Mary's eyes, as she looked at me, were mixed with pity and lament. I knew. I knew that the people in this house thought I was out of my mind—and while they couldn't openly show it because I was an employee, Mary thought the same about me.
“There wasn’t one.”
She gave a firm answer and changed the subject.
"I brought more blankets. You've been here all day in this studio or whatever, and it's just too chilly."
Still, Mary was sincere in her concern for me. Ever since I first arrived at the Count's mansion, Mary had lovingly looked after a nobody orphan. I spread a blanket on the chair.
"Since you are already sitting in the chair, please have breakfast right here."
Mary quickly brought the tray with the food. Then she stood behind me and started combing.
"Please come on. I'll style your hair in the meantime, Miss. It won't disturb your meal."
I couldn't act like a picky child after all this effort. I took a spoonful of soup. Was it potato soup? I couldn't taste anything. Only the sensation of warmth was conveyed.
"What happened to the butcher's daughter who went missing last time?"
"Miss, that is for the Military Police to handle. You don't need to worry about it."
"Who is the Baron's second daughter?"
Mary let out a low sigh, realizing that nothing could stop me.
"You mean Lady Catherine, right? She hasn't returned yet."
"It's already been a month, hasn't it?"
Lady Catherine, with her thick brown hair and light green eyes, came to mind. It was clear that she, too, had fallen victim to the murderer.
"Miss, you'll ruin your nails if you keep doing that."
At Mary's remark, I realized that I had been biting the tips of my fingernails.
Mary, who had been moving her lips a few times, spoke cautiously.
"The thing is, the noble family is keeping it quiet, but they say Lady Catherine seems to have left with the house's servants."
"Servant?"
"Yes, should I call it an elopement...? The rumors are going around among the maids."
"So you're saying she wasn't kidnapped but left of her own accord?"
"That's right!"
Desperation was evident in Mary's voice. It seemed she was hoping I would agree with her. However, I could not live up to her expectations. If not others, Mary, at the very least, needed to understand the gravity of this situation.
"What is the concrete evidence?"
I looked into Mary's green eyes and asked.
"Is there any evidence other than the maids' words?"
"I've heard there has been an unusual tension between Lady Catherine and that person for quite some time... I haven't seen it myself, though, since I'm not an employee of that household."
The truth was being obscured by such foolish rumors. It was the same in the novel. No matter how much the protagonist told the truth, everyone wanted to believe the absurd rumors rather than suspect that great Tower Master.
"Mary, I know you think I'm crazy."
"Ah. No. How could I possibly..."
Mary hurriedly waved both hands.
"But keep in mind. What he's after is."
I stopped speaking and pointed at Mary's eyes and hair. Aside from the difference in brightness, she, too, had brown hair and green eyes just like me.
"She is a woman with brown hair and green eyes."
"Yes... I remember what you said before."
"You know that if people like us disappear, there’s no one to look for us, right?"
"Oh. How could I be exactly the same as you, Miss?"
"Yes?"
Everyone in the Count's family knew that although I was called "Miss," I was no different from a servant. Mary was the only one who treated me like a lady without fail. That is why I did not want her to become a target of a murderer.
"Right, so shouldn't you be more careful than me?"
Mary swallowed hard.
"Here, give this to the Count."
That was enough of a warning. I handed Mary five bottles of the finished potion. They were high-grade healing potions.
Originally, magical tools and supplies were distributed under the management of the Magic Tower. This was to maintain price stability and prevent monopolies. Therefore, trading the potions I made here was strictly illegal.
“Yes, Miss.”
Of course, they were rarely made anywhere other than the Magic Tower. This was because they could not do so. Naturally, surveillance was lax. It was clear that the Count had targeted this as well.
'Even so.'
Trading items managed by the Magic Tower in this manner was extremely foolish. It would have been better to manufacture counterfeit currency or assist in smuggling instead. At least then, one wouldn't have to run into the Tower Master.
***
I was 15 years old when I was adopted by the Count's family. According to Baynan law, one could not stay in an orphanage from the age of 16. Since this is a world where even teenagers must work to survive, it could be said to be only natural. In that context, it was an exceptional case for a 15-year-old girl, who was on the verge of leaving the orphanage, to be adopted.
"So you're saying this child possesses magical powers?"
I nodded vigorously at the Count's question. I must have been wearing the smartest-looking smile, my eyes sparkling.
‘I can’t believe I’m starting a family.'
More than being from a Count's family or a noble family, I was happiest about the fact that I would have a family. I vowed to become a good child who could make my parents happy.
The first thing I learned at the Count's estate was not etiquette, but how to wield magical power. Among these, Count Hyrn emphasized alchemy—the technique of creating various magical tools and potions.
At the time, I was so caught up in the joy of learning something new that I failed to realize it. The Count's family, a mere facade, needed money, and my alchemy was nothing short of a gold mine.
For several years, I extracted drugs from a corner of the Count's estate as if I were a factory.
Then one day it happened.
“What about herbs?”
Johanna, who had been procuring materials needed for the drug combination, returned empty-handed that day.
"Oh my, the herbal shops are in absolute chaos."
I brushed off her words. I assumed she was just making up a lame excuse after slacking off somewhere.
"It’s been three days since the youngest child of that family disappeared."
I had seen the youngest of the herbalists, too. She was a cute girl with brown hair and green eyes.
“Oh my.”
As soon as I heard the story, wolves came to mind. After all, it was not uncommon for people who went out into the forest outside the castle to be attacked by wild beasts.
"The really strange thing is, they say he disappeared after running an errand at the general store."
"What?"
"Yes, they say they have absolutely no idea where it went."
However, she was not attacked by a wild beast.
“Is she running away from home?”
"You need money to run away from home. That can't be true."
It was then. Memories like scattered puzzle pieces began to surface in my mind.
"Come to think of it, didn't someone say they disappeared about a month ago?"
"That's right. It was Emila from Tyler's company!"
Johanna clapped her hands together as if remembering a huge fact.
"Was Emila brown-haired?"
"Yes, she was always complaining that it looked dry and brittle like a withered leaf..."
"What about her eyes? What color were her eyes?"
Johanna hesitated at the sudden question. I answered first.
“Maybe green?”
"That's right. They had deep green eyes!"
Johanna clapped her hands once again. I mumbled softly.
"...The killer targets brown hair."
"Yes?"
"The killer targets brown hair. Right? Yeah, that's right."
As the chair was suddenly pulled back, the potion, which had been swinging precariously, fell to the floor. The glass bottle shattered into pieces and screamed in my place.
“Does this make sense?”
Johanna, not knowing the reason, repeatedly asked, "Huh? Huh?" expressing her doubts.
"Of all things to be possessed, why did it have to be in a novel like this?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about..."
“He’s a murderer.”
I looked at Johanna and said.
"A killer who targets only women with brown hair and green eyes! Both Emila and the youngest member of the herbalist family fell victim to that killer."
As the fragments of the fragments found their places, a series of stories was being completed. It was the plot of a novel I had read in my past life.
*The Killer Targets Brown Hair* is a mystery novel disguised as a romance fantasy.
In Bainan, the capital of the Empire, a series of disappearances is occurring. All of the missing persons were women in their late teens to early twenties. A peculiar fact is that they all had brown hair and green eyes.
Just like in any other romance fantasy novel, most of the nobles in this novel boasted hair of vibrant colors. Therefore, brown hair was a color likely to be possessed by insignificant extras.
In fact, most commoners in Bainan had brown hair. Green eyes were also as common a color in Korea as black eyes.
Naturally, the killer's targets were mainly commoners, and the military police did not devote much effort to this matter. It was only the protagonist, Karina, who was struggling alone.
The male lead, Rudis, a foreign noble and writer, took an interest in this case purely out of curiosity. He also ended up falling for Karina. With the help of the quick-witted and well-connected Rudis, they were able to find a clue to the case.
The murderer's true identity was Eon, the Lord of the Magic Tower of the Empire. A deranged killer with brown hair and a fetish for green eyes. By the time Karina and Rudis raided the Magic Tower, he had already destroyed all the evidence. Furthermore, Eon was furious that his plan had been thwarted by the two of them.
There was no precise explanation of what that madman had planned. It was just certain that it was something difficult to understand by the common sense of an ordinary person. The novel concludes with Eon's death after a life-or-death battle.
'Can this really be called a happy ending?'
I shook my head. That was only from Karina's perspective, and from the perspective of the readers rooting for her. For the countless brown-haired women who had fallen at the hands of Tower Master Eon, there could not possibly be a happy ending in this novel.
And I, too, was one of those brown-haired, green-eyed women swept up in such a fate.
The silver lining was that the protagonist would catch the murderer in just one year. I just needed to stay out of the killer's sight until then. After realizing this, I secluded myself at home.
I skipped all the social activities and debutante balls required of a member of the Count's family. Rumors even circulated that I had gone mad, but the Count did not stop me. On the contrary, he liked it.
Since the Count's family needed a machine to produce drugs, not a daughter who merely pretended to be a noble, I, who was holed up in the laboratory all day, was the most ideal daughter for them.
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment