Chapter 32
What is it that I don’t know, and what am I supposed to know? I realized that I had been overlooking some crucial fact.
I was slowly coming to understand that something I didn’t know—a vast gap in my knowledge—was buried beneath the events of my case.
The prison warden’s words, left as a cryptic warning, fanned the flames of suspicion.
“Until now, maybe the director has been manipulating you, but that’s not the case anymore. When the director returns, I’ll tell him that you and the prisoner in the room up front are lovers. If I had gone to the Gluck territory instead of the director… this wouldn’t have happened…”
“Did you just say Gluck territory…?”
It was clear that the warden knew something: why Director Kyle had escorted the prisoner, the incident that happened in the Gluck territory, and the secrets of Kyle that others didn’t know.
Before I could react, the warden had already left and was walking up the stairs.
I clutched the bars and shouted.
“Stop! Tell me what Kyle did before you leave!”
The warden left the underground prison without answering.
At that same time, Kyle was facing the lord and lady of Gluck territory.
Ever since their only heir died, the lord’s castle had been closed off and withdrawn from all outside contact. The silence inside the castle confirmed the truth of this.
Sitting with his legs crossed, holding a teacup, Kyle observed the lord and lady, whose faces had grown haggard over the past few months.
From experience, he didn’t fully trust the lord’s family at face value, but he could tell that the death of their son had indeed shocked them.
The lord spoke first, meeting Kyle’s gaze with shadowed eyes.
“The witch who killed my son… is she still in Fortress Prison?”
“Yes, up until now she has been. A reinvestigation is underway, so her fate after trial is uncertain.”
The lord did not hide his dark eyes full of resentment.
“Reinvestigation? It is unbearable just to postpone her execution. We’ve been waiting only for the witch to be punished!”
“I understand,” Kyle replied calmly, staring down at the untouched tea. He knew that the family of Prince Georg, who most wanted Veronica sentenced to death, would naturally desire her punishment.
“That woman must not be allowed to escape punishment. That fraud of a woman committed an unforgivable crime.”
“I’ve come to speak regarding the reinvestigation.”
Placing the teacup on the table, he assumed a posture of beginning serious discussion. The lord and lady leaned in to listen.
“Explain the real reason why you allowed Veronica into the castle.”
The lady immediately responded.
“Of course we thought she was a saint. We asked her to pray for our son’s recovery, as I already told you.”
“No. There must have been another reason, yes?”
The expressions of the lord and lady, already dry, drained further of life. They, like Kyle, did not want Veronica to leave Fortress Prison.
Once the reinvestigation began, there was a chance that, without direct evidence of murder, Veronica could be transferred to another prison or receive a light sentence.
That outcome was unacceptable to him. Veronica must remain under his control.
To ensure that, he would have to join forces with these despicable people to drive her into ruin.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“The plans you two had for Veronica.”
The faces of the lord and lady stiffened.
“What are you saying now? Are you asking us to give a statement that harms ourselves?”
Curious about how much he knew, Kyle stretched the corners of his mouth into a smirk.
“Veronica told me. You intended to use her as a vessel to bear Prince Georg’s child.”
“That’s nonsense… why would we do such a thing?”
“Handing the territory to the ailing Prince Georg was probably not to your liking either, and no family wanted to marry their child to his, so a proper marriage was impossible. That’s why you intended to have a grandson inherit, wasn’t it?”
“…”
“And after she bore the child… what were you planning for her? Surely not merely confining her to a convent or driving her away. Were you planning to kill her to cover it up?”
A cold silence fell. The lord and lady exchanged glances but could not speak.
Whether or not Veronica had actually told him this was irrelevant—they could not deny their schemes because he knew the truth of their plan.
“What do you want?”
Kyle’s disgust rose at the calculative, self-serving eyes that focused only on their own safety. Yet he did not reveal his loathing. Instead, he placed the documents he had prepared on the table.
“To ensure Veronica is punished without fail, the logic that she is guilty must be airtight. If it is revealed in court why the prince had to die, even the magistrate cannot show leniency.”
The lord picked up the papers skeptically and, upon reading, laughed mockingly.
“Hahaha! Unexpected. I didn’t think the director of Fortress would do such a thing.”
Leaving the reception room, Kyle looked up at the stairs where Prince Georg’s chamber had been.
The lord had not invited him to stay, but Kyle had no desire to remain either. No matter who he was, he did not wish to linger where he had taken a life.
His memory drifted back to that night.
“Not visiting the chapel tonight?”
In the dark corridor, Kyle, without any real promise, stepped out at the same time as the previous day. His feet carried him instinctively toward the chapel where the “saint” prayed.
The chapel door was firmly closed. There was no light, no sign of anyone inside.
Recalling that she had said she couldn’t sleep, he assumed Veronica had gone to bed.
Although he could not see her, he did not feel regret imagining her asleep.
But he could not stay in Gluck territory indefinitely. The rain, which had fallen for three consecutive days, was stopping, and tomorrow he and the prison guards would depart for Fortress Prison.
For the first time, as his curiosity about Veronica and faint hope stirred, he felt a strange reluctance to leave.
‘Maybe I should invite her to Fortress under the guise of teaching the doctrines.’
He chuckled at his own thought. What could he do with a fraud posing as a saint? Yet even knowing she was fake, he did not dislike having her before his eyes.
He turned back toward the guest room where he was staying. A sliver of light leaked through the slightly open door. From inside, he could hear the lord’s son and his parents whispering.
“How long do I have to wait? I want Veronica in the bedroom, now!”
Had he not heard her name, Kyle would have walked away. But the instant he heard it, he froze in place, listening.
“Shh, wait a little longer. The director of Fortress is still here; if he finds out, what would happen?”
“Then tell him to leave immediately! What if the girl runs away?”
“She’s being watched all day. Even if she ran, we could just catch her again. We know her identity, so we can report her as a fraud to the church and threaten her.”
“Wait just a little longer. Once the escort leaves, I’ll let her into your room.”
Kyle clenched his fists, nails biting into his palms, but could not release the tension. He felt a surge of anger he could not understand.
The decision came swiftly.
‘Before leaving Gluck Castle tomorrow, I will kill Prince Georg.’
