#Chapter 26. Think Only of Lucy and You

“……Ariel.”

Damian grabbed her shoulders and called her firmly.

Even in this situation, Ariel looked up at him with anxious eyes, worried about what he might say, whether he would bring up family matters again.

She should swat away his hands right now, but even in this situation, she couldn’t gauge what Damian’s voice, which didn’t lose its firmness, would say.

“The Imperial Knight Order came by.”

“……What?”

Ariel’s eyelashes trembled.

Not the capital guards, but the Imperial Knight Order. And they had visited the ducal residence. Ariel slowly parted her lips with an unbelieving face.

She shook her head slightly as if trying not to believe it, but Damian’s touch instead gained strength.

“They were there briefly while you were unconscious.”

Ariel had been standing powerlessly and suddenly grabbed Damian’s forearm.

“What does that mean……!”

“When I returned after letting the enemies escape, the Imperial Knight Order had already turned the ducal residence upside down.”

Ariel’s face, which had just begun to part her lips, twisted completely.

“No matter how imperial they may be…… unless it’s treason, that should be impossible!”

However, after Ariel’s outcry, there was no answer from Damian. At the affirmative silence, Ariel frowned deeply.

“They said documents related to rebellion were found in my study.”

Wasn’t it a fact known by all the people that Damian, a knight who had given up his own life and fought wars for the Empire and was a duke of this Empire, couldn’t possibly do such a thing?

This was…… definitely a conspiracy.

Damian couldn’t have done such a thing.

“This too, is this also Bruno’s doing?”

At Ariel’s urgent question, Damian slowly shook his head.

“No. This…… it seems there’s someone else.”

“……Your Grace. You must go now.”

“Yes, I’ll go.”

Damian lifted his hands from Ariel’s shoulders and gave a nod to the butler.

Ariel’s hand, which had been clutching his forearm, dropped helplessly.

“Damian.”

He had already walked past her but stopped briefly at the sound of her voice.

With all the situations pouring in at once, Ariel’s heart, head, everything was complicated.

The situation where she had been wailing in disappointment until just now because of external enemies ultimately required her to pray for her husband’s safety due to external forces.

“……Think only of Lucy and you. Nothing else matters.”

Instead of Ariel who couldn’t continue her words, Damian spoke first.

Even at this moment, Ariel bit her lips and frowned at his words telling her to exclude him.

“I will do that. So make sure to come back.”

Ariel clenched her fists tightly and met Damian’s blue eyes head-on.

Damian gave a single nod before turning away.

His back as he received his coat from the butler and left was no different from usual. His gait, his expression……

Really, even at such a moment, he was himself.

If it was due to rebellion, even if the forged documents were revealed, he would surely be unable to avoid imprisonment.

Damian couldn’t be unaware of this either. He would also know that being imprisoned was a tremendous dishonor.

It would surely become a line written in the history of House Zenova.

Ariel also turned her back, deliberately avoiding the sight of Damian, who might be seen for the last time. 

Seeing him now would only fill her with fear.

Ariel let out a deep breath and climbed the stairs. If rebellion truly was the cause, then neither she nor Lucy would be able to leave the ducal residence anyway.

The authenticity of the forged documents would be determined soon. However, the very fact that such a thing happened once would cause fatal problems.

It was already a time when arrows of concern toward Damian would pour down due to his great achievements in victory.

This kind, in particular, carried a high risk of internal strife. Great cracks would soon form within the unity of the imperialist faction.

Ariel halted midway up the stairs and shut her eyes tightly.

Bruno…… Damian said it wasn’t him, but he definitely knew about the culprit of this incident.

Bruno’s purpose was for Derek to become the heir. Stupid Bruno wouldn’t think about such things since even a heavily damaged family would be fine as long as it was his.

He probably just joined hands with someone who threatened Damian while thinking only of devouring the family.

Ariel slowly opened her eyes, her thoughts now in order.

What needed internal strife in the imperialist faction…… simply thinking, it was the aristocratic faction.

But couldn’t the opponent who escalated things this far have anticipated even this? ……No. Traces of the culprit given too openly had a high probability of being fake.

Then who was the opponent trying to point to as the culprit of the kidnappers?

The tutor gave room to distance himself from suspicion when the traitorous knight attacked with a sword. Then what remained was…… Bruno.

“Ha……”

Ariel let out a hollow laugh. Unlike her raised lips, her eyes weren’t smiling at all.

No matter how stupid he was, he wouldn’t be unaware of the current situation.

If they used Bruno well at this opportunity, it seemed it would be easy to know about the forces behind him.

However, there was something to do before that.

“Butler.”

Ariel called.

“The mansion seems to need a little cleaning. Don’t you think so?”

*

“I said no!!”

Bruno shouted at the investigator and slammed the table with a bang.

Since nobles couldn’t be imprisoned unless it was treason, he was answering in a luxurious reception room, but even that seemed hard for him to endure.

“Well, Mr. Bruno. There’s testimony from the tutor along with eyewitness accounts from that time, but it’s not definitive evidence, so don’t think too hastily……”

The investigator broke out in cold sweat and calmed Bruno down, but greater flames rose in Bruno’s glaring eyes.

“So exactly who gave that eyewitness account that makes those words credible!!”

Bruno pulled his upper body forward and thrust his face close to the investigator.

The investigator’s shoulders shrank back, deflecting Bruno’s words with an awkward smile.

“What does that matter? That testimony isn’t definitive evidence that could make you out to be a kidnapper. So don’t worry too much. More than that, were you at the mansion at that time, Mr. Bruno?”

The investigator patted Bruno’s shoulder as a calming gesture and asked while filling his fountain pen with ink.

“Yes! I was at the mansion!!”

“Yes, yes. I understand. Let’s finish the investigation here for today.”

The investigator quickly wrote on the paper. Bruno glanced at the paper and calmed his panting breath.

The person who had been acting like he would jump up from his seat at any moment suddenly rested his arm on the table and lowered his voice.

“But about those guys who were accomplices with the kidnappers…… The ones my brother supposedly cut down with a single stroke.”

Bruno’s eyes, making gestures, sent a signal to the investigator as if telling him to come closer. Even though only the two of them were in the reception room, his attitude was very cautious.

“Even among those working at the bottom, there aren’t many places where you can find about ten people. It was an attack on a lady no less, so they must have hired people from the largest of the dark guilds. They’re definitely connected to the owner there. I heard at the club while playing cards that there are several nobles who invested in that owner…… That list, I could……”

“The investigation is already finished.”

However, the investigator shook his head with an apologetic smile.

“The investigation is finished? What does that mean?”

“We investigated the nobles who invested, but there were no special findings.”

Bruno frowned deeply and his voice rose again.

“No……! What do you mean nothing! You, that, no!”

“Do you happen to know anything else besides that, Mr. Bruno?”

Bruno met the investigator’s eyes that seemed almost innocently naive and closed his mouth that had been open. Then he waved his hands and stood up.

“……If you say there’s nothing, fine. It’s just family business, so I wanted to help my brother and spouted nonsense.”

“Yes, I understand. Then I’ll see you at the next investigation date.”

The investigator bowed politely. Bruno looked down at him and left the reception room.

He surveyed the empty corridor and frowned deeply.

“Has the imperial investigator already been bought? Then the method is…… the method is……”

Bruno bit his nails with an anxious expression and walked quickly down the corridor.

He needed someone powerful to protect him in this incident.

He had been pretending otherwise, but seeing the investigator, it seemed they had already decided Bruno was the culprit.

Evidence would be overflowing, so it would be difficult to escape easily.

……Bastards.

When I was useful, you kept me. Now that things have gone wrong, you throw me out as bait?

You’ll regret it.

If only brother wasn’t imprisoned, I would grovel and rat out all those guys. If I said they threatened to kill Derek, brother wouldn’t blame me too much either.

Making Derek the heir…… well, it’s not difficult since I just need to feed the woman some medicine that prevents pregnancy!

Besides, brother…… still felt sorry for me. He let it slide even though he knew I was exaggerating. The conquest war had just ended, so sending him as an envoy to the Eastern Continent would not be the last time.

Even after returning from a family trip, I can send him to foreign countries several times.

Being impatient for no reason at the news of brother returning to the Empire and rashly taking their hands was a big mistake.

Damn!

Bruno clenched his fists and trembled, stopped in place, then moved his steps again. A coachman was waiting for him up ahead.

Wait.

Wait, wait. ……Yes, that would work.

“……To the Zenova ducal residence.”

Bruno gave a low command to the coachman and boarded the carriage.

“……What?”

The surprised coachman flinched, but Bruno had already boarded the carriage.

The coachman had no choice but to whip the horses and drove the carriage to the ducal residence.