Side Chapter 8

“Lennaeus!”

I greeted him with a cheerful voice. I was planning to discuss the coachman incident and the phantom thief case with him. It seemed like the imperial nobles, who were at odds with the royal family, were somehow involved in this case.

Before I knew it, Lennaeus had approached me and embraced me tightly.

“Charlotte, I was delayed due to the reconnaissance schedule. I should have arrived earlier….”

His voice, which had been whispering sweetly, suddenly quieted. His arms, which were embracing me, seemed to stiffen, but I continued speaking without paying attention to his reaction.

“Lennaeus, could you take a look at this for a moment? It seems like today at this place-!”

The moment I tried to show him the note left by the silver-haired man, Lennaeus’ face hardened. His once cool blue eyes suddenly blazed fiercely.

His eyes narrowed tightly as he breathed harshly.

“There’s a strange scent coming from you…”

“W-what?”

“You said you fell for me at first sight, and yet what have you been doing with another man?”

…No way.

“I’m quite possessive of my woman’s present.”

…It couldn’t be.

“If I catch the scent of another man on you… I’ll kill him-!”

“S-stop…!”

The words he was saying sounded all too familiar, so I quickly covered Lennaeus’ mouth with one hand. He was seriously looking around, as if ready to kill whoever had left their scent on me.

“Your Highness! By the way, who was that man earlier? Did you catch his name? Is he married?”

Beside me, Blaire still sparkled as she recalled the silver-haired man.

“Sigh…”

I sighed deeply as I looked at the Adler siblings, who knew nothing but love. Then, I opened my mouth to tell them the truth.

“That man is actually…”

The two of them stared intensely, as if they were determined to uncover his identity. I muttered toward them.

“He’s a serial thief.”

At last, their large blue eyes blinked at me in astonishment.

*

Just as the phantom thief had said, the real Baron Barnet was found fast asleep in his carriage in front of the Grand Duke’s mansion.

The Baron said that he had hired a new coachman as soon as he arrived in the capital, because the one he had brought with him had fallen ill with stomach issues. He had set off for the grand duchy’s ball with the new coachman, but when he came to his senses, he had fallen asleep in the carriage.

I was certain that the new coachman the Baron had hired was the phantom thief. Of course, the original coachman falling ill was no coincidence either. That man had stolen Baron Barnet’s invitation and entered the grand duchy to meet me.

After hearing the whole story, Lennaeus was furious.

“Why did that phantom thief want to meet Charlotte? Was he also captivated by her dazzling beauty-.”

“Because I’m investigating the case he’s involved in.”

I quickly cut off Lennaeus before his thoughts could go in a strange direction again. He furrowed his brows in dissatisfaction, then spoke in a serious tone.

“So… you’re saying that the phantom thief robbing the nobles’ estates and the mysterious death of the coachman on Nowood Street are connected?”

“Yes. And somehow, it seems like this case is tied to the nobles who are currently being uncooperative with the royal family.”

“Did that bastard say so?”

Lennaeus’ eyes sharpened.

“Don’t you think we might get some answers if we go to this place?”

I handed him the note left by the phantom thief.

Baker Street, No. 1412

The only thing written on the note left by the silver-haired man was an address.

Lennaeus took the lead, declaring that he would personally check out the address and gathered a reliable team.

And finally, we arrived at the location in question.

A secluded house in the back alley of Baker Street.

The elite members of the team held their breath in front of the faintly written number 1412 on the wall. At their urging, concerned for my safety, I watched from a distance.

Bang-!

The team, armed with the latest weapons and wearing protective gear, smashed the old wooden door and entered the house. After a long search, they finally signaled that it was safe.

“What is this…”

I entered the house with Lennaeus, my eyes widening.

The house was empty. On the creaking wooden floor sat a wooden box and a large sack.

“What is this shabby hat?”

Lennaeus picked up the white silk hat that had been neatly placed on the wooden box, frowning. It was a tall top hat made from cheap silk, long out of fashion. I immediately recognized it.

It was the same material as the suit worn by the silver-haired man at the Grand Duke’s ball.

“This is his mark. He’s telling us that he was the one who left the box and sack here.”

“What a terrible taste.”

With a displeased tone, Lennaeus flipped the hat over, and a piece of paper fluttered to the ground.

Returning it to the original owner.

It was a cryptic sentence.

“If he brought this here… does that mean he’s asking us to return what he stole from the nobles’ estates?”

Then why didn’t he just return it to the nobles’ estates himself, instead of giving me this address? As I pondered over the note, Lennaeus spoke in a firm voice.

“First, we need to see what’s inside these.”

At Lennaeus’ signal, the team set to work on the box. They groaned as they pried open the nail-sealed wooden crate.

“Wow…”

The team murmured in awe as they finally saw what was inside. The box was filled with pieces of dazzling crystal. The amount of jewels was so vast that it seemed like the team had never seen anything like it before.

Only Lennaeus seemed unimpressed, staring at the box indifferently. He casually picked up one of the crystal pieces and examined it closely.

“This is top-quality crystal. With the amount packed into this box… it’s probably worth about a billion gold.”

As expected of someone with a background in mining, his appraisal was sharp. I, too, picked up a crystal piece and examined it.

‘This glow. It feels oddly familiar….’

I slowly stroked my chin, lost in thought. Lennaeus also frowned.

“They had such expensive crystals stolen but didn’t report it, saying it wasn’t important. How suspicious.”

At that moment, one of the soldiers picked up the sack.

“Do you think there are jewels in here, too?”

His eyes were filled with anticipation. After all, a treasure chest was something most people never got to see in their lives. It made sense.

I gave a slight nod, and the soldier skillfully began untying the tightly bound cord around the sack.

I narrowed my eyes and focused on the scene, more specifically, the knot tying the sack.

At last, the knot came undone, and the sack was opened.

“What…? Really?”

A disappointed sigh spread among the soldiers. At the same time, the calm expression on Lennaeus’ face began to crack. I too was at a loss for words, frozen in place, muttering in disbelief.

“This can’t be….”

“So this is why… the nobles couldn’t report it.”

Lennaeus gritted his teeth as well. I felt my neck stiffen. The soldiers, looking confused, glanced back and forth between the red stones in the sack and our expressions.

“Your Highness, Your Grace. Is there a problem…?”

“But these stones seem to emit a faint glow. What are they?”

One of the soldiers tilted his head, puzzled. I clenched my fist tightly and answered in a trembling voice.

“It seems the nobles have been smuggling magic stones from my mine.”

The sack was filled with unprocessed magic stones.

*

“The ice cream shop employee confessed. He knew that the coachman of Marquis Bradley was transporting 1 billion gold worth of crystals that day. He said he planned the whole thing from the start.”

John, delivering the report, looked a little tired.

I didn’t bother asking what had transpired between him and Bork in the investigation office. John wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and added, sounding frustrated.

“On the same day he stole the crate of crystals, it was stolen from him again without a trace. So, in the end, all his efforts were for nothing.”

The phantom thief had stolen the crystals that the ice cream shop employee had taken. The crystals had originally come from Marquis Bradley’s estate.

In other words, the 1 billion gold worth of crystals and the sack of unprocessed magic stones the thief left for me had all been stolen from the nobles, the ones currently being uncooperative with the royal family.

Magic stones were potentially dangerous items. That’s why the magic stones mined from the quarry were strictly controlled by the Grand Duke Adler ’s house and the royal family. They had never been shown to the general public, so most people who saw them for the first time would think they were just ordinary stones.

But the silver-haired thief had seen through the true nature of the magic stones.

Someone who could easily break into a heavily guarded noble’s mansion, who used unique knots, and who had deep knowledge of magic stones.

And I know one other person like that.

That person is…