~Chapter 36~
I rolled my eyes for a moment, lost in thought.
“Was the goal to destroy the evidence?”
Karl must’ve been thinking the same, because he was also silent for a long time.
Meanwhile, the adults kept pouring out their stories.
“If we die here, what’ll happen to the kids left behind?”
“Even us criminals, if we lose our sense of loyalty, we’re nothing but garbage.”
They said they’d tried to return to the backstreets but thought they were going to die when they ran into a monster and a bear.
“We’re lucky to have met you two.”
“…”
“May you be blessed.”
Rather than blessed, I felt cursed. Karl, naturally, found it amusing and laughed again.
They told me not to cheat on the Duke, yet no one ever bothered to deny rumors when I got entangled with Karl.
“He’s not my husband.”
“Then your lover?”
“I saw you with my own eyes, running off while holding each other!”
“Goodness, how embarrassing!”
“That’s not all. He let you climb on his back so you could aim your gun better…”
The first time, I was just carried like a sack. The second time, I used him as a shooting platform.
And I missed my first shot because the platform moved.
That made me feel even more wronged, so I argued:
“If using someone as a platform makes them a lover, then I’ve had over twenty!”
Back when I was a holy knight, I used whoever was closest as a human stand.
“Though I’ve never had this much body contact before.”
Usually, I made them kneel and only used their shoulders.
I thought that would end the teasing, but then Karl’s face turned chilly.
“You used… someone else… as a platform?”
He wasn’t joking. He actually looked offended.
“Why am I the one feeling awkward here?”
Why was he pretending to be jealous about being used as a platform?
He already knew I’d been part of the Imperial Order, which meant of course I’d done that with others. This wasn’t fair—
“That’s cheating.”
“Using someone else as your stand? That’s cheating.”
“Just go already, would you?”
“Thanks for the meat. You two are such a generous couple!”
“We’re not a couple!”
In the end, I yelled at them while handing over the bear meat and told them to hide out for a while.
It felt like I’d turned into one of those cranky old ladies who shouted at people but still fed them a full meal.
Anyway, it all worked out—surprisingly well, considering.
But now that the bear was dealt with…
“Hey, Karl.”
“Yes?”
“The monster corpse. Can I handle it myself?”
“Do as you wish.”
Thank goodness. I thought he’d want the byproducts for himself, being a monster hunter and all.
“I should let the butcher shop owner know.”
A monster that size would feed plenty of people.
It’d take a while to purify with my holy power, but it was good meat nonetheless.
“Just need to let people know there’s a monster corpse around here.”
The butcher used to be a hunter—he should be able to handle the danger.
Now that everything was resolved, a lingering suspicion returned—stronger after hearing what the adult pickpockets had said.
“Hm.”
“What troubles you?”
“Something’s bothering me.”
The more I thought about it…
“Isn’t it possible someone is trying to frame the Duke’s estate?”
“…”
Karl stared at me quietly before asking:
“Do you have evidence?”
“No. Just a hunch.”
“I can’t really say this is enough to go on.”
The only link I had was the timing: the new backstreet boss took over right when those contraband cigarettes started spreading.
And they were distributed to soldiers—just before winter. Suspicious timing.
“But you could explain it all away.”
The cigarettes were sold to soldiers, mostly in the capital.
“Maybe the outsider boss just wanted to make quick money through back-alley trade.”
Even if someone was pulling strings with malicious intent…
“I honestly don’t even know who’d want to mess with the Duke’s estate.”
“Right.”
There were plenty of people who wanted to destroy the Duke’s house—even in the original story.
“Take Captain Ishtar, for example. He hated the Duke and the estate, all because of Reyna.”
His unrequited love.
But the plot had changed, and Ishtar no longer had reason to act that way.
So who would do something like this?
I didn’t know the surrounding territories well, but someone still came to mind.
Karl must’ve had the same thought.
“Are you referring to… the Emperor?”
Exactly. I had considered that.
“He’s greedy, sure. But I don’t know…”
“He might just try to use my injuries as an excuse to demand compensation.”
“You shouldn’t plan on getting injured.”
“Regardless.”
If the Duke’s estate truly fell, the one most harmed would be the Emperor. The capital would be next.
“So local lords wouldn’t want the estate to fall either.”
“Do… any of them particularly hate the Duke?”
“There are too many, that’s the problem.”
Yikes. So he has loads of enemies.
As I racked my brain, one particular figure came to mind—someone I knew hated the Duke more than anyone.
“…The Pope?”
Yeah. The Pope despised dragons—and the Duke was part dragon.
“But would he really go this far?”
You’d have to be completely unhinged to orchestrate something this elaborate just because of a personal grudge.
“What kind of person was the Pope again…?”
I remembered seeing him occasionally during my time as a holy knight.
Long white beard, plump build. Seemed kind and benevolent.
“And bald.”
The sunlight bounced off his bald head so blindingly I couldn’t even look at him properly.
Some even called it a divine halo.
Anyway, he was widely respected.
Before I realized I was inside a novel, I respected him too.
“But the man hailed as so pure and devout had an illegitimate child?”
In the original novel, Captain Ishtar was his secret son.
[“The father I thought was noble abandoned me. The midwife vanished. My mother, a priestess, was exiled and starved to death…”]
That passage from the original stuck in my mind, making me feel more uneasy.
Still, just because he had a secret kid didn’t mean he’d target the Duke’s estate.
The Emperor stood to gain something—but the Pope? Not really.
“So we still don’t have a clear culprit.”
This was frustrating.
“If only I knew what happened to the estate in the original story…”
Too bad I never finished the novel.
It hadn’t even reached the ending.
And the Duke wasn’t even the main lead—there wasn’t much written about his estate at all.
“Besides, once I realized I’d reincarnated, the plot had already gone off-track.”
Even if I had known, it probably wouldn’t help much.
“I guess I need to investigate from now on.”
At least enough to warn the Duke’s estate if necessary.
That thought brought an unfamiliar feeling.
“If it were the first day I arrived here, I wouldn’t have cared at all.”
Back then, I didn’t even like the Duke.
My plan was to live off his money while helping my family disappear.
Even now, I didn’t feel much for him. Sure, Karl’s words had made me feel a bit more connected, but…
“Why would I feel any sense of loyalty to a man I’ve never even met?”
So this concern…
“Must be a sense of responsibility, even just a little.”
More accurately, it was a responsibility I’d forgotten—now reawakened.
And perhaps, after talking face to face with people here, I’d grown a bit attached.
Like the butcher who studied monster meat so others wouldn’t starve.
The merchants who used to look at me with suspicion but now eyed me with curiosity instead.
Young Tan, who had asked me for help.
The adult pickpockets who endured just to return to the children.
“And most of all…”
Even if he always teased me and sometimes drove me nuts…
“There’s a rock ten steps ahead.”
“Got it.”
The man walking beside me—kind enough to carry the leather and warn me not to trip.
…Karl.
