Chapter 166………………………………………….
The sheet of paper was filled edge to edge with crooked, hastily scrawled handwriting.
I could almost picture the editor-in-chief pressing the paper against the back of a reporter standing beside him, scribbling furiously.
The note read:
Boss. Count Reno goes around calling himself a detective, but he’s the sort who couldn’t even find a cat lost next door. He’s nothing more than a parrot repeating information someone deliberately leaked to him.
P.S. There are quite a few palace maids burdened with gambling debts.
Good luck.
Unconsciously, my grip tightened, crumpling the corner of the note.
‘Yes. I knew it.’
Even Editor-in-Chief Gremory—who had spent decades digging up nothing but the truth—harbored the same doubts about Count Reno’s claims as I did.
That realization strengthened my resolve.
What had once been a vague sense of unease was now nearly certainty.
‘Ruelian’s father isn’t a murderer. Someone framed the deceased with a monstrous false charge. I have to uncover the truth.’
Keeping my eyes fixed on the note, I thought carefully.
The information about Count Reno was important, but the final remark about the palace maids was especially telling.
Eleven years ago, Editor-in-Chief Gremory and the reporters of the Justice Daily had prowled around the imperial palace relentlessly to uncover the truth behind Windfarer’s disappearance.
Now they were generously passing on the tricks they’d learned to this pitiful “boss.”
True to their loyal nature.
‘All right. Where do I start unraveling this mystery?’
I sank into thought—and then, suddenly, something came to mind.
Among the conversations my mother once shared with the Mother of All Dragons, there had been one ominous line.
“One day, your child will face a threat to her life. Because she will have seen something she was never meant to see.”
That was exactly what the dragon had said.
Something I wasn’t meant to see? What could that have been?
Count Reno had also explained my murder—claiming it was because I had realized the true identity of the monster: the former Duke of Lacroix.
But I had already decided to doubt every word he said.
‘What on earth did I see?’
I strained to remember, but nothing surfaced.
Had the shock been so great that the memory itself vanished?
‘No. I can’t think like that. I have to remember, somehow.’
I urged myself on.
I had thought the information in my head was just relics left behind by the previous owner—but now I realized they were all truly my memories.
That meant I could recall them. I was their rightful owner.
‘Focus. Focus harder. I can do this. Dive deeper into my memories. Was there ever a scene I witnessed that left me shaken? Was there a time someone threatened me?’
Drawing on the concentration I’d honed while juggling multiple part-time jobs and studying for exams, I searched my memories relentlessly…
Then, something suddenly surfaced.
“I didn’t see anything!”
I remembered shouting those words.
I couldn’t recall when it was, or who I’d been speaking to.
All that lingered was a vague image: a rounded rooftop visible beyond a garden shrouded in darkness.
An incredibly familiar sight.
‘That’s the imperial palace!’
The architectural style was unmistakably palace-like.
It was a place I’d roamed countless times since childhood—impossible not to recognize.
Though pinpointing the exact area was difficult.
‘That kind of scene is so common there…’
The half-formed memory quickly faded.
When I tried to grasp it again, it slipped away like sand through my fingers.
“…Aristina?”
At my father’s voice, I finally snapped back to reality.
It seemed he’d called my name several times already without me hearing.
Seeing me standing there blankly with the note in my hand, he looked at me curiously.
“Don’t trust Count Reno? Who gave you this note?”
“My editor-in-chief. He’s someone I trust.”
I tore the note into small pieces and discarded them.
It was time to act.
My opponent seemed to have laid out his scheme quite carefully—but I held several advantageous cards myself.
For example, I could enter the imperial palace as early as tomorrow and investigate freely under the highest level of protection.
‘Something will definitely turn up.’
With that thought, I rose from my seat.
“Anyway, Father, you’re right. Tomorrow will be hectic, so I’ll go get some rest early.”
“Good. Let’s talk again once we’re inside the palace.”
My father stood up, turned away, then suddenly muttered to himself,
“I wonder where Ruelian is, and what he’s doing…”
It was the first time he had shown even a hint of emotion regarding this matter.
Come to think of it, when the three of us had met by the lakeside not long ago, I’d never imagined a day like this would come.
As my father walked away, a sense of heaviness lingered in his back.
‘He doesn’t show it, but maybe Father believes in the former Duke of Lacroix’s innocence too…’
As I stood there absentmindedly—
“My lady.”
The attendants approached and surrounded me.
“You must be troubled, but once the engagement ceremony is over and you stay within the palace, everything will be fine.”
“That’s right. A massive manhunt has been issued, and they’re pursuing him with all their strength. That strange individual will be caught soon.”
“We hope you won’t let anxiety ruin such a special day. It’s the moment you’ve dreamed of for so long. Tomorrow, we’ll make you more beautiful than ever.”
With those words, they escorted me back to my room.
Under their relentless prodding, I bathed and lay down…
But my thoughts kept circling back to Ruelian.
As if to mock me, the sound of chapel bells drifted in through the window.
The Holy Order must be in chaos too. With their subordinate gone missing, was the bald archpriest now in command?
‘How ironic. When we first met, I was the one falsely accused, and he was trying to clear my name. Now he’s the one accused, and I’m the one trying to clear his.’
Of course, Ruelian might still appear at any moment, having captured the monster himself.
I couldn’t say I had no hope at all…
But even for him, this time the constraints were simply too great.
‘So I’ll just have to do everything I can.’
Countless thoughts churned chaotically.
I tossed and turned with my eyes open until dawn finally broke. Then I heard the attendants calling from outside.
“My lady, are you awake? It’s time to begin your preparations.”
“Yes.”
I rose groggily from the bed.
The door opened and everyone filed in—like a military unit advancing.
Entrusting my hair and face to them, who had come even more prepared than usual, I began forming a plan.
‘First, I’ll go after the maids.’
The preparations took a full four hours. Still, since we’d started before dawn, I was able to depart for the palace far earlier than scheduled.
“Lady Rosen has arrived!”
When I appeared in a white dress, the servants loudly announced my arrival.
The Dragon’s companion.
The Crown Prince’s future fiancée.
Before that authority, everyone bowed their heads.
Before I knew it, a line of escort knights had formed behind me. The presence was overwhelmingly imposing.
“Congratulations.”
The elderly chief steward bowed respectfully as he spoke.
“But why have you arrived so early?”
“Ah.”
I lifted my chin arrogantly.
“If I’m to take control of the palace as the future Crown Princess—”
“Pardon? Take control?”
“No backtalk. In any case, if I’m to manage palace affairs properly, shouldn’t I start by disciplining the maids? Her Majesty the Empress will surely be watching how well I handle my subordinates. I’d like to meet the head maid first.”
As soon as I finished speaking, the head maid was summoned.
After exchanging a few casual words, I got straight to the point.
“How much do you know about the red-haired maid who was supposedly murdered eleven years ago?”
“You mean Eloise?”
The head maid looked somewhat flustered but answered obediently.
“Eloise served closely by Her Majesty the Empress at the time—the late Empress Imelda. Because everyone was preoccupied with the ball, she wasn’t discovered until much later. By then, she had already passed away.”
“The very same day Windfarer disappeared, correct? And there were no signs of death by weapon.”
“That is correct. We believed she had died of a heart attack. We never imagined the former Duke of Lacroix had strangled her. Now that I think about it, there may have been red marks on her neck… but no one examined her closely back then.”
“Which maids claimed to have witnessed the murder?”
The head maid provided their names.
If they’d been working here at the time, that meant they all had at least eleven years of service.
Indeed. When they were summoned shortly after, every one of them looked like a seasoned fox hardened by palace life.
‘But I’m a notorious villainess.’
With a swarm of escort knights behind me, I strode up and stood before them.
“When someone new arrives, discipline usually slackens—but I won’t be easy.”
I stared each of them down in turn.
Usually, that was enough to make people tremble like mice before a cat—but these women were clearly no ordinary opponents.
The most experienced-looking maid bowed her head and spoke.
“You haven’t even had the engagement ceremony yet. To start disciplining subordinates already is unprecedented.”
“Every precedent begins as something unprecedented. If none exists, then we simply create one now.”
I shot back without batting an eye.
“The most important virtue of a subordinate is honesty. No matter the circumstances, one must never deceive their superior.”
Then I pressed them mercilessly.
“Did you truly see the former Duke of Lacroix strangling that red-haired maid? Did you witness it with your own eyes?”
