Chapter 36. Identity of the Culprit
2023.10.06.
Herdin took out the cigar he was holding.
"I was so preoccupied at the time that I couldn't check on you, madam, and it's been on my mind—"
"Your Grace."
"Yes?"
"I appreciate your concern, but this doesn't seem like the right time for casual greetings."
Herdin gestured with his eyes toward the place where the injured from this incident were gathered. A flustered look crossed Miela's face.
"Ah... I'm sorry. I was just so happy to see you that..."
Miela, who lingered rather than leaving immediately, bowed and added,
"Then I'll see you next time."
She turned and walked away, never taking her eyes off Herdin until the very end.
Ruth watched her retreating figure with pitying eyes. As someone who had lived as Herdin's adjutant, he had seen this scene countless times.
'Though what's a bit regrettable about this woman compared to others...'
The fact that she was a priestess with divine power.
After all, those with divine power were precious, and having one close by would be helpful.
Yet his lord paid not a single glance at her despite her remarkable usefulness.
"Still, she's the one who treated you, Your Grace. Couldn't you treat her a bit more kindly?"
"That's why I told her what to do before she gets dragged away for dereliction of duty."
Ruth was dumbfounded by Herdin's nonchalant response, but it was already a done deal.
"Yes, yes. How terribly kind of you."
Herdin walked toward the tied-up horses, leaving Ruth, who was responding halfheartedly, behind.
The thirst for the woman who would be in the mansion had reached the limits of his patience, making it impossible to wait until the situation was sorted out.
* * *
Blair, who had returned to the bedroom from Herdin's private study, handed Mikhail's letter to Rina.
"Rina, please burn this."
"Ah, yes."
Blair approached the window, leaving Rina to light the candle. Her gaze toward the scenery outside the window wavered anxiously.
[I have found the origin of the crest you ordered me to investigate previously.
That crest belongs to the daggers bestowed by His Grace the Duke, your husband, to a few knights who shared life and death with him after the war.]
'Then the man who killed me is a knight of Delmark...'
And one of Herdin's direct knights at that...
Blair recalled the memory of going to the training grounds right after the wedding to check the faces of the knights.
'But there was no man among them with a sword scar on the bridge of his nose.'
Did I miss someone?
Pacing anxiously around the room, Blair checked the clock and immediately left, heading down to the first floor of the mansion.
At this hour, the knights would be having their midday training in the practice grounds. She wasn't a mistress who doted on the knights, but it wouldn't seem strange for her to check on them.
As Blair came down the stairs and turned her steps toward the back door of the mansion, she heard a commotion from the entrance.
'Has Herdin returned?'
While thinking that, she happened to run into Mason coming from the first floor.
"Ah, my lady. You've come down at just the right time."
"Did someone come from outside?"
"Some people have arrived from the main estate. They'll probably want to greet you, my lady. If you're not too busy, could you spare a moment?"
She wanted to go straight to the training grounds, but it would look strange to blatantly ignore them and walk away.
'Nothing will change by being a little late.'
Blair gave a small nod.
"Very well."
Blair came out to the mansion's entrance with Mason. Five knights on horseback approached and dismounted before her and Mason.
They all had their faces covered with cloaks to avoid the harsh winter wind.
The man standing in the middle of them approached with smooth talk.
"Oh, my. I never imagined the lady would come out to welcome us in person at our first meeting... What an honor. If I'd known, I would have bought a gift on the way."
Blair, who had been absentmindedly watching the man approach while lowering his face-covering cloak, froze. The eyes visible beyond the cloak were familiar.
'This man is...'
Blair's eyes, recognizing those eyes, wavered violently.
They were the eyes of the assassin who had killed her.
Though there was no sword scar on the bridge of his nose, it was definitely that man.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady. I am Kaligo Elpharind, a knight of Delmark."
He smoothly kissed the back of Blair's hand. The feeling of the man's lips on her hand was terrifyingly chilling.
'I hadn't even considered the possibility that he might be a knight from the main estate.'
Blair's hand, held by him, trembled violently. She needed to say something, but it felt as if someone was strangling her.
At that moment, the sound of approaching hoofbeats was heard. It was Herdin, Ruth, and a few knights. They had just returned ahead of the others with Herdin.
As soon as Kaligo saw Herdin, he brightened and released Blair's hand.
"My, even His Grace is welcoming us like this."
But Herdin, having dismounted, walked past Kaligo and went straight to Blair.
Even with Herdin's arrival, Blair couldn't take her eyes off Kaligo.
Seeing this, Herdin issued an order to send Kaligo away.
"That's enough greetings. Kaligo, you've had a long journey, so go rest."
"Yes, sir. Then I'll see you again, my lady."
Kaligo bowed with easy familiarity and departed with the knights who had come with him.
Blair stared blankly at his retreating figure. She somehow looked precarious.
Herdin instinctively reached to embrace her but stopped when he noticed dirt on his clothes. He removed his leather gloves and took Blair's hand with his bare hand.
Feeling that warmth, Blair finally lifted her gaze, which had been fixed as if nailed in place, to look at him.
"Are you unwell?"
Though the hand holding hers was as warm as always, his warmth frightened her.
Fearing that he might suddenly change and strangle her.
Blair quietly withdrew her hand from his grasp and answered.
"...I'm fine."
Herdin furrowed his brow. Contrary to her words, her expression didn't look fine at all.
He ordered Rina, who was beside him.
"Escort the lady to her room."
Blair, being supported by Rina as she went up to her room, looked back. Herdin was talking to Mason about something.
Words she couldn't ask and couldn't hear answers to scratched painfully at her throat.
* * *
Having returned to her room, Blair sat blankly on her bed.
As her emotions settled and her mind cooled, questions and hypotheses began to arise one by one.
'Why did that man kill me?'
Since she had no significant connection with him, it wasn't likely due to personal feelings, and it probably wasn't a personal goal either. A mere knight had nothing to gain from killing her.
After all, Herdin...
Thinking up to that point, Blair stopped.
'...No, no. Perhaps this knight named Kaligo thought I was in the way of Delmark.'
Though he had approached her amicably when they first met today, his loyalty to Herdin was deep, and he might have acted independently to eliminate her.
But there was a catch to that assumption.
'I am a princess before I am a duchess. If something happens to me, it would lead to discord with the imperial family. Would he really go that far?'
Hitting a dead end, another hypothesis emerged.
'Perhaps he's a spy planted by a third party who wants discord between the imperial family and Delmark.'
In this way, Herdin might have nothing to do with her death. But...
'...No. I mustn't trust anyone.'
The possibility that Herdin could be behind this shouldn't be completely ruled out either.
Thinking about it, there were many reasons why Herdin would dislike her.
She was a wife he had been more or less forced to accept by his enemy's family, he had no intention of clearing Esmeralda's false charges, and he had another woman he loved.
He might have tried to kill a wife who was blind with love, useless, and only in the way.
It was laughable how foolish she had been to think, even for a moment, that he had nothing to do with her death.
Blair anxiously fiddled with her hands as she thought about her plans going forward.
'Simply running away without knowing anything won't solve anything.'
If it had been an action born of Kaligo's personal feelings or loyalty, stepping down from the position of duchess or running away would solve everything, but if there was another mastermind, it was a different story.
As long as there was a mastermind with a clear purpose behind her death, they might continue trying to kill her.
To avoid death, she first needed to know why she had to die, and to investigate that, she needed to know about Kaligo.
'Who he's colluding with, and why he killed me.'
Blair decided to commission Mikhail to investigate Kaligo and began writing a letter.
At that moment, she sensed a presence behind her.
"I didn't hear a knock, so I thought perhaps you had fallen asleep."
Startled by Herdin's sudden appearance, Blair covered the letter she was writing and turned to look at him.
Herdin was wearing a bathrobe, as if he had just washed. His gaze was directed at the letter.
It occurred to her that her actions might seem suspicious, but fortunately, he only looked at it briefly without asking anything.
He picked her up lightly and sat down in a chair. Then he untied the laces of her dress. The action was extremely natural.
As the dress loosened, her white, round shoulders were revealed. Herdin pressed his lips to her shoulder and asked,
"Your body."
The hot breath that flowed out along with his languid baritone tickled her shoulder. His unabashed touch, which should have become familiar by now, was still unfamiliar to Blair.
Realizing that he was asking because he remembered her poor complexion earlier, Blair answered a beat too late.
"...I'm fine."
As if taking those words as permission, the hand that had been wrapped around her waist moved up and cupped her rounded mound.