Chapter Twenty-Eight and a Half: Conjecture and Interference~William’s POV

“Aah, I’m tired. I think I’ve pushed myself pretty hard.”

Alphonse remarked while slumping down on the sofa.

I took off my coat, threw it on the desk, and sat down on the sofa across of Alphonse. The secretary brewed me some tea, but it wasn’t as tasty as Frederick’s. Then, the secretary excused himself and left the room. Mario came in instead. He had been taking Frederick’s place ever since.

“Welcome back.”

“I’m back. Everything’s the same.”

“Lady Liliana baked a cake with Cedric today. They had fun decorating it together. Liliana wiped the cream off Cedric’s cheeks, and then they fed each other cake… It’s simply divine! What an adorable—hey, dangerous!!”

I glared at Mario, who had caught the ashtray I’d flung with his left hand, and sank into the sofa. Alphonse thrashed his arms and legs, saying, “I wanted to go too! Right, Caddock?” Seeking Caddock’s approval from behind him. Caddock nodded vigorously, which was unusual for him.

Caddock was fond of Liliana and Cedric.

With an ashtray in hand, Mario sat next to Alphonse, who was sulking because he wanted to go. Upon seeing Mario lit the cigarette with a match, Alphonse and I reached out to him at the same time.

“Aren’t you going home?”

Mario tilted his head as he placed the cigarette in Alphonse’s hand.

“I can’t go home today. I have to clean up afterwards. Besides, I don’t want to go home covered in the stench of blood.”

“…Right.”

Mario lowered his cigarette and replied curtly, lighting it while holding it between his fingers. Alphonse, having had Caddock light it for him, exhaled a purple puff.

I used to be a moderate smoker too. But after losing my memory, I only smoked here occasionally, and never in the mansion. If Liliana or Cedric refused to hug or kiss me because I smelled like cigarettes, I would die.

But on days like today, after swinging my sword while being surrounded by blood stench, I had a craving for it.

“So, how did it go?”

“They’ve been trying to leave Cression for quite a while. We managed to arrest quite a few of them, and rescue many of the captives. I saw a few familiar faces at the evening gala, too.”

“Aah, seems like the newspaper will be noisy for a while.”

Mario laughed in amusement. Alphonse shrugged his shoulders, still holding the cigarette in his mouth, saying, “I guess so.”

Tonight, as soon as the New Year rolled around, the knights all marched into the auction taking place at Count Britton’s villa on the outskirts of the royal capital. Though their faces were hidden by masks, all the entrances were sealed off and there was no way they could escape. So one by one, the participants and the criminals from the organizing committee were bound with a rope.

Thus, a total of 67 people—men and women, including children—were rescued from the dungeon. Once the questioning was completed, they would likely to be returned to their parents or wherever they came from. As a matter of course, there would be some with no place to return to, so they had no choice but to find another place to take them.

“And what about the young ladies?”

“All three were safe, but I’ll tell you the details later. Apart from those three, the others also appeared to struggle eating properly in the narrow prison, so I decided that they should receive treatment and get some rest first.”

“The youngest was a girl about one year old. The oldest was a 28-year-old man. They have different nationalities, and I couldn’t speak some of their languages… I really need to study more languages.”

“I don’t think an average person can learn all the languages of allied and vassal nations like you.”

“What a fine crown prince I am!” Alphonse said, laughing at Mario’s perplexed look.

While I learned a few languages out of necessity, I wasn’t as talented as Alphonse. Truly, he was a man who had the qualities of a king.

“Regardless, Sandra and the other executives weren’t there. The man who appeared to be the ringleader wasn’t there either, so they might’ve been cut off.”

“Possibly. What is a single human trafficking auction to them? If it were me, I’d rather have lasting profits than momentary ones, regardless of their size.”

Alphonse said, dumping the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray.

“…Who would’ve thought that Sandra was connected to the Black Scorpion. To think that she was even involved in human trafficking… What a terrifying woman she is!”

I exhaled purple smoke as I listened to Alphonse’s mutterings.

In fact, the three ladies only found out about the masquerade ball because of Sandra.

During the investigation, it was discovered that they had followed the man Sandra introduced to them and disappeared.

It was unknown whether it was Black Scorpion who investigated the financial situation of their families, or whether Sandra herself seduced the head of the family, but Sandra would invite low-ranking noble ladies that she had her eye on at evening parties and tea parties to a masquerade ball.

Sensible young ladies seemed to have followed their parents’ orders and refused, but those three were promiscuous and walked right into the trap.

I wonder how many of the arrested aristocrats and merchants used to have a fling with Sandra.

“…Do you think Sandra backed off?”

They both shook their heads in response to my question.

I had received the news from Duke Fuchsberger that Sandra had escaped. That day, I had just returned from the Order of Knights and was tending to Liliana. She had fallen asleep in one of the sleeping quarters in the conference tower.

Leaving Frederick behind in consideration of the anxious Cedric, I returned to the Order of Knights. As soon as we had disguised ourselves as a young family as per Alphonse’s suggestion, we moved into the small house without ever returning to the mansion.

The house next door happened to be vacant, so I bought it. Elsa and Frederick had been stationed there with several knights to stand guard 24 hours a day.

However, more than two weeks had passed since then and Sandra’s whereabouts remained unclear. Later, it was discovered that the carriage accident was staged, and the characteristics of the man who fled with Sandra matched those of the man known as the Black Scorpion’s leader’s right-hand man. Therefore, it had been established that she was with the leader.

If we had known of the leader’s whereabouts, we could’ve annihilated the Black Scorpion long ago.

“There’s no way a woman who attempted to murder Lily, who was only seven years old, would yield so easily.”

“I agree. …Anyway, didn’t you ask me to look into Sandra’s life before her marriage? Do you want to hear about it?”

“Yes, please. I’m busy starting tomorrow, so right now is the best time.”

“I’m craving something. Caddock, fetch me something from the cafeteria, along with some wine.”

Caddock nodded and left the room.

I pressed the shortened cigarette into the ashtray, before doing some stretching. It’d been a while since I’d engaged in violence, and I felt somewhat rusty. I knew it, I shouldn’t be doing paperwork after all. I always thought I had to practice harder, but Frederick would never let me.

“How are Lily and Ceddie? Are they bored with their new life?”

“Frederick told me that Cedric had taken up gardening as a hobby, and Liliana’s cooking skills have improved greatly. Considering their habit of being overly considerate of others, it seems that living there helped them let loose.”

“I guess so. Like I said before, they were making a cake today… Still, it was crazy.”

“What was?”

I tilted my head, urging him on. Mario smirked as he lit up a second cigarette.

“On the way out, Liliana, wearing a frilly apron, handed me a change of clothes. ‘Can you please give this to my husband?’ The way she said ‘my husband’ is just so—hey, dangerous!”

I instantly threw the saucer of my teacup at him, aiming for his brow, but he caught it again. His reflexes were as good as always.

“Tch.”

“Don’t mess with me! You were aiming for my head!”

“Why don’t we lose our memory together?”

“Okay, okay, don’t be jealous. Look, Caddock has brought the food.”

I thanked Caddock as he silently placed sandwiches and mugs of soup on the table, before reluctantly sitting down.

It had been four days since I heard my lovely Liliana said, ‘Welcome home.’ Suffice to say, I hadn’t been able to go home. Because of today’s roundup, it was mandatory for me as the division commander to stay behind.

I’ll try to go home before dinner.

Then, I’d eat Liliana’s cooking, held the two of them close, and go to sleep. With renewed resolve, I stuffed my cheeks with sandwiches and quenched my thirst with wine.

“So, what’s Sandra’s report?”

“Got it. Oh, here it is.”

Mario, who was only drinking wine, took out a notebook from his pocket.

“Let’s see, I spoke to an old lady who used to be a servant at Baron Disley’s household, and as you may know, Sandra was born to his mistress, who was a prostitute. When she was five years old, she and her mother were welcomed into the mansion. Although the Baroness and her son detested the two of them, Baron Disley doted on them, so she grew to be quite selfish. Around that time, she began to indulge in extravagant spending. Still, the fact remained that she was an illegitimate daughter of a baron. When she went to the academy, she became dissatisfied with the difference in treatment between her and the sheltered daughter of other families.”

Although the academy preached equality, there was a clear division between higher and lower nobility. This divide was apparent from their uniforms, school buildings, dormitories, treatment, tuition fees, and everything else.

While title was an important factor in dividing the nobility into higher and lower classes, the family’s history and achievements were also taken into account. Sometimes, baron and viscount families would be classified as higher.

Despite being a viscount, Catherine of Everett—Liliana’s mother—was classified as a higher nobility at the academy. Meanwhile, due to their short history, Baron Disley family was classified as lower nobility.

“—Still, she was a gorgeous woman. Pampered as she was, she began playing around with men, and after graduating from the academy at fifteen, she reportedly went to evening parties all the time. There, she met Count of Eighton, who fell in love with her at first sight. However, Count Eighton was a high-ranking nobleman, and the previous lord was strongly against the marriage, as Sandra was born an illegitimate child. The previous lord pushed for an arranged marriage with Lady Catherine of the Viscount Everett family, with whom he was on friendly terms. Unable to go against his parents, Count Eighton reluctantly agreed.

“Sandra was seventeen at the time, and in a fit of desperation, while Count Eighton was away on his estate to announce his marriage, she played around with men, and became pregnant with Margaret as a result. Around the same time this was discovered, Count Eighton held his wedding to Lady Catherine, and three months later, Lady Catherine became pregnant with Liliana.

“…The previous Count and Countess of Eighton and Lady Catherine succumbed to illness. Afterwards, Sandra deceived the foolish Count Eighton and became the countess. It seemed that she flaunted to everyone around her about how she’d married into a wealthy family. She was well-behaved until Cedric was born, but after that, the rest was history.”

“—So, does that mean that Sandra has an inferiority complex to Lady Catherine, given her birth, bloodline, and dignified beauty?”

“Perhaps. I heard that Lady Catherine was an otherworldly beauty, and after seeing Lady Liliana, I became convinced of it.”

Alphonse tilted his head, and Mario vaguely confirmed.

“She may also resent that Lady Catherine, the daughter of a viscount, was able to marry, while she, an illegitimate daughter of a baron, couldn’t… The biggest victims are Lady Catherine and Lady Liliana.”

“…Right? My heart goes out to Lady Catherine. Not only was she unloved by her husband, she also had to leave her six-month-old behind.”

As I bleakly muttered so, Liliana’s smile resurfaced for some reason.

Catherine, who gave birth to Liliana at the age of 17, passed away just six months later, two months after her 18^th birthday. As a result, Liliana grew up without knowing her mother’s face. Sandra had ordered the servants not to tell anyone, and the servant kept silent to protect Liliana.

Of the portraits of the previous heads and wives of the family that had been hanging in the hallway, only those of Count Eighton and Lady Catherine had been removed.

I had asked him secretly, and Cedric said that he’d never seen any paintings of Catherine, so they were probably disposed of.

“Human emotions can be extreme, for better or worse. In the end, what we’ve come up is merely a speculation. We won’t know for certain why Sandra hated Lady Catherine so much, and why she despised Lily, until we heard it from her own mouth. So, don’t let your guard down just yet, Will.”

“I know. I’m thinking that if the situation settles down a bit and we can’t find Sandra, I’ll evacuate her to my territory. Not to the marquisate, but to one of the territories I own.”

“That’s one option, but I don’t want either Caddock or I to lose sight of Lily and Ceddie, so we need to find Sandra quickly.”

“I agree, I haven’t even made the dress yet! When I see how adorable Lady Liliana was, I can’t stop designing!!”

“Stop appearing so suddenly, Marietta… But thank you. I don’t want to live apart from you two, so I’ll catch Sandra no matter what. For now, I’ll finish my work no matter what so I can eat Liliana’s cooking as soon as possible. Prepare yourself, Mario.”

Caddock caught Mario, foiling his escape attempt.

“Don’t mess with me! I’ll go home instead, so let me go! Besides, yesterday, you promised that it would only be until the arrest was made!”

“You think it’s that easy to find a replacement for Freddy? Don’t underestimate the talent of my foster brother. Caddock, tie him to the chair at that desk. Secretary Rex, I’ll go back to work after I take a shower, so have it ready.”

I called out to the next room, and the administrative staff brought in reports and other documents into the room as if they’d been waiting for those exact words.

“I’ll be working here too, so bring my desk,” Alphonse said and Caddock, who had finished tying up Mario, went to the spare desk.

When things became hectic, it was more efficient for the division commander and the deputy division commander to work in the same room. Above all, my subordinates would be pleased because it saved them the trouble of having to search for each other.

“I’m going to take a shower too… By the way, Will.”

I turned around while unbuttoning my shirt.

In the suddenly noisy room, Alphonse was staring at me.

“Did you have a proper and slow conversation with Lily about the scar that Sandra exposed without any consideration?”

Had been hit where it hurt, I became quiet.

Alphonse smiled wryly, “Well, I know how difficult it is since you’ve been busy, and Cedric is there too. But no matter how much she smiled, she must’ve been bottling up a lot of things. The two of you should have a proper talk. If you don’t, Lily will end up gong to a monastery without you knowing.”

I was at a loss for words. Alphonse didn’t hold back.

With that said, Alphonse called out to Caddock and left my office. I watched him leave and stood up. Mario was yelling something, but I ignored him and ran to the shower at the back of the room.

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