Chapter 50
After Leoni left, Jerlach immediately sent his aide Millen and some soldiers to Jenniton Street.
But Millen returned much sooner than expected.
When Jerlach looked at him with a puzzled expression, he quickly explained.
“By the time we arrived, the shack was already being dismantled.”
Jerlach recalled how Leoni Almaz had come to him earlier, her face flushed with agitation.
She had been furious, claiming that a woman disguised as an old lady was deceiving people with lies.
Leoni insisted the woman was exploiting desperate people through false astrology, scamming them out of their money. She pleaded for Jerlach to either punish the woman or at least shut down her business.
Jerlach had been about to say that astrologers often made their living by preying on vulnerable minds, and it wasn’t something that could be harshly cracked down on. But then, with a grave expression, Leoni had continued.
“Your Grace, this isn’t just because I received a bad fortune.”
“Then what is it?”
“I’m trying to find Riebe, but I’m helpless. I went there as a last resort, hoping I might hear even the smallest clue.”
“……”
“But that woman looked at the card I drew and said Riebe is no longer of this world.”
“What?”
“That made me remember something Riebe once said to me. So, I didn’t fully trust the astrologer—I tried to examine things on my own. And I noticed something strange.”
“What was strange?”
“Her voice was that of an old woman, but her hands were too smooth, and she smelled of an expensive perfume—far too luxurious for someone living in a shack.”
“Hmm.”
“She’s definitely a fraud. A suspicious person. I don’t think she’s a real astrologer. She’s probably just scamming people by saying outrageous things to them. Your Grace, I hope you’ll act for the public good.”
Her methods had been wrong, and it was unforgivable that she had spoken ill of Riebe—but that didn’t justify shutting down someone’s business without cause.
So Jerlach had instructed his aide to go check things out, and if she turned out to be just a poor street vendor, to simply give her a warning.
But now he was told the shack was already being dismantled?
“Someone from Lady Almaz’s side?” he wondered aloud.
Had she gotten impatient and sent someone herself?
“No, it wasn’t that,” the aide replied, looking genuinely confused.
“People from the House of Viscount Shurain came and took away the dismantled shack.”
“Shurain?”
Jerlach frowned in thought.
The name of the Shurain family had been coming up unusually often lately, and it was starting to bother him.
“Find out if that astrologer has any ties with Viscount Shurain. Also check if other astrologers have had frequent contact with the viscount’s household or are doing business with them.”
“Understood.”
Jerlach, too, had summoned all the astrologers in the area in his search for Rieberata.
Most of them had been extremely confident, claiming they could pinpoint her exact location.
Jerlach hadn’t fully trusted them, but in desperation, he’d listened anyway.
The stone tower near the border, a tiny cabin beside Lake Haren, a remote island in Nys—
But Rieberata wasn’t in any of those places. The astrologers insisted she was still alive, saying she was on the move or wandering in another empire.
“Not one of them ever said she was no longer in this world.”
People went to astrologers to hear hopeful words. And astrologers knew that. They also knew that saying pleasant things earned them more money.
But to say flat-out that someone wasn’t of this world… it rang oddly.
“Strange. I need to find the astrologer Lady Almaz spoke of.”
Jerlach looked up and addressed his aide again.
“Find out if there are any astrologers from other empires who are said to be famous.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Report to me once the list is complete.”
As the aide diligently wrote in his notebook, Jerlach asked again,
“Did we check whether Rieberata attended the social gathering on the 10th?”
“Ah, yes. Lady Bernadette did not attend that day.”
“Why not?”
“She wasn’t feeling well.”
Jerlach touched his chin, falling into thought.
“But Lord Watford clearly said he saw Riebe wandering Jenniton Street on the afternoon of the 10th. So if she didn’t attend the social event because she was supposedly ill, why did she go to Jenniton Street?”
The more time passed, the more convinced he became that Riebe was hiding something.
Jerlach rose from his seat.
“Your Grace, where are you…?”
“I’m going to Jenniton.”
“Yes, I’ll prepare the carriage.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Even after arriving at Jenniton Street, Jerlach stayed in the carriage for a while, unable to get out.
He had come without a plan—he didn’t know where to go or what to do.
Moving without a strategy was certainly not his style.
But now that Rieberata had disappeared, his style and temperament didn’t matter.
Across from him, his aide stared anxiously out the window.
“Go back first. I’ll stop by the bookstore.”
After leaving those few words, Jerlach stepped out of the carriage. The aide answered belatedly at the closed door.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Ding-ling—
The chime of the bell marked Jerlach’s entrance.
Of course, Clem, who was hard of hearing, was nodding off in his seat.
Why hang a bell if you can’t hear it? Jerlach briefly thought, then continued walking.
He didn’t bother waking Clem and quietly moved farther into the store.
He wasn’t looking for a specific book anyway.
As he wandered the maze-like aisles, he focused on the musty, aged scent of old paper—something he had always liked.
Maybe that would calm his anxious heart.
But the unease didn’t fade. If anything, his longing for Rieberata only grew stronger.
“You… by now, this must be fate.”
“Hello, Your Grace.”
“What a surprise to meet you here.”
“I was just looking for something… I heard you were busy.”
“Yes, but I’m happy to run into you.”
“……”
“It feels like fate, meeting you here.”
As if hypnotized, Jerlach began moving toward the bookshelf where he’d once encountered Riebe.
But the store was such a maze, it was hard to tell where anything was. Still, he didn’t want to go back to the entrance.
Instead, he followed his feet and slowly searched for traces of Riebe.
How long had he walked?
Eventually, his steps stopped in front of a particular bookshelf in Section L.
“……”
Something about the shelf and the corridor looked familiar. He ran his fingers across the titles until a familiar cover caught his eye.
Carefully, Jerlach pulled out “Renata’s Tumultuous Life.”
It was the book Riebe had been reading.
“It’s a novel called Renata’s Tumultuous Life. It’s about a girl who… steals her friend’s lover.”
“That’s not exactly a mainstream story.”
“Is that so? I find stories like this quite interesting. Stories about stealing what belongs to others, doing bad things… those kinds of tales.”
“A story about taking what belongs to someone else. Fascinating.”
“I-It’s about a wicked villainess. I like that sort of thing.”
“Same here. Seems our tastes are alike.”
Adorable.
Jerlach chuckled faintly, remembering Rieberata’s flustered expression.
She had been unlike anyone he’d ever met before.
There were many reasons why, but the most striking was that she never tried to curry his favor.
In fact, she sometimes seemed like she was actively trying to fall out of his good graces.
In that sense, she was truly unique—and special.
Could it be… did she mean it, what she said that day?
“You and I were never meant to be, Your Grace.”
Riebe.
Surely she didn’t leave because of something that absurd?
Leaning against the wall, Jerlach began turning the pages.
What had she been thinking while reading this book?
Might she have left some trace of herself between the pages?
Then Jerlach helplessly sank to the floor.
Riebe…
As if under a spell, he suddenly pulled a folded document and pen from his coat.
He tore off the part filled with writing and laid the blank half carefully atop the book’s cover.
His hand gripped the pen tightly, his chest tightening.
And like that, Jerlach wrote a letter to Riebe that would never reach her—and left it tucked inside the book.
