Chapter : 2
“Does it suit me?”
Alyosha blinked shyly with a bashful smile, and Alexis looked at her with an expression that practically screamed she was the cutest thing in the world.
At this point, it was undeniable—Alexis was completely obsessed with his little sister.
“My little sister is so pretty. There’s still some time before dinner is ready. How about we have some tea and chat for a while? I’ve been so busy lately that we haven’t really had a chance to talk.”
“Hm? Ah… okay.”
Wasn’t he supposed to come with a friend?
Alyosha stretched her neck toward the front entrance, and Alexis instinctively turned his head in the same direction.
Realizing she was looking for someone, Alexis smiled knowingly.
“Looking for something?”
“Hm? No… I just thought Masha said one more person was coming….”
“Well, what a shame. That guy my little sister is looking for had something come up, so he went back before arriving.”
Minus fifty points!
The wave of disappointment and regret washing over her clearly wasn’t her own—it belonged to Alyosha.
‘He dared to leave without seeing me? Without seeing someone as pretty as me? What the hell.’
That friend of her brother’s…
Unless his parents had been on the verge of death, he would never again get the chance to marry someone as beautiful as her.
“Haha. Don’t be too disappointed. Next time, your big brother will make sure to bring him along.”
With that, Alexis offered her his arm. Alyosha gracefully linked hers through it.
Together, they walked to a room in the western annex with a huge window overlooking the sunset. The evening sky glowed beautifully as they sat across from each other, sipping tea in silence for a moment.
‘A conversation with family… What do siblings usually talk about?’
If Hyoju from her previous life had actually had an older brother—or if she really were the original Alyosha with all of her memories—this would have been much easier.
But under the circumstances, she had to be careful.
‘I’ll just throw out something random.’
Setting down her teacup, Alyosha asked,
“How’s that… thing you’ve been working on lately? Didn’t you say it was giving you a headache?”
“Hm? Did I say something like that?”
“I think you did.”
Of course, he had never said such a thing, and she had never heard it.
But what employee genuinely enjoyed working every day?
Besides, close families usually shared little details about their daily lives. Surely he’d mentioned work at least once in passing.
Alexis let out a quiet groan and scratched the back of his neck.
“As you said, I’ve been dealing with the serial murder case that’s been happening in the city. It’s becoming a real headache.”
She had assumed he worked in administration because he looked rather scholarly, but apparently he was actually a knight working in the field.
More importantly…
A serial murder case?
‘Wait… this romance novel barely has enough romance, and now it throws in serial murders, thriller elements, and detective work?’
It wasn’t as if there was no audience for thriller fantasy romances.
But unless the author possessed extraordinary writing skills, mixing romance with thriller elements often resulted in something that satisfied neither genre.
‘Now I understand why I couldn’t remember the title even after hearing the name Alyosha.’
The author of the novel she had reincarnated into had chosen the lonely, barren road of being a niche writer.
Even Alyosha, who read almost every romance novel she could find, found stories mixed with mystery and thriller to be divisive—like cucumbers, something people either loved or hated.
Of course, she enjoyed reading such stories once in a while.
But in the novels she wrote, frustrating plot twists were only acceptable when they involved romantic relationships.
‘I’ll help solve this ugly case as quickly as possible.’
If that happened, surely the male and female leads of this mystery-titled novel would finally get more sweet romantic scenes together.
“If it’s okay, could you tell me about it? Maybe I can help.”
Unless this was one of those novels where the author got so carried away with endless plot twists that everything fell apart, the structure would probably follow the usual mystery formula.
If she heard enough clues and evidence, she might be able to piece something together.
Alexis sighed.
“If it’s you, I suppose it’s fine. In just two months, six young women have already been murdered. The problem is that we still can’t narrow down the suspect.”
“Besides being young women, did the victims have anything else in common?”
“In common…?”
Ha!
Just as she thought.
If this had been a full-fledged detective novel, that would be one thing.
But when mystery was only lightly added to a romance story, authors often simplified everyone’s thinking to make writing easier.
Readers naturally wondered, ‘Why didn’t anyone think of something so obvious?’
But authors had their own practical limitations.
“Serial killers usually follow patterns, don’t they? Maybe they only target women with a certain hair color, or victims around the same age. Sometimes they leave behind a signature. Or maybe the murders always happen on the same day of the week…”
Alexis frowned and fell deep into thought.
“The only common point is that the victims were all between eighteen and twenty-four years old. Ah! And they all had red hair…”
“That’s the pattern! If you’ve hit a dead end, why not focus on the very first murder? You’d be surprised how much evidence is often hidden there.”
She was quoting something she’d once heard in a crime investigation drama or documentary.
Alexis narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
“The first murder holds the most evidence?”
“Every serial killer makes mistakes with their first murder. Follow those mistakes, and when you finally catch the culprit, the townspeople always end up saying, ‘They never looked like the kind of person who’d do something like that.’”
“…”
Faced with Alexis’s silent stare, Alyosha immediately realized her mistake.
If Alexis wasn’t actually that brilliant…
Then neither was Alyosha.
“…That’s just something I read recently in one of the books in the library.”
“Listening to you gave me an idea. I think I need to head back out and investigate immediately. Sorry—I won’t be able to have dinner with you tonight.”
“It’s fine. Go.”
After saying that, Alexis leaned over and kissed her lightly on the forehead before rushing out of the drawing room.
The spot where he’d kissed her felt oddly ticklish, and Alyosha rubbed her forehead with a finger.
She ate dinner alone, soaked in a warm bath that had already been prepared, and fell asleep.
The next morning, she woke up earlier than usual.
“Where’s my brother?”
“The Count hasn’t returned home all night, Miss. It seems he stayed at the Knights’ Order.”
“He must be exhausted.”
So people in this world pulled all-nighters too.
Seeing the concern on Alyosha’s face, the butler smiled warmly.
“Shall I prepare breakfast for you to take to the Knights’ Order?”
“Me?”
Was that really necessary?
“Yes, Miss. I believe the Count would be greatly encouraged if his little sister brought it to him.”
She honestly couldn’t be bothered.
Still, this might help her understand where the story was heading, so she nodded.
If luck was on her side, she might even meet one of the novel’s important characters.
And if she learned the title of the novel, she could guide the story much more effectively.
“Then please prepare it.”
An hour later…
Accompanied by one knight and one maid as escorts, Alyosha endured an unbelievably uncomfortable carriage ride.
‘If the author had invented something like magic stones, they could’ve made decent transportation.’
Fantasy settings could have easily allowed convenient travel.
Instead, the author had stubbornly refused to include anything that modern.
By the time they arrived, Alyosha’s tailbone ached so badly and her motion sickness was so severe that she felt close to tears.
Stepping out of the carriage at the Knights’ Order headquarters, she took a deep breath.
‘Don’t be nervous. Chin up. I’m a noble. I’m a noble….’
Perhaps her self-hypnosis worked.
She straightened her back and walked with perfect composure.
Meanwhile, the knights who noticed her suddenly began ripping off their shirts, doing push-ups, or loudly swinging their swords as if desperately trying to show off.
‘How adorable….’
Surrounded by sweaty men all day, the young knights were clearly excited by the appearance of a woman.
The sight almost made her smile.
She considered greeting them, but this was her brother’s workplace.
She couldn’t behave in an undignified manner.
Instead, Alyosha decided to quietly enjoy the spectacle with the full 150-degree range of human peripheral vision.
‘It’s certainly pleasing to the eyes… but I don’t see anyone who looks like a main character.’
If even these passing background characters were this handsome, she couldn’t wait to see the actual protagonists.
“Alyosha! What brings you here?”
Seeing Alexis hurrying toward her from a distance with dark circles under his eyes made her feel a little sorry for him.
“I heard from the butler that you never came home, so I got worried.”
“You were that worried? Normally you avoid coming here because you say the knights make you uncomfortable….”
Alyosha glanced at the knight standing beside her.
He immediately handed the basket he was carrying to Alexis.
“It’s a change of clothes… and breakfast.”
“You really went to all this trouble. Thank you.”
“So? Did you discover anything?”
Judging by the dark circles beneath his eyes, things clearly hadn’t gone smoothly.
She didn’t have any shared memories to bring up with him either.
So, pretending to make casual conversation about a case she wasn’t actually interested in, Alyosha fished for information.
“Just as you suggested, we gathered all the information together and found far more clues than we expected. Since the investigation is still ongoing, I can’t tell you everything, but we’ve narrowed it down to about five people connected to the case.”
Alexis pulled a sheet of paper with a portrait sketched on it from inside his coat and handed it to her.
She had no desire to get involved.
Still, for the sake of ending the mystery arc as quickly as possible, Alyosha glanced over the drawing.
“…Who is this?”
Even in the portrait, the man’s sharp, gloomy eyes stood out.
There was something about him that instinctively made her want to avoid him.
He practically looked like he was announcing, I’m the culprit.
Alyosha frowned.
