Chapter 32
In any case, since the beginning had proceeded according to his plan, he was now saying that he’d let me decide the ending.
I slowly nodded.
“Of course, if we were to divorce, I’d pay you a proper settlement along with compensation for everything I’ve received from you until now.”
Huh…! Sir Fret let out a baffled sigh and began straightening his shirt cuffs. He turned to Johannes with an aggrieved voice.
“There’s truly so much I don’t know…?”
“You know now, so there’s no problem,” Johannes replied nonchalantly.
Sir Fret closed his eyes tightly. I, unable to hide my awkwardness, fidgeted with my utensils and cautiously joined the conversation.
“I already owe the Duke 100 million berks. That’s compensation enough. Besides, you said I could continue my pharmacology studies. So no matter how long it takes, it’s my responsibility to fulfill the role you expect of me.”
Johannes turned his gaze to me. His brows furrowed for a moment before returning to their usual composed state.
“How do you know how long I’ll want you in that role?”
His voice was lower than before. I looked up at him.
“…Sorry?”
A marriage with a clear purpose.
It would last, at most, five years. Perhaps ten, at the very longest…
Surely he wasn’t about to say he expected it to last a lifetime. But even if he was, there was no going back now.
He hadn’t asked me to repay the 100 million berks, but I still wanted to repay it in my own way.
If I were to become a pharmacist…
It would still take time.
I frowned slightly as I looked at him. Johannes chuckled.
“No need to be so serious. I was joking.”
“No! You must not be joking. About the heir—”
“More importantly…! What happened with the murder case?”
Before Sir Fret could bring up the heir again, I swiftly changed the subject. I wasn’t actually that curious, but it was the only topic that came to mind.
Johannes looked surprised, as though he hadn’t expected me to bring up the murder. The relaxed look in his eyes vanished.
“Are you sincerely curious? It’s quite unpleasant.”
“…Yes. For now.”
He didn’t seem to fully believe me, given my history of lying, but perhaps due to Sir Fret’s sharp gaze, he played along.
“If you wish.”
As he cut into lamb meat stained with bright red blood, he began to speak.
According to Johannes, the incident had been as horrific as the initial report had said.
The investigation initially focused on a personal grudge, but that theory was quickly dismissed.
There wasn’t even a speck of connection between the victim and the perpetrator.
The killer had brazenly bludgeoned the victim’s skull multiple times with a hammer. I couldn’t stop frowning during that part.
Noticing my expression, Johannes asked if he should stop the story, but I shook my head. Since I’d started listening, I felt it would bother me more if I didn’t hear the end.
“Please, go on.”
Rather than killing them in the square, the victim had been murdered elsewhere, stuffed into a suitcase, sealed, and then thrown into the fountain at the plaza.
A few days later, the suitcase surfaced, and the murder was discovered ten days after it occurred.
“So people walked past it for ten days?”
Johannes nodded.
There were two suspects: the victim’s mother, who had supported him financially into his forties, and a long-time friend who owed him money.
In the end, the friend was revealed as the culprit. It was a predictable outcome, not surprising at all.
I frowned and motioned toward the newspaper headline.
“No matter what, how could a friend…”
“No.”
His firm answer made me tilt my head.
“People sometimes prefer answers that comfort them over the actual truth. Lies are more common than truths in this world.”
I fell silent. I thought I understood what he meant.
“If I understand you correctly… are you saying they made an innocent person into the murderer?”
Johannes nodded.
“…Why?”
“It was the best way to satisfy everyone’s desires.”
The best way? I briefly pictured the face of that unknown man’s family and let out a hollow laugh.
“I’m not sure being framed and imprisoned in a single day satisfies that man’s desires.”
His reply was dry, almost absurdly so.
“We gave him sufficient compensation. He’ll be blamed, yes, but his remaining family will live in comfort for the rest of their lives.”
“…And the public can rest easy now that the ‘culprit’ has been caught.”
I didn’t ask if he’d been directly involved. Of course he had. Every major decision in Müssen passed through Johannes Schultz.
In the end, he had sanctioned buying a man’s silence with money and pinning a crime on someone else.
In a way, he and I weren’t so different.
I’d just been lucky. That man hadn’t. That was the only difference.
His eyes still held no emotion. A sea without a ripple.
My throat was parched. I forced myself to swallow and finally turned away.
My tightly coiled hair exposed the back of my neck, and it prickled with tension.
Then, I remembered one of the most important questions.
“Then who was the real killer?”
* * *
Edward Windsor was staring out the window of Babenberg Castle in the capital city of Barden, wearing a bored expression.
“His Majesty the King inquired about the Duchess.”
His aide, Moritz Weber, approached him and said. Edward slowly turned his head.
“Ah. So His Majesty doesn’t even want to ask me directly anymore?”
“…”
“I’d like to make my report and be done with it too, but I’m sorry to say I’m still thinking. I can’t get a read on what kind of person the Duchess is.”
Edward ruffled his hair, recalling Edith Prim’s clear features.
“Johannes Schultz doesn’t seem like the kind of man to marry a commoner just because of her looks.”
And yet, the two of them genuinely seemed like lovers. Had Johannes ever been that friendly with women?
At least from what he’d seen, Johannes had never shown any interest in women before.
As Edward bit his lip, Moritz cautiously handed him a document.
“About that… here’s the information you requested on the Duchess. Though, there’s nothing remarkable. It’s not even like she’s hiding her identity. The townspeople say she’s just an ordinary girl.”
The document was a single page. That’s how unremarkable she was.
“The only thing of note is that she’s studying pharmacology. But even that’s hardly unusual.”
“Hmmm…”
It was truly unimpressive. Her looks were the only thing of value.
Could Johannes Schultz have lost everything after the previous duke’s death?
If so, it worked in Edward’s favor. With that conclusion, he asked lazily:
“What prompted the marriage?”
“The Duke paid off all the Duchess’s debts.”
“Debts?”
He could barely manage his own debts, and now he was paying someone else’s? Edward motioned for Moritz to continue.
“It appears she got tangled up with a shady lending agency secretly run by Count Schwaben. According to naval officers present, he even proposed on the spot.”
“What?”
Johannes Schultz proposed at a place like that?
Edward burst into crazed laughter. Moritz simply stood by in silence, as though this was a familiar occurrence.
Edward wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, his lips curling into an elegant smile.
He was definitely insane. Johannes Schultz had completely lost it.
“Did he actually fall in love? That would make things boring.”
Edward continued.
“Tell His Majesty she’s a woman of no importance. I’ve already planted a seed of doubt in her. If he doesn’t truly love her, she’ll flee on her own.”
“Yes, I’ll report it that way. And… it seems you’ll soon be appointed as the Müssen Police Commissioner.”
“Müssen?”
Moritz nodded carefully.
“The recent murder has shaken public trust. The people are growing distrustful of the police, and Duke Schultz’s reputation is once again rising. There’s a call for police reform in Müssen…”
“So His Majesty is sending me as a scapegoat.”
“He’s sending someone reliable.”
“Whatever. It’s not the first time.”
The Windsor family’s troublemaker—Edward Windsor.
He was used to being played like a card. Edward waved his hand at Moritz.
“Well, I won’t be bored. You can go now.”
“…Shall I destroy the document?”
“No, leave it. It’ll be something to pass the time.”
Even as Moritz turned to leave, Edward didn’t erase the smile from his face. Only when the footsteps had faded did he reach for the document on his desk.
He was about to toss it into the trash when something caught his eye.
He stopped.
His grip tightened on the paper.
“…Edith Prim?”
