‘Mi…..’

Is this man crazy?

In an instant, heat rushed to my neck. The tip of my jaw trembled, having lost its words.

Lord Joseph showed me a pure, mischievous smile as if to prove a point, then straightened his bent waist.

His attitude was nonchalant, as if he had truly mentioned it without any ulterior motives.

That made me feel even more ashamed.

Doesn’t it seem like I was the only one having strange thoughts?

“Stepmother.”

“…Uh, huh?”

“Did you suddenly feel unwell somewhere?”

I must have looked like a fool for a moment. Kardiel pushed Lord Joseph aside and approached me. Then, with a stern face, he touched my forehead.

“It seems you might have a slight fever….”

“No, that’s not it! It’s just because I came into a warm place suddenly after being in the cold.”

It took some time to correct Kardiel’s misunderstanding.

Somehow, it seemed like the child was glancing lightly at Lord Joseph, but I didn’t notice that gaze as I was hurriedly tidying myself up.

“Well, let’s stop with the unnecessary talk. Will you tell me what you’ve learned?”

“Ah, yes….”

“This way… please, Duchess.”

Only then did I approach Sergei and Prince Raphael, pushing aside the two overprotective men.

But I don’t understand why they’re avoiding my gaze while making way for me.

Dorothea’s interrogation record was more detailed than I had expected.

They said they wrote down everything that came out of her mouth for days, and indeed, the volume was vast.

In any case, thanks to this, I was able to obtain detailed information as if I had been present at the scene, even though I didn’t participate in the interrogation.

Well, that also means I received as much unpleasantness.

‘I wonder if it was really necessary to write down even the curses in the midst of it all.’

Sergei said he transcribed everything because he could often extract information even from words uttered without thought.

It was indeed a statement befitting a historian studying the Magic Era, but in conclusion, his efforts weren’t of much use this time.

‘In the end, she spilled everything herself.’

The information she revealed was as follows:

The black market is a place where things that cannot be traded in the open are sold.

It was especially suitable for pricing items like objects from the Magic Era, which would be immediately confiscated by the state if their existence was revealed.

Like the mysterious ointment, items that still had magic remaining in them were traded at the highest prices.

‘But ointment, it seems like I should remember something….’

A strange sense of discomfort suddenly arose, but I quickly shook my head.

I need to focus on dealing with the matter at hand rather than getting distracted.

Where was I? Right, anyway, it was said that items from the Magic Era were often sold in the black market.

Especially the ointment that Dorothea was obsessed with, it was said to have amazing effects beyond just healing wounds.

It was the regenerative effect.

Dorothea, who first encountered this ointment about three years ago, experienced the amazing event of her skin, weathered by time, being regenerated to a pristine white state.

After that, she showed symptoms of addiction, almost like someone obsessed with the ointment…

‘Ah, that’s not the important part.’

I digressed for a moment, but because items from the Magic Era were traded at such high prices, people who specialized in dealing with such items also emerged.

Unfortunately, even though Dorothea was an executive in the underworld, she didn’t know all of them.

But among them, one person.

There was someone who put up exactly one item in the black market every time Dorothea’s ointment ran out.

Dorothea knew this person well.

At one point, she even tried to squeeze this person to secure a supply of the ointment.

But her attempt ended in complete failure, she said. Because the opponent was a bigger figure than she had anticipated.

And I, too, was shocked when I learned of his identity.

He was indeed a big shot. He was also someone I really didn’t want to face.

“…Baron Landgritz?”

The identity of that person was none other than Nergal Ernst Landgritz, my elder brother.

Huh huh. It seemed like all the puzzle pieces were finally fitting together.

The reason that woman trembled when she first saw my portrait wasn’t because she feared my grandfather.

It was because she mistook me for the dealer who sold her the ointment.

I suppose she must have thought I was the current Baron Landgritz.

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, the Landgritz family descends from the Magic Emperor. It wouldn’t be strange if they had kept items from the Magic Era somewhere.”

I understand that much. But even so, I couldn’t help but furrow my brow at Lord Joseph’s words.

“That sounds like you’re saying the Landgritz family has been hiding items from the Magic Era, ignoring the imperial decree.”

Even though it’s a family I’ve cut ties with now, I felt uncomfortable.

These are items that are over a thousand years old.

Doesn’t that mean not only Nergal, but my grandfather and the generations before him have been disobeying orders?

Then Kardiel, who had been lost in thought for a moment, spoke.

“Didn’t Dorothea say she first obtained that ointment about three years ago? If so, the Landgritz heritage might have been hidden somewhere, and Baron Nergal Landgritz might have discovered it.”

“…”

It was possible. Come to think of it, Nergal was already operating a gambling den in the shadows…

‘No, wait. Gambling den?’

Now that I think about it, that place was perfect for the exchange of black money, given that its very existence was illegal.

The people who run it, and those who use it, probably aren’t very upstanding individuals.

It wouldn’t be strange if Nergal had made some kind of connection with the underworld all this time.

Especially since Nergal suffered from extreme financial difficulties after inheriting the Landgritz barony.

He completely ruined the Envar Trading Company founded by Teacher Rogier, and turned the elegant Landgritz mansion into a complete nouveau riche den.

“First…”

I sighed. My head ached as if it was about to split open from having too much to think about.

“I promise Your Highness that once this matter is over, all the items from the Magic Era that Landgritz possessed will be sent to the Tower of Honor.”

“Ah…”

“However, before that, if I could exercise the rights of the owner, I’d like to be allowed to view those materials just once.”

Fortunately, Prince Raphael readily accepted my request.

The same was true for Sergei.

I was worried because they’re both such principled people, but judging by their looks, it seemed there had been some kind of agreement with Kardiel beforehand.

‘Did they form some kind of bond after visiting the black market?’

Anyway, now that I had received their promise, my task was pretty much set.

“Tomorrow, I’ll write a letter to Nergal.”

The first step is persuasion.

And I need to prepare a second plan in case persuasion doesn’t work.

“There’s one more person I need to send a letter to.”

It’s also time to prepare an ending for Wilhelm York Baden.

Wilhelm York Baden, who ended up selling the Baden mansion for what was practically a pittance.

The place he went to in this harsh winter, wearing only a donated coat, was the imperial capital mansion of Baron Landgritz.

Nergal Ernst Landgritz.

It was true that he had recently fallen out with that man, so he couldn’t help feeling bitter.

However, given his current circumstances, there was no one else he could turn to.

The fact that he had stolen the research paper of the sage was already widespread in social circles.

The nobles who had been trying to curry favor with the Privy Council chairman had naturally turned their backs on him.

He couldn’t go to his daughter at the convent, so in the end, all that remained was the one person who still had a neck he could bite at any time.

The owner of the gambling den, which was nothing short of a hotbed of tax evasion tantamount to treason, was Baron Landgritz!

As long as he knew this fact, that man would have no choice but to help him in his current state.

‘Just you wait, that woman.’

He recalled a woman with breathtakingly beautiful but cold eyes.

The cause of losing everything he had built up in an instant was all because of that woman.

So he had to take revenge. Moreover, Baron Landgritz, that woman’s family member, was also a creature with considerable inferiority complex towards his sister.

Wilhelm first wrote a will. Then he went to a lawyer’s office and requested that if there was no contact from him for a week, they should deliver the will to the guards.

All the money from selling the mansion was paid as a retainer for the lawyer.

The will, of course, exposed the charges that Baron Landgritz had evaded taxes by operating a gambling den.

Although it was just a testimony without evidence, it wasn’t difficult to write sentences provocative enough to warrant an investigation.

So…

‘If Baron Landgritz pretends to help me but stabs me in the back, you’ll also fall into hell within a week.’