confusion when she realized we already knew.
“You did well, Babin Melchasky.”
In this plan, Kourin had played the role of Babin Melchasky perfectly. When she clung to the count and cried, she looked so heartbroken that even I nearly cried with her. Actors truly were on another level.
“Oh, I just did what I was told,” she said with an embarrassed smile.
“No, if you hadn’t done it properly, we would’ve failed. Your acting was incredible.”
At those words, her eyes grew sad—the look of someone remembering a dream she had tried to forget.
She had once dreamed of becoming a stage actress, but had been forced to give up just as she was about to land a leading role. Hounded daily by loan sharks, she could no longer remain with the troupe.
She left the theater in tears, and now she was doing whatever work she could to pay off her debts.
“Come on, Kourin. Let’s go—time for your revenge.”
On a day like this, when the Imperial Knights were in chaos, it was the perfect time for revenge.
