I asked because I was worried I’d made a mistake. It was an absurd lie. What Lily didn’t believe was that Fredrick had been worried about her. If he was worried, it would be for himself or the honor of the Benjamin viscounty.

Ah, maybe not the latter. If he cared about honor, he wouldn’t be warming the beds of noble ladies.

“More importantly, what did they say at Count Stacy’s house?”

Lily, not wanting to discuss her father with Fredrick any longer, changed the subject. She was going to just stand up if he evaded again, but fortunately Fredrick answered straightforwardly.

“They said to visit the count’s house together in four days.”

“You too?”

“Yes. There are business matters to discuss as well.”

Then why not call us separately, why together again? Just thinking about going out with Fredrick made Lily feel suffocated already. After calming her churning stomach with cold water, Lily asked again.

“What time should we visit?”

“3 PM. They said to talk and have dinner together.”

Dinner together too… It was truly one obstacle after another. Lily nodded, thinking she’d have to take digestive medicine beforehand.

“Is that all you have to say?”

“Yes. Unless you have something to tell me, my lady.”

As he said this, the look in his eyes as he gazed at Lily was sharp, as if piercing through to her innermost thoughts. Does he know about yesterday? Lily was suddenly frightened, but steeled herself, knowing it could be a trap.

“I don’t. Then I’ll be going first.”

Fredrick tilted his head with a wry smile.

“I believe it’s impolite to leave first when one side hasn’t finished eating, my lady.”

“We’re not the type to stand on ceremony with each other.”

Lily retorted coldly and left the dining room. Her rigidly straight back only crumpled after her bedroom door closed. Unable to even reach the sofa a few steps away, Lily sank to the floor, rubbed her face dry, and took a deep breath.

“You did well, Liliana.”

If you had broken down there, you would have fallen right into Fredrick’s trap.

Muttering that she really did well, comforting herself, Lily’s gaze suddenly turned to the gift box placed under the dressing table. It was the box she received from Herald. Inside were still the shoes and letter.

Seeing the box naturally brought his face to mind. As well as when she asked him to look into the note presumed to have been left by Megan.

“…Maybe it was an unnecessary request.”

Even as she felt uneasy about asking Herald instead of just leaving it to the information guild, she also felt reassured. Because he would do a good job.

“When will I be able to get an answer.”

Apart from trusting Herald, she was curious about the timing. So she could make her next plan. Lily intended to decide whether to confront Fredrick or pretend not to know anything and let it slide, depending on Megan’s answer.

*

As Herald expected, Maple was the name of a street in the suburbs. It was a place where people who weren’t desperately poor but not well-off lived together, and Megan as well as Margaret had homes on that street.

Since Calvador Nursing Hospital was the best-equipped hospital in the empire, the salaries of the staff working there were quite high. Especially the nursing care workers often received money and gifts like jewels from patients’ families as a gesture of appreciation.

But it was incomprehensible that Megan and Margaret were living in such a place, until Herald understood immediately upon hearing Dillon’s subsequent report.

“Megan’s husband is a gambling addict, squandering all the money his wife earns at gambling dens. He’s even borrowed a considerable sum from loan sharks, so the monthly interest alone is enormous.”

“…”

“Margaret was widowed 10 years ago, but in that time she had four children. Plus with an infirm elderly mother, it seems she needs a lot of money.”

It was a tale that made one’s chest feel tight just hearing it. However, Herald did not pity Megan or Margaret. From the moment they joined hands with Fredrick Benjamin and made Lily suffer, they lost any right to sympathy.

“The address on the note you gave me, Captain, is indeed Megan’s home address. And…”

“That’s enough. I’ll hear the rest when I get back.”

Having discovered the identity of the most important note, the remaining story could wait until later. Leaving behind a dumbfounded Dillon, Herald left the duke’s residence and headed straight for the place written on the note.

Thanks to the fine weather and quiet streets, Herald smoothly arrived at his destination and frowned as he looked at the house before him. The dilapidated building, barely worthy of being called a house, looked like it might blow away with just a strong gust of wind. The wooden stairs leading up to the second floor were all rotten and frightening to step on.

“…”

But he had to go up. To meet Megan, Herald climbed the stairs as carefully as possible.

With each step on the stairs, there was a sound like something breaking. Though he was confident he wouldn’t get hurt even if the stairs collapsed, the problem was what came after. If a commotion broke out, it could become known that he had come here, so he wanted to pass by as quietly as possible.

Having difficultly reached the second floor, Herald first checked the mailbox. He wanted to confirm if it was Megan’s house, but unfortunately the mailbox was empty. And curtains were drawn over the windows so the inside couldn’t be seen.

I guess I have no choice but to confront directly. Herald cleared his throat loudly, then knocked.

“Excuse me.”

Knock knock−

“Mrs. Megan.”

Despite calling several times, there was no answer. Is she not here? Well, it was a weekday so it was prime working hours. Since Megan was said to be responsible for the livelihood, she probably found a new job right after quitting the nursing hospital.

Then what to do. He couldn’t just wait indefinitely for someone who might not return, and was wondering if he should leave a note when he sensed movement from downstairs.

“Who’s there?”

It was an elderly man with white hair who looked quite old. As if he couldn’t see well, the old man squinted at Herald and blurted out an unexpected name.

“Alben, have you returned?”

Alben was the name of Megan’s husband. Seeing as he seemed to know the Megan couple well, Herald thought he could ask the old man about Megan’s whereabouts, so he nimbly jumped over the half-broken railing from the second floor.

“Oh my, you! What are you doing!”

Startled by his action, the old man shouted angrily, and Herald politely apologized.

“I’m sorry. I thought this would be better than breaking the stairs.”

“Huh? This voice isn’t Alben’s…”

Thankfully, though his eyesight was poor, his hearing seemed fine.

“My name is Dillon.”

Herald borrowed his adjutant’s name without hesitation.

“I came looking for Mrs. Megan, but it seems she’s not home. Do you know where she might have gone?”

“Well… I saw her last about 10 days ago. Haven’t seen her since then.”

Ten days ago was around when Megan suddenly quit the nursing hospital. Not seeing her since then, did it mean she hadn’t returned home after quitting the nursing hospital?

“I wouldn’t want to come home either if I were her.”

The old man clicked his tongue as he looked at Megan’s house.

“He’s a husband in name only, no different from a devil. Who’d want to come home living with a bastard like that? I would’ve run away long ago. Megan’s too nice, living with such a bastard.”

“It seems Mrs. Megan and her husband’s relationship is quite bad.”

“Not just bad, they’re mortal enemies. Everything went wrong from the start, so it’s understandable.”

The old man shook his head and went on about inside stories that even Dillon hadn’t uncovered, from how Alben became addicted not just to gambling but also alcohol, to how he beat pregnant Megan causing a miscarriage when she wouldn’t give him money.

“That day too, Megan was wailing that she couldn’t take it anymore.”

He was able to hear in detail about what happened about 10 days ago as well.

“She was screaming that this wasn’t living, it was no life at all, and that devil bastard glared at her with demon eyes and beat her up!”

“Did you just watch?”

“Of course I tried to stop it! I asked a passerby for help and we barely managed to stop him… Ugh, that devil bastard.”

Still horrified thinking about it now, the old man shuddered in disgust and continued.

“After that, Megan ran away, and Alben went out saying he was going to catch his runaway wife.”

“And you haven’t seen either of them since.”

“No, I saw Alben. I saw him come back drunk in the early evening, but haven’t seen him since then.”

In any case, it seemed Megan left home then and hadn’t returned. Then why did Megan leave a note with her home address for Lily?

‘Did she leave it not expecting she’d end up leaving home after fighting with her husband?’

That was curious, but what was more curious was the foul stench assaulting his nose. The unpleasant yet familiar stench also bothered him. It seemed like he’d smelled it somewhere before. As Herald wrinkled his nose searching for the source of the stench, his gaze suddenly fell on Megan’s house on the second floor.

…No way?

At the thought suddenly crossing his mind, Herald went back up to the second floor. He tried pulling on the door, but the firmly locked door from the inside wouldn’t budge no matter how much strength he used.

Then I’ll have to go through the window. Herald picked up a flowerpot in front of the door and hurled it with all his might at the window.

Crash−

The sound of breaking glass rang out loudly. The old man shouted asking what he was doing, but Herald paid no mind and went inside. Then he stopped short at the sight of a woman collapsed on the floor, her blood dried and twisted.

It was Megan.