Episode 74. Can I catch the stone?
“I was so shocked back then that I panicked. It was just an accident.”
“I understand. When people are too hungry, they lose their sense of reason and cause accidents.”
“I don’t know who the hungry person is. I was just going to touch lips, but who rushed at me so fiercely?”
Feeling embarrassed and ashamed, Adele blamed him for no reason.
“I was hungry, yes. I’ve been busy lately, so I’ve been unintentionally fasting.”
Huh!
“Can you stop saying things like that so casually?”
“Seriously. It wouldn’t be strange if you lost your sense of reason and ran wild at any moment.”
His eyes were hot as he looked at Adele. As if warning her that he would run wild and run wild at any moment.
Adele slowly moved her body on the bed to adjust the distance between them.
“No. It’s a monthly event.”
Snap!
He laughed and flicked Adele’s forehead with his finger.
“I’m joking. Give me your arm.”
Then he dragged a chair next to the bed and sat down.
“Your expression was too serious for a joke.”
Adele grumbled and held out her pure white arm in front of him. Her thin, white arm was as white as porcelain, but her wrist was swollen and red.
Christine’s brow furrowed slightly at the sight.
“You must have been in a lot of pain.”
“Thanks to who?”
He applied herbal ointment to Adele’s wrist and wrapped it tightly with a bandage. Then he carefully applied an ice pack.
“You can practice shooting steadily as long as you don’t overdo it. But I’ll hold the stone. So don’t think about putting yourself in danger.”
“No, I want to do what I can do.”
Adele’s green eyes shone stubbornly.
Christine sighed softly.
“Yes, if that guy killed your mother, I’ll leave it up to you to end his life.”
“It’s not if, it’s definitely that guy.”
It had to be that way.
“Yeah, he’ll definitely do it.”
After a while, he stood up, organizing the medicine and bandages.
“Then I’ll go.”
“Where...?”
When Adele looked at him in surprise, he smiled faintly.
“It’s a monthly event, you know? It’s hard to sleep next to you without doing anything. Especially when you’re hungry.”
Adele glared at him and decided to let him go.
“Yes, good night.”
“Yeah, good dreams.”
He kissed her forehead so politely and courteously, and then turned away so coolly.
He probably knew. That the monthly event was a lie. He knew Adele better than she did.
So he probably took it to mean that he didn’t want to sleep with her.
Adele now seemed to understand what he meant.
The real reason why he didn’t want to have a child.
Was he really... a member of the wolf clan?
***
Christine’s expression darkened as he left Adele’s bedroom, as if he had taken off his mask.
“It’s so horrible that a beast can mix with people and act like a human.”
The words Adele had said during the day kept lingering in his head.
Yes, a beast.
To her, he was no different from the beasts that had killed her mother.
That’s why he couldn’t reveal his identity.
Even if Stone had committed all these crimes, it would be another matter for her to accept him.
At that moment, Zimmer came quickly from the end of the hallway.
“Report from the Oswalds.”
“Report.”
“No one has entered the ossuary yet. Stone is absent, and the door is locked tightly, so it’s not easy to enter rashly.”
“What about the tailing of Stone?”
“That... we lost him in Hell Valley. I think they noticed.”
“He might commit another crime, so find him quickly!”
“Yes, sir!”
***
The next morning.
Christine, dressed in his royal guard uniform, strode briskly across the imperial hallway. A thick pile of papers was tucked under his arm.
The thing he had been afraid of had happened. The murder case that had been quiet for the past few days broke out again yesterday. This time, a merchant who had come to deliver food supplies to the palace was killed.
Because of this, a royal meeting was called before dawn.
“Oh, it’s been a while. Count Weiss.”
Stone came over, waving his hand from afar. To anyone who saw him, he must have looked happy to see an old friend.
Of course, Christine stared at him with an icy expression.
“What are you doing so early in the morning, Marquis?”
Stone, who had returned after completing his term as a diplomat, still had no other position. Therefore, he was not subject to a summons to the royal meeting.
“Isn’t it also the role of the Prince to help His Majesty take care of the overall state of affairs?”
“The Prince... we’ll see if that happens.”
“Why, are you trying to block this marriage by slandering me?”
“Slander?”
Even now, Stone smelled terrible blood.
And yet, the word slander was being used!
“You’re investigating Orbis’ murder, right? Are you trying to frame it as something I did?”
“I can only present evidence, and the judgment will be up to the ministers and His Majesty.”
Stone touched his lips and laughed.
“Unfortunately, people aren’t that cool-headed. Even the ministers and His Majesty the Emperor.”
As Christine watched warily, Stone leaned in close and whispered,
“You know, right? This is all the work of the Silver Wolf.”
“What, what?”
Christine hurried to the conference room with an ominous feeling.
***
“We need to organize a large-scale punitive force!”
“We need to wipe out all the wolves in Green Hill and around the capital!”
When Christine entered the conference room, the ministers were in the middle of a heated discussion.
In front of the Emperor stood men in the uniform of the Imperial Guard. They were all wounded and bandaged here and there.
“Did you see the Silver Wolf yourself?”
Jan asked the guards, pressing his temples as if his head was pounding.
“Yes, we heard a scream and went over there, and there was a bloody corpse and the Silver Wolf.”
“We tried to catch them, but they attacked terribly and ran away like the wind.”
“So, where?”
They glanced at Stone at Jan’s question and quickly answered.
“Towards the Marvel Palace!”
“Marvel Palace?”
Jan asked again as if to confirm, and they quickly nodded.
“Yes, it was definitely the Marvel Palace.”
“We all saw it. But no matter how much we searched the area around the Marvel Palace, we couldn’t find it. It disappeared like smoke.”
After the testimony, the ministers’ anxious murmurs could be heard.
“Could it be that the Silver Wolf is still in the palace?”
“But if it’s the Marvel Palace, the guards couldn’t have missed it.”
“Who knows? They probably said they didn’t see it even though they saw it.”
“Why would the guards do something like that?”
“Well. Only they know why.”
The ministers glanced at Christine and even secretly suspected him.
Stone had been steadily spreading rumors that Christine and the Silver Wolf were related.
Furthermore, even the Kalame tabloid and other large and small news outlets had consistently suggested the connection between Christine and the Silver Wolf.
The similarity in the colors of his hair and eyes also played a part in making people believe it.
“Everyone, be quiet!”
The commotion died down for a moment at Jan’s stern shout.
“Let’s take a short break and meet again in the afternoon. The captain of the guards will follow you."
***
“Is that you?”
Jan asked when they were alone in the office.
Instead of answering, Christine put down the thick document he had been holding at her side on the desk.
“Murders that have occurred in the Kingdom of Orbis over the past eight years.”
Jan’s expression hardened as he looked through the document he handed him.
“If this report is true, then it’s all Stone’s doing?”
“I already told you. Stone Oswald was the one who killed the first guard. At that time, Stone was exiled from the Kingdom of Orbis and was already in Greenhill.”
“But everyone is saying it was the Silver Wolf’s doing!”
“It’s not hard to spread rumors.”
Then Christine ordered hkm toward the door.
“Bring them here.”
The door opened, and Zimmer and the guards came in. They made the people tied up with ropes kneel before Jan. They were the guards who had just testified that the Silver Wolf had disappeared into the Marvel Palace.
However, the bandages that had been removed from those who had been wounded and bandaged just a moment ago were all fine.
“What happened?”
Christine answered the bewildered Jan.
“They were bribed by Stone to give false testimony.”
“Tell me the truth! Did you really not see the silver wolf?”
The guards banged their heads on the floor and howled at Jan’s fierce questioning.
“We have committed a crime worthy of death, Your Majesty!”
“Please have mercy!”
Jan’s face distorted greatly as he watched them screaming for their lives.
“Take them all away and execute them!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Zimmer and the guards dragged the howling guards away.
When the two of them were left alone again, Jan came out of the desk and took out the liquor from the shelf. He opened the cork and downed the bottle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and asked,
“Is Stone really the culprit? But the victims were clearly not attacked by humans.”
“Don’t you know the answer to that question, Your Majesty?”
Jan’s expression stung at Christine’s reproachful answer.
However, he still didn’t want to believe it.
Was Stone really a member of the wolf clan?
“Is there any evidence that he is... a member of the wolf clan?”
“I was attacked by a mutated guy during the horseback riding competition and fell into the Valley of the Wolf. And when I showed up with the wolves, you saw that the wolves didn’t attack him.”
“That...!”
Christine licked his lips bitterly as he saw Jan staggering while groaning softly.
“Do you understand now, Your Majesty? The hand that betrayed me and grabbed me was not the hand of salvation.”
Jan, who had been blankly staring for a while with a pale face, asked desperately.
“What should I do?”
“Postpone his marriage to the Princess as much as possible.”
“And?”
“Approve the search of Oswald’s mansion. Then I will bring clear evidence that Stone is the culprit.”
If only Stone could be revealed to be the real culprit of this incident, everything would be resolved.
The rumor of the silver wolf would become a false rumor that he had created, and then neither Adele nor Isabelle would be able to mention the silver wolf anymore.
The fact that he had filed an objection to the Vatican regarding Adele's remarriage would also be swept under the rug. No matter how rotten the Vatican was, it would not side with a murderer.
If that happened, the House of Nobles would abandon the Oswalds.
'Yes, this one card could turn everything around.'
"Just a moment... Give me time to think."
"You'd better hurry. Then."
Christine bowed politely and left the Emperor's office.
And...
Jan, who had been lost in thought for a while, said outside as if he had made up his mind.
"Call April."
At the same time.
It was late afternoon when Adele returned to the Marvel Palace after finishing her shooting practice.
Her learning to shoot was a secret known only to her close associates. That's why she wore a fancy hat and going-out clothes, as if she had just met Mia.
However, in the velvet pouch in her hand was a pistol.
"Welcome back, Miss Adele."
Henry and the servants stood on either side to greet Adele.
“We’ve been chatting so much, I’m a little tired. Please tell Tanya to bring me something to eat.”
“Understood.”
Henry answered politely, but one of the maids spoke cautiously.
“I... haven’t seen Tanya since the afternoon.”
Adele, who was climbing the stairs to the second floor, stopped.
“She didn’t say anything about going out?”
“No, she said she was going to make marmalade in the afternoon...”
“Henry, please look for her.”
“Yes, it’ll be nothing, so don’t worry.”
Adele nodded and went up to her room on the second floor.
It was still broad daylight, and normally, she would have taken it lightly.
However, this morning, a terrible incident occurred even within the palace. So it was inevitable that she was worried.
‘Well, she’s such a smart kid, after all.’
However, the bandages that had been removed from those who had been wounded and bandaged just a moment ago were all fine.
“What happened?”
Christine answered the bewildered Jan.
“They were bribed by Stone to give false testimony.”
“Tell me the truth! Did you really not see the silver wolf?”
The guards banged their heads on the floor and howled at Jan’s fierce questioning.
“We have committed a crime worthy of death, Your Majesty!”
“Please have mercy!”
Jan’s face distorted greatly as he watched them screaming for their lives.
“Take them all away and execute them!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Zimmer and the guards dragged the howling guards away.
When the two of them were left alone again, Jan came out of the desk and took out the liquor from the shelf. He opened the cork and downed the bottle, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and asked,
“Is Stone really the culprit? But the victims were clearly not attacked by humans.”
“Don’t you know the answer to that question, Your Majesty?”
Jan’s expression stung at Christine’s reproachful answer.
However, he still didn’t want to believe it.
Was Stone really a member of the wolf clan?
“Is there any evidence that he is... a member of the wolf clan?”
“I was attacked by a mutated guy during the horseback riding competition and fell into the Valley of the Wolf. And when I showed up with the wolves, you saw that the wolves didn’t attack him.”
“That...!”
Christine licked his lips bitterly as he saw Jan staggering while groaning softly.
“Do you understand now, Your Majesty? The hand that betrayed me and grabbed me was not the hand of salvation.”
Jan, who had been blankly staring for a while with a pale face, asked desperately.
“What should I do?”
“Postpone his marriage to the Princess as much as possible.”
“And?”
“Approve the search of Oswald’s mansion. Then I will bring clear evidence that Stone is the culprit.”
If only Stone could be revealed to be the real culprit of this incident, everything would be resolved.
The rumor of the silver wolf would become a false rumor that he had created, and then neither Adele nor Isabelle would be able to mention the silver wolf anymore.
The fact that he had filed an objection to the Vatican regarding Adele's remarriage would also be swept under the rug. No matter how rotten the Vatican was, it would not side with a murderer.
If that happened, the House of Nobles would abandon the Oswalds.
'Yes, this one card could turn everything around.'
"Just a moment... Give me time to think."
"You'd better hurry. Then."
Christine bowed politely and left the Emperor's office.
And...
Jan, who had been lost in thought for a while, said outside as if he had made up his mind.
"Call April."
***
At the same time.
It was late afternoon when Adele returned to the Marvel Palace after finishing her shooting practice.
Her learning to shoot was a secret known only to her close associates. That's why she wore a fancy hat and going-out clothes, as if she had just met Mia.
However, in the velvet pouch in her hand was a pistol.
"Welcome back, Miss Adele."
Henry and the servants stood on either side to greet Adele.
“We’ve been chatting so much, I’m a little tired. Please tell Tanya to bring me something to eat.”
“Understood.”
Henry answered politely, but one of the maids spoke cautiously.
“I... haven’t seen Tanya since the afternoon.”
Adele, who was climbing the stairs to the second floor, stopped.
“She didn’t say anything about going out?”
“No, she said she was going to make marmalade in the afternoon...”
“Henry, please look for her.”
“Yes, it’ll be nothing, so don’t worry.”
Adele nodded and went up to her room on the second floor.
It was still broad daylight, and normally, she would have taken it lightly.
However, this morning, a terrible incident occurred even within the palace. So it was inevitable that she was worried.
‘Well, she’s such a smart kid, after all.’
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