“What on earth does this mean?”
Count Germain lost his temper and jumped up, rushing at Dorothea.
It was a very threatening sight to see a healthy adult male, though haggard, approaching with a loud voice. When the Count's excitement seemed to be going too far, Wood stood in his way.
“You are excited. Please keep your distance from our young lady and talk to her.”
“...”
Behind the Count, who was hesitating to step back, Chase was seen frozen with his eyes filled with anxiety.
Dorothea pushed the little Count forward, paying no attention to Count Germain's reaction.
“If it was little Count who took the empty body of Master Raymond, who would have been cremated, then you must have known that your younger brother was murdered and who Young Master was meeting.”
It was likely that Count Germain would have learned the circumstances surrounding his son's death after his disappearance.
It took a few more days after the performance, so he probably would have confirmed Raymond's death and learned the stories surrounding it.
So it couldn't have been the Count who stole the body.
“You knew? You knew about Raymond’s death all along?”
The Count muttered in disbelief.
The circumstances of the Count and his son, who were not in their right minds, were none of Dorothea's business.
The Count, who was completely unaware of his son's circumstances until it was too late, or the eldest son, who was desperate to hide the truth about his younger brother's death and tried to deal with it alone.
“It would have been better to leave it so I could put on makeup.”
His soul has already gone to a place from which there is no return.
It would be of no use to cling to the body of the deceased who had left with his loved one without any regrets and to feel regret.
Chase looked at Dorothea with a blank expression and slowly began to speak.
“Still, I had no choice. I couldn’t let my brother die in a place like that... without a name... as if he was nothing... without even his body returning to us.”
“But you don’t know why the corpse of the dead wanders around and harms people?”
His mouth was tightly shut. The deep wrinkles between his eyebrows seemed to reveal his troubled mind.
Given the cautious nature of the Count, it is unlikely that he would have taken the body himself. He probably asked the guild to do the job, just like he had asked them to investigate Dorothea.
“I just wanted to make sure that he could at least be buried in the family cemetery. But...”
“The corpse, is it alive?”
Knowing that Raymond was a criminal who hurt people would mean that he 'witnessed the corpse come back to life'.
Chase nodded weakly.
The Count was reeling from the shock of discovering the things his son had done behind his back without his knowledge.
“You’d better sit down, Count.”
“What the hell are you. How could you not even say anything to me, let that child be like that...!”
“I couldn’t tell you. If I had said it rashly, the relationship between father and son would have become distant.”
Maybe he tried to persuade him. She thinks he failed.
The clumsy child who had fallen in love and forgotten everything else would have been more stubborn than expected.
Dorothea looked at Chase blankly.
There was a very murky and artificial aura behind him, but it wasn't the murky air emanating from him.
'Someone has strangely hidden themselves.'
Chase had asked for Dorothea's background check and tailing, but the request had soon turned into an assassination, his brother's body had been stolen, but the stolen body was now roaming the streets.
Someone tried to hit her with his hand.
It was a trap that took into full consideration the fact that Dorothea did not want to show off her 'talent' in front of people.
She became curious.
The reason Luke was pressured to drop out of the investigation was most likely because Count Germain's spirit was involved in the case.
It is said that the Emperor himself gave such an order.
So how did the Emperor find out about this?
Even before he could secretly hint to Count Germain, he must have known that Dorothea was stirring things up here and there, so why didn't he stop her?
“Young Lady, what on earth are you talking about? How can my dead child go around hurting people?”
Count Germain kept getting up and sitting down with a dark face.
The frail eldest son was left with a pale face and his lips quivering without saying a word.
“First, I need you both to sit calmly and listen to what I have to say.”
Since it was already out of their hands, it was time for her to take action herself.
Dorothea's mouth formed a curve.
***
Dorothea tilted her head as she looked at Marilyn's haggard face.
“This time, I announced my intention to visit in advance.”
Marilyn, who was dressed in disheveled clothes and smoothing her messy hair, flared up.
“Yes, you did. You contacted me at dawn and came back before breakfast.”
“It’s a bit early.”
Dorothea smiled and admitted her haste.
She knew it was too early, but she couldn't help it. There was so much to do, and 24 hours in a day was too short.
“The Baron readily agreed.”
“That’s true. My father is the kind of person who would come out barefoot to greet Young Lady.”
Marilyn nervously brushed back a strand of hair that was sticking out from beside her ear and asked in a half-resigned tone.
“So why are you looking for me so early in the morning?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Dorothea spoke in a feminine tone.
“I’m grateful to Young Lady for helping me get on the right track so quickly, and as I said before, I owe you a debt so I’m going to repay that as well.”
“...?”
“Having trouble sleeping these days, Miss Marilyn?”
The dark circles under her eyes weren't just because Dorothea had barged in so early.
A body without a soul basically wanders around in search of human life force.
The reason they attacked the living was largely because they could not overcome the instincts their flesh yearned for.
And for those who encounter an empty body that has been revived through an unclean method, the more whole the soul is, the more likely it is that the soul will be infected with the evil spirit or suffer from aftereffects.
“You’ll often get stuck in scissors.”
“...”
“What I’m curious about is why you didn’t tell anyone who the person you witnessed was.”
Dorothea's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
It was only then that Marilyn realized that the girl in front of her was two years younger than her and not yet an adult.
'I never felt like she was younger than me because I would unconsciously cringe whenever I stood in front of her.'
Today, Dorothea was giving off a particularly friendly and comfortable vibe.
Marilyn opened her mouth with a sigh.
“I don’t want to get into trouble with the Count Germain. It was a dark night, and the only witnesses were me and my maid. Besides, I can’t be sure that what I saw in that split second is accurate. And since the other victims didn’t see anything, my witnessing would be the only testimony.”
It was also quite difficult for Marilyn, the victim of the incident, to shoulder all the burden at least until the case was resolved.
“It would be difficult if the statement is wrong, and even if it is true, I do not want to touch a wealthy landowner like Count Germain.”
“I’ve thought about this for a while now, but Lady Marilyn is surprisingly smart.”
“...”
“I remember our first meeting so well that I keep underestimating it.”
The moment Dorothea mentioned their first meeting, the color drained from Marilyn's face.
It seemed that she was still more afraid of the living Seventh Prince than of the soulless body she had encountered in the middle of the night.
“Okay, then.”
Dorothea nodded slightly and met Marilyn's eyes with a puzzled look on her face.
“It is true that what Young Lady witnessed that day was Raymond Germain.”
“...!”
“Of course, it’s just an empty body.”
The slow, monotonous voice that was unique to them seeped into Marilyn's ears.
Dorothea spouted out quite a few words as she looked at her with wide eyes as if she was wondering what she had heard.
Unlike usual, there was quite a lot to talk about.
***
As is the case everywhere, the mansion where the patient is located exudes a strangely gloomy and suffocating atmosphere.
It may be because the patient herself lacks vitality, but the negative emotions such as anxiety, worry, and nervousness that people around her continuously exude add to the negative energy.
Marilyn walked down the hallway with a cautious gait, following Dorothea.
A middle-aged man with a familiar face opened the door and came out, encountering them.
Unlike Marilyn, who quickly knelt down to greet him, Dorothea immediately got to the point, facing the man who had grown gaunt in half a day.
“Your Excellency, this is the young Lady Marilyn Lehr I told you about.”
“I am embarrassed to say hello, but... I am Count Germain.”
Marilyn lowered her body helplessly as the Count approached her, bowing first to the young Baroness.
“There’s no need to do that...”
“My son’s incompetent behavior left Young Lady with bad memories.”
“...”
Does 'son' mean Raymond or Chase?
Marilyn, who had been licking her lips, shut them tightly.
Dorothea still observed Marilyn with interest.
When Marilyn heard that 'Lady Fatima' was a play based on a true story and that the male lead was Raymond Germain, she was horrified.
After hearing the series of events that followed, including the carriage accident and the attack on Raymond, she was left in shock for a while.
As she was breaking free from denial, memories of what she had experienced so far flashed through her mind, and Marilyn fell into anxiety and distress again, and then into anger.
But... She came all the way to the mansion in a good mood, but when she saw the Count, she couldn’t say anything.
Dorothea faced the Count, who was looking at her.
He didn't even protest or make a careful request when she suddenly brought Marilyn in without saying anything.
'He seems like a person with some sense of shame. Perhaps he feels guilty as the eldest son.'
As Wood had commented, it seemed like he was reproaching himself for something that had happened while he was momentarily neglecting family matters.
“If it’s okay, would you like to meet your wife? She’s been feeling a bit lonely lately, so I think she’d appreciate it if you could talk to her.”
Dorothea looked at Marilyn silently, as if the decision was hers.
As Marilyn swallowed and nodded, the Count carefully opened the door.
A faint but strong herbal scent that gave them e a headache gushed out.
She noticed a middle-aged woman leaning on the bed, slowly withering away.
The life force that made up her body, from her heart to her fingertips, was almost completely drained.
The corners of the mouth of the middle-aged woman with her eyes wide open slightly went up.
“What beautiful ladies you are.”
Marilyn flinched at the voice crawling in weakly.
Dorothea strode across the room and sat down at her bedside, greeting her softly.
“Nice to meet you, ma’am. I am Dorothea Highclere.”
Only then did Marilyn, who had been frozen, cautiously enter the room.
Her room was tidy.
A few poetry books that he seemed to read often, and portraits of his family that he kept by his bedside and looked at often.
Among them, a young man with a gentle and affectionate smile caught her eye.
Raymond German.
“Ah, my sons are so tall and handsome. The eldest is already married, but the second is at an age where marriage proposals are in full swing.”
In a voice that seemed about to wilt, 'Mother' continued to speak with much affection.
“I feel sorry for being a mother and just lying around like this. He currently learning the job in another territory, but he will be back soon.”
He can't come back.
No matter how long the Countess waited, until the moment her breath stopped.
She will never see her cute and lovable second son again.
The woman glanced at the portrait with a happy face, whether or not she knew the cruel truth, and then let out a dry cough.
“Madam, please excuse me for a moment.”
The maid quickly approached and brought a handkerchief to her mouth with practiced precision.
The handkerchief she used to wipe her mouth showed dark blood that seemed to be what she had spit out.
Okay, then.
Dorothea, who had already heard everything she needed to hear, slowly got up.
“You should rest now, ma’am.”
She blinked slowly at her greeting and looked apologetic.
“I feel sorry for making you come all this way. What should I do?”
“It was we who interrupted your rest.”
“When our Ray comes, I’ll definitely tell him about the kindness of the young ladies. I’m sure he’ll like it too.”
Marilyn, who had been keeping her face pale the whole time, forced a smile.
“Thank you, ma’am. I would really like to meet him too.”
The Countess smiled brightly at the words she spoke with difficulty and fell into a deep sleep again.
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