Chapter 53.2

Chapter 53 – Part 2

I used the surface of the water as a mirror so I could tidy up my hair. As I turned to leave, it was only then that I noticed that the forget-me-nots, which were in full bloom around here, had all but disappeared before anyone knew it.

Perhaps it was because the small blue flowers that had bloomed all day long were no longer visible, but the riverside looked even bleaker than before.

Apart from that, the reed leaves had also begun to turn yellow. They swayed as the wind blew past.

It was a rather desolate landscape.

Even so, the autumn leaves and the waves sparkling in the sunset were beautiful.

“Madam, we must go back quickly.”

“…Yes, let’s go.”

I left the water’s edge and went to Charlotte’s side. Judging from the gloomy eastern sky, it looked like it would rain tomorrow morning.

…I suddenly remembered when Theodore had come all the way to this riverside to pick me up. When he handed the coin, which was his older brother’s memento, he said that he wouldn’t regret it.

‘Liar.’

I didn’t want to blame someone whose memory was impaired. Even so, I couldn’t help but resent him.

Resentment for him continued to burn within me, but I am relatively calm now.

When I decided to start working on what I had been putting off planning until now, surprisingly, I felt at peace with it.

Right now, I truly didn’t care whether or not he looked at me.

Really, it’s okay. I’m fine with it.

Because I decided to completely shut down these feelings first.

The preparations for divorce and running away were all finished.

Until the day that I do it, I just have to remain undetected.

“What the hell is going on…”

“…….”

The atmosphere amongst the knight order was gloomy.

Victory was a very happy event, but their master suffered a head injury again, and this time he forgot about ‘the time when he lost his memory’.

To be honest, the knights thought that their master ‘when he lost his memory’ looked a little— No, very happy. And looking at the Madam, she didn’t seem like a bad person.

Certainly, she just happened to be from House Everett, and it was unreasonable to unconditionally assume that she was an evil person.

Anyway, the knights who had served their master for a long time were happy to see him happy until now, but…

“…Dame Carmen, have you heard anything?”

“…….”

As the knights asked her with questioning expressions, Carmen looked back at them as well. The one in the most awkward situation in the knighthood was herself. The duke ordered her to continue the investigation…

That being said, what about the investigation into Missus Seymour, and what about the case with the two young lords of House Everett?

The investigation was entrusted to Carmen when Theodore had that ‘partial amnesia’. That is, when he was still kind to Lily.

…But the moment Theodore regained his memories, he forgot all the kindness he had showered to Lily. And apart from that, Missus Seymour had suddenly gone mad as well.

Carmen was at a loss on what to do.

Of course, progress has been made in the investigation. If it hadn’t been for the things happening in the estate, it might have been finished by now.

The problem was how to explain this investigation to this version of Theodore who had ‘lost his other memories again’.

If Carmen were to guess, it’s clear that the duke would be baffled after hearing about the investigation. He’d likely say, ‘Did I tell you to do this kind of investigation?’

…But apart from the duchess’s involvement, the duke’s hostility to Missus Seymour seemed real.

He had been hiding it from everyone, but that hostility was revealed only to her that day…

A long time ago.

‘…Ah… I don’t know. My head hurts.’

What Missus Seymour had done to the duke in the past was unthinkable. There was only one thing Carmen understood from that day.

Missus Seymour wanted to become Duchess Valentino.

But it was her older sister who got to marry the late duke. So, Missus Seymour…

After her sister, no, with her sister as an excuse, she came to Valentino Castle.

‘…Milord said that Missus Seymour was good at ostracizing people…’

At the time, she couldn’t understand why the duke said such a thing. However, after a while, she was able to realize it suddenly.

The duke was already suspecting that Missus Seymour was the prime cause of the estrangement between him and Duchess Lily.

‘…And after my own investigation, it’s without a doubt that Missus Seymour’s past behavior was very suspicious.’

As a child, Carmen had earned a living by running errands at an investigation guild. When she got a little older, she personally dug up other people’s information. Then she joined a mercenaries corps and took charge of various investigations as directed by the leader.

And until she became a knight of the Valentino Duchy, secret investigations had always been Carmen’s forte.

Since she had been doing this all her life, her intuition was extremely developed. Carmen was about ninety percent sure.

There was certainly something fishy about Missus Seymour.

——