Chapter 35
Katrina immediately went down to meet the culprit.
The culprit was completely restrained.
His eyes were unfocused, like someone who wasn’t in his right mind.
As Katrina entered the prison cell, the culprit opened his mouth.
“This is the culprit?”
Katrina frowned.
At this rate, a proper interrogation wouldn’t even be possible.
“Yes. We caught him playing the flute.”
“The flute…”
“It’s that artifact that caused this incident.”
So the artifact was a flute.
How fitting for a case like the Pied Piper.
It was almost a cruel joke.
“We’ve safely retrieved the artifact.”
“…That’s a relief.”
Since it was the starting point of everything, recovering the artifact was the most important.
“I-I’m sorry…”
At that moment, the prisoner began to mumble something.
“Th-That man shouldn’t be alive…”
His words slurred. The man clearly wasn’t in his right mind.
It was clear now…
“He’s been bewitched by the artifact,” Lucife said.
“If it’s this bad, it’s serious.”
Katrina agreed.
Even if they recovered and purified the artifact, this man’s broken mind would never return.
Katrina looked at the investigator.
“…Please take the artifact to Lady Fran.”
Niel needed to come quickly and purify it.
That was her purpose, after all.
“E-Everything… it’s because of the red-haired man…”
The prisoner mumbled, staring into space.
“He’s been repeating that for a while. The red hair…”
“I was just following orders from the red-haired man…”
“Yes, like that. He keeps saying it was a red-haired man who told him to do it.”
Red-haired man?
…There are too many.
It wasn’t a helpful clue at all.
And the culprit’s mind was too far gone to make his words trustworthy.
“Still, shouldn’t we investigate whether there’s someone behind this?”
The investigator asked Katrina.
“What did you just say?”
Suddenly, someone asked urgently.
It was Niel, who had entered the prison unnoticed, his face hardened.
“…Did you say a red-haired man told him?”
Niel’s mission was to find and purify ancient artifacts.
On the surface, at least.
In truth, there was another reason Niel came to Asius.
‘Because Sylas is coming here.’
That was Niel’s real reason for coming to Asius.
Before arriving, Niel had met a former butler from the Grand Duchy of Lockpenheim.
After Sylas was ousted from his position, his uncle had taken over, and all the staff had been replaced.
“When I last saw Lord Sylas…”
Thanks to that, Niel was able to hear stories about Sylas.
He had reportedly asked for research, maps, and various supplies related to Asius.
The Lockpenheim butler had said:
“I think he was planning to go to Asius the last time he escaped…”
That one sentence had brought Niel to Asius.
Niel bit his lip hard.
What had Sylas planned to do here?
And…
‘Sylas escaped again.’
There’s a chance he’s coming to Asius.
No—he will come.
Because Katrina is here.
But…
“I’m s-sorry… the red-haired man…”
Niel looked at the prisoner, who kept repeating the same thing.
No. It’s not him.
It can’t be.
…It must not be.
“Saintess, please purify the artifact!”
At that moment, Gilbert urged Niel.
With a foggy mind, Niel placed her hand on the artifact.
Her head was a mess, and she was exhausted after spending days treating patients without rest.
So…
“I’ve purified it completely.”
She failed to sense the faint remaining aura within the flute.
Niel had purified the artifact.
Now, it would no longer enchant people.
“As expected of the Saintess!”
“Saintess!”
Everyone praised Niel.
‘She worked hard too.’
While Katrina had been busy inside the castle, Niel had been rushing about outside.
Everyone was busy—except Lucife.
Thanks to that, the incident seemed close to being resolved.
“Ahem!”
Gilbert suddenly cleared his throat.
“We’ve caught the culprit and retrieved the artifact, so there’s no need for you to stay any longer, is there?”
He glanced at Katrina.
He was clearly telling her to leave now.
“We’ll handle the remaining investigation ourselves.”
It wasn’t wrong.
But Katrina still felt uneasy.
“You’re right. We’ll take our leave now.”
Hearing that, Gilbert smiled with satisfaction. He must have really wanted her gone.
Katrina stepped out of the room.
But the uneasiness still clung to her.
Is it really okay to leave like this?
‘I need to check the documents one last time.’
Maybe then she could get rid of this unsettling feeling.
However—
“You can’t go in there, my lady.”
The castle guard blocked her way.
“No one is allowed in there.”
“No one? I’m a direct descendant of the Abice family.”
“……”
“This land is under Abice jurisdiction and receives their budget.”
In truth, the territory was managed by Berta, so Katrina’s authority was limited.
But Katrina pressed the guard without hesitation.
“I have the right to check. Open the door.”
“…M-My apologies. I’ll open it right away!”
When the guard opened the door, Katrina entered the archive.
She pulled out part of the documents and sat down.
First, she needed to organize the events from 11 years ago and compare them to the current case.
Case 11 years ago:
Children were taken.
The children never returned.
Current case:
Children were not touched. Only adults were affected.
Most of the victims were criminals.
Those who disappeared at night and returned showed ‘symptoms.’
And those symptoms were…
What were they?
She still didn’t understand.
She turned to the castle’s financial records.
Then—
“Ha.”
Katrina let out a short laugh.
She stared coldly at the documents.
She was looking at the list of missing persons and the financial records of Asius Castle.
The missing children from 11 years ago…
And as soon as they disappeared…
The castle became wealthy.
Just in case, Katrina checked other documents too.
She had to find anything that stood out.
‘Ah. This is it.’
She finally understood.
Katrina stood up.
There was somewhere she needed to go immediately.
“What? Where did that woman go now?”
Gilbert had just heard that Katrina Abice had gone into the archives and read the documents without permission.
How dare she go in there!
“How could you let her in?!”
He shouted, and the guard trembled in fear.
Gilbert tried to regain his composure.
It’s fine. It doesn’t matter.
He had already hidden the sensitive materials…
“Lord Gilbert, is something wrong?”
At that moment—
Lucife entered through the open door and asked.
Gilbert was momentarily flustered. Did he hear?
“I came to collect the flute.”
“Ahem… Here it is.”
Lucife looked down at the recovered flute.
Gilbert glanced at it, perhaps a bit reluctant to let it go.
“Would you like to keep it?”
Lucife’s words startled Gilbert.
“You seemed to want it.”
“Wh-What? N-No, not at all! Of course not!”
“I was joking.”
“Ahaha…”
Faced with the chilling joke, Gilbert gave a strained laugh.
Lucife, unfazed, inspected the flute.
Something felt off.
Ah.
Lucife had divine power, not quite on the level of Niel’s, but enough to sense it.
He could feel something within the flute.
Ahh…
Now, what to do?
Lucife’s lips curled into a smile, delighted by the dark possibilities.
