Chapter 54
Merriot answered with a sly smile.
“Not bad with your wits, huh? No wonder ‘that person’ relied on you so heavily.”
Merriot, deliberately flattering the officer, continued skillfully.
“But you know, right? To noble lords, people like us are worth less than ants.”
“What exactly do you want from me? You want me to cozy up to your lord and spill all of theirs’ secrets? That’s never going to happen!”
“…Pfft.”
“……?”
Merriot couldn’t hold back laughter at the officer’s serious expression.
Being a noble’s subordinate was nothing special.
They could be discarded or replaced at any time.
Yet this officer acted as if his fate was inseparably tied to his noble lord.
A fool who couldn’t even gauge his own position.
Merriot found his earnestness endlessly amusing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Sorry. My mistake. I wasn’t trying to recruit you to our side. I just wanted to look good in front of your lord. You could say I was showing off a little skill.”
“Showing off your skill?”
“I’d like your lord to hear about us in a good light. I can even arrange a meeting. Of course, there’ll be compensation.”
Merriot’s tone was far too casual.
It was proof that he wasn’t taking this matter seriously.
Digging too deeply into an illegitimate child’s affairs wouldn’t benefit Merriot much.
“What benefit would our lord gain from this?”
“My master has deep ties with the city guard. I’m a guard myself. Think about it—double agent, very useful, right?”
Merriot’s confident attitude shook the officer’s mind.
He thought it might be worthwhile to introduce them to the lord he served.
After all, it wasn’t fitting for a noble to spend his life on such trivial matters.
He wanted to become a high-ranking noble’s aide, earn money, and command others.
Unaware that Merriot was a noble far beyond his dreams, the officer studied him carefully.
Merriot’s fit, youthful body even looked like a well-trained guard.
But when the officer glanced toward Hendrick, he noticed the carved noble crest on the sword at Merriot’s waist.
A guard serving a noble with a family sword?
That would never happen until the fall of the Ivy Empire.
The officer leapt to his feet and shouted at Merriot.
“You’re lying to me, aren’t you? Who are you?! You’re not the city guard!”
Merriot touched his temple.
He didn’t know exactly what tipped him off, but the officer had good instincts.
Seeing a man raving because he’d been deceived, Merriot felt he was done dealing with him.
He didn’t want to spend any more time on him.
“I—I am a member of the city guard!”
At that moment, someone suddenly appeared behind Merriot, blocking his view.
A pink ponytail swayed before him.
Hera thrust forward the brooch she had removed earlier in front of the officer.
It was a brooch bearing the Phoenix, the symbol of Tolinga.
Anyone with some knowledge of the city guard would know which family the captain came from.
Hera lifted her chin like someone putting on a defiant pose.
Though awkward since she had never done this before, she forced herself to look confident for intimidation’s sake.
“Spill it all!”
This was probably the rudest thing Hera could say.
Merriot had to restrain the urge to immediately hide her behind him.
Hera’s courage and spirit were impressive, but the officer was surprisingly tight-lipped.
“In the end, the real mastermind doesn’t talk. He looks like he’d gossip, though.”
The officer hesitated to speak, then finally kept his mouth shut.
He didn’t seem resolute enough to be broken by torture, and Merriot couldn’t show Hera such cruelty.
Merriot interrogated him just enough before using the excuse of time to leave the basement.
“He seems like a pretty powerful noble. That’s why he stays silent.”
Shane and Hendrick added their comments.
Merriot nodded slowly.
He didn’t seem inclined to pursue this incident deeply.
Both of them had roughly guessed Merriot’s intentions.
He spoke half-heartedly, tinged with annoyance.
“Well, if a noble of that power did this, it’s just for amusement, right? This isn’t a money-making business.”
“That’s true.”
“Let’s wrap it up. Send the guy in the basement and the Bakers off to some remote village, and make it widely known that they scammed the illegitimate child. If they cause trouble again, it won’t be the same, whoever they are.”
“Understood.”
Hera, having gone to fetch her coat, walked out to the entrance with the Laurent mansion’s butler attending her.
Merriot stopped the conversation and prepared to escort her properly.
He decided there was no need to disappoint her with unnecessary words.
“Don’t worry too much, Miss Emilia. We’ll keep investigating. The truth will come out soon.”
“Thank you. I appreciate your concern.”
Hera bowed lightly with a faint smile.
Merriot briefly thought it might be worth enduring the trouble of torturing the officer to win her favor.
But he quickly dismissed the thought.
Wasting effort on pointless matters was foolish, and trying to gain her favor was even more foolish.
“Then take care, Miss Emilia.”
Hendrick opened the door with a bright smile to see her off.
Hera suddenly stopped as she was about to leave.
A memory flashed vividly in her mind.
She realized why she had felt uneasy all this time.
The adopted family—something about their family structure didn’t make sense.
“About the Baker family earlier…”
Hera turned to Merriot.
Her face was serious.
“What about it?”
“Were those all the children?”
Shane answered her question.
He nodded.
“Yes. The youngest, Lina Baker. That child went missing, so there were no other children in that household.”
“When did the children die or disappear?”
“Estimated to be at least three months ago.”
“That’s strange.”
“What’s strange about it?”
It shouldn’t be.
Because Lina was abused by the ‘adoptive family’s brother’.
Even until just before she was abandoned under the bridge, he tormented her.
So at least one older male sibling should have existed.
“Lina said she had an older brother…”
“…What?”
“She said she was abused by her brother.”
Then who on earth was the brother who tormented Lina?
In the end, Merriot rode with Hera in a carriage to the Tolinga mansion.
Hera insisted she had to hear Jeff’s story.
He knew well what had happened under the bridge, so his advice was crucial.
Having lied to promise revealing the truth, Merriot had to go to Tolinga to meet Jeff.
They couldn’t enter the mansion, so Hera secretly called Jeff out.
Jeff, riding in Merriot’s carriage, greeted them teasingly.
He was still fearless.
“Meeting again, noble who watches others’ eyes too much.”
“Meeting me twice in life? You’re lucky.”
Jeff’s face clearly showed his disdain for Merriot.
A commoner being so insolent to a duke—Merriot would never have allowed it if not for Hera.
Jeff rolled his eyes, then mischievously tilted his body toward Hera to act cute.
His eyes sparkled brighter than usual.
“Sis, you said you needed me, right? Tell me anything. Anything at all.”
“Thanks, Jeff. You’re really reliable.”
“No problem.”
“That guy…”
Jeff’s slyly changed demeanor in front of Emilia Tolinga, pretending to be weak, was a problem—but so was Emilia putting up with it.
Merriot frowned like someone tasting bitter fruit.
He took out the documents and tapped Jeff’s head.
“Read this.”
“What’s this?”
Jeff took the stack and read it without hesitation.
‘A literate poor kid?
