Charung.
The door opened with a clear silver bell. As expected of a small newspaper company, the interior was very small.
"Are you there?"
At my voice, a head popped up from the desk far away. A middle-aged man holding a bundle of papers, perhaps organizing documents, froze when he saw me.
"That inmate from back then... is that right?"
I couldn't be sure yet. The inmate's appearance had been so badly damaged at the moment of his hanging. I squinted my eyes to gauge the man's face, and the man opened his mouth blankly and muttered.
"... Miss Lily?"
My eyes widened. Miss Lily. There was only one type of person who called me that.
'People who worked at Lopez House when my grandfather was alive.'
The man quickly lowered his head and corrected himself.
"Oh, I'm, I'm sorry. I made a slip of the tongue.."
I quickly approached the man. Even if I pretended not to know now, I couldn't pick up the words.
"Who are you? Do you know me?"
"No, Ma'am. I just got the wrong person..."
"Are you someone who used to work at the Lopez Opera House?"
The man's eyes flickered for a moment. As if he had heard a familiar name. It was a fleeting expression, but I was certain.
'But I don't know this face. Was the aftereffect of completely forgetting the memory still lingering?'
As I looked closely at the man, I suddenly felt a sense of discomfort. The man's facial features gave off a strange sense of alienation. As if he was wearing a mask rather than skin.
"Miss. Please pretend not to know and go back. This is for your sake."
The man lowered his head and muttered in a small voice. I slowly frowned. I didn't know his face, but his voice was familiar to my ears. I was more sensitive and sensitive to sounds than anyone else. I slowly moved my lips.
"... Mr. Hoffman?"
The man's body stopped. I was dumbfounded by that sight. At the same time, a thunderous shock struck my mind.
Mr. Hoffman. He was the sound engineer at the Lopez Opera House. And, he was also the father of my sister Janice, who was a prima soprano. Janice Hoffman.
'The top soprano at the Lopez Opera House when my maternal grandfather was alive!'
At the peak of her popularity, she suddenly disappeared and was found dead in a hotel. The police concluded the investigation by saying that Janice had taken her own life out of despair at being abandoned by her married lover. Because of that, Janice had to be ridiculed as a foolish woman who had been toyed with by a married man and had even thrown her life away. It was all because of the Crown Prince.
"Mister."
I muttered in a half-souled voice.
"Here...you were."
"Miss Ariana."
In the end, Mr. Hoffman gave up on trying to avoid it, looked around, and locked the door of the store. Then he began to rip off his facial skin.
"... Ah."
I swallowed my breath. As one layer of the mask fell off, the face of Mr. Hoffman that I remembered was revealed.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you, so I'm very happy to see you, Lili... No, you're now the Duchess of Heigenberg, right?"
Mr. Hoffman, who looked much older than I remembered, smiled awkwardly.
"Since it's been so long since I've seen you, I have a lot to talk about, but... You must have noticed through that mask, right? I have some circumstances that require me to hide. If you stay here, you could be in danger, too, so you should go back quickly-."
"It was you."
I bit my lip painfully. The person who had been gathering evidence that the Crown Prince had murdered his older brother. The person who had been caught and hanged.
"You also know about my maternal grandfather and mother, right?"
"...!"
Mr. Hoffman's eyes widened as if they were going to tear.
"Oh, how did you..."
"No one else knows."
I quickly shook my head to reassure the old man. But my throat was choked up without me realizing it.
"And you were continuously collecting evidence to avenge Sister Janice?"
"Oh, Miss...!"
Mr. Hoffman stammered.
"How much do you know?"
"Everything."
I took a deep breath.
"Ah..."
The old man's face distorted as if in pain.
"I'm sorry, Miss."
"No. It's not you who should apologize."
I said firmly and got straight to the point.
"I'm going to take revenge on you two, no. On top of Sister Janice, all three of you."
The old man's eyes widened again.
"Is that... really true?"
For the first time, I witnessed hope flashing across the old man's eyes, which had been ashen and dead.
***
It was when the carriage arrived in front of the ducal residence.
"Good morning, Duchess."
The royal carriage blocked our carriage. The palace guard who came out of there spoke to me politely.
"His Highness the Crown Prince has requested a private meeting."
"Ma'am, ma'am."
Sophie shook her head at me with a frightened face.
"Don't go... The Duke isn't here right now."
Yes. That must be why they were waiting for this moment. I thought for a moment. Thanks to Uncle Hoffman, I would be able to gather a lot of evidence to catch the Crown Prince, but I still needed time. Before that, I needed to appease the Crown Prince's suspicions about me as much as possible.
'However, if I refuse a private meeting here... His suspicions would grow uncontrollably.'
If it weren't for the Shadow Knights, I would have taken a risk and hidden myself.
'However, since we have the safety device of the knights...'
I thought that it was necessary to take a certain amount of risk. It was still a time when I had to avoid offending the Crown Prince as much as possible.
The palace guard guided me in a rather polite manner. As I was led into one of the many rooms of the palace, I made small signals to the knights who were probably hiding somewhere. It was a signal to come to my rescue if I didn't return within ten minutes. I had a plan to settle things somehow.
I opened my eyes wide as I entered the room.
"..."
Because a completely unexpected person was standing there.
"Ariana."
Staggering, staggering.
My ex-fiancé approached me with an uneasy, unsteady gait.
"His Highness the Crown Prince... has given me a great opportunity. If I speak to you in person, Ariana, and ask for your forgiveness, he will pardon me."
'Pardon?'
I frowned. Lucas, who was imprisoned on charges of treason against the empire, was pardoned. Without any trial. The only person who would do such a ridiculous thing was the Crown Prince.
'What on earth is he up to? What is he trying to do using Lucas?'
I haven't caught him yet.
"Ariana. I, I was wrong."
Lucas suddenly knelt down.
"I was crazy for daring to look at another woman and leave you behind. So please give me one more chance."
I slightly lowered my eyes and clicked my tongue. If it were before, I would have felt pleasure at the sight of him groaning in front of me like this. But now, just looking at Lucas' face was irritating. I stared down at Lucas and moved my lips repeatedly.
"Why should I do that?"
"Oh, Ari."
"You should graduate from that kind of nickname. We're not even related anymore."
As I spoke coldly, Lucas's eyes became stained with hurt. It felt strange. It was as if I was looking at myself in the mirror a long time ago when I was the Marchioness of Pedegreen.
"Ariana. We were really good together. Remember? I recognized your talent, and you were grateful for that..."
As Lucas spoke, his gaze was suddenly fixed on the nape of my neck. His eyes slowly grew wide.
'What is it?'
As I followed Lucas' gaze, I saw a red mark where I had been bitten by a bug this morning. Lucas stared at the mark with his eyes bulging out, muttering absentmindedly.
"You... gave your body to that guy, too."
"..."
I was speechless for a moment. His words and way of thinking were as vulgar as ever. It must be because his level of thinking was low. I glared at Lucas without hiding my contempt.
"It's surprising how much that lowly brain of yours is."
"You never allowed me... even once."
Lucas seemed to be no longer listening to me.
"No matter how many jewels I offered, you never allowed me into the bedroom. In a way, it's your fault that I ended up looking away!"
The flames of cold jealousy burned fiercely in his eyes. The story was so unbelievable that my mind felt empty for a moment. Lucas continued spouting nonsense.
"But how could you possibly abandon me and stick with that guy!"
"Ugh!"
Lucas suddenly thrust something into my arm, screaming desperately. A stinging pain tingled my arm.
"What the..."
I tried to scream in a hurry. However, I couldn't make a sound above a certain volume as if my vocal cords were paralyzed. Not only my vocal cords, but my entire body began to stiffen slowly, no, rapidly.
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