Chapter Chapter 24 No Clue Can Be Found
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
”I can’t find a clue…”
Lucas muttered to himself in his cell in the basement of Fort Kilfe.
The only source of light is a small window near the ceiling, which is dark and dank even in the daytime. The sound of rainwater seeping through the gaps in the walls and splashing into puddles echoes in the air, and occasionally a knight under Olga’s command comes and goes alone in the passageway on the other side of the bars, looking into the cell with cold, frightening eyes.
Valerie is locked up somewhere, but Lucas has not been informed of her whereabouts.
It is not surprising, considering the possibility that they might escape together.
His stomach also made an unusually loud “grumbling,” sound.
Come to think of it, he had not eaten anything since last night’s dinner, so it is natural that he is hungry.
Now Lucas leans against the wall and buries his face between his knees.
(This is all right. I think more clearly on an empty stomach.)
Taking the opportunity to think slowly, he decides to go back to the beginning of yesterday’s inexplicable events.
If he recalls the beginning, the starting point of this mysterious event, it would be the time when he was told that one of the prisoners of war had escaped.
This prisoner has not been found yet.
His colleague Eudin had described the missing prisoner as a large young man who seemed to be a Ternoir man.
However, despite the knights’ concerted efforts to find him, they could not find him at all.
At this point, it is reasonable to assume that the prisoner had fled far away in the storm.
Next are the three hanged knights.
Yan, the tall one. Julian, the scholar. Ernesto, the loving husband.
If Valerie is right, their blood has been drained from their bodies, but the drained blood has not been found.
What is the purpose? Why did their blood be drained from their bodies?
It would be natural to assume that it is the work of the escaped prisoners of war, but the purpose is not clear at all.
What is most puzzling is the location where the knights were hung.
Next to the princess’s room.
The area should have been guarded by the knights of the Princess’s retainers, but the knights who fell prey to them were the colleagues of the Order of the Golden Eagle.
In other words, Ernesto and the others were brought all the way there and hung.
If they went to that extent, there must be a reason for it.
(For example, to scare Her Highness?)
If so, he must say that the effect was extraordinary.
The fact that the blood draining, in other words, the process to eat human beings was going on right next to the wall made the princess tremble, and she was greatly frightened by the fact that she knew about the existence of Human-eating Demon.
(…Wait? If the purpose was to frighten her, does that mean that it was the work of someone who knows that Her Highness is investigating the existence of “Human-eating Demon”?
If so, the number of suspects would be narrowed down considerably.
If he excludes Valerie and the princess, the most suspicious ones would be Olga and the silver-haired maid, right?
However, even if he suspect these two, he can only rule them out as the murderers, since they could not enter the room where the Princess was killed.
It took only a moment from the time the princess said she wanted to move to a safer place to the time she moved to the room.
At that point, no one but Lucas and Valerie knew about the hidden room. No one else knew.
If it’s not the case, it is possible that someone other than Lucas and the others knew of the existence of the hidden room, and there was another key, which conveniently allowed them to go in and out of the room freely.
This time, this is the assumption that he had in mind.
However, it is still impossible.
Of course it is. It is impossible to tell whether Lucas and Valerie would tell the princess about the secret room or not.
And no one could have touched the Princess once she entered that room.
(No… Is it like that?)
Lucas changes his mind at this point.
He begins to recall the events of yesterday in order.
He never forgets what he sees once.
He doesn’t know if it can be called a talent, but he is born that way.
His memory is vivid. He can clearly recall even the shape of the wrinkles on the dress that the princess was wearing.
What is still strongly disconcerting to him is that the princess covered her face with a veil when she moved to the hidden room.
“I don’t want people to see my face without makeup.”
Is that really true?
If he says that women are like that, he can only say that it is true, but is it true that she was hiding her face?
There is a possibility that it was not the Princess, but a different person… unlikely.
But, is it like that?
Because Lucas himself exchanged many words with her during the trip.
There is no doubt that it was the Princess.
And whether it was the princess or not, no one could have entered or left after the door was closed.
That is the problem.
(If it’s impossible after closing the door, maybe…)
If he recalled, there was a time when Lucas and Valerie took their eyes off the Princess, though it was only for a few minutes. It was when the princess was changing after entering the room.
At that time, as he recalled, Valerie closed the door and Lucas and Valerie were standing in front of the door, watching the passage.
During this time, Olga and the maid could have killed Her Highness… no, it is impossible.
During this time, they could hear the Princess talking constantly from inside the room, and after Olga went outside, they called out to the back of the room, and they heard Her Highness reply to them.
Lucas himself saw the Princess sitting on the bed with his own eyes through the closing door.
Even if it was a very narrow-minded view and assume that the Princess has already been killed at this point and that the dead body was made to look as if it were sitting on the bed, this time the question will be replaced by the question of where the rest of the body has disappeared.
Lucas clucks his tongue.
(I still don’t have a clue…)
He is not stupid.
He is not a stupid person, and a stupid person cannot keep pretending to be a scum.
However, even if he tries to gather his wits, at this point of time, the ridiculous story that ‘Valerie ate the princess’ makes the most sense, which makes him want to clap my tongue.
(Commander… she must be depressed…)
Lucas, unusually, really wanted to meet Valerie.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.