"Lord
Along with the voices of the soldiers guarding the door, it slowly opened to reveal the lord's workroom. With
The leaders of Ehrenfest were assembled in the lord's workroom.
The lord and his wife,
To the right stood five knights holding positions in the knight order, along with one representative each from the lord's family guard knights. To the left were
I surveyed the assembled crowd and noted that every gaze was fixed upon Viscount Joisitorck, whom I had dragged along. I gave
"As commanded, I have arrived."
"Bonifatius, thank you for your trouble."
Then, to ask the most important question first, I turned my gaze to Ferdinand.
"Before we begin the interrogation, there is something I wish to know. ...Ferdinand, where is Lady Rozemyne?"
"She is in no danger of losing her life. However, it would be better to discuss the details after we have dismissed everyone... There is no need to provide a criminal with extra information."
Ferdinand directed those words toward Viscount Joisitorck, while his gaze alone conveyed that there was a possibility someone among the attendants and guard knights might be connected to this incident.
For my part, I wanted to hear about Rozemyne's condition more than I wanted to listen to the ramblings of a small fry I could crush on the spot, but there was no helping it.
"Very well, Bonifatius. Let us hear what happened after you left the great hall."
With Aub Ehrenfest's words, the interrogation began. I recounted the events after leaving the great hall. How I had used body reinforcement to arrive at the scene of the engagement first, how the person exploded when I punched them, how I rescued Rozemyne, how I captured the commoner attendant, and how Angelica had apprehended Viscount Joisitorck at the place where we found Raut.
"The commoner attendant appears to have simply been ordered by a noble dressed in black. He was told to transport goods by horse and load them into a carriage with no crest, positioned nearest to the attendants' workplace."
"Aub Ehrenfest. As Lord Bonifatius says, there was indeed a carriage at that location."
According to information from the knight order who had been standing watch to ensure nobles returned home, there was indeed a crestless carriage at the position indicated by the commoner attendant.
A carriage without a crest was one used to transport attendants and commoner workers. Even without a crest, marks were placed so that those in the know could identify their own carriages. However, those marks were invisible to any noble other than the owner.
"After all the nobles in the great hall had departed, three carriages remained—one bearing Viscount Joisitorck's crest and two without. It appears he brought along the person in black along with his attendants and servants. The carriage is almost certainly Viscount Joisitorck's."
"However... only one of the carriages bearing Viscount Joisitorck's crest was parked a considerable distance from the others. Even if he had succeeded in kidnapping Lady Rozemyne, it would have appeared suspicious to those nearby."
The knights holding positions began voicing their respective opinions. But every last one of them was testimony premised on Viscount Joisitorck being the culprit. Since he was the only noble from the great hall who was absent, it was understandable.
But Viscount Joisitorck, still gagged, was desperately shaking his head to deny their claims. He was even teary-eyed, his head trembling as he shook it. He was certainly the kidnapper, but his desperation struck me as somewhat odd.
I glanced at Sylvester and noticed he seemed to feel the same sense of bewilderment, giving a small nod.
"I would also like to hear Viscount Joisitorck's opinion."
The moment his gag was removed, Viscount Joisitorck let out something like a scream.
"Aub Ehrenfest, my carriages consist of one with a crest and two without. I know nothing about the one found at the distant location. Furthermore, I did not kidnap Lady Rozemyne! The one I took was Lady
Viscount Joisitorck insisted he had absolutely no involvement in Rozemyne's kidnapping. That said, when it came to what he had actually done, he was babbling away.
"Angelica, what about it?"
"Yes. It is true that Viscount Joisitorck took Lady Charlotte. And the direction he fled after throwing Lady Charlotte out was east—quite a distance from the south, where Lady Rozemyne was rescued. It seems rather difficult to consider him responsible for both kidnappings."
Angelica's words caused a stir among those present, and Sylvester narrowed his eyes.
"Then there is another culprit among the nobles?"
"...I cannot say for certain. If someone could, while we were busy rescuing the falling Lady Charlotte, rush into the eastern forest, then make a sharp turn south, capture Lady Rozemyne with a net of magic power, drug her, hand her off to the commoner attendant, and then immediately flee all the way back to the management hut far to the east—then perhaps it might have been possible."
Angelica said this with a perfectly straight face, but everyone knew that was impossible for any normal person.
I recalled the scene where Viscount Joisitorck was captured. It was indeed far from where Cornelius had descended on his beast. Since using a winged beast inside the forest was difficult, even if Viscount Joisitorck had prepared a horse, it would have been impossible for him to succeed in both kidnappings.
...It would have been possible if it were me, though.
If I used body reinforcement and ran at full speed, I might just barely make it. But it was impossible for Viscount Joisitorck. Moreover, if someone were capable of that level of body reinforcement and possessed abundant magic power, they should not have been caught by Angelica.
Sylvester lightly tapped the desk with his fingertip, then shifted his gaze from Angelica to Viscount Joisitorck.
"Viscount Joisitorck, who is your accomplice?"
"I have no accomplice. When you consider that such a plan could leak from someone else's mouth, it is most reliable to carry it out alone."
No matter how you looked at it, it seemed like he was being manipulated and danced on strings. Viscount Joisitorck was far too incompetent to have conceived and executed such an ambitious plan on his own.
"Then, Viscount Joisitorck. State in detail what you did."
What followed was Viscount Joisitorck's account, and it was headache-inducingly terrible. It was so foolish that even someone like me, who was not particularly skilled at using his head, was rendered speechless. Ferdinand, who always made meticulous plans whenever he did anything, was frozen with his hand pressed to his temple.
To put it briefly, Viscount Joisitorck had planned to kidnap one of the lord's children and hide them in the management hut he had discovered during the hunting tournament.
If he took
...Even now, Rozemyne was on guard and wouldn't let him near her—so how had he planned to pass along information? On top of that, I was obviously the one who would go rescue Rozemyne first. What an idiot.
He had hidden a Self-Eating person dressed in black among his attendants in the carriage, used them to delay the guard knights, and once he had escaped, planned to detonate them to destroy the evidence. Since the carriage he brought had no crest, he believed he would not be caught. The plan was full of holes and nothing but seat-of-the-pants improvisation.
Furthermore, this fool did not know that Rozemyne's beast could fly, and being pursued by a flying beast had been completely unexpected.
Since he absolutely could not afford to be caught, he threw Charlotte out to escape, but just when he thought he had gotten away, Angelica caught him—that was even more unexpected.
The most unexpected thing of all, however, was Rozemyne's actions. He apparently never imagined that Rozemyne would care enough about a stepsister she had only just met at the baptism ceremony to fly out on a beast to rescue her.
With such a spectacular fool causing such a commotion, the person who had actually tried to abduct Rozemyne must have been able to move much more freely.
At Viscount Joisitorck's account,
"Lady Rozemyne is the Saint of Ehrenfest who even worries for orphans. You claim to be her relative, and yet you did not know this?"
"Lady Rozemyne is the daughter of my sister Rozemarie, my niece, and—"
"You are mistaken, Viscount Joisitorck."
Elvira cut him off with a frigid smile and sharp words. Then, in a calm voice, she fixed him with her ink-black gaze.
"You are not Lady Rozemyne's relative. Lady Rozemyne is my daughter. I formally acted as her mother at the baptism ceremony, and Lady Rozemyne herself regards me as her mother."
As Elvira said, a child was recognized as a noble's child at the baptism ceremony. The person who performed the ceremony at that time established who the father and mother were. It was not uncommon for the child of a mistress to be talented enough to receive the baptism ceremony as the first wife's child. In such cases, since there was no blood relation, it was rare for a good relationship to form.
"I am truly glad that no connection was made between Lady Rozemyne and you. She was abducted and even forced to drink poison—and yet to be further troubled by a self-proclaimed relative would be most unfortunate for her. A self-proclaimed relative who provides no positive influence whatsoever is entirely unnecessary. You should be able to understand a mother's feelings, Viscount Joisitorck?"
Smiling softly, Elvira declared that she would thoroughly purge Viscount Joisitorck's blood relatives from Rozemyne's vicinity. Despite her seemingly bright expression, it was clear she had been harboring a great deal of pent-up resentment.
...Elvira had originally been troubled by various issues involving the third wife, so she would undoubtedly show absolutely no mercy in her purge.
Having been consulted several times during
Of course, I had no intention of showing mercy to those who had endangered Rozemyne. I had been holding myself back from crushing them. I wanted to have them disposed of immediately.
"Since she poisoned Rozemyne, the lord's adopted daughter, the death penalty is certain, is it not?"
"Lady Elvira, I did not poison anyone! Why would you think I would do such a thing as harm Lady Rozemyne!? She is my niece!"
"She is not your niece. Furthermore, regardless of whatever intentions you may have had, it makes no difference. Even if you did not directly harm Lady Rozemyne, you attacked the lord's estate and harmed Lady Charlotte."
At Elvira's words, Viscount Joisitorck slumped in defeat.
Since he had clearly committed a crime, punishing Viscount Joisitorck was not a problem. But the noble who had been pulling his strings and harming Rozemyne remained unknown.
"...Lord Karstedt, you confirmed everyone who was in the sealed great hall, didn't you?"
Elvira looked up at her husband, Knight Commander Karstedt, and tilted her head. Karstedt, who had been commanding the knights in the great hall, nodded solemnly.
"Yes. Everyone has been confirmed, including those who had gone to relieve themselves. There were no nobles outside."
The knights who had verified the alibis of the nobles in the great hall nodded in agreement with Karstedt's words.
Sylvester fixed Viscount Joisitorck with his piercing gaze, the one that could not let lies slip by.
"Viscount Joisitorck, there are no accomplices or collaborators, correct?"
"...Yes."
Ferdinand, who had been listening intently with his hand pressed to his temple, slowly spoke.
"What concerns me are the private soldiers who attacked near the northern wing. Were those truly your private soldiers?"
"Lord Ferdinand, those private soldiers belonged to
Rozemyne's guard knight spoke with resolve, raising his head. He was a lower-ranking knight who had been by Rozemyne's side as her guard knight since before her baptism ceremony.
A murmur rippled through the room at the mention of the
"Count Bindewald, you say?"
"Did anyone else notice anything?"
Some of the fighting guard knights had noticed the person in black wearing a ring, but they had not been able to identify the crest. According to the knights tasked with gathering evidence, the exploded person in black bore no trace of a ring or any other evidence.
Having only one lower-ranking knight who had confirmed the ring's crest during the heat of battle was weak as testimony and evidence, but Ferdinand gave a single nod.
"Viscount Joisitorck, where did you obtain that? Why do you possess it? If that private soldier was wearing a subordination ring, they should have been the property of Count Bindewald."
"I—I do not know! I was merely given the private soldier by Viscount
Viscount Joisitorck shook his head with a look of genuine shock, eyes wide. He really had been nothing but a puppet. If they wanted any more useful information from him, the only method would be to look into his memories.
"...You are done. Since you have raised your hand against the lord's family, the death penalty is unavoidable."
Sylvester lightly waved his hand and ordered that Viscount Joisitorck be taken away. Two knights immediately moved to escort him out.
"Tomorrow, summon Viscount Gerlach."
"Yessir!"
I had heard that Viscount Gerlach held territory bordering
...Come to think of it, wasn't it said that Viscount Gerlach's wife had hosted a tea party and invited
The next day, Viscount Gerlach was summoned and questioned. However, unlike the previous night, fewer people were present. The lord and his wife, Ferdinand, myself, Karstedt, and five knights holding positions in the knight order.
"Now then, Viscount Gerlach, I have something I want to ask you."
"What might that be?"
I could see Viscount Gerlach's slightly paunchy belly wobble ever so slightly—though to put it more generously, he was showing off his prosperity. He apparently did not train much and had let himself go a little.
...He has a decent enough height, so he really ought to train more. Young and yet already looking sloppy. Take a lesson from my abs.
While I was holding my own stomach and contemplating the need for civil officials to train, Viscount Gerlach, who had been questioned by Sylvester, tilted his head as if he had no idea why he had been summoned.
"Why did you possess private soldiers belonging to Count Bindewald?"
"Oh my, Count Bindewald's private soldiers? I have never possessed anything of the sort."
"You are aware of the attack that took place near the northern wing last night, correct? The private soldiers used in that attack belonged to Count Bindewald."
Viscount Gerlach furrowed his brow, appearing genuinely bewildered. He seemed intent on playing dumb to the very end.
"What does that have to do with me, may I ask?"
He posed the question with a broad, mild smile, and Sylvester returned one of his own, albeit gentler.
"We have captured the attackers, but they said they had received the private soldiers from Viscount Gerlach. I thought I should hear what you have to say for reference. You were apparently quite close with Count Bindewald?"
"Oh my, is that so? Something like that happened last night?"
Viscount Gerlach narrowed his gray eyes. Then, saying "I too have been troubled," he looked around as if seeking sympathy and shrugged.
"It is true that I had dealings with Count Bindewald, and it is true that I was entrusted with private soldiers. However, I never owned them myself."
"Hmm, go on."
When Sylvester lightly waved his hand, Viscount Gerlach replied "Very well" and began speaking about the private soldiers.
"Regarding the private soldiers, I was told that bringing a large number of private soldiers into Ehrenfest city would be problematic, so I was entrusted with them by the Count. However, the man himself committed a crime and never came to collect them. The Count's associates must have faced some kind of repercussion on the Ahrensbach side, as I lost all contact with them."
"And?"
"It was costly enough just looking after the private soldiers, and since the man wasn't dead, I couldn't cancel the contract on my own. So, some time ago, I offered them to Viscount Joisitorck with the understanding that it would be fine even if the contract couldn't be dissolved. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine they would be used to cause a disturbance within the castle."
...Ah, this man is the culprit.
I thought this with absolute conviction, without any particular reasoning. I simply could not articulate why, but my gut told me clearly. I could see that behind his seemingly gentle smile, his eyes held a murky, twisted grin, and it was extremely unpleasant.
If I could just crush him right here on the spot, I would feel much better. But I had been told since long ago that this was something one must not do. One needed the proper pretenses that were valid in noble society. How troublesome.
"I did transfer Count Bindewald's private soldiers to Viscount Joisitorck, but I have nothing to do with this incident. As the knight order has confirmed, I was in the great hall, and I knew nothing of such an ambitious plan, nor did I know it would be carried out."
Just as he stated with such confidence, Viscount Gerlach's presence in the great hall had been verified.
He had certainly given away the person in black and caused chaos, but he had not been able to directly harm the lord's child. I repeated this sentiment.
Viscount Gerlach looked my way and narrowed his gray eyes, as if to say "Is there more?" It infuriated me to no end. Everyone probably sensed the foul aura around Viscount Gerlach, but since his alibi had been confirmed by the knights, no further mention could be made here.
...How could that man have committed the crime?
Assuming Viscount Gerlach was the culprit, I desperately tried to figure out how he could have captured Rozemyne, drugged her, and still had an alibi in the great hall. This kind of work was not normally my job. But there had to be some way.
...What if I couldn't use body reinforcement? What would I do then?
I recalled the knight order's statement about sealing off the great hall to establish alibis, the location where I had rescued Rozemyne, and the spot where Cornelius had descended on his beast, and furrowed my brow.
"Viscount Gerlach, was Viscount Joisitorck the only one you transferred Count Bindewald's private soldiers to?"
"Yes, Lord Ferdinand."
Viscount Gerlach nodded immediately at Ferdinand's question. Ferdinand deepened the furrow between his brows and pressed further.
"And you yourself no longer have any private soldiers in your employ?"
"...Of course. Count Bindewald's private soldiers are no longer in my possession."
His murky gray eyes narrowed further, and the smile at the corner of his mouth deepened. In response, the furrow between Ferdinand's brows deepened as well.
"That will be all. Viscount Gerlach, you may withdraw."
When Sylvester lifted his chin sharply to indicate he should leave, Viscount Gerlach bowed politely and departed.
After waiting for the door to close, I addressed Sylvester.
"Sylvester."
I looked up, past Sylvester, at the tapestry behind him. Beyond it lay the supply chamber. This meant there was something that could only be discussed with the lord's family.
Sylvester, sensing the meaning of my gaze, nodded slightly and rose.
"Karstedt, guard this place."
"Yessir!"
"Sylvester and I will enter the supply chamber. Everyone else, remain on standby."
Leaving the scene to Karstedt and the others, Sylvester and I made our way alone to the supply chamber.
The lordly mask Sylvester had worn in the workroom peeled away, revealing his exhausted true face. I likewise dropped the composure I had been maintaining and relaxed my shoulders for a moment.
"Uncle, what is it?"
"Sylvester, you said you sealed off the great hall, correct?"
Recalling Viscount Gerlach's attitude from moments ago, Sylvester nodded with a frustrated expression.
"Yes. The knight order sealed it off completely."
"Was it truly everything?"
Sylvester carved deep lines between his brows. His dark green eyes, a mixture of the unpleasantness of being suspected and whatever he had just realized, turned toward me.
"...What do you mean?"
"Did it include everything—the passages used by the attendants, and even the hidden exits known to the heir apparent?"
At my words, Sylvester's eyes widened in surprise. Then, as if recalling the exchange in the great hall, he lowered his gaze slightly.
"The attendants' passages should have been sealed off. But the hidden exits..."
These were emergency exits that only the lord was informed of—not even the knight order knew of their existence. Even though the knight order claimed to have completely sealed the great hall, they would not have been told about the hidden exits, so it was unlikely any knights were stationed at those entrances and exits.
"I discovered Rozemyne near the forest area used by the attendants. But the spot where Cornelius descended on his beast and found Rozemyne's magic stone was much farther away. Considering that the commoner attendants received Rozemyne from Viscount Gerlach and traveled by horse, Viscount Gerlach should have been near where Cornelius landed."
At my words, Sylvester's face went slack with astonishment. As if to say that was impossible, he stared at me. I continued.
"My memories are quite old so I cannot be certain, but based on what my brother told me, there should have been a hidden exit connecting to the great hall near that area. Am I wrong?"
"No, you're right. There is indeed a hidden exit. But isn't that something only the lord is supposed to know about?"
Sylvester confirmed the existence of the hidden exit with a bitter expression. When his gaze asked how I knew, I shrugged.
"Your father and I are a few years apart in age, are we not? I received a full course of lord education as well."
When Sylvester's father—my younger brother who became the lord—was still young, the lord before him, my father, had once fallen gravely ill. Father managed to recover. But no matter how much I did not want to become lord, I was told that I had to serve as a stand-in until my brother came of age, and so I received a thorough lord education.
"I have a feeling the hidden exit was used. Is it possible that its existence leaked from Georgine to Viscount Gerlach? ...It's just a gut feeling, but—"
"You—!? ...Does Elder Sister know where the hidden exit is? She made such a fuss about how she couldn't become lord because of me!"
From Sylvester's look of surprise, I realized there was a slight gap between his understanding and those around him.
For Sylvester, Georgine was an elder sister who had failed to become lord and been married off to another territory. But for me, who had known Georgine since she was born, she was a girl who had been trained to become the next lord.
Because Georgine was fixated on the position of lord, my brother and his wife determined she could never get along with Sylvester. For that reason, Georgine was sent to Ahrensbach, her grandmother's homeland. But originally, she was expected to assist Sylvester and help support Ehrenfest together—just as I had done.
My brother and his wife had held the naive hope that Georgine would assist Sylvester because I, who had received the lord education, had supported my brother's rule without fixating on the position of lord myself.
"Sylvester, you have only known Georgine for a few years after you moved to the northern wing. But Georgine received lord education up until the time of your baptism ceremony and your move to the northern wing. You would do well to assume she knows everything you know."
Sylvester closed his eyes tightly and slowly nodded.
"Do you have any evidence that Elder Sister was involved? Any evidence that Viscount Gerlach is the culprit? If you have something, then—"
"That's the thing—it's all a gut feeling. Just a gut feeling, but I'm certain he's the culprit. Consult Ferdinand in confidence and either gather evidence or set a trap. Gathering evidence is not my job. I'm not suited for that kind of detail work. What I'm good at is identifying the enemy and crushing them. If I had permission, I would crush Viscount Gerlach right now."
Sylvester, who had been listening to my words, rubbed his chin with a troubled expression and began to deliberate.
"Wait a moment. That would be problematic, to say the least. But your wild instincts, Uncle, have a sharpness that cannot be ignored. Let's assume Viscount Gerlach is the culprit and have Ferdinand investigate. He'll probably scold me for adding to his workload, but..."
"Mmm. The thinking work would be best left to Ferdinand. And this kind of case is not really suited to me either."
When Sylvester moved, the opponent would know immediately. It was best to leave this kind of work to Ferdinand and his trained civil officials.
"But with this, we should be able to decline Elder Sister's visit without any issues, correct? Between Wilfried's blunder and its punishment, and the fact that private soldiers owned by a noble of Ahrensbach ran rampant in the castle, we can refuse the visit on grounds of security concerns. That should buy us several years, don't you think?"
"You're right, Uncle. We need to refuse Elder Sister's visit, buy time, and rebuild Ehrenfest."
Using the repeated dangers posed to the lord's family involving Count Bindewald as justification, we would need to ban the travel of Ahrensbach nobles, weaken the power of the previous faction, and cultivate our own close retainers and political base.
"That is the lord's duty. Do it well. As for me, I will hammer the lord's family guard knights back into shape and strengthen the knight order for Ehrenfest's sake."
"Thank you, Uncle."
Sylvester's eyes, looking toward the future, glinted.
Incidentally, the moment he left the supply chamber full of determination, Ferdinand told him that Rozemyne would not awaken for over a year due to the poison. At that point, Sylvester seriously considered chasing down Viscount Gerlach and crushing him.
"Surely one hit is permissible, to make up for being robbed of precious time with my granddaughter?"
"If you want forgiveness, bring evidence, not instincts! Until then, it's no!"
...My instincts told me with absolute certainty that he was the culprit, but reality rarely cooperates.
Viscount Joisitorck has been immediately ejected.
Grandpa Bonifatius lives by wild instincts and muscles. Hence he was deemed unfit to be the Lord.
Next up is Charlotte's perspective.