LB | Chapter 07

Chapter 7

She’s not a typical countryside girl. She doesn’t get provoked easily, and she doesn’t open her mouth easily either. I need to look more closely at her relationship with the Browe Count and Countess.

Now that her mourning period had ended and she had started going out again, it wouldn’t be hard for Ash to meet her and question her directly.
If she truly mourned her parents, she should want to reveal the truth behind the fire.

It would be nice if the suspicious points of the fire could be cleared up through her.

But Ash’s hopes were blocked inside the police department.

***

“Ash! Put down the case you’re working on for now and go help Inspector White!
It’s a human-trafficking case, and we’re short on people!”

Violent crimes always took priority over a simple fire case.

Ash had no choice but to set aside his investigation and help Inspector White.

***

At the McCallen family’s party, I successfully announced to society that Rosalyn Tessis existed.

While I was stuck in a holding cell, I’d been worried that Rosalyn might have attended some party or social gathering without me knowing.
Luckily, it seemed she hadn’t.
Out of all those guests, not one person looked confused when they saw me.

Of course, Rosalyn could have gone to some strange gathering attended only by low-ranking nobles.
Maybe that’s why I haven’t run into anyone who knows her yet.

Still—despite my worries—I gained a little confidence.

No Rosalyn Thesis, no Baron and Baroness Thesis, and no one who knows them is in Herona.

Which means… from now on, I just need to plant the idea in everyone’s head that I am Rosalyn Thesis.

The problem isn’t Herona. It’s Thesis.

Even if I can fool people here, fooling the people in Baron Thesis’s own territory is nearly impossible.
Especially the longtime servants in the manor—there’s no way they would ever confuse Rosalyn with me.

There were only two ways to avoid being caught:

Replace all the servants,
or
Avoid going to Thesis for the next ten years.

But there was one big problem.

The butler, Glenn Hill, was absolutely necessary.

He had worked there for twenty years.
The fact that the family hadn’t collapsed under the incompetent, impulsive baron… might have been thanks to Glenn.

Any problem inside the manor—small or big—people always went to the butler first.
Even the Baron and Baroness asked him about every little thing.
Truly, he was the real power of the estate.

I guess I really do need to meet the butler… But how do I fool him?

During the time I worked as a maid in the Thesis manor, I learned a lot that would help me act as Rosalyn.
But none of those memories included information about the family’s finances.

Recently, I checked the Baron’s central bank account, and it had far less money than I expected.

So I had no choice but to make a decision.

I need to take the money left in the Thesis estate.

After the funeral, the palace officially recognized me as the heir and confirmed my right to inherit the title.
So using the family’s money wasn’t a problem—as long as there was anything left to inherit.

First, I’ll call the butler here.

I was scared he might recognize me immediately, but I gathered my courage and wrote a letter asking him to come to Herona quickly.

But just before I sent it, a letter from Glenn arrived first.

***

“My Lady,
The Merchant Association has requested additional funding for the patrol force.
Also, because tax collection was low and the estate does not currently require many servants, we will need to let some staff go. Please approve this.”

Below that was a list of servants he suggested dismissing, along with a note asking me to choose whom to keep.

But the list was basically everyone.

For a noble who never lifts a finger, being told to cut this many servants… the situation must be truly dire. At this rate, I’m going to inherit debt instead of money!

I’d been happy about avoiding that 50-million-gilden compensation, but now it looked like I might inherit the enormous debt of the Thesis estate instead.

And the amount would definitely be on a totally different level than Emma Hampton’s.

After agonizing over it, I crumpled up the letter I had written earlier and started writing a new reply.

It will take about a week for this letter to reach Thesis.

And I had a lot to do before then.
It was no time to be scared of small problems.

***

That same week, when I was already overwhelmed with things to do, an unexpected guest arrived.

“Welcome, Lieutenant McCallen.”

Ash McCallen walked in without warning, and I greeted him politely.

I thought I wouldn’t see him for a long time—so what was so urgent that he came this early?
Was this the only case he was working on?
Or… did he fall for me?

Being investigated by him was annoying.
But honestly? Admiring his charming golden eyes was always enjoyable.

Still, I couldn’t let myself get distracted.
Let me remember my seniors’ advice: Good-looking men always act exactly as their faces suggest.

Ash, unaware of my thoughts, spoke with that unreadable face—somewhere between expressionless and faintly smiling.

“While investigating the case, I had a few questions. I apologize for coming without notice. Thank you for seeing me.”

“It’s my parents’ case, so of course I should help. What did you want to ask?”

“Let’s begin with Emma Hampton.”

He opened his notebook and lifted his pen.

“Emma tried to borrow money from Baron Thesis, and she applied for the ‘Daylight Bail’ because of that. Did you know she planned to visit the manor that day?”

“No, not at all.”

“Could you explain the situation when she was fired?”

He continued with questions that would have been difficult for the real Rosalyn.
I wanted to tell him every horrible thing Rosalyn had done to me—but I couldn’t.

Still, as the only person who knew the real truth, I could answer calmly without slipping.

“Then let’s move to the second topic. May I ask about your current assets?”

I hesitated.

“…Why?”

“There’s something I need to confirm.”

He was definitely smiling, but it felt like bait.
His moon-bright golden eyes gleamed coldly above that slight curve of his lips.

I didn’t know what he was trying to find out, and my holdings weren’t exactly hard to check, so I chose to answer honestly.

“About eight hundred thousand gilden.”

“And besides cash?”

“You mean like jewelry? The only thing left is the necklace I wore on the day of the fire.”

“When I saw you at the party, I believe you were wearing earrings too.”

Wow. Great memory.
So he really had been watching me closely.

“Oh, those were Countess Browe’s. She lent them to me.”

“…I see.”

“Since I’ve answered everything, can I ask why you wanted to know?”

Ash thought for a moment, then spoke slowly.

“The townhouse that burned down was old and wooden, so the flames spread fast, but the fire didn’t actually take very long to control.”

“Yes?”

“That means most metal items remained intact.”

I frowned, silently asking him to stop speaking in riddles.
He chuckled softly.

“We found two jewelry boxes. Both were completely empty. I assumed you had collected your jewelry beforehand.”

“What? Really?”

“You truly didn’t know?”

“No! I honestly thought everything had burned. Now that you say it… Jewels don’t burn, do they?!”

I wasn’t pretending—this was genuinely shocking.
Why hadn’t I thought of that?

“Then someone must have found them first and stolen them, right?”

“That’s not the problem.”

“What?”

“Before the fire was completely out, the police had already blocked off the area. No one could have snuck inside.”

I froze.

“Meaning… the jewelry boxes were already empty before the fire.”

“That’s impossible! I remember helping pack everything before coming here!”

I saw Rosalyn bring all her accessories.
Even if she had no money, she could have survived for a while by selling them.

No—this wasn’t about Rosalyn anymore.

If Ash was right, and someone had emptied the jewelry boxes before the fire…

Then this fire might not have been an accident at all.