ECD 03

Chapter 3 After I Died, Everything Changed

After Irene left, Abel unconsciously relaxed the hand he had been tightly clenching.

With his calloused hand, he irritably ran it through his hair.

“Damn it.”

Abel Mergen.

He had gone on four military expeditions since the age of fifteen and achieved remarkable accomplishments.

In the end, he became praised as a hero throughout the Empire.

There were so many medals decorating his military uniform that there was hardly enough fabric left to hold them all.

Yet even such a glorified war hero was nothing more than an insignificant human being in the Mergen estate.

He absentmindedly held the curtain around the bed, where sunlight clung to it.

A familiar scent rose from the thin fabric.

“……”

Once with his hand and once with his eyes, he endlessly brushed the half-transparent curtain.

“If you were going to leave like this……”

His mouth, which had opened slightly, closed tightly again.

Abel had a habit of carefully choosing his words whenever he was in front of Deborah.

Sometimes, he spent so long choosing his words that he could not even give an answer.

Even now that she was gone, he could not get rid of that habit.

The Mergen estate had always made him feel suffocated.

It was a place where he had to hide and bury everything, from his expression and emotions to even his mood.

That was why Abel often thought of the Mergen estate as a huge grave for his heart.

He had never imagined that he would return to that grave of his own accord, especially with news like this.

Back when Deborah was still watching over him, there had been a day when the look in her eyes toward him had gradually grown colder.

On that day, he had imagined that someday she might give him a coffin.

He had even thought that, in the end, he would willingly crawl inside that coffin.

But he had never imagined that the coffin would be Mergen itself.

It really should not have ended like this.

“……”

The calm scent stained his fingertips.

At the same time, a lost and directionless anger was staining his heart black.

“You must choose a new heir.”

Jupello, a vassal of Mergen, spoke to the head of the family.

“Deborah’s body has not even gone cold yet.”

The head of the family answered while looking at Deborah’s gravestone in the distance through the window.

At that, the vassals filling the meeting room busily exchanged glances with one another.

“Let us discuss that matter slowly.”

“Isn’t the answer already decided anyway?”

“That is right. Irene is sickly, so she is not fit to be the heir. That leaves only Abel and Nerzu.”

“Abel already has a great reputation throughout the Empire. There is nothing lacking in making him the heir.”

“Of course! We should be grateful that Lord Abel, praised as a war hero, is a member of our family!”

The vassals each raised their voices as if this were the perfect opportunity.

Listening to them, the head of the family let out a deep sigh and slowly closed his eyes.

The vassals’ words, crying out like a flock of crows, were exhausting him.

It had only been three days.

Only three days since Deborah had died.

They could not even wait those three days before raising their voices about the position of heir.

“Deborah served the family faithfully as its heir for a full ten years, starting from when she was still very young.”

“That is true, but… now that things have turned out this way…”

“That is right. Do you think we are not sad about Deborah’s death?”

Every one of them was desperately pushing the matter of the heir as if they had decided to shamelessly put on a thick face.

Chloe was leisurely watching the scene in the meeting room.

The situation had already tilted in her favor.

She was certain that she could now give the position of Mergen’s head, which she had wanted for so long, to her son without even lifting a finger.

Her eyes leisurely turned toward the head of the family standing by the window.

It had been eleven years since she remarried and became a member of Mergen.

No one would know how high the threshold of Mergen’s estate had seemed to the young Chloe when she crossed it while holding her young child’s hand.

After her husband died young, she had struggled desperately to survive in Mergen.

And now, the fruits of all that effort had finally arrived before her eyes.

A long shadow stretched from the feet of the head of the family, whose shoulders were drooping.

Chloe felt so pleased by this situation, in which the old man’s hope of taking his own bloodline with him even in death had been crushed, that she felt full without even eating.

The corners of her mouth unconsciously rose, but she quickly composed her expression so no one would notice.

“I said we should leave the matter buried for now.”

There was no other path anyway.

But the head of the family was delaying the decision out of nothing more than loyalty to the dead.

“That is right. Father, and everyone in Mergen, need enough time to mourn.”

Chloe spoke in a deliberately sorrowful voice.

At that, the vassals began lowering their voices.

“More importantly, shouldn’t we focus on finding the culprit?”

At the word culprit, the head of the family turned toward Chloe.

Their gazes sharply collided.

“I know very well who would be most suspected in a situation like this. That is why I want to uncover the truth of this matter so that not even the slightest suspicion remains.”

The head of the family narrowed his eyes at her confident attitude.

“I am innocent. Abel, who is on the battlefield, or Nerzu, who is at the academy, could not possibly be considered suspects, could they?”

“Who are you suspecting?”

The head of the family asked Chloe, who continued speaking smoothly as if she had prepared these words in advance.

“There is one more person qualified to become the heir, isn’t there?”

“Are you saying you suspect Irene?”

Chloe gently tilted her head in confirmation.

The head of the family gave a hollow laugh.

“That child has no interest in such a position! She is not even physically capable of it in the first place… Surely you do not mean that the other vassals suspect her as well?”

When the head of the family looked at the vassals, they awkwardly avoided one another’s eyes.

Anyone who knew Irene’s condition would never suspect her.

But the vassals were more than willing to use anyone as a sacrifice if it meant making this matter unfold in the way they wanted.

“Ahem. We cannot say there is absolutely no possibility.”

“You!”

“Wasn’t the recovery potion Deborah drank for the last time also given to her by Irene?”

“No poison was found in it!”

“You never know. Perhaps there was no problem with it by itself, but it could become poisonous when mixed with something else… Ahem.”

The vassals continued talking while desperately watching the head of the family’s reaction.

No, they were merely pretending to watch his reaction.

“You people really…”

Just as the head of the family was about to shout in anger, the door to the meeting room opened.

“I apologize for interrupting the meeting.”

When I appeared in the meeting room, the vassals showed various expressions.

Some looked puzzled, some were surprised, and some immediately revealed hostility.

“I heard the conversation from outside the door, so I took the liberty of interrupting for a moment.”

“How dare you! Do you even know what kind of place this is?”

One of the vassals scolded me.

“Wasn’t an investigation into Deborah’s death taking place?”

“You have no place in this.”

“If I have been placed under suspicion, then you should at least give me a chance to defend myself.”

The man who had spoken seemed quite flustered by my clear answer.

If it had been Irene, she would not have answered so clearly in a situation like this.

She probably would not even have opened that door and entered in the first place.

I calmly looked around at their faces while receiving their countless gazes.

The people who had acted like gentle lambs in front of me when I was Deborah were now stabbing me with gazes as sharp as thorns.

“First of all, if we are talking about people who had a motive to kill Deborah… no, my sister, then most of the people here would be included.”

“What are you talking about!”

“What nonsense are you spouting!”

The vassals could not hide their anger at my bombshell statement.

Some of them even jumped up from their seats.

Among them, I turned my gaze toward Roosevelt, my stepmother’s younger brother, who had been the first to leap to his feet.

“Wasn’t my sister the one who kept quiet about Lord Roosevelt’s embezzlement from the mines? But didn’t you grow tired of having to watch her every move because she had a weakness over you?”

“W-What are you talking about! What ridiculous nonsense…! It is all nonsense!”

Roosevelt turned pale and waved his hands frantically.

Then I turned my gaze toward my next target, Vermont.

“Lord Vermont’s merchant ship carrying wool was attacked and robbed, but my sister knew that you were still covering the loss with other trade payments because you were afraid the head of the family would find out.”

“H-How did you… Ahem! I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about!”

Everyone denied it, but none of them could hide their panic.

I slightly narrowed my eyes and smiled.

“Lord Gavian has his affair, Lord Miles has embezzlement, and let me see… Lord Yuskan also had some trouble involving his child, if I remember correctly. Shall I continue?”

“Ahem!”

“W-Why would you bring up such things on a day like this…”

“Why is the meeting room so hot? Ahem.”

The vassals busily avoided my eyes, fanning themselves with their hands and clearing their throats.

Then my gaze met that of my stepmother, Chloe.

“Lord Chloe, I do not think I need to explain anything about you.”

Her red eyes did not move even in this chaotic situation.

Every time her beautiful eyes blinked, they disappeared and appeared again.

“If there is going to be a discussion about suspects from now on, I would appreciate it if you could make a place for me as well.”

After finishing my words, I looked at my grandfather, the head of the family.

His eyes, which had always been firm and imposing like a gigantic tree, trembled for just a moment.

He must be surprised.