CH 24

Ophelia’s protest was interrupted by a sudden knock.

“Come in.”

Behind the hard door that opened silently, an investigator with an even harder expression appeared.

“I see you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“The investigation?”

“As ordered, I looked at all the people around the victim, not leaving out a single one. And this is…”

Ophelia received the documents the investigator handed over and scanned it quickly.

She looked at a certain part carefully, eyes widened like a rabbit’s, and then turned to Richard.

“There’s an affair.”

“Which one?”

“It’s the lady. And on the day of the incident…”

As soon as Ophelia’s words blurred, a knock rang again.

—Tok tok.

Behind the door, which opened more slowly and reluctantly than earlier, stood the count, the father of the victim.

His face was darkened, and he looked like a man who could not die.

“I see you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Count.”

“I didn’t know you’re here. I should have hurried over, I’m sorry.”

Rather than replying, Richard gently touched the count’s shoulder to express his condolences, and the latter lowered his head deeply.

Perhaps because of the loss of his son, in a few days, 10 years seemed to have come to him, making him look older and wrinkly, so who could press him to come quickly?

The count sat across from Richard, rubbing his eyes with fingers that were smeared with ink stains that he had not been able to erase.

Not long after, Hermia, who had been hiding in her home, appeared along with Iris.

“Your… Your Highness?”

Iris hurriedly led Hermia in and stood in front of Richard with an apparently perplexed face.

“I apologize for being late. Please forgive me.”

“You’re forgiven.”

At the same time as they bent their knees, Richard waved his hand and looked at the investigator.

“Okay, sit down, investigator.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Let’s start.”

At Richard’s orders, the investigator immediately began explaining the outline of the case and the circumstances surrounding it.

“…it’s in a clean and intact state, so we did not proceed with a separate investigation…”

Ophelia, listening to the investigator’s story, narrowed her eyes and immediately glanced at Richard.

As he leaned his back slightly towards her, she clenched her teeth and whispered in a barely audible voice.

“Isn’t that part weird? Blood.”

“Certainly. Why didn’t she check?”

‘That’s exactly what I’m thinking.’

The words that Ophelia had thrown without context were fully accepted by Richard.

“That’s what I mean.”

No matter how much blood was splattered around or how bloody the chest was, one could not be sure with the naked eye whether a person was dead or alive.

If one could confirm with the eyes that the person was completely dead, then it’s either the head was crushed or the entire body was torn.

So the first discoverer and the victim’s fiancée, Hermia, should have checked to see if he was breathing.

If she had gone close or brought her ear to his nose or chest, there was no reason not to get blood in the midst of the frenzy.

But why was Hermia alone so clean in that bloody place… 

As if aiming for this moment, the investigator recited a certain fact in an extremely clerical voice.

“…the lady was having an affair…”

The investigator was speaking in a very gentle voice, like he was listing today’s lunch menu, so even though shocking facts came out, neither Iris nor the count reacted.

But Ophelia’s eyes flashed.

Blood. Witness. Fiancé and affair.

Ophelia stepped forward as if she was possessed by something.

A slight smile spread across Richard’s lips as he gazed at her small back, but no one, including himself, noticed.

“…and in the future, uh, aide?”

The investigator, who was reading through the documents, paused.

“Lady Hermia.”

Ophelia’s gaze was not on the investigator who had called her, but on someone else.

The recipient of the gaze, Hermia, blinked anxiously and moistened her parched lips.

“Ophelia? Why are you suddenly…”

Iris pulled Hermia towards her back as though she was protecting her, but Ophelia’s eyes were still fixed on Hermia.

“Why didn’t you get a single drop of blood on your body?”

“What?”

Iris, not Hermia, replied.

“You said that the victim’s condition was so messed up that blood spattered everywhere. But why?”

“Hermia is just an eyewitness…”

“I mean, that’s weird.”

Ophelia’s words continued as she tilted her head, and Iris didn’t try to cut in.

“…Perhaps, at that point, you knew that your fiancé was already dead. And the criminal is the only one who could know that at that time.”

The investigator’s mouth was agape, and Iris’ cold face cracked.

Ophelia pointed to Iris, no, to Hermia, who was clinging to Iris.

“Lady Hermia, either you killed your fiancé or saw someone take his breath away.”

Like a grain of glass, the redhead’s blue eyes reflected Hermia’s figure.

“If the lady is not the culprit and someone else has done it but she has kept her mouth shut, it means that she cares more about that someone than her fiancé, the victim. If it’s the person the lady cares so much about…”

Towards the worn-out, pale and blue-faced Hermia, Ophelia calmly drove the last point into her heart.

“It must be the man who you had an affair with, the one who whispered love to you.”

When Ophelia closed her mouth, there was a quiet disturbance among the people.

The count’s tired face was filled with astonishment and bewilderment, and the investigator’s mouth was so wide open that it wouldn’t be surprising if his jaw literally dropped. Then, he frantically searched through the documents.

And Iris.

Very slowly, she turned her gaze to Hermia.

Hermia, with her eyes widened as if they were about to tear apart, did not deny any of Ophelia’s accusations.

She was neither angry nor resentful.

Simply… frozen on the spot like a pillar of salt.

Meanwhile, Ophelia, the very person who pushed this meeting into shock and chaos.

Contrary to her confident face, the hands hidden behind the hem of her skirt were trembling.

She had never done anything like this before, after, or in her entire life.

This was to find justice for the victim, but at the same time, it would completely wipe out a person, both socially and physically.

Of course, that person deserved it, but the pressure and burden Ophelia felt was not relieved at all.

In addition, there was only circumstantial evidence. A decisive murder weapon had not been found, and neither had a clear motive been identified.

‘Ah… I shouldn’t have stepped up.’

Belated regrets came rushing in like a tidal wave, but just as the spilled water could not be held, the spit-out words cannot be reversed.

‘This isn’t it? Can’t I turn it back?’

‘In such a case, starting a regression…’ 

Around the time when Ophelia, whose reason was blown away by impatience, was waiting for an assassin.

Slowly, she looked down at her hand, and her eyes grew bigger.

The warmth of clasped hands. A rough hand with calluses in every joint was holding hers.

The moment Ophelia realized that Richard was by her side, the soaring stiffness and tension in Ophelia’s rounded shoulders went away, and the vain thoughts that were spinning in her mind disappeared like snow.

Richard didn’t say anything, he just held her hand.

And that was enough.

To Ophelia and to others.

Just because Richard stood by Ophelia’s side, there was no one who could dare yell at her for spewing bullshit

The room was enveloped in a death-like silence.

No one opened their mouths, and even the sound of breathing faded. One by one, the people’s eyes began to turn towards Hermia.

Iris did not shake Hermia off, who was still attached to her. She just glanced down at the friend that was quietly hanging onto her arm.

Hermia didn’t make eye contact with the silent Iris.

To be precise, she never made eye contact with anyone.

Hermia, appearing pale white yet red due to bulging veins, could not stand the silence that tightened her breath any longer and opened her mouth.

But she only leaked gasps.

Shaking her head again and again, she looked up at Iris, but when their eyes met, she flinched and fell away from her.

“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”

She constantly licked her lips, but all that came out of her mouth was a series of meaningless words.

“Ah… no. I didn’t… it’s not like that… No, he did that, but it wasn’t intentional… I didn’t mean for him to be killed…”

She was speaking gibberish throughout, so no story was drawn at once.

However, the scattered pieces were enough and overflowing, making Hermia suspicious.

“You didn’t mean to kill him? I’d love to hear that part of the story in detail.”

Before anyone knew it, the investigator took a step towards Hermia, hiding his sharp-edged eyes.

“Ah…”

As the investigator was about to say more, a loud, high-pitched screech that resembled a tearful scream rang through the room.

“No! No, no, no!”

Hermia, having endured like crazy, had long since reached her limit.

Literally, if someone gently nudged her back asking, “Now, are you comfortable to talk?” she couldn’t stand it and was on the verge of telling everything.

She was already falling apart by the time she frantically poured out towards Iris a few days ago.

How many could sleep comfortably with their legs outstretched after committing a crime?