Chapter – 17
“Shall I go back first?”
“No, I don’t want to be alone.”
“In that case.”
Before he could say anything more, she added.
“I’ll stay with you.”
Ludwig said nothing more to her.
He merely hurried the progress of the search so they could return quickly.
Soon, after checking all the rooms in the annex, they reached the last one.
The younger sister and the older sister, who had been unusually fidgety, stepped forward as soon as the door opened.
“My… my apologies. The room is a mess.”
The younger sister, pretending to be embarrassed, quickly dashed into the room and began hastily gathering up the leftover snacks and tea. Following her, the older sister also made a show of wrapping a half-eaten pie back into its pouch.
The reactions of those watching were varied.
The Lemerre twins didn’t speak but furrowed their brows. Sebastian’s impeccably composed face showed a hint of bewilderment.
The servants exchanged glances but dared not intervene without a direct order from their master, the Grand Duke.
And Ludwig.
He was staring at the two with an expression no different from when he had entered the room.
Finally, Asilly, who was by his side.
She twisted her lips as she watched the busy older sister and younger sister.
They shouldn’t be touching things so carelessly at a crime scene, or a suspected crime scene.
She was about to speak but soon closed her mouth.
Was her nerves becoming overly sharp because of that infuriating Crown Prince?
Of course, that young lady was endlessly suspicious, but wouldn’t anyone feel ashamed to have the remnants of what they were eating laid out like that in front of others?
Soon, the two finished tidying up, at least putting away what they had been eating out of sight.
“We apologize.”
The younger sister bowed so deeply it seemed servile, and the older sister beside her bowed even lower.
To anyone watching, they looked like a young lady intimidated by the Grand Duke’s authority and her servant.
The younger sister, who had been gauging the mood, subtly straightened her back and spoke.
“And Your Highness, I beg your pardon, but…”
“What is it.”
“We possess no jewels.”
Ludwig, without a word, gestured towards Sebastian, and the servants immediately sprang into action.
And indeed, not a single jewel was found in the room.
The only items resembling jewelry that appeared were a bracelet and necklace made of colorful stones.
Their craftsmanship wasn’t crude.
However, they were unbefitting of a blue-blooded noble, even a mere baron, whose name was listed in the Empire’s register.
Looking at the necklace and bracelet, Kelly of the Lemerre twins muttered without realizing it.
“It was true.”
She didn’t specify what was true, but everyone present likely inferred the omitted words: ‘they have nothing.’
And the owner of those colorful accessories wasn’t the least bit ashamed.
Rather, she cried out defiantly.
“I told you. We have no jewels.”
It was a strange thing to say.
The statement itself, that they had no jewels, was nothing but the truth.
They had searched the entire room, and indeed, no jewels aside from those stone-like ornaments had been found.
But saying such a thing in this situation ultimately meant…
“Does that mean the necklace, no, the other items too, were not stolen by that servant?”
Before Asilly’s thought could even finish, Annie, the Lemerre twin with the ribbon on her left wrist, spoke up.
“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant, well, it is true but… Oh my, goodness me!”
The younger sister let out a shriek before she could even finish her sentence.
Because the servant pointed out by Annie—that is, her older sister—rolled her eyes back and fainted on the spot.
The white foam bubbling from her mouth suggested it was no ordinary fit.
“Wh-what should we do!”
As the younger sister shook the fainted older sister’s shoulders and began to sob, Ludwig spoke.
“We’ll stop here for today. Sebastian.”
“Yes. I shall call for a physician.”
“And tell everyone to assemble.”
And so, the full search of the annex, intended to find Lady Lemerre’s necklace, came to an awkward end, having produced a result—or rather, a non-result—of three stolen items instead of one.
Soon, all the young ladies and servants were assembled in the central hall of the annex.
Ludwig looked down at them with cold eyes and this time, instead of asking for cooperation, issued a command.
“Bear in mind that no one may leave until this matter is concluded.”
***
After the commotion in the annex subsided, Asilly once again found herself holed up in Ludwig’s study with him.
“I’m tired.”
“Get some rest.”
“Yeah… That would be good, but…”
Her nerves, sharpened to a needlepoint, refused to ease.
The Crown Prince, who was hostile to Ludwig and would, in the very end, likely bring about his downfall…
She never imagined she would actually encounter him…
“Well, I didn’t think I’d meet you like this in reality either.”
Even to Asilly’s abrupt remark, Ludwig replied as if he had read her thoughts.
“Don’t mind the Crown Prince.”
“How can I not mind him when he’s getting on my nerves like that?”
“Whatever he says, you can ignore him.”
“Is that alright?”
“Yes.”
“But he’s the Crown Prince?”
No matter how many times she asked, the answer remained the same.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Alright. I’ll just ignore that bastard if he talks nonsense.”
As Asilly closed her eyes and let out a drowsy yawn, Ludwig smiled silently.
A comfortable silence fell for a while, as if sleep was about to come.
Asilly suddenly let out a dry laugh and spoke.
“Honestly, I never expected this kind of incident.”
“This kind of incident?”
“The jewel thief, I mean.”
Asilly fumbled for the plush cushion beside her and hugged it.
“Well, considering the Grand Duchess party, which all the young ladies of the empire had sharpened their claws and prepared for, ended in such a mess, I did have a thought that *something* might happen.”
“What kind of thing?”
“For instance, a young lady desperate to become the Grand Duchess devises a plan to torment and get rid of me, who is by your side. Or a young lady who purely has a crush on you, not just for the title, becomes jealous and plots something.”
They were all things commonly seen in movies, dramas, or even in reality.
Wherever exceptional people gather, people inevitably flock to them.
When someone stands next to the person one admires and idolizes, the scrutiny of that ‘someone’ begins.
One might call it verification, but it would be more accurate to read it as tearing down.
When someone other than oneself takes a coveted position, the emotions humans feel are varied.
And among them, the most violently expressed is probably jealousy.
Asilly, who had been absentmindedly patting the cushion, paused at Ludwig’s words.
“Do you think I would let that slide?”
“What?”
“If anyone, in any way, lays a hand on you. They will pay the price. No matter how great or heavy the price may be.”
His voice was dry enough to grate like sand, but the sincerity contained within it held not a single shred of falsehood.
Ludwig was saying he would not overlook anyone or any deed that harmed Asilly.
Even if they were just words, it was a pleasant thing to hear, and he was someone who actually had the power to act on them.
Asilly felt an inexplicable tickling sensation inside, as if she had swallowed dandelion fluff, and she giggled awkwardly, making a joke.
“It’s a good thing no one did anything. Well, except for having wine spilled on me… Huh?”
Mid-sentence, Asilly tilted her head.
Don’t tell me.
She narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze toward Ludwig.
“What did you do to the young lady who spilled wine on me?”
“Nothing.”
“Ah, as I thought.”
“That family won’t be able to set foot in the capital for the next few years.”
“You said you did nothing!”
“I did nothing *to the young lady*.”
At Ludwig’s words, Asilly made an indescribable face, her lips twitching before finally slumping down.
At first glance, getting one’s family banished from the capital for spilling wine on someone seemed like an excessive price to pay.
But if that ‘someone’ was a member of the Grand Duke’s household—that is, the Grand Duchess… then one could say the punishment was rather lenient.
“I really am the Grand Duchess.”
“Yes.”
“It never felt real before… So, in the end, expelling that young lady’s family like that was also a warning to other families?”
The answer didn’t come immediately. Sensing this, Asilly realized.
“You hadn’t even thought that far.”
Silence implies consent, they say. Asilly ended up laughing.
He had exiled an entire family from the Empire’s capital, the very center of power, for the sole reason that they had spilled wine on Asilly.
Truly, for Asilly’s sake alone.
Chuckling, Asilly soon let the strength drain from her body again, sticking to the sofa like a dried piece of gum.
As she fiddled with the ends of her vividly red hair—her own hair, yet feeling utterly unfamiliar—she suddenly seemed to remember something and blurted out a single word.
“Pie.”
“Pie?”
“Yeah.”
In response, Ludwig, recalling the things Asilly had reached for with her fork even once over the past few days, spoke.
“It was white grape and cherry, wasn’t it?”
“What?”
“Whatever suits your taste will be prepared anytime, so, soon.”
“No, it’s not that I want to eat it.”
Asilly half-raised herself from the sofa, propping her upper body on her elbows, and continued.
“Wait, what do you mean, prepared anytime?”
“I instructed them to treat you as they would me.”
To treat her as they would the Grand Duke, the master of the Grand Duke’s residence… Moreover, if it was Ludwig, he surely hadn’t said that merely considering her position as Grand Duchess.
That short statement contained his complete goodwill and affection.
She smiled playfully, raising her half-reclined body to sit up straight, her back erect.
“Because I’m the Grand Duchess you all but declared to the whole world?”
