Chapter 7
‘She isn’t a typical girl from the countryside. She isn’t easily provoked, and she doesn’t open her mouth easily. I also need to carefully examine the relationship between that woman and Count and Countess Brough.’
Now that her mourning period for her deceased parents seemed to be over and she had begun going out again, meeting her in person for questioning would not be difficult.
If she truly grieved her parents’ deaths, then she ought to cooperate actively in uncovering the truth behind the case.
‘I hope the mysteries at the fire scene can be resolved through her.’
However, Ash’s hopes were interrupted from within the Police Department.
“Ash! Put the case you’re working on aside for a moment and help Inspector White! It’s a human trafficking case, and they’re short on manpower!”
A major violent crime naturally took priority over an ordinary fire case.
Ash had no choice but to set aside his regrets and assist Inspector White.
☆☆☆
At the McCallen family’s party, I successfully established Rosalyn Tessis’s presence.
I had been worried that Rosalyn might have attended other parties or social gatherings while I was locked up in the detention cell, but fortunately, that did not seem to be the case.
After all, among all those attendees, not a single person looked at me as though something was strange.
Of course, it was possible that Rosalyn had attended some odd gathering where only lower-ranking nobles met.
Perhaps that was why I had *not yet* encountered anyone who knew her.
Even so, that lingering anxiety was gradually replaced by confidence.
Rosalyn Tessis, Baron and Baroness Tessis, and even the people who knew them well had no connections here in Herona.
So from now on, all I had to do was become Rosalyn Tessis in the minds of the people here.
‘The problem isn’t Herona. It’s Tessis.’
Even if I could deceive the people here, doing so in Tessis, the Baron’s territory, would be nearly impossible.
Especially the servants who had worked in the lord’s castle for years.
There was no way they would mistake Rosalyn for me.
There were only two ways to avoid being exposed.
‘Either replace every servant, or avoid going back to Tessis for the next ten years. One of the two.’
The problem was that I absolutely needed the butler, Glen Hill.
He had worked there for twenty years and was a seasoned veteran.
Perhaps the reason the Baron’s household had not collapsed under the incompetent and temperamental Baron Tessis was because of Glen.
Whenever anyone had something to resolve or something they did not know within the castle, they went straight to the butler.
Even the Baron and Baroness summoned him over the smallest matters.
It would not have been an exaggeration to call him the true power behind the lord’s castle.
‘I suppose I’ll have to meet Mr. Butler somehow… but how am I supposed to fool him?’
The memories from my days working as a maid at the Baron’s castle were extremely important for pretending to be Rosalyn.
However, they contained no information about the family’s finances.
The balance in Baron Tessis’s central bank account, which I had checked not long ago, was lower than I had expected.
I had to make a decision.
‘I need to retrieve whatever money remains in the House of Tessis.’
After Baron and Baroness Tessis’s funeral, I had officially inherited the title at the royal palace, and my status as the heir had also been confirmed.
So there was nothing wrong with me using the family’s money.
That was, of course, assuming there was still anything left to inherit.
‘For now, I’ll summon Mr. Butler here.’
Although I was afraid he would recognize me, I gathered my courage and wrote a letter asking him to come to Herona as soon as possible.
However, just before I mailed it, a letter from Glen arrived first.
<My Lady. The Merchants’ Association has requested additional funding for the local militia’s operating expenses.>
<In addition, tax revenues have been low, and since the estate no longer requires so many workers, I believe we should dismiss some of the servants. I ask for your approval.>
Below that was a list of the people he believed should be dismissed, followed by a request for the Baron to make the final decision after reviewing it.
The problem was that the dismissal list included most of the servants.
‘If he’s telling a noble who never does a single bit of hard work to reduce the servants this drastically, doesn’t that mean they’re truly out of money? At this rate, I’m going to inherit debt!’
I had been delighted to escape the fifty-million-gulden compensation payment.
Now it looked as though I was about to inherit the Baron’s debts instead.
And those debts were undoubtedly on an entirely different scale from what Emma Hampton had owed.
After agonizing over it with my head in my hands, I crumpled up the letter I had originally written and threw it away.
Then I picked up a fresh sheet of paper and began writing a new reply.
‘It’ll take about a week for this letter to reach Tessis.’
There was far too much I needed to accomplish before then.
This was no time to be frightened over trivial matters.
☆☆☆
The unwelcome visitor arrived toward the end of that very week, when I was already busy enough.
“Welcome, Officer McCallen.”
I warmly greeted Ash McCallen, who had arrived without warning.
I had expected not to see him again for quite some time.
What could possibly have been so urgent that he had come already?
Did he have no other cases to investigate?
Or had he perhaps fallen for me?
Although it was uncomfortable being investigated by someone who suspected me, I had to admit that looking at this man’s mesmerizing golden eyes was genuinely enjoyable.
That didn’t mean I could let my guard down.
I reminded myself of the wisdom passed down by my life’s seniors.
A handsome man lives up to his looks.
Completely unaware of the thoughts running through my mind, Ash spoke with an expression that was impossible to tell whether it was emotionless or faintly smiling.
“While investigating the case, a few questions came up.”
“I know it’s rude to arrive without notice, but thank you for agreeing to see me.”
“This concerns the incident in which my parents died.”
“Of course I’ll cooperate.”
“What would you like to know?”
“Let’s begin with Miss Emma Hampton.”
He took out a notebook and a pen.
“I heard Miss Emma Hampton requested a one-day release on bail, saying she intended to borrow money from Baron Tessis.”
“Did you know she was planning to visit the mansion that day?”
“No, not at all.”
“Could you describe the circumstances surrounding her dismissal?”
He continued asking questions that would have been quite troublesome if I had actually been Rosalyn.
It was infuriating that I couldn’t expose everything Rosalyn had done to me.
In any case, I desperately worked my mind, carefully choosing answers that could not be used against me.
After all, I was the only one who knew the truth.
I had nothing to fear.
“Now, let’s move on to the second matter.”
“Forgive me for asking, but what assets do you currently possess, Miss Rosalyn?”
I hesitated for a moment.
“Why… do you ask?”
“There’s something I need to verify.”
He was definitely smiling.
Yet it felt like some kind of bait.
Above those gently curved lips, his moonlike eyes shone with a chilling light.
I had no idea what he was trying to determine.
Besides, it seemed likely he could easily find out how much cash I possessed anyway.
So I answered honestly.
“I have about eight million guldens.”
“What about assets besides cash?”
“You mean jewelry or things like that?”
“The only thing left is the necklace I was wearing on the day of the fire.”
“I believe you were also wearing earrings when I saw you at the party the other day.”
He certainly had a good memory.
Which probably meant he had been observing me carefully while pretending not to.
“The earrings I wore that day were lent to me by Countess Brough.”
“…I see.”
“I’ve answered everything.”
“May I ask why you wanted to know?”
Ash remained silent for a moment, deep in thought, before slowly speaking.
“The townhouse that burned down was an old wooden building.”
“The flames spread rapidly, and it was eventually destroyed completely.”
“However, it didn’t actually take very long to extinguish the fire.”
“So?”
“That means most metal objects retained their original shape.”
I frowned, clearly wanting him to stop speaking in riddles.
He let out a quiet chuckle.
“Two jewelry boxes were recovered.”
“But there wasn’t a single piece of jewelry left inside either of them.”
“So I assumed you had taken everything with you.”
“Really?”
“You truly didn’t know?”
“No!”
“I simply assumed everything had burned up.”
“Now that I think about it, you’re right.”
“The jewelry wouldn’t have burned away….!”
I wasn’t joking.
I was genuinely shocked.
Why hadn’t that ever occurred to me?
“Then someone must have found them after the fire and stolen them.”
“That’s exactly what isn’t possible.”
“What?”
“The police secured the area before the fire was completely extinguished.”
“So no one could have secretly stolen them afterward.”
Wait.
Then what does that mean?
“In other words, those jewelry boxes had already been empty before the fire.”
“That’s impossible!”
“I definitely packed all kinds of jewelry before we came here!”
I clearly remembered helping pack the luggage.
I didn’t know exactly how much the Baroness had brought, but Rosalyn had definitely brought every accessory she owned.
If I could recover those alone and sell them, I wouldn’t have to worry about money for quite some time.
No.
That wasn’t the real issue.
If what Ash said was true, and someone had emptied those jewelry boxes beforehand…
Then this fire might truly have been far more than a simple accident.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
