77 – Growing Suspicion
Tomorrow is the day Yulken returns.
Until then, Ariel laid out various paving stones in order to be as fully prepared as possible.
She left alone in the office after asking Elfelt to step aside because she wanted to think on her own.
When I heard a knock on the room door and told him to come in without asking who it was, Shuri cautiously appeared.
“Looks like there was no harvest.”
“Yes, sorry. miss.”
I expected it when I saw Shuri coming in with a deadpan look, but she couldn’t help but feel regret.
If possible, I was thinking of interrogating the assassin I picked up that day to somehow dig up information, but it didn’t work out as I wanted.
But I didn’t think things would go so easily, so I didn’t care too much.
‘Well, those cunning guys probably didn’t leave a trace.’
I don’t know if those assassins were direct subordinates sent from behind the scenes or mercenaries hired with money, but either way, they would have eliminated any clues about their existence.
Ariel, hoping for a great harvest, didn’t ask Shuri for anything else, so she comforted her by saying that it was okay, and motioned her to come this way.
“Silentium.”
Then, in a calm voice, he threw the question he wanted to ask, even activating magic to prevent the sound from leaking out.
“Did you say anything else?”
On the day Ariel returned to the castle, there was one more thing she secretly requested from Shuri.
To investigate the actions of some of the retainers present there, whom she had noticed.
Of course, it was a daunting task for Shuri to do alone, so they hired additional staff.
There may be some who think that Ariel doesn’t have subordinates that she can handle like limbs because she hasn’t risen to the position of head of the household yet, but that was the wrong story.
Excluding Shuri, there were only four personal subordinates who lived and died only on her orders.
That was the exclusive escort that had been by her side since she was a child.
When she didn’t know anything yet, she was just playing the role of an escort, but as she grew up and wanted to have subordinates she could handle like limbs, the role changed somewhat.
This was the first time I’d written in earnest like this, but fortunately they were doing their job well.
“First of all, Sir Dullius said that he had no sign of disquiet. All the people I met separately had only met inside the castle, and I never went out of the castle for the past few days.”
“yes?”
Ariel nodded as if she knew that, as she had no doubts about Julius.
Dullius is, at best, unworldly, and at worst, a man who does not care much about others.
The character evaluation she heard from her father was also ‘an honest soldier’.
If Edgar hadn’t been interested in the man, she wouldn’t be the one to be hostile to him, even plotting schemes, she had predicted in her heart.
As soon as the owner seemed to be convinced, Shuri immediately started reciting the next subject.
This time it was Gail’s turn.
“Sir Gail, on the other hand… It’s a bit odd.”
“Is it weird?”
Could it be that I caught a hint of something disturbing?
Ariel asked again, narrowing her eyes.
“The lady said she left for her parents’ house the day after she came back. As a result of tracking it, it turns out that the wagon was built in Delion.”
“If it’s Delion… … .”
Delion is a city on the border dividing the northern and central regions.
It was also a place where you had to go only by carriage because you couldn’t go through the dimension stone, but that distance was quite long.
“Where is Sir Gale’s home?”
“It’s a place called Fortuna.”
“Hmm, then it wouldn’t be wrong to say that I went to my parents’ house.”
Delion and Fortuna are quite close.
On the way, he might have stopped the wagon for a short break, so it makes sense.
Of course, the appearance of trying to erase the traces the very next day after the incident would be suspicious, but Ariel’s point of view was somewhat different.
“It’s not impossible, but Sir Gale can be removed from the list of suspects.”
“Yes? But… … .”
Ariel fully understood Shuri’s feelings of trying to say something mixed with concern.
That’s why I wanted to add a little explanation to her who was confused.
“Think in reverse. Who knows about this case now?”
“That’s right, the young lady, the young master, and me… is not it? Of course, including the person who plotted the scheme.”
As Shuri muttered while tilting her head, Ariel snapped her fingers.
That was the point.
“right. But if the tail isn’t even exposed, is there any reason to hide? Unless your opponent is an idiot, you should know that hiding yourself in a situation like this will lead to more suspicion.”
“ah… … !”
“If you assume there is a sin and talk about it, it may sound plausible, but on the contrary, if you assume there is no sin and talk about it, it becomes plausible. Just ‘because I didn’t know.’ Because that is enough.”
Rather, since he was an innocent person, he did not hesitate to do something that could be suspected.
Shuri also nodded vigorously, as if she finally understood.
“Besides, if I were the person involved, I wouldn’t be able to make the choice of leaving the castle in this situation where the person who attempted the assassination is still alive.”
Now, while they were hiding, they had to be more closely aware of what would happen after the incident than anyone else in the castle.
If this time had passed, they would have recognized the fact that the assassination was neutralized through lack of contact, whether they had subordinates or hired people.
But if that’s the case, why is Ariel keeping quiet about this?
If there were doubters, nothing was known about who they were.
So, while hiding in the castle, he must be sniffing for additional information somehow.
That’s why Ariel also excluded Gail from the list of suspects.
Of course, she wasn’t as confident as Dullius, but her intuition was telling her that it would be okay.
Now, the last thing left of the investigation list is,
“Sir Vincent.”
“Yes.”
Vincent Roland.
Of the three people on the list, he was also the man Ariel hadn’t met the most.
A person who always smiles and makes a good impression, but that is why it is difficult to know what kind of person he is.
I hadn’t even asked Yulken about his personality because I wasn’t interested in him.
“Sir Vincent has nothing to be suspicious of.”
“yes? Just in case you don’t know, tell me everything.”
“Yes, first of all, I stayed in the castle for two days from the day after the lady came back. The next day, I went hunting with Sir Lux, and yesterday I had someone to meet outside, so I went out for a while.”
“… … .”
It’s a very normal everyday life.
Maybe she had chosen the wrong object to be suspicious of, so Ariel went through the confirmation process just in case.
“What about the people you met while you were out?”
“Oh, actually, it is said that he is the son of his son.”
Apparently, he even checked his face. If that’s the case, that’s absolutely certain information.
But Ariel kept frowning at the sense of alienation that didn’t go away easily.
I can’t express it clearly, but it seemed like I was forgetting something for a while.
Sometimes the heart reacts before the head, but this was just the case.
Clearly, the head is ‘there is no doubt about it.’ Even though he was saying that, something tickling inside her chest wouldn’t let her go easily.
‘What is it?’
It would be safe to assume that it was just a whim, but Ariel continued to dig into that point and struggled to bring out something forgotten from her memory.
Vincent. What will remain in the memory of Nogu, who won’t even have many memories of talking to each other?
A month, half a year, a year. In that way, her eyes widened as she tried to close the time of her memories little by little.
It may have been a conversation that barely passed, but in this situation, it was just one fragment of memory that might be useful.
That was about 2 years ago from now.
It was the story of the time when Ariel broke off the estranged relationship with her father and began to grow closer.
As usual that day, just as he was leaving the room after talking with Yulken, Ariel suddenly bumped into Vincent.
‘It’s nice to see that you’ve gotten closer with Your Highness recently, young lady.’
It was also the happiest news for her, so Ariel accepted it with a smile even though someone she was not close to suddenly spoke to her.
‘I don’t know how happy I am. Come to think of it, was Vincent close with his children?’
‘Unfortunately, since I stayed on the battlefield for a long time, I think I’m on the indifferent side.’
‘That’s unfortunate.’
Ariel sincerely thought so at the time.
So, when Vincent asked a question both as a joke and as a serious question a moment later, he must have given him sincere advice.
‘If the young lady tells me how she became close with Her Highness, I’ll refer to it.’
‘Uh… But Vincent’s children must have passed the age of majority.’
‘Heh heh, after all, he has a daughter who is a latecomer. He is much younger than a young lady.’
Ariel’s eyes immediately lit up at the unexpected news.
The reason parents and children couldn’t get close to each other was because they couldn’t create an opportunity to have a conversation, so they gave a long speech and brought out their own experiences.
‘At that time, how about going hunting or fishing together? It would be nice to have a closer relationship between father and daughter.’
Ariel does not hesitate to suggest that she go hunting with a girl younger than herself.
He would do that too, because he thought it was a good pastime because he was able to get closer to his father through it.
‘Fishing, that’s an unexpected way. Unfortunately, hunting seems difficult.’
‘Why hunt?’
‘I’m ashamed to tell you with a body that rolled on the battlefield, but hunting hurts my stomach. I couldn’t do it at all.’
It was. Obviously he said so.
‘Then you’ve never hunted before?’
‘Yes. Occasionally, I was invited to go hunting with them, but all of them had no choice but to decline.’
that I had never been there before
As the thought reached that point, Ariel’s lips drew a dark arc.
“… Shuri, didn’t you track Vincent’s hunting trip?”
“Yes, there was a companion, so there was no suspicion, so I didn’t write down any information after Lee Do, who was in charge.”
Shuri, who was looking at the paper in her hand, nodded, and Ariel’s smile became even darker and more ferocious.
“Tell your man. Investigate around Vincent. And even Lux.”
“Are you talking about Lord Lux?”
“yes.”
Why did you have to go hunting together?
No, it wasn’t exactly hunting, but it was probably because there were other reasons to build friendships together.
It would be difficult to confirm this alone, but as the puzzle gradually seemed to come together, Ariel did not shudder from betrayal, but shuddered with joy.
‘You have a weak stomach.’
If the day comes that her predictions come true, I want to test a bit to see how far she can hold out.