Herald left the hospital building before Lily, but he hadn’t completely departed. He hid in a suitable place and watched until Lily safely exited the hospital before grasping the reins.
He wanted to follow her to the Benjamin Viscount’s residence, but thought that would be too stalker-like. Moreover, he had confirmed that the guards assigned by Dillon were firmly protecting her from behind, so he refrained from doing so.
When he entered the city center after leaving the suburban nursing hospital, the sky that had been bluish was now completely dyed red. Far behind the visible mountains, a pitch-black curtain had descended.
The streets were congested with people trying to return home before the sun fully set. There were so many people that it was difficult to even walk at a normal pace, let alone quickly. Fearing an accident might occur if he wasn’t careful, Herald stopped his horse for a moment and took out the note he had received from Lily.
[29 Maple Avenue 7, blue roof. 2nd floor.] “It doesn’t seem to be the capital”
There was no street named Maple in the capital. So it must be in the suburbs or another city. If it’s another city, it would be difficult to go there directly, so Herald hoped it was in the suburbs as he thought about the woman named Megan.
The reason Herald hadn’t asked Lily anything was because he already knew who Megan was. The caregiver in charge of Grace Benjamin. He also knew that the current caregiver was the woman who had talked with Robert, Fredrick’s assistant, in the central garden. Her name was Margaret.
But that was all he knew. He knew her name and appearance, but didn’t know how old she was, where she lived, or what her family situation was like.
So was this address written on the note Megan’s home address? Since Lily had asked him to check if Megan lived here, it was highly likely.
He wasn’t sure why Megan had left her address, but he had a strong feeling it wasn’t for a good reason. It might even be related to Fredrick.
‘Margaret, I’ll have to investigate that woman too.’
Margaret was definitely Fredrick’s lackey. Herald wanted to know why Fredrick was monitoring Lily and her mother, Grace Benjamin.
He also needed to find evidence that the Second Prince had killed the former Viscount Benjamin and set fire to the Benjamin estate. Just thinking about it made his irritation surge, and Herald frowned as he ran his hand through his disheveled hair. It was a moment when he desperately wanted to smoke a cigar.
Although it was somewhat overwhelming with so much to figure out, he needed to calmly solve one thing at a time in these situations. He should start with what he could handle right away.
That was fulfilling Lily’s request. Along with investigating Megan and Margaret, Herald turned his horse towards the luxury inn where Dillon was staying.
[This is the timeline separator] As soon as Lily returned, Samantha lectured her for nearly an hour, saying things like why was she out so late, and that she should take better care of her body since she would be having a child soon.
She didn’t want to go to the dining room for breakfast, knowing it would be even worse, but as always, she had no choice. Reluctantly standing in front of the dining room, Lily opened the door, hoping that Samantha wouldn’t go as far as to insult her parents.
As if the heavens had heard Lily’s wish to avoid meeting Samantha, she was nowhere to be seen in the dining room.
“You’ve come.”
“……”
Instead, Fredrick was sitting in the seat where Samantha always sat. Lily’s expression stiffened upon seeing Fredrick calmly drinking coffee. Dealing with Samantha would have been a hundred, no, a thousand times better than facing Fredrick.
“The food will be out soon, so please sit down.”
As Lily stood like a statue by the door, Fredrick spoke brightly as he set down his coffee cup. Only then did Lily come to her senses and ask.
“Where is Mother?”
“She left early this morning, saying she had an appointment with a friend.”
I didn’t hear about that. Anyway, if Samantha wasn’t here, there was no reason for her to be here. She was about to make an excuse about feeling unwell and return to her bedroom, but as if sensing her intentions, Fredrick said.
“We’ve received word from the Stacy Count’s family.”
And he gestured with his chin towards the chair opposite him. It meant to sit down if she wanted to hear more.
“……”
Lily pressed her lips into a line as she looked at the servant pouring coffee into Fredrick’s cup. She looked at the maids waiting to serve and the servant who had just entered pulling a food tray before finally lifting her feet from the ground.
As Lily sat down, the servant poured coffee into her cup as well. The black liquid filling the pure white cup seemed like her own heart. The bitter taste was the same too.
“What did the Count’s family say?”
“Let’s eat first.”
“……”
I had hoped, but of course he won’t tell me right away. Lily glared at him with a face full of dissatisfaction and annoyance, but Fredrick paid no heed and ate his breakfast elegantly and leisurely. His appearance looked so hateful and detestable that she wanted to throw the coffee in his face. Remembering what had happened at the nursing hospital yesterday made her blood boil even more.
Lily wanted to know why Fredrick had placed someone to watch her mother, but she knew he wouldn’t tell her even if she asked, and she was also worried that bringing it up might cause Fredrick to have ill intentions.
But she couldn’t just let it go like this. As she was pondering what to do, Fredrick, who was cutting into a crispy piece of bacon, opened his mouth.
“I believe it’s almost time for the Viscount’s death anniversary, are you preparing well?”
The Viscount Fredrick was referring to was Lily’s father, Madison Benjamin. At this sudden and unexpected question, Lily frowned as she looked at Fredrick. Fredrick continued nonchalantly.
“If you need anything, just let me know. I’ll provide support.”
“…Since when did you start caring about Father’s death anniversary to say such things?”
“I meant it with good intentions, but you speak resentfully. Well, I suppose it’s understandable since I was too busy to attend last year.”
Busy my foot. Knowing full well that he had been rolling in bed with noble ladies, Lily chuckled derisively and turned her head at his audacious words.
“So, I was thinking, how about inviting a priest for a memorial service this year?”
“……”
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t tempted. At the time, she had been so preoccupied with saving her mother and dealing with the aftermath, and they had no money, so they couldn’t give her father a proper funeral.
It was the same last year, so instead of a memorial service, all she did was place a bouquet of white chrysanthemums on her father’s grave and cry her eyes out.
So she did want to hold a memorial service, but given that Fredrick was the one proposing it, she couldn’t readily accept. The Fredrick she knew was a thoroughly calculating man who never did anything unless it benefited him.
“Why are you suddenly proposing to hold a memorial service for Father?”
Convinced that he must have some other ulterior motive, Lily asked, and Fredrick shrugged his shoulders.
“There’s no special reason. He’s simply my wife’s father and the former Viscount Benjamin, so I want to pay proper respects and give him the treatment he deserves.”
Stop lying. Lily swallowed the words that had risen to her throat and glared at Fredrick with eyes full of suspicion.
“If you’re that suspicious, we don’t have to do it.”
Confused by his nonchalant attitude as if he had nothing to lose, Lily bit her inner lip as she looked at him, then opened her mouth again.
“Fine. Let’s do it. But I’ll make all the preparations myself, you just provide the financial support.”
“Let’s do that then.”
His easy agreement to her brazen proposal to just act as a sponsor made her even more confused. What is his real intention? Lily stared intently at Fredrick’s face as he ate his bacon, but that didn’t allow her to read his mind. Rather, it made her chest feel even more constricted, so she asked a maid to bring her some cool ice water.
“Here you are, young mistress.”
“Thank you.”
As she was about to drink that water, Fredrick asked again.
“But will you be able to hold the memorial service?”
“……”
Is he finally going to reveal his dark intentions? Lily looked at Fredrick while holding the cold cup.
“I hear that in memorial services, people pray while thinking of the deceased’s belongings as if they were the person… Do you still have any of the late Viscount’s belongings?”
So there’s such a ritual in memorial services. Upon learning this information for the first time, Lily shook her head with a gloomy expression.
“No. There’s nothing left.”
The fire had started in her father’s study, and the two-story mansion had burned so severely that only the frame remained, so almost none of her father’s belongings survived.
“Is there really nothing left at all? I heard from Count Stacy that he returned some items the late Viscount had used in the Imperial Records Office.”
He even exchanges such information with Count Stacy? Lily thought that perhaps Count Stacy might have encouraged Fredrick to hold her father’s memorial service as she replied.
“I did receive them, but I buried them along with the items salvaged from the fire site.”
“By items salvaged from the fire site, do you mean things the Viscount had used?”
“Well, they were so badly burned that we could barely make out their shape, so I’m not sure if they were Father’s belongings, but in any case, they came from the Benjamin estate, so I thought of them as Father’s possessions and buried them.”
Upon hearing her answer, Fredrick stroked his chin as if in thought, then spoke again.
“Then you probably don’t remember what items were buried, right?”
“That’s true, but… why are you asking about this?”
Belatedly realizing that the question was odd, Lily asked suspiciously, to which Fredrick replied with a gentle smile.
“There are items that can be buried with the deceased and items that cannot, so I asked out of concern that you might have made a mistake. I hope you won’t make any strange misunderstandings.”