Chapter 153……………………………………
Because the portrait printed on the wanted poster wasn’t visible, Riena didn’t think much of the guard’s strange reaction.
It must be because he’s never faced someone of a noble status like a duke’s daughter before, she thought, assuming he had simply frozen in shock. Then she spoke again.
“Ah, and before that, could you bring me something to eat? It’s embarrassing to say this, but I haven’t had a proper meal for several days.”
The guard took something out of his pocket.
But contrary to Riena’s expectations, it wasn’t food.
Click.
With the sound of metal locking, a cold object wrapped around Riena’s wrist.
“Riena, you are under arrest for large-scale investment fraud.”
The guard who had handcuffed her spoke firmly.
“…What?”
Riena blinked repeatedly, unable to understand either his words or his actions.
Instead of explaining, the guard shouted loudly toward the inside of the guard station.
“I caught Riena!”
At that moment, everyone’s attention turned toward them.
The guards rushed over excitedly, staring at Riena.
“My god! It really is Riena!”
“Hey, rookie! You caught her?”
“We searched the whole capital and couldn’t even find a strand of her hair—where did you find her?!”
The guard holding Riena’s arm tightly scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“She walked in here herself.”
“Why? Did she come to turn herself in?”
“Well… she didn’t exactly say that.”
Investment fraud? Turning herself in?
“Wait a minute. What are you all talking about?”
Riena asked, looking around at the guards, but they completely ignored her and kept chatting among themselves.
“Anyway, this is great! To think a small outskirt guard station like ours would catch such a big fish!”
“Finally free from overtime!”
“Rookie, this is enough to get you promoted!”
“Haha, I didn’t really do anything.”
In the end, without receiving any proper explanation, Riena was placed into the prisoner transport carriage of the city guard.
A short while later, she found herself in a very familiar place.
The interrogation room of the Imperial Palace prison—a place where criminals involved in major cases that attracted the imperial family’s attention were brought.
Several months earlier, Riena had also been questioned here multiple times as the owner of the Iver Trading Company.
At that time, Elliot had taken all the blame, and the case had been closed.
So why had she been dragged here again?
“Hey! What kind of nonsense is this?!”
The moment the investigator entered the room, Riena shouted angrily.
“You suddenly lock someone up here! I told you I didn’t know anything about Iver Trading Company’s crimes!”
The investigator looked at her as if she were ridiculous.
“What are you talking about? Iver? What Iver?”
“Then why am I here?”
“Do you really have to ask? Because you ran away with the investment money you collected for building something called a Warp Gate.”
“…What?”
Seeing Riena’s reaction, the investigator sneered.
“Ah, I see. You’re going to pretend you know nothing? A classic trick. Plenty of people do that—once they’re caught, they just keep claiming ignorance.”
“N-No! I really don’t know! How do you even know about the Warp Gate? And what do you mean I ran away with the investment money?!”
“If you’re going to keep pretending, then read this. I’m not wasting my breath explaining.”
The investigator pulled out a sheet from the documents he had brought and handed it to her.
It looked like a summary of a case.
Starting from the first line, which mentioned the Baby Rabbit Trading Company, Riena hurriedly read the contents.
It took quite a while to finish reading a single page.
Not because it was difficult—
but because she read it once, then twice, then three times, unable to believe what she saw.
Only after reading it four times did she finally begin to understand the situation she was in.
The document in her hand was crumpled beyond recognition.
…Isaac, you bastard!
If there was anyone bold enough to do something like this, it could only be Isaac Cassius, the man to whom Riena had entrusted full authority over the Baby Rabbit Trading Company.
When she had been imprisoned by him, she had already given up hope that the company was being properly managed.
But she never imagined he would even take out the postponed Warp Gate project and use it to commit fraud.
“I’m innocent!”
Riena shouted at the investigator.
“All of this was planned by my uncle, Isaac Cassius, without my knowledge! I was barely involved in running the Baby Rabbit Trading Company!”
The investigator raised his eyebrow.
“That’s strange. You’re the owner, yet you weren’t involved in running it?”
“I was busy! I had personal matters and was emotionally distressed—I didn’t have the time to focus on work!”
“Really? But in an interview with a certain newspaper before, you said you personally paid attention to even the smallest tasks in the company.”
“Th-That was for publicity…”
“People around you also testified that you always paid special attention to the company’s operations. They said you worked so hard you barely slept.”
Because that made her look like a capable business owner.
Riena’s head throbbed when the lies she had told in the past came back to trap her.
Most people believed that Riena had only provided funding for the Iver Trading Company and hadn’t done anything else.
At that time, claiming that had been the only way to escape the criminal charges connected to it.
But for Riena, it had been humiliating.
Who was it that harmoniously managed the two talented people, Elliot and Cecil, and achieved unprecedented success?
Wanting to reclaim her former reputation, Riena had spread the perception that she personally ran the Baby Rabbit Trading Company.
“Of course. Try not to mention me if possible. The Baby Rabbit Trading Company is your achievement alone. As long as you’re happy, that’s enough for me.”
Isaac had willingly taken on the role of the shadow so that Riena alone could receive the spotlight.
Riena had trusted him completely, unaware of the ugly intentions hidden beneath that smooth face.
“Anyway, I’m innocent! Call the employees and ask them! They’ll testify that I hardly even visited the company!”
“Seriously? That’s nothing to brag about.”
The investigator sighed and slammed his fist against the table.
“All the people who actually knew anything ran away just like you! The only employees left were hired recently!”
“Th-That can’t be…”
“If you want to question them, start by telling us where they are!”
“I don’t know! How would I know that?”
“Then at least tell us their basic personal information. Even the resumes they submitted when they were hired have all disappeared.”
Riena tried to recall the executives of the Baby Rabbit Trading Company—the people Isaac had hired.
She could roughly remember their names and appearances.
But details like their careers or hometowns were vague like fog.
To Riena, they had merely been gears in the machine of the company.
And who would remember the details of every gear?
“I don’t know. My uncle handled everything.”
Among the many questions the investigator asked afterward, there were very few that Riena could answer clearly.
“You’re the company owner and yet you claim to know nothing? Do you really expect me to believe that?”
Having concluded that her claims were lies, the investigator clicked his tongue in annoyance.
His attitude was extremely irritating.
“Wait a minute… you.”
Only then did Riena realize something important she had overlooked due to the shock of the fraud accusation.
“Why are you speaking to me so casually?”
Even if all the charges against her were true, she was still Riena Cassius, daughter of the Cassius ducal house.
A great noble family before which most nobles could not even raise their heads.
Yet from the start, the investigator had treated her with shocking rudeness.
Not only speaking informally, but even addressing her as “you” like a subordinate—something that blatantly violated the empire’s strict class hierarchy.
“Judging by the fact that I don’t recognize your face, you must be a commoner or a low-ranking noble. How dare you behave so rudely?”
The investigator’s eyes widened at her remark.
“I am Riena Cassius of the proud Cassius ducal house. Show some respect.”
“…Were you hiding somewhere and haven’t heard the news yet?”
The investigator tilted his head before speaking again.
“Riena, you’re no longer a Cassius. The Cassius family has disowned you.”
A terrible silence filled the interrogation room.
“…Pfft.”
Riena stared at the investigator for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha! What nonsense! Disowned? That’s impossible!”
It was so absurd that she couldn’t help laughing.
The Cassius family disown her? Her father and brothers abandoning her?
She laughed so hard that tears formed in her eyes.
The investigator looked at her like someone who had lost her sanity.
“Coincidentally, Duke Cassius has requested to meet you. Normally it would violate the rules, but His Majesty the Emperor specially permitted it. Be grateful.”
Soon afterward, with the investigator present, Duke Cassius entered the interrogation room.
“Riena!”
The man looked thinner than before. He grabbed her shoulders urgently.
“Don’t worry too much. I’ve told the victims that the Cassius family will repay all the money they were scammed out of. Because the case is so large, you won’t avoid imprisonment, but I will do everything I can about your treatment—”
“Father.”
Riena interrupted him with a faint laugh.
“Someone told me a joke—that you disowned me. Isn’t that hilarious? Please tell that man right now that it isn’t true.”
“…Riena.”
“Yes? Hurry.”
The duke avoided her gaze.
“I’m sorry.”
It took a moment for Riena to fully understand the meaning of those two words.
Then—
It felt as if her head had been split in half by the shock.
