“Now that you’ve finished eating, please tell me.”

Herald began his story after confirming Lily’s cleanly emptied plate. From finding Olben hiding in the illegal gambling den to Fredrick giving him money to silence him – everything.

Of course, he didn’t mention giving Olben money so he could enjoy more gambling.

Lily’s expression, which had been calmly listening to the story, crumbled when Fredrick Benjamin’s name came up. Pale fear showed on her white face.

What on earth did that bastard Fredrick do to her to elicit such a reaction? Herald wanted to go find Fredrick and beat him up right away. But regretfully unable to do so in this situation, he asked Eric to bring some cold water with ice.

“Drink this.”

“……Thank you.”

Lily drank the water without hesitation. Drinking the cold water somewhat brought back her mind that had been dazed from shock.

“It seems you were quite shocked to hear that Fredrick Benjamin gave money to Mrs. Megan’s husband.”

Lily, who had been staring blankly at the empty cup, raised her gaze.

“……I hadn’t thought of it.”

Meeting the golden eyes looking at her with concern, she slowly parted her lips.

“Because you said Mrs. Megan and her husband had nothing to do with each other…… Because I believed those words…… So I was just a little surprised.”

Her voice trembled slightly, not having fully recovered from the shock yet. Though her appearance was pitiful, the joy preceding worry must be because Lily had believed his words. Just that fact alone could make him this happy. Herald found this unfamiliar emotion strange.

“Do you still…… think my husband didn’t kill Mrs. Megan?”

“Yes. Fredrick Benjamin probably gave money to Olben because he didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters. If Olben were caught, he would surely spill everything that happened in between with Mrs. Megan. Then Fredrick Benjamin would also be investigated, so he must have given money to avoid that.”

When Herald explained in detail, Lily smiled desolately.

“It seems you know my husband better than I do.”

Not knowing how to respond, Herald silently looked at her. It was the same for Lily. The two people gazing at each other as if exchanging glances turned their heads simultaneously when a clear doorbell sound rang.

“Are you open for lunch now?”

It was a customer coming to eat lunch. Eric, who had been watching Herald and Lily’s conversation like an audience watching a play, rubbed his furrowed brow at the appearance of the intruder. He deeply regretted not locking the store door in advance.

“What time is it now?”

Only then coming to her senses, Lily hurriedly checked the time. 12:50. If she left right now, she could barely make it in time for visiting hours.

“I’ll be going now.”

As Lily urgently stood up, Herald also rose and grabbed her wrist. Surprised green eyes enlarged as she turned to look at him.

“Let’s go together.”

“What? Where?”

“To the nursing home. Weren’t you going to visit your mother?”

“Well, yes, but……”

Why do you want to come along? Lily was about to ask that but swallowed her words. It seemed too impolite. No matter how comfortably Herald treated her, she shouldn’t forget the fact that he was an earl and the second son of a duke’s family.

“I’m sorry, but that might be difficult. My mother’s condition is still unstable, so she might have a fit if she meets an outsider.”

It was a blatant lie. Grace Benjamin was fine meeting outsiders as long as the fire incident from two years ago or family stories weren’t brought up. That’s what the attending physician had said.

But she refused because she didn’t want to show Herald her mother who had gone mad. To Lily, she was the mother she loved more than anyone in the world, but to others, she was nothing more or less than a mentally ill person.

What if Herald frowned or showed a bad reaction upon seeing her mother acting like a child despite her age? It would surely tear her heart to shreds, so she wanted to prevent it from the start.

“Then let’s just go to the hospital together. I have things to ask other people about Mrs. Megan’s matter. I also want to find out about the caregiver currently in charge of Grace Benjamin.”

“Well… alright then.”

Since he wasn’t saying he’d see her mother, and she couldn’t stop him from going to the hospital, Lily headed to the nursing home with him.

Fredrick laughed bitterly upon hearing the report that Olben, Megan’s husband, was still at that illegal gambling den. He thought he’d squander it all in a day and get kicked out, but it was both surprising and troublesome that he lasted over four days. Because he had planned to use him as bait to catch Megan’s killer.

“Should we send in a professional?”

Robert asked, reading the boss’s concerns. Fredrick pondered a bit more before shaking his head.

“No, leave it. If we get caught manipulating things, it’ll become more of a headache, so just leave him be.”

“But the investigators keep narrowing their search net. If it becomes known that that woman was monitoring Grace Benjamin under your orders, the sparks could fly to you as well, sir.”

“We’ll have to take care of it before that happens. More importantly, you said the person who first discovered that woman’s body was Earl Herald Breyden?”

“Yes.”

That man again. Fredrick tilted his lips askew as he pulled out the letter he had kept in the desk drawer. Herald Breyden. It was a letter that man had sent to Lily.

Fredrick learned of the letter’s existence last Monday. He entered Lily’s bedroom while she was briefly out. The reason was simple. It was to find the 2nd Prince’s belongings that Madison Benjamin had supposedly taken. Lily said all of her father’s things had burned and nothing remained, but you never know.

There could be things she didn’t know about, and the possibility that she lied couldn’t be ruled out, so Fredrick searched her bedroom himself. That’s when he discovered a suspicious object under the dressing table and opened it.

The shoe inside the box was the one he had personally chosen for Lily to wear to the royal party, so he recognized at a glance that it was the shoe she had supposedly lost that day.

Why was the shoe she said she lost here? The question was answered when he found Herald’s letter also inside the box. Fredrick could easily deduce that Lily had been with Herald that day.

He had thought that might be the case, but directly confirming it left him in a foul mood. He also felt resentful towards Lily for pretending not to know while having such a deep relationship with Herald to secretly meet him.

So Fredrick stole the gift box. He wanted to take it out right away that day, but there were too many eyes watching for him to move directly, so he ordered Robert to secretly bring it.

But Robert pathetically got caught by Brian, and Brian tattled to Lily. The reason was that Fredrick didn’t give him money for entertainment, which was absurd.

“Good-for-nothing bastard.”

How could such a guy be his brother? Just thinking of Brian made Fredrick’s irritation soar, so he frowned. He wanted to lock him up in a monastery or something, but Samantha opposed it. His mother’s argument was that family should cover up each other’s faults.

Fredrick didn’t like Samantha either, but he endured because she was the mother who bore and raised him in difficult circumstances. But as Samantha’s tyranny worsened day by day, his patience was slowly reaching its limit.

Once the matter with the 2nd Prince is resolved, I should consider getting rid of those two.

Ah, but then there’d be no one to manage the family’s accounts.

Fredrick tilted his head as he fiddled with the letter. Lily was quick with calculations despite her innocent-looking exterior, so she’d do well if entrusted with the accounts, but he couldn’t entrust her now.

The moment he did…… it would be discovered.

Thinking of that made him think of Grace Benjamin. Maybe she would know about the 2nd Prince’s belongings that Madison Benjamin supposedly took.

Grace Benjamin’s mind wasn’t sound, so even if she knew, there was a very high chance of not getting an answer, but if there was even a tiny possibility, it was right to try.

It’s Lily’s visitation day today anyway, so I should go, Fredrick thought as he put Herald’s letter back in the drawer.

Lily and Herald ate lunch together quite cozily, but they went separately when leaving the restaurant and going to the nursing home. It was reflecting Lily’s opinion of not wanting to be noticed by others.

Herald’s carriage arrived at the hospital first, followed by Lily’s carriage.

Lily, who was about to get out of the carriage right away, spotted Herald waiting at the entrance and said in a small voice.

“I said I don’t want to be noticed.”

Herald looked around quickly, then shrugged.

“It’s fine since no one’s watching.”

“Of course there are. The hospital staff……”

“Sister!”

“Ah!”

Lily turned her head in shock upon hearing her mother’s voice. Then she saw Grace Benjamin walking towards them, tightly holding Margaret’s hand.

“Mo…… no, wait!”

Lily, who almost called out “Mom” in surprise, barely swallowed her words and ran to her mother.

“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in your room?”

“The madam was feeling very stuffy, so we were taking a walk.”

“……”

Though Margaret answered kindly, Lily found that kindness uncomfortable and disgusting, knowing she was a person Fredrick had placed.

“But who is that person……”

At Margaret’s comment, Lily’s small shoulders stiffened as she belatedly realized Herald was there. While she was pondering how to resolve this situation, Grace Benjamin pointed at Herald with a bright smile.

“It’s a handsome big brother!”