CHAPTER 175…………………………
More than anything, I wanted to stay like that forever.
But…
In the darkness that wrapped around me so warmly and gently, a sudden image came sharply into my mind.
A figure dressed in black, standing with a softly swaying curtain behind him.
A murderer.
He was staring straight at me.
“…!”
I snapped back to my senses as if waking from a dream.
“Ah, right! The documents!”
At the underground Master Guild headquarters beneath the chapel, I had picked up the investigation results that Ruelian had commissioned from a lower guild.
But after being surrounded by the security forces, I had completely forgotten about them.
“Wait a moment.”
I pulled away from Ruelian and hurriedly rummaged through my clothes.
My outfit was soaked through, but these weren’t ordinary papers—they were magical documents, with a certain degree of self-protection.
And perhaps the traditional clothing from the Maritime Kingdom I’d been wearing had some waterproof qualities, because although everything else was drenched, the bundle I had tightly wrapped inside my chest was relatively unharmed.
Maybe I’ll take back what I said about that useless country. At least I benefited from one thing.
When I pulled out the stack of documents, Ruelian’s eyes widened.
“That is…?”
“Yes. The background investigation 자료 you requested.”
“How did you know and manage to bring them?”
“Well, you mentioned it yourself before. You said we needed to compare it with what the Empress discovered. That’s why I broke off the engagement and rushed here. Since you were being hunted, I figured your movements would be limited—so I went to collect the results in your place.”
“…”
For a moment, Ruelian just stared at me, speechless.
His gaze held both shock and deep emotion.
What was so surprising?
At this rate, he’d be moved just because I ate bread, or washed my face.
Shaking my head, I lifted the reports.
“So which one should we look at?”
“Let’s see…”
Ruelian steadied himself and began flipping through the papers.
“First, I told them to find anyone who could testify about the dead maid, Eloise. If they responded, there must’ve been some progress.”
His hands moved at lightning speed.
Soon, from among the reports marked with the Dark Guild’s seal, he pulled one out.
“No family. No relatives. No friends. Even those who vaguely remembered her said they had nothing to say. Only one person gave testimony.”
“Who?”
“The ex-husband of her deceased older sister.”
“…That’s barely even a connection. Impressive they found him.”
“That’s why they’re the Dark Guild.”
Ruelian read aloud.
“According to him, Eloise had a loose tongue. She was never supposed to speak about anything inside the Imperial Palace, but when she got drunk, she would chatter excitedly. Who was having an affair with whom, which duchess wore a wig… She even spoke recklessly about the Emperor and the Empress.”
He turned the page.
“So her sister constantly scolded her. Saying that if she didn’t fix that habit, one day she’d be murdered and buried without anyone ever knowing.”
“Oh…”
A sigh escaped me.
“Could that really be why she was killed?”
“It’s entirely possible. If the murderer heard her and became enraged… or wanted to silence her.”
Ruelian looked at me.
“Aristina. Earlier, you said this, didn’t you? That the Imperial Palace is one of the most dangerous places for you.”
“That’s right.”
“And only then did I realize… why I lost him when I was chasing him. He fled somewhere I never expected.”
His face hardened.
“The Imperial Palace. That was his base.”
“With that level of strength and skill, someone who can hide freely within the Palace…”
Ruelian’s voice dropped.
“No matter how I think about it… there’s only one person.”
“…”
“My suspicion is correct, isn’t it?”
Instead of answering, I nodded once.
I couldn’t bring myself to say it aloud.
Because Sir Theseud had been Ruelian’s swordmaster too.
Ruelian still deeply respected the Empire’s greatest knight.
And now… that very teacher had murdered my parents, disgraced my entire family, and cornered him like this?
It was an unbearable shock.
“…”
Ruelian fell silent, needing time to process.
Unable to say anything, I began sorting through the documents myself.
“Theseud was a rising knight… but on the night of a ball, he killed a palace maid.”
It sounded unbelievable.
But it wasn’t impossible.
He had one weakness.
His love for Empress Imelda.
“For some reason related to the Empress, he may have killed Eloise. The weapon was Windfairer, the Empire’s sacred sword. It was likely an impulsive crime.”
My voice echoed softly in the quiet cave.
“He couldn’t have not known that if the holy sword disappeared after being tainted by sin, everyone would blame Empress Imelda.”
“…”
“By the time he came to his senses, it was already too late. The Empire’s only Sword Master, a revered knight, killed a palace maid? If that truth came out, he’d be finished.”
“And if it was revealed that the motive involved the Empress… she could fall with him.”
“…”
“So he decided to cover it up. Claiming she died of a heart attack in her quarters.”
He succeeded in moving the body unnoticed.
But there was one problem.
There were witnesses.
As he listened, the color drained from Ruelian’s face.
I exhaled.
“The Duke and Duchess of Lacroix realized they had seen something they never should have. Terrified, they packed immediately and tried to flee the capital.”
“But they couldn’t escape Theseud’s grasp.”
“To protect himself… and Imelda…”
“He murdered even the innocent duke and duchess.”
The horrifying scene I had witnessed inside Ruelian’s dream resurfaced.
Poor people…
“When Empress Imelda learned the truth, she suffered… and eventually took her own life.”
“Theseud fell into grief.”
But now more than ever, her honor had to be protected.
The truth was buried in darkness.
Yet Theseud still couldn’t rest.
Because there was one more witness.
Me.
I shuddered, recalling the murderer in the dark.
“Little Aristina had been secretly hiding in the palace while following the Crown Prince… and she witnessed Theseud moving the body and covering up the crime.”
“He didn’t kill me immediately, so I must have convinced him somehow that I hadn’t seen anything.”
But he never stopped suspecting me.
I let my shoulders slump.
“And once he secretly retrieved Windfairer… he must have decided then that he had to kill me with it.”
“With that sword… the perfect crime was possible.”
And he did it.
He stabbed me and killed me.
But unexpectedly, I survived—through the miracle my two mothers created.
Looking back, everything fit.
“How…”
Ruelian finally spoke, his voice strained.
“How could that…”
His wandering gaze landed on me.
The shock was still there, but he had regained some clarity.
“If that’s true… this is no ordinary matter. The enemy is far too strong.”
“We have to move quickly.”
“…Grace.”
I held up another report stamped with the Dark Guild’s seal.
“That night Eloise was murdered, the Empress was with the maid Grace.”
“That old senior maid… when I came to interrogate her, she swallowed poison and ruined her tongue.”
“She knows something.”
“We must meet her.”
Ruelian nodded.
“Agreed. She’s the key.”
He was right.
The enemy was too powerful.
If we wanted to survive, we had to hurry.
We headed deeper into the cave.
Following the long passage, we reached a tall stone staircase.
A refuge once used by monks persecuted for their faith.
The natural rock had been carved long ago.
“This way.”
Ruelian pulled my hand and led the way up.
At the top was a stone door.
He pulled a lever on the wall, and the door opened, revealing a basement.
Oak wine barrels were stacked everywhere.
My eyes widened.
“A tavern storage room?”
“Yes. We can get out through here.”
Staying alert, Ruelian moved ahead.
We climbed up into the tavern’s first floor.
It was empty.
But it wasn’t quiet.
Outside, the noise was intense.
What…?
The moment I approached—
BOOM!
A thunderous sound echoed.
We both flinched.
“A cannon?”
Pressing against the window, I looked out.
The streets were filled with security troops.
Ruelian frowned.
“There are more than before.”
“Reinforcements?”
Something was wrong.
They should’ve been busy searching the sea.
We assumed the town would be less guarded.
But instead, additional forces had arrived, surrounding the village completely.
Amid heavy footsteps, someone shouted:
“By direct order, you must capture them! Find even their corpses!”
The man sounded high-ranking.
“Aristina Rosen is a criminal who attempted to assassinate His Highness the Crown Prince and the Second Prince!”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
What…?
