Lev seemed to remember something at Kodel's words.
"Ah. Surely, that's it? I heard a few days ago that a guy was impersonating a noble. Hmm. I think he received a montage or something."
Unlike most noble impersonators, he did not commit additional crimes using his assumed identity.
Impersonating a nobleman was a serious crime, but since the only victim, Kodel himself, was not very willing to respond actively, the most the Metropolitan Police Department could do was create a montage.
Because of that, Lev belatedly remembered the incident.
"Bring me that montage."
Lev, who had just left the interrogation room, brought out a piece of paper with an illustration on it and thrust it in front of Paula's nose.
"Are you talking about him?"
Please, please. She hoped it wasn't, but the face drawn on the paper was one that Paula knew all too well.
It didn't quite capture the gentle, gentle air of the Kodel she knew, but it was him. He was definitely him.
"Ugh."
Tears like chicken poop fell from Paula's eyes as she confirmed it. She hoped that the Kodel she knew was real. The anxiety that she had tried to ignore eventually became a reality.
"What the heck.. Is this really him?"
"Oh. You're a total idiot, startling people. I freaked out because I thought I messed with the nobleman's fiancée."
Lev said, brushing his chest away. Paula continued to sob.
"What are you crying about? Thanks to me, you even got to eat warm bread. Oh, I'm going crazy. Did the arsonist get scammed by the con artist? It's a mess, with criminals eating each other's backs."
"Come to think of it, it's really funny."
Lev muttered, then chuckled as he took a drag on a new cigarette
"No, that can't be true. He's real. This guy is real."
Paula's hands and voice were trembling as she held the paper. But no matter how much she cried, nothing changed. Except that even the polite senior police officer couldn't hold it in and burst into laughter.
'That can't be true. It really can't be true.'
A feeling of nausea rose inside Paula. The terrible feeling of betrayal was churning in her stomach.
"How could you do this to me? How could you do this to me, Kodel?"
The only way to become a true noble. You are the only one who can lead me to the path I have always hoped and desired.
"Gustav, Gustaaaaav!"
Paula had no choice but to shout out the name of Gustav Kodel, not even knowing his real name. It was a sight she could hear the sound of her fairytale plans, built on the fake Kodel name, crumbling down.
Now, all that was left for Paula was to be dragged to prison. The betrayal of the person she trusted the most, her only hope. Now only the abyss awaited her.
***
Inside the carriage, parked across from the Metropolitan Police Department.
Odette, in a two-piece dress with a white blouse and a beautiful purple skirt, took her opera glasses off her eyes because she had clearly seen the Viscount of Kodel entering the police station.
'Wow. The man is surprisingly meticulous in this regard.'
The one who sold out Kodel's status was Gustav Kodel himself. He was a gambling addict, but he was not completely brainless. Gotz, he knew as Wolfgang, could not help but know that he had intentions in borrowing the status of a nobleman for so long and so much money.
That's why Kodel was worried that his identity might be misused, so he hired a detective from somewhere to investigate. It was honestly funny. He had enough gambling debts to lend his identity, no matter how it was used.
But he couldn't tell him anything when he was so anxious and worried. That's why he had Muller track the detective back and gradually sprinkled hints on him.
Information that was just the right amount of fake and real information, information that you couldn't help but believe.
So, by now. Kodel would have made this kind of inference.
'Wolfgang and his bastards are planning to use my name to commit a love scam. They're trying to take advantage of the money that an illegitimate child of a very wealthy noble mother has saved up for many years. Since he's a commoner and an illegitimate child, he can take some of the money without any trouble. They're using my identity to pretend to get married, take the money cleanly, and run away.'
Selling one's identity with one's own hands was a very reprehensible thing in the aristocratic society. If one were unlucky enough to hear about it from the Emperor, there was a risk of falling into the disfavor of the supreme being. So, after completing the background investigation, Kodel chose to 'pretend not to know anything'. He played the role of a good victim who was defrauded.
That's why he reported it to the Metropolitan Police Department as if he were a victim and requested a photo montage, and this time he pretended not to know anything and crawled into the Metropolitan Police Department. Even though he knew full well that the one looking for him was that 'bastard child who was eaten by a swindler'.
Because a victim's acting requires an audience. It would be perfect if the Metropolitan Police Agency could be that audience.
'Considering that it was a love scam, it was quite meticulous of him to deliberately woo Lady Louise.'
It was obvious that he had tried hard to draw a clear line between himself and the romance scammers. It was questionable why that meticulousness was not applied at all in the gambling world.
Now, there was no need to watch the video. Gustav Kodel would be having a blast inside the police station. Only then would Paula realize that Damien was a fraud.
'And then Paula will flounder and clutch at straws.'
She will find out the real identity of Kodel, then his butler, and then the servants she met at the townhouse. They have already completely disappeared a long time ago.
Once she realizes that they are all fake, they will conclude that Gisela is a fraud. Then they will start to complain that her arson was also a result of being tricked by an evil astrologer.
But no one listens to the words of a criminal who has been branded a liar.
'Since the Metropolitan Police Department will admit that they were fooled by the fake Kodel, wouldn't Paula naturally ask the Metropolitan Police Department to find Damian?'
But the Metropolitan Police Department would not listen to that. The person who was harmed by Damien's fraud could be 'Kodel', but not 'Paula'.
Even though he had deceived Paula, he had never officially stolen or damaged her property. Even if it was stolen, it was only Paula's feelings and fleeting hopes, and the Metropolitan Police Department would not waste its police force on such a thing.
'You always make long speeches about how funny I look, a fake girl.'
Paula's life will end in prison. Thinking only of the fake Kodel, thinking only of the fake astrologers, chewing over the fakes who humiliated her until she dies.
Odette smiled faintly. Damien and Gisela, too. They had long since boarded the trains heading to their respective hometowns. Paula would never see them again.
It was the moment when Odette was enjoying a satisfactory ending.
"Can't you take that skirt off?"
The man sitting across from her in the carriage asked with a voice full of suppressed anger. The voice broke her thoughts.
***
Odette looked at the owner of the voice. The man was glaring at her with a furrowed brow, as if he wanted to rip the clothes she was wearing off at any moment.
Do you really think my clothes are that annoying? Victor has always been grumpy since they met.
"Do these clothes really not suit me?"
"That can't be right, because it's obvious what disgusting intentions the asshole had in putting that on you."
It was a light question to lighten the mood, but the deadly answer ended up freezing the air inside the carriage.
"That damn watchdog."
While she was speechless, Victor muttered a harsh curse, as if her clothes were getting on his nerves unbearably.
But to Odette, Victor's reaction was absurd.
'Anyone can see that that's far-fetched.'
What on earth is the 'disgusting intention' behind this outfit? It's wrapped so tightly that not only the collarbone but even the neck is barely visible.
At best, the only thing she could guess was that the color of Shion's eyes and the color of her skirt were very similar...
Victor's reaction was excessive to considering that he reacted to something like that. It was also a little childish.
"Let's go to any clothing store or boutique. I'll buy you anything."
So Odette thought Victor was just nitpicking. He was bringing up the costume shop story to avoid being alone with her.
Just as he had been avoiding her purification all along, today too, he was trying to avoid a proper purification somehow.
Even though the area was in such a state that the scars were bumpy and raised along the traces of the torn limbs.
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