TRFDTV ~ 19

Chapter – 19

Even if someone stops breathing, the morning still comes, and the world keeps turning.

Asilly, who had been swallowing a yawn since morning, froze solid upon hearing completely unexpected news.

What in the world did I just hear?

“So… dead?”

Overnight, a theft case had somehow transformed into a murder case.

But Sebastian wouldn’t joke about something like this first thing in the morning…

“The side building? One of the young ladies who attended the party?”

“No. One of the servants.”

“A servant?”

“Yes. It’s presumed to have happened between last night and early this morning.”

Sebastian’s exceptionally calm demeanor in this situation soon made Asilly calm down as well.

“I should go see.”

He bowed his head deeply, and soon after, Asilly encountered Ludwig.

“The victim is the servant of that young lady from the countryside… How excessively…”

“Coincidental, indeed.”

As if reading Asilly’s thoughts, Ludwig continued, and she added,

“Convenient, too. The most likely suspect can no longer speak.”

The two, looking at each other, opened their mouths simultaneously as if by prior agreement.

“To the side building.”

“Let’s head to the side building.”

* * *

The central hall of the side building, filled with the cool air of early morning.

Where everyone staying in the side building had gathered, it was utterly quiet, save for the occasional sound of breathing and soft coughs.

Without exception, the young ladies and even the servants who had accompanied them wore uneasy expressions, glancing at each other before quickly looking away.

How much time had passed?

A dry voice broke the suffocating silence.

“Is everyone here?”

“Yes.”

At Sebastian’s concise reply, Ludwig gave a brief nod.

Naturally, theft and murder were handled with completely different levels of severity.

Unlike yesterday, where they merely asked for cooperation, today, with a body discovered, everyone staying in the side building had to hold their breath and await the Grand Duke’s command.

Ludwig gave them a very short order.

“Begin the investigation.”

Soon after, the young ladies were completely isolated from the others and sat facing three aides from the Grand Duke’s household.

And so, everyone staying in the side building, weighed down by pressure, began pouring out everything they knew.

“This is something only a few know, but…”

“I shouldn’t casually spread this kind of talk elsewhere, but given the circumstances, I have something to tell you…”

Most of their stories were unrelated to the case, but among them, they managed to glean a few that could serve as clues.

After the investigation, which lasted several hours from late morning until afternoon, concluded, in Ludwig’s study.

Asilly, with a puzzled expression, asked again.

“The Lemer sisters’ missing necklace didn’t belong to them?”

“Yes. They said it was borrowed.”

Asilly picked up one of the nearby documents and quickly scanned it.

“If I’m not mistaken, it says the Lemer Count family is quite influential. If they own land and stay in the capital to participate in central politics, they must be wealthy, right?”

“That’s the publicly known information. The wheat from the Lemer family’s territory is of such high quality that it’s supplied to the imperial family, and the Count family built their wealth on that foundation.”

“And now?”

“Well.”

At the ambiguous answer, Asilly immediately narrowed her eyes.

“You weren’t interested, I see.”

Ludwig pressed his lips together and gave no other answer, but most silences imply affirmation.

Asilly, looking at him intently for a moment, spoke up.

“I thought a Grand Duke would know, if not what underwear every noble in the empire wore today, at least what they ate.”

“Setting aside why I would need to know such things, I’m not so idle as to peer into the internal affairs of every family. Moreover, prying that deeply into their affairs is also a sign of disrespect towards that family.”

“Hearing you say that, it makes sense.”

It seems they don’t use spies like the ones often seen in novels, dramas, or movies, in reality…

“Though I could find out if necessary.”

“What? You have spies?”

“How did you… Well, I suppose there are similar cases in your world too.”

“No, well, there… are, but…”

Probably the caliber of those spies and the ‘informants’ here are somewhat different.

“Anyway, to conclude, the economic situation of the Lemer family is worse than expected, and if they can’t find the borrowed necklace, it’s not just the young lady individually, but the family itself that will be in serious trouble, right?”

“Correct.”

“Well, that seems like sufficient motive to kill the person suspected of committing that theft.”

“And we also have testimony that someone heard them arguing that night.”

Subsequently, as Asilly shuffled through the documents, she scanned someone’s testimony, then carefully examined all the others’ stories.

“Ludwig.”

“Yes.”

“This is too strange, isn’t it?”

Asilly pointed precisely at one sentence. Following her fingertip, Ludwig’s voice rang out.

“Put nicely, a naive, simple, somewhat foolish young lady from the countryside with nothing to her name but a smiling face.”

Then, Asilly’s voice overlapped.

“So, there’s no way that young lady or her servant could have committed the theft. There must have been some misunderstanding.”

When Ludwig looked at Asilly, she pointed to a few other documents and said.

“These evaluations. Everyone else is saying the same thing.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes. It’s almost identical, as if they promised to do so.”

She shook her head as she selected a few from the documents that hadn’t yet reached his hands.

“Even if she might actually be that kind of person, everyone unanimously giving similar accounts is a bit…”

“Strange.”

“And here, ‘The reputation of the Lemer twins. Those of true blue blood.’ Put nicely, that means ‘aristocratic,’ and put badly…”

Asilly paused briefly, then added helplessly.

“Even put badly, it still means ‘aristocratic,’ doesn’t it?”

A young lady from a minor, seemingly powerless family from the countryside, so naive and simple she looks like she’s never insulted anyone in her life.

And a young lady who, backed by a family of powerful influence, even renowned in central politics, looks down on others.

“Anyone can clearly distinguish the weak from the strong here. In such cases, usually no one thinks the weak party is the villain.”

It’s a typical underdog phenomenon.

“What if…”

Asilly tilted her head.

“Would it be too much of a leap to say that young lady from the countryside planned this on purpose?”

Ludwig gazed at her intently for a moment before speaking.

“Suggesting that the young lady herself, not the servant, is the perpetrator of all these incidents would be a leap.”

“Yeah. Right.”

“But it might be worth looking into.”

“You said it was a leap?”

“Just the fact that you suspect it is reason enough to look into it.”

She couldn’t tell where that belief came from.

But it’s not… bad.

His sky-blue eyes held only her within them.

Surely, having someone believe in you so completely must be a burden.

But if that ‘someone’ was Ludwig, it didn’t matter.

Because she trusted him just as much, if not more.

Asilly looked at Ludwig and nodded.

“Alright, then, I want to try this.”

* * *

Around the time the blue sky began to tinge with red.

The younger sister, as if exhausted from crying, was slumped listlessly, her eyes swollen and red, breathing heavily.

Who could dare point a finger at her, expressing the sorrow of losing a cherished person with her entire being?

Moved by her pitiful appearance, almost all the young ladies staying in the side building offered words of comfort.

Even the young ladies who were victims of the theft came to her and patted her shoulder before leaving.

But there are always exceptions. The only ones who didn’t seek her out were the Lemer twins.

“Well, that’s better for me.”

Muttering in a hoarse voice, the younger sister fiddled with the pouch in her embrace.

A bitter smile spread across her lips.

That night, faced with her older sister’s corpse, the younger sister had desperately racked her brains and thought of a rather plausible way to escape this entire situation.

And so far, things have been proceeding as she planned…

The younger sister tightly clutched the pouch containing the half-eaten pie—no, the stolen bracelet and ring.

Now, all she had to do was wait.

Moreover, she had already played another card. When she, weeping pitifully, said she wanted to be alone, everyone gave her space, making it easy to play that card.

-*Knock knock*.

Following the knock, a servant from the Grand Duke’s household announced lunch. The younger sister vigorously rubbed her eyes, squeezing out tears.

And so, around the time the younger sister was putting on an ardent performance of being too grief-stricken to eat…

In the Lemer twins’ room. Kelly, alone, clutched the necklace as if she wanted to crush it.

Of all times, why did it have to return now?

“Kelly? What’s wrong?”

Anne, who had returned with a tired face after dealing with the suspicious eyes of the other young ladies, sensed something was amiss just from Kelly’s back.

Without a word, Kelly held out the necklace towards Anne.

Anne’s eyes widened as if they would tear.

“This… don’t tell me.”
“Yeah. It… came back.”
“Did you see? Who returned it?”
“No. What do we do now?”