Chapter 12 …
“Since Artea disappeared so quietly, and there were no signs of the security being breached….”
“You once said it might be an inside job.”
“Yeah. She vanished not just anywhere, but in the garden of the ducal castle.”
I began piecing the case together with Erios.
“Judging by the fact that she didn’t recognize the place when she woke up, she must have been moved while unconscious.”
“Even for an adult, the sleeping incense is strong, but since her protective magic was triggered, she probably regained consciousness fairly quickly.”
Putting it all together:
She didn’t leave on her own at first. But afterward, she decided to come to me—her aunt. Then, by sheer luck, she caught a passing freight wagon, met the city guards, and managed to arrive here safely.
“Let’s think about this in reverse. Why would anyone want Artea to disappear?”
— Thank goodness. I thought even my aunt hated me…
She had said that to me before. She had definitely said “even” my aunt.
That means… if there’s someone in the ducal castle who hates Artea, who could it be?
Think of someone who wouldn’t want Artea around.
Someone who hates that Artea is the heir and wants to eliminate her.
Someone who hates Artea personally and wants to get rid of her.
If it’s one of these reasons, the most likely suspect is… Erios.
Is it too cold-hearted to suspect her blood-related uncle?
But if he wants to make his own child the heir, then getting rid of his niece is the most obvious motive.
But I don’t think Erios is the culprit.
He already refused when I said I’d take custody of her— even though that would’ve been the easiest, most peaceful way to get her out of the way. It might’ve been a bluff, but the decisive factor was that he even proposed to me.
“But really, if someone wanted to harm Artea, just using sleeping incense is a bit weak, don’t you think? Sure, others might smell it, but leaving her alone in a room like that is sloppy.”
Of course, sleeping incense has side effects, but for something as serious as the kidnapping of a duke’s daughter, it was surprisingly mild.
Which means—maybe the goal wasn’t to eliminate her, but something else.
Someone who wanted to use Artea’s disappearance for their own purposes.
That possibility naturally came to mind.
The culprit might have intended to put her to sleep and spirit her away—
but didn’t expect the girl to actually use that opportunity to run away for real.
“And right then, you proposed to me, remember? They probably never imagined that I, the one who could be Artea’s greatest support, would become the future Duchess.”
This was the perfect chance to flush the culprit out.
“If I show up, they might panic and act rashly. Even if not, they’ll be forced to keep quiet and tread carefully. Either way, they won’t dare harm Artea again.”
I narrowed my eyes and spoke bluntly.
“So, tell me. What was the butler doing while Artea was missing?”
The person who came running the moment they heard I’d received a proposal—
that was the butler.
“The nanny said she couldn’t give a proper report because she was still groggy, but from what I heard, she reported the disappearance the moment she woke up, didn’t she?”
Erios was away from the estate, yet the news of Artea’s disappearance spread very quickly.
Because the report was made immediately.
But despite receiving the report, the butler didn’t manage to uncover anything through the search.
He wasted time searching nearby under the assumption that, since she was a child, she couldn’t have gone far, and completely neglected the possibility that she might have left the estate grounds.
Granted, that’s a natural assumption—children can’t walk that far.
— How could you let the young lady out of your sight like this!
But instead of focusing on the search, he apparently wasted time scolding the nanny and maids. He didn’t alert the entire household to begin a large-scale search either, supposedly to avoid alarming Erios during a monster subjugation mission.
To be fair, each explanation on its own sounds reasonable.
But something about how quickly he pinned the blame on the nanny—and how swiftly he approached me, the possible future Duchess—bothered me.
“Just now, didn’t you say the butler usually has a quiet personality?”
And yet this time, he butted into my conversation with Erios, and even took the initiative to speak to me politely—something he’d never done before.
“For someone who became the butler of a ducal house, shouldn’t he be quite capable?”
He conducted a search, yes, but found nothing of value. And his handling of the situation was… far from smooth.
Of course, the nanny also seemed awkward around Artea, so she’s suspicious too.
But earlier, I talked directly with the nanny and maid.
The butler had said his piece, but I wanted to hear it straight from the last people who saw Artea before she vanished.
Naturally, my first thought when Artea disappeared was—
How could the duke’s daughter vanish from the ducal castle? What were the nanny and maids doing?
— It’s my fault.
The nanny immediately said she’d accept her dismissal and punishment.
— Now that she’s returned safely… I think I can accept whatever comes.
— We’ll discuss punishments once the case is fully resolved.
Of course, being the last person with her makes her suspicious.
But ironically, the presence of the sleeping incense cleared her of suspicion.
I discovered the sleeping incense through the cat doll.
If she had inhaled that and fallen into such a deep sleep, it must have been extremely difficult for her. Yet despite that, the nanny still went to report the incident right away. According to the butler, she was still groggy and slurring her words as she gave the report.
Most importantly—
It’s possible the nanny used the sleeping incense herself as part of a ruse. But if that were the case, she would’ve immediately revealed the existence of the incense to avoid being blamed for negligence.
But right now, only Erios and I know about the sleeping incense.
So, the course of action is clear.
— We should start by investigating whether the nanny was financially desperate, and who her close contacts were.
“Then shouldn’t we do the same kind of investigation on the butler?”
I curved my lips into a villainous grin.
The butler was present in the ducal castle when the nanny reported Artea’s disappearance.
But Artea was found far away from the castle.
She couldn’t have done that alone.
Which means there must have been an accomplice.
How did they spirit Artea out of the ducal castle?
She may have been knocked out by the sleeping incense, but since the security wasn’t breached, there must have been a way to take her out unnoticed.
Either the accomplice carried her out—or the butler handed her over.
“On the day Artea was kidnapped, a food delivery wagon came to the castle.”
The supplier had worked with the Killiet Ducal House for decades. Naturally, security around it was more relaxed.
“If they loaded the sleeping Artea onto the food wagon and smuggled her out?”
“Then wouldn’t they need the cooperation of the coachman or other servants? The knights sometimes inspect shipments going in and out, so they’d have to get them on board too.”
“Exactly.”
“Now that Artea’s disappearance is public, even if they were unwitting accomplices, they wouldn’t confess honestly. They’d tailor their statements to protect themselves.”
But there’s a way to make them talk.
By bluffing.
The moment I met the coachman who’d driven the food wagon, I barked at him in a commanding tone:
“The knights have confessed everything. They said you loaded Artea into the wagon and smuggled her out!”
“Wh–what?!”
He was the first person I met upon arriving in Killiet territory.
Of course, he hadn’t done such a thing.
But seeing his shocked face, I quickly pressed on.
“How dare you kidnap the Killiet Duke’s daughter?!”
I took the lead in this interrogation.
Erios didn’t say a word.
But his presence alone was enough.
Dressed entirely in black that day, his expression blank—he looked like a grim reaper.
A head taller than most men, his mere stillness radiated intimidation.
His silvery hair gleamed coldly like snow, and his golden eyes were devoid of light.
The coachman met Erios’s icy gaze and screamed.
“N-no! Never! I swear I didn’t!”
And then, he immediately spilled the truth.
“I just moved a single package on the butler’s orders!”
