Chapter 78: Nothing is Missing, but Someone Has Disappeared

Maya’s thorough massage was amazing. I must have dozed off during it.

After waking up, I blinked and stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.

‘What an unpleasant dream.’

I had a strange dream where a giant raccoon was sitting on my back.

It looked like Lulu. I woke up wondering if the raccoon was Lulu, or if Lulu was the raccoon.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

“Madam, are you cold?”

“Yes. Maybe it’s because of the nightmare. I feel chills.”

Maya wrapped a soft blanket around me as I rubbed my arms.

Ah, now that’s better.

I looked around while yawning and pulling the blanket tighter.

“Where’s Rosetta?”

“I sent her to her room to rest. After you fell asleep, she just sat there blankly and kept making mistakes when asked to do anything.”

“Really? Is she not feeling well?”

“She’s fine. She’s energetic enough to eat four pieces of bread at lunch today.”

“Hehe. Rosetta does love bread.”

“But she was drinking Berg honey tea all by herself. How annoying.”

“Honey tea?”

Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway.

“Yuria!”

It was Xavier’s voice.

Maya, who had been standing blankly, quickly ran to open the door. Xavier rushed into the room and reached me in just a few steps.

“Xavier, what’s wrong?”

“Yuria, is anything missing? Albert said he hasn’t checked here yet.”

“Why so suddenly?”

Like being struck by electricity, understanding dawned on me as I saw Xavier’s trembling eyes.

“Maya, could you check if anything is missing from this room?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Maya ran to the dressing room where valuables were kept.

‘No way…’

I went to the cabinet next to the vanity in the bedroom. I twisted the porcelain displayed there, and the cabinet slid sideways with a smooth motion.

There was a small keyhole in the revealed wall. I reached inside the porcelain container to retrieve the key and inserted it into the hole.

Actually, I had installed a safe in a secret space behind that cabinet.

The white envelope was still inside the safe. When I checked inside, the contract marriage documents that Xavier and I had drawn up were intact.

If the imperial family were to find out about our contract marriage, the Crown Prince might immediately demand we hand over the saintess. That’s why I was worried…

“Phew.”

“Is everything alright? Nothing missing?”

“No.”

Just then, Maya came running from the dressing room calling me.

“My lady, everything is still here too.”

“That’s a relief.”

Xavier nodded, seeming relieved as well. I put the envelope back in its place and closed the safe.

“Margaret has disappeared… Sorry for rushing in like this.”

“Margaret?”

“I just received the report myself, so I need to look into what happened. I’m sorry, but I have to go now.”

“It’s fine. Nothing’s missing anyway.”

Xavier stroked both my shoulders and left the room like the wind.

“Oh my, what’s going on?”

“I know… Huh?”

Something caught my foot. Looking closely, there was something thin and metallic on the carpet. I bent down to pick it up.

“What’s this?”

“It looks like a hairpin.”

Maya answered as she came closer.

“Maya, is it yours? You use hairpins too.”

“Hmm, no. Mine aren’t this sharp.”

It wasn’t mine either. Did Rosetta use hairpins?

I squinted and examined the hairpin from different angles, but found no answers.

For now, I put the hairpin deep inside my vanity drawer.

*

“I apologize. It was my negligence.”

Upon hearing the news of Margaret’s escape, Xavier visited the interrogation room in the underground prison. The acrid and damp smell characteristic of underground spaces seeped from all four walls.

Margaret, who should have been tied to the interrogation chair, was gone as expected, with only ropes scattered messily around. The food tray for the prisoner was still on the floor, the food completely untouched.

Albert confronted the guard with an exasperated expression.

“How could you let this happen?”

As it turned out, the guard had loosened the ropes when bringing Margaret from the cell to tie her to the interrogation chair.

The guard quickly fell to his knees before the Duke’s cold expression and twisted lips.

“I’m sorry! The young girl was crying that her arms hurt too much. I, I didn’t know she was working for General Jude!”

“How could you not know?”

The report about Jude being imprisoned in Berg’s underground prison should have reached the Duke’s residence. Xavier’s gaze fell on the guard’s bulging pocket.

“Albert.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

As knights approached to grab the guard’s arms, Albert pulled out the bulging object from his pocket and brought it to Xavier.

“This is…”

“It’s the jewel pouch that the Madam gave to the servants.”

Three rubies rolled into Xavier’s hand from the pouch. These were precious gems that would take an ordinary guard years of work to obtain.

When his teal eyes glared menacingly at the guard, he began frantically waving his hands and explaining.

“It’s a misunderstanding! I didn’t know she was a spy! She was small and young, and she begged me to loosen the ropes just a little because her arms hurt so much. I only loosened them slightly, not enough for someone who hadn’t even eaten properly to escape. But then she suddenly attacked me… I lost consciousness after that…”

The guard bowed his head deeply. A dark bruise was briefly visible behind his lowered head.

“What’s the point of posting guards if this is what happens? Is this how you repay His Grace’s kindness?”

At Albert’s reproachful sigh, the guard prostrated himself on the damp stone floor.

“I’ve committed a capital offense, Your Grace! My wife at home is terribly ill, and I didn’t have enough money for her medicine…”

Xavier looked down at his back and spoke in a dry tone.

“We’ll verify your story and provide a healer for your wife.”

“Your Grace! Thank you. Then, please forgive…”

As the grateful guard raised his head, Xavier cut off his hope with one sentence.

“However, you must pay for your crime of neglecting your duty and taking bribes to let a suspect escape. Take him away.”

“Yes, my lord!”

“Your Grace!”

The knights Rexton brought dragged the guard away. After the guard’s desperate calls for the Duke were cut off, a cold air settled in the interrogation room.

Xavier roughly rubbed his face with both hands as he surveyed the room with dry eyes.

“I trusted Jude too much.”

“No, it was my fault. I should have been more careful while Your Grace was away. Why would General Jude betray Your Grace like this… after how much Your Grace cared for her.”

The old butler couldn’t hide his dejection. As Xavier was taking in the old man’s appearance with mixed emotions…

“Your Grace!”

Rexton, who had been crouching to examine something on the floor, shouted.

“There’s something here in this food tray.”

Something square shaped like a potato was cleverly hidden among the soup ingredients. It was so meticulously crafted in shape and color that it would be indistinguishable if eaten with the soup.

“Poison.”

“What, poison! Who could have…”

Albert dropped his monocle in shock. The metal chain it hung from swayed back and forth.

So Margaret was indeed working under someone’s orders. Xavier looked down gravely at the square-shaped poison and said,

“It must be whoever sent Margaret to the Duke’s residence. They probably tried to kill her when they felt their trail might be discovered. Putting poison in the meal… could there be another traitor inside?”

When Xavier turned his gaze to Albert, the butler swallowed hard and said,

“Yes. I’ll look into it.”

Xavier turned from the butler and ordered Rexton,

“Rexton, send this poison to the healer for analysis, and deploy the knights to search for Margaret.”

“Yes, my lord!”

*

Meanwhile, Rosetta, who had returned to her room, had been staring blankly out the sunlit window for hours.

She had brought a chair right up to the window to look outside. Or more precisely, she was holding up the diamond tiara to admire its ethereal beauty as it reflected the sunlight, marveling at it again and again.

“Ah… To think this is mine!”

She clutched it tightly to her chest.

‘This is a small gift to commemorate my meeting with you, Rosetta.’

‘F-for me?’

It was a gift from His Highness who had secretly called her out the night before leaving Berg. Though it didn’t have large diamonds, the tiara set with dozens of teardrop diamonds was so fantastical and beautiful that it made her stutter.

She looked to the side. On a small, plain wooden table sat a large bottle of honey tea and a round hand mirror.

“If only there was a full-length mirror.”

Rosetta carefully tried on the tiara.

Thump thump.

Even though she was carefully placing it on her head with both hands, her heart felt like it would burst.

‘Do you like it? When you come to me, I’ll let you wear the real one.’

‘Pardon? There’s more than this?’

‘Hehe, this is just a diamond crown, but I have the real crown.’

The Crown Prince’s whispered words were irresistibly dizzying and sweet. She cupped her cheeks with her hands after removing them from the tiara.

“You’re beautiful, Rosetta.”

The tiara shone brilliantly on her head.

As if it had finally found its rightful owner.

The Crown Prince’s cryptic words from that night before parting echoed in her mind.

‘If you’re curious, come visit my palace on your day off. I’ll show you something interesting.’