Chapter 137
I slowly parted the cluster of maids whispering among themselves and walked through them.
Then I shook my head firmly.
“I have a feeling he’ll be going far away—off to a prison in a foreign country.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I heard he has a fondness for desert regions, apparently….”
I stood by the window for a moment, admiring the noisy scene outside, then closed it and smiled brightly.
“Wouldn’t he be delighted to go himself, instead of sending his nephews?”
The maids attending Edith, who had crowded close demanding to know what I knew, stiffened and stepped back.
“Well, it’s got nothing to do with lowly folk like us anyway, right?”
“O-of course… b-but, um, where are you going, Iris?”
“Now I’m really going to work.”
“W-what kind of work…?”
Up until then, I’d been holding a feather duster dearly. I handed it to one of them and stepped away lightly.
“In a bit, it’ll be our count’s nap time. I’m going to read him a fairy tale.”
I didn’t forget to wave goodbye to them, who stood there watching my back in a daze.
In my pocket, the slip of paper labeled ‘A Very Big Wish Voucher’ seemed to rustle and shift along with my steps.
“Such a thing is outrageous! To treat us like criminals and drag us away on mere suspicions!”
“You’re correct. As I mentioned, what we’ve discussed so far are still only suspicions, so we’ll be forming a separate investigative team—”
The head of the Audit Department, speaking as the representative of a group nearly the size of an envoy, clicked his tongue.
From the moment the grand duke—who never showed his face in the capital—had stormed into the imperial palace unannounced, he’d known this would be troublesome…
“…Was it really just a family matter?”
The Viscount and Viscountess of Bern were brought out last, and behind them walked Edwin at an unhurried pace.
He had grown noticeably taller since childhood, his features more defined, yet his looks were still striking.
He wasn’t the kind of appearance one could forget easily, even after a long time.
In particular, the faint upward curve of his lips—neither quite a sneer nor not—looked exactly like Raymond Fernant’s.
As the Audit Department head paused, looking at Edwin, a knight in black armor who had been waiting outside took custody of the viscount and his wife and continued.
“Viscount, Viscountess. You are to be taken into custody by our order on charges of kidnapping and human trafficking.”
“W-what are you talking about?!”
“Husband! Let go of me! Where did you hear such nonsense? We cherished those children so much—how could we possibly… how could…!”
Edith clutched her temples and staggered.
When she lifted her trembling face, clear tears streamed down endlessly.
At that very moment—
“Children?”
From over Edith’s shoulder came a voice she thought she knew, yet could never quite place.
The very same voice she’d heard through the crack of a door before the tournament began.
“Y-you! You’re—!”
A voice that crushed the commotion instantly.
And to think its owner was merely a butler. There was a reason she hadn’t recognized it right away.
“I believe you only said ‘human trafficking,’ not whom you sold, or where.”
“…!”
Edith froze like stone.
At that moment, Noah and Cordelia—clinging tightly to Edwin’s legs like cicadas—entered her field of view.
The twins, who had been peeking out, flinched the instant their eyes met Edith’s and bowed their heads.
“N-Noah! Cordelia!”
Ignoring everything else, Edith forced her lips into a strained smile.
Kidnapping, trafficking—if only she insisted it wasn’t those children, everything would come to nothing.
Clinging to that fragile thread of hope, she rushed toward Edwin’s feet, toward where the children were—
“H-hii!”
“Kyaa!”
Noah and Cordelia recoiled swiftly, as if Edith were a repulsive insect.
Edith, who had nearly dropped to her knees, looked up in confusion. Edwin gently pushed the twins forward.
“It’s all right. Go on.”
Hesitant, Noah received something from Cordelia, then trotted forward.
Toward the knight who was holding Edith.
“This.”
“This is…?”
As the knight stared at the item handed to him, Noah added shortly,
“Evidence.”
Then he ran back and hid behind Edwin.
The knight gestured with the object and glanced at Edwin.
“This is… a signal firework, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. On the day of the disappearance—during the treasure hunt—we handed one out to each participant…”
Edwin paused, gently separating the twins, then strode up to the knight and pointed to a spot on the firework.
“Here. In case it was difficult for the children to explain exactly where they were, a small video crystal was attached to illuminate the surroundings.”
“…!”
The tears that had been streaming endlessly from Edith’s eyes stopped as if by magic.
“It records into a mana stone and transmits afterward, so it may contain what happened that day, but…”
Edwin’s gaze passed over Edith, as though slicing away her tears.
To her, that brief moment felt like a blade flying straight at her.
“It’ll be difficult to play immediately, but if the investigation runs into trouble, contact me. I’ll assign the mage who made it.”
Edith’s heart thrashed as if expelling its last breath under that piercing look.
‘If the investigation runs into trouble…?’
Like a broken doll, she turned her head toward Edwin.
The pressure pouring down on her made her body truly begin to shake.
Like a mouse caught in a trap.
Edwin approached her leisurely, as though reclaiming captured prey, and whispered low into her ear.
“Oscar Bern’s ramblings are all recorded in there.”
Oscar… her son’s ramblings?
She didn’t need to hear more.
This was dangerous.
‘Even Oscar…!’
Edith reached out with trembling hands and grabbed Edwin’s shirt tightly, but the voice that pressed her down was calm.
“I’ll give you a choice. Go and confess…”
Was this really the butler she’d known all this time?
No—
“…or continue denying it until the authors grow impatient and decide to use this piece of evidence. Ah, if they use it, there’ll be one more criminal added.”
Was this truly the presence of a mere butler…?
“If you understand, then get up quietly and stop making a scene.”
The black eyes looking down at her were no longer just cold—they were chilling.
“There’s someone waiting for this to end as quickly as possible.”
At the end of Edwin’s gaze, which Edith followed as if possessed, stood a familiar face before a wide-open window.
Iris Flang.
A fraud pretending to be the twins’ personal maid.
“So then, just how much can our dark-hearted client offer me?”
Lete’s… incredible…
“You also asked me to find the rat inside, didn’t you? Then you’ll need to pay a generous advance.”
…A rat.
“Y-you… you people, just what are you! Aah! Aaaah!”
Edith, who had been barely holding on, finally lost her sanity completely and collapsed.
After screaming hysterically for quite some time, she was eventually loaded unconscious into a carriage.
The Viscount of Bern, who had been watching the scene trembling, soon began shouting that he knew nothing, that it was all Edith’s doing—but it was useless.
“The road to the capital is long. You’ll have plenty of time to talk along the way.”
“I-I don’t know anything! It was all that woman—!”
“…Take them away.”
“Yes!”
As he watched the procession of carriages leave without expression, Edwin brushed off his rumpled shirt.
“Benjamin, depart for the capital in about two days. Go, keep it appropriate, and make sure the investigative authority is handed over to the North.”
“Yesss.”
He deliberately didn’t inform Iris that this evidence existed.
He had no intention of revealing just how cruelly he planned to crush them.
To Edith Bern, he had acted as though he’d spare Oscar Bern if she confessed willingly—but he’d never intended to.
‘Every choice comes with a price.’
Age meant nothing when it came to bearing the consequences.
Oscar Bern was old enough to understand that much.
