“Don’t talk nonsense when you know nothing! What do you know, being a mere woman? I’ve worked here for no less than 7 years! I know more than you do! You just need to quietly do what I tell you to do. Understand?”

He growled at Marianne as if he was going to eat her alive. Maksim hated this situation where she was infringing on his territory. He was also against anything that disagreed with his opinion.

Until then, Christoph, an outsider, had been quiet, but he stepped forward. In any sense, he was a person with a distinct presence. Just his movement alone attracted all the attention around him.

Having been through thick and thin in the courtroom, Christoph instinctively knew when to speak up. The eyes of Marianne, Maksim, and a middleaged woman were all fixed on him.

Silently keeping quiet, he finally licked his lips when the tension reached its peak.

“What’s with that guy?”

Christoph gestured to Maksim with his chin. Just as Maksim furrowed his brows at his arrogant attitude,

“Does that guy not know that you graduated from the Royal University’s law department?”

Marianne looked back and forth between the two with fearful eyes. Maksim glared at Christoph with cold eyes.

“I guess you think the theories learned in school and the field are the same, but far from it. Crime scenes don’t go as smoothly as that. And who are you to be at the crime scene? An amateur who doesn’t even know the basic common sense that outsiders should not enter the scene?”

Click.

A light laugh burst from Christoph’s teeth at the word ‘amateur’. It was a spinechilling smile for some reason.

He extended his right hand leisurely. Maksim, taken aback, looked down at Christoph’s hand.

“I am Christoph Schneider.”

“Schneider?”

In a flash, Maksim’s expression became rigid.

In Blauburg, the name ‘Schneider’ held more influence than one could imagine. It wasn’t too strange since all the land was owned by the Schneider family.

Furthermore, the name Christoph Schneider was famous for another reason. The fact that the grandson of Duke Schneider was the most renowned lawyer in the capital was the most common talk amongst the Blauburg people.

Even the results of the trials he handled were transmitted in realtime to Blauburg. People were passionate about his victories, and they were proud of his success.

“Ma, my name is Maksim Franke.”

As if possessed, Maksim took his hand. Christoph, after a light handshake, took out a handkerchief and wiped his hand as if he had touched something dirty.

Good grief.

Marianne sighed, and Maksim’s face turned red with humiliation. But Christoph was completely composed.

“I’ve been appointed to advise the Blauburg Police Department starting today, but it seems you haven’t heard about it yet. I was waiting for the official notice, so you’ll probably hear about me when you return to the police station.”

“!”

At those words, Marianne’s eyes widened.

“How could you……!”

Christoph looked back at her and replied with an expression as if it was nothing extraordinary.

“I used the same method as you.”

Duke Schneider.

Marianne tightly closed her eyes. She recalled the words of the duke, who cherished her more than anyone else but would take Christoph’s side when a decisive moment came.

Isn’t this a bit too biased towards Christoph, Your Grace?

“But why is Counsel Christoph Schneider here……”

Maksim looked suspiciously back and forth between Christoph and Marianne. She quietly avoided Maksim’s gaze, staring at the stairs in front of her.

Instead of answering, Christoph glanced at the corpse. Even with the gruesome corpse in front of him, he didn’t blink an eye. He then looked back at Maksim.

Maksim felt a chilling feeling in his back for some reason. His nerves were on edge due to the cold tension. Unknowingly, he straightened his back.

But even he had a stance. No matter if he was the successor to Duke Schneider, he couldn’t just back down easily.
This was his domain, Maxim Franke’s castle, built up one by one over seven years.

As he was about to say something, Christoph opened his mouth first.

“Marianne.”

“…….”

“Tell me all the thoughts that come to mind. Ignore that barking madman.”

Christoph stood upright, arms crossed. Maxim’s face turned red and pale. Slowly, Marianne, who had been watching his reaction, opened her mouth with a thoughtful expression.

“He said he fell and hit the back of his head on the stairs, but there’s no bloodstain on the stairs anywhere. Moreover, the wound is wide and blunt as if hit by a blunt object, rather than being struck on the stair’s edge.”

“Ugh.”

Maxim let out a soft moan and hurriedly examined the body. She was right. A profound sense of defeat spread across Maxim’s face.

Meanwhile, Marianne’s voice once again stirred the quiet air.

“There’s a small amount of blood on the victim’s fingernails, but it doesn’t seem to be the victim’s blood. If it had been smudged while touching the wound, there should have been much more blood, not only on the nails but on the entire hand.”

“Good.”