Episode 21

A few hours before Lennaeus, pale as death, ran out of his office, at Princess Charlotte’s palace.

Charlotte sprang up from her seat at the news of the death of the disagreeable man, Viscount Breguet, whom she had encountered at the debutante ball.

“John, the criminal reappeared after 10 weeks, didn’t he?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” 

I hurriedly walked alongside John.

“When is the estimated time of the crime?” 

“Probably, early this morning.”

“It’s strangulation again this time, right?” 

“It’s the same method as the last four crimes. That’s why the investigative bureau determined it to be the act of a serial killer.”

“The suspected perpetrator is still a sturdy man over 180cm tall?” 

“Yes. Moreover, Commander Breguet was a man who had received military training. To overpower and strangle him, the perpetrator must be…”

I bit my lip tightly. It happened when I had let go of investigating Duke Adler, using the excuse of feeling slighted.

Honestly, since the victim was completely unexpected, even if I had continued investigating the Duke, I couldn’t have prevented the crime in advance.

But still, I felt somewhat responsible, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth. 

“Has the scene been cleaned up already? Where was the body found?”

“It’s the back alley of Nowood. It’s where I used to live, but it’s not a place frequented by high nobility.”

Nowood Street was the dark underside of the glittering imperial capital. A slum teeming with vagrants and criminals, John had said he was born on Nowood Street as well.

“Why would Viscount Breguet have been in that alley?” 

“I have a guess, but…” 

John trailed off.

“Where is the victim’s body now?” 

“It’s probably at the investigative bureau’s morgue. They move it there after cleaning up the scene.”

“If the empire’s princess wants to see the body from a serial killing, it would be suspicious, right?” 

John’s eyes widened at my words.

“You don’t mean to see the body, do you?” 

I nodded in response.

The most definitive evidence in a murder case is the victim’s body. And in my previous life, whenever an incident occurred, I always went to inspect the body. This time, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see the crucial evidence with my own eyes.

John shook his head. 

“Of course, it will be suspicious. Honestly, I don’t understand why the princess is interested in investigating this case.”

I raised an eyebrow at John. 

“Regardless of the reason, you were hired to help me, so I’d appreciate it if you could set aside any other curiosities.”

“Oh, it’s not that I really want to know.”

When I narrowed my eyes, John spread his palms and shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he would not ask further.

“Anyway, I must see the body in the morgue. The investigative bureau has a detention center, right?” 

“Of course, it does. But why the detention center all of a sudden…?”

He squinted one eye and pondered the meaning of my question, his mouth gradually opening. 

“Right now, surely… what are you thinking?”

I gave John a faint smile.

*

A while later, in the back alley of Nowood. 

“Well… really. It’s my first time serving someone who’s going to a detention center.”

John handed me a brown hair wig, clicking his tongue.

I, who had sneakily taken one of Martha’s dresses for going out, tightly twisted up my conspicuously pink hair and put on the wig John handed to me.

“How is it? I don’t look like ‘Princess Charlotte,’ do I?”

“…Yes, well. Honestly, who would think that a princess is in the back alley of such a slum?”

John pouted his lips in dissatisfaction. 

I whispered to him, paying no attention. 

“You watch me from here, make sure I’m safely caught by the investigators, and then follow.”

“Yes, as if I have a choice.” 

John looked at me with eyes mixed with worry and astonishment.

I used his emerald eyes as a mirror one last time, smearing red blush thickly on both cheeks.

Pop! Having finished all preparations, I uncorked the strong liquor bottle I had brought and doused myself with it.

By this point, John almost looked like he was about to cry as he watched me. 

Leaving John behind, I stepped into the middle of Nowood Street.

30 minutes later. 

“Ah, look at that. Young lady, don’t live your life like this. What a sight, starting from broad daylight.” 

“Oh, don’t even speak of it. She’s skinny as a twig, but her voice is so loud. This isn’t the first report we’ve received from Nowood.”

Eventually, as planned, I was arrested on Nowood Street and dragged to the Nowood jurisdiction investigative bureau. The charge was ‘drunken disturbance’.

According to imperial law, a person ‘who causes a disturbance with rough words or actions, or drunkenly harasses others without reason’ can be detained in a holding cell under the charge of ‘drunken disturbance’.

And it was a minor offense that could be released without much ado, provided there was a small bail and a guarantor.

It was the perfect minor offense for me, serious enough to be detained, but not so serious as to reach the emperor’s ears.

Moreover, Charlotte’s body, having lived as a villainess until now, was perfectly suited for ‘very rough words and actions’ and ‘wreaking havoc on others without reason.’

“Hey, you! Get your hands off me! I won’t stay still! I’m telling you!”

“Oh dear, this young lady really!”

As expected, the investigators didn’t recognize my true identity even when I was causing a scene at the bureau.

I disguised myself with ordinary brown hair and modest clothes suitable for commoners. They would never imagine the empire’s princess to be drunk in such a slum street.

They threw me, causing a ruckus, into the detention cell, glancing at me with eyes full of annoyance.

“Miss, if you drink and lose your senses in such a dangerous neighborhood, it could be serious. Didn’t you know there was a murder there early this morning?”

“Lies! Where’s the murder?”

“Heh, don’t you read the newspapers? The victim’s body is right now in the morgue next door.”

The investigator in charge of Nowood Street scolded me. Okay, so the morgue is right next door, isn’t it?

“Ah, mister. I need to go to the bathroom…” I twisted my body as if I urgently needed the restroom.

“Goodness, this drunk young lady is really something.”

“What if I make a mistake right here! Are you going to take responsibility?”

“No. Hold it.” 

The investigator shook his head firmly.

There was no other choice. I prepared my trump card again. One should not ignore my database accumulated from dealing with troublesome criminals.

“Mister! Where’s the chief? Bring the chief here! Do you know who I am? Huh? With your chief! Just yesterday! We ate together! Went to the sauna… no, the salon too! We did it all! Are you going to take responsibility if I make a mistake here? If you don’t let me go to the bathroom, will I make a mistake right here? Huh?”

When I finally pretended to lift up my dress, the investigator jumped in disgust.

“Ah, really, this young lady! Alright! Please, fix that dress!”

Finally, the investigator, his face flushed with embarrassment, let me out of the detention cell.

As I moved to the restroom with the investigator, I quickly identified the location of the morgue. Fortunately, it wasn’t far from the restroom.

“Lestrade! Come here for a moment.” 

An investigator called out to my handler from the other side. My handler, Investigator Lestrade, gave me a deliberately scary look.

“I’ll go help with the murder case for a bit, so just do your business and come out quickly. Don’t even think about running away before your guarantor arrives! You can’t get out without the key anyway.”

I feigned fear, nodded obediently, and smiled smugly to myself.

There was a reason I had gone all the way to Nowood Street and caused a drunken scene. The investigative bureau tended to be lax in monitoring a mere minor offender, a drunken frail woman.

Moreover, with the murder that occurred in Nowood Street this dawn, the investigators in charge of Nowood would undoubtedly be extremely busy.

As expected, the investigator didn’t pay much attention to me. He just thought of me as a troublesome nuisance.

While Lestrade was distracted, I pretended to go to the restroom and quickly entered the morgue.

Thud! As I closed the door, the cold air touched my skin. The strong smell of disinfectant in the morgue pricked my nose.

I approached the body of the man lying in the middle.

As I uncovered the white cloth enveloping the body, a pale face was revealed.

‘Pale face.’ 

At the word that shouldn’t have come up in this situation, my eyes widened. 

“This isn’t… strangulation, is it?”

In disbelief, I blinked my eyes wide a couple of times and then thoroughly examined Viscount Breguet’s body.

When someone is strangled to death with a rope while still alive, severe congestion remains on the face. And around the rope marks, one can usually observe skin abrasions caused by defensive actions.

However, there were no signs of strangulation on Viscount Breguet. There were only rope marks on his neck, with no signs of defense.

A person trained in the military didn’t defend themselves while being strangled?

Instead, bright spots were visible on parts of the body other than the face.

“This is a reaction to poisoning.” 

So, Viscount Breguet was poisoned and then made to look like he was strangled.

I don’t know the extent of forensic knowledge in this world, but if the investigative bureau concluded Breguet’s cause of death as strangulation, they were completely fooled by the perpetrator.

With a confused mind, I left the morgue and entered the restroom.

I washed off the heavily applied blush from my face with cold water, and muttered to myself in a daze, “Why on earth?”

Why did the perpetrator fabricate this man’s cause of death? 

I came out of the restroom, standing dazedly in the corridor.

Then, Lestrade approached from a distance and scolded me.

“Miss, you still seem out of it. Haven’t sobered up yet?”

As he spoke, he was holding a large box in his hand.

Suddenly, looking into the box, I saw a rope sealed in a transparent bag.

Noticing my gaze towards the box, Lestrade spoke with a pretentious air.

“Miss, this is the tool the serial killer used to murder the victims. See? I’m too busy with such a big case to pay attention to every petty criminal like you. So just sit quietly over there and sober up.”

I stared intently at the evidence inside the box.

Inside the five bags were ropes of the same kind, each cut so as not to damage the knots.

They were all the same type of unique knot. I memorized the pattern of the knot as I was led back into the detention cell by Lestrade.

“What? You can’t do it? Even commoners can be guarantors for minor offenses, can’t they?”

Trying to get John to be my guarantor to be released from the detention cell, I let out a sigh of frustration.

“I’m not just any commoner, am I? I’m a criminal currently on parole under the princess’s guarantorship.”

John shrugged his shoulders from outside the detention cell.

I grasped the iron bars of the detention cell with both hands and raised my eyebrows in a figure-eight, looking up at John.

“This is bad. What should we do now?”

“Isn’t there anyone who can come for you?”

I couldn’t possibly have anyone like that.

I couldn’t ask anyone from the imperial palace. If it ever reached the emperor’s ears, the budget I had managed to secure for the princess’s palace would be drastically cut.

Someone not from the imperial palace, but who could come to get me out.

Suddenly, the face of someone came to mind. I was reluctant, but I had no choice.

“John, I need you to send a letter on my behalf.”

I let out a shallow sigh.