Chapter 7
“How could I? I was the one who was at the scene. And Cherry Sinclair appears on the front page of the newspaper every day. How could I not see it?”
Eden replied as he folded the newspaper with an incredulous look on his face. Inspector Marcel shook his head as he looked at Eden.
“Why are you risking your life over investigations like this? Even if you only get moderate results, you’re already on a smooth road to becoming the Chief of Police, aren’t you?”
Eden’s father, the Duke of Lancaster, was unhappy that Eden had given up his title to become a police officer. However, his noble birth had not disappeared, so everyone in the police force considered his rapid promotion a certainty.
“So there’s no reason for you to stir up trouble by going after the Sinclair family.”
Inspector Marcel advised Eden. That was how dangerous it was to go against the Sinclair family.
“I didn’t become a police officer because I wanted to become Chief of Police. If I wanted honor, I would have simply inherited the title of Duke of Lancaster.”
Eden was a man with a strong sense of duty as a police officer. He was also unusual in many ways. Giving up his title of duke to become a police officer was one example. Another was that, unlike most high-ranking nobles, there was hardly any dignity in the way he behaved.
Even though he could be somewhat rough and arrogant, everyone acknowledged his abilities. He was a genius with the sword and a genius with firearms. Those were the nicknames he had received while attending Luvridge Benton College, the royal school of Grayden.
“More importantly, Inspector. Did you see today’s daily newspaper from the Benton newspaper company? There isn’t even a single word about that monster.”
At Eden’s words, Inspector Marcel sighed with a tired expression.
“The higher-ups ordered us not to cause confusion until we know the truth. You should try not to dig into it too much either.”
Hearing Inspector Marcel, Eden wondered who the ‘higher-ups’ giving such orders were. But he could already guess who would be capable of doing something like this. Somehow, he felt as if he had learned the answer before even looking for it.
Just then, Inspector Marcel asked him,
“But what is that brooch?”
A sparkling brooch was in Eden’s hand. It was an elaborate brooch decorated with a rubellite gemstone and golden flowers.
“There was a woman who killed the monster by striking it with an axe.”
Eden was certain that the person had been a woman. That bright and pretty voice, lively like rolling beads, was definitely a woman’s voice.
The next thing he remembered was her eyes. She had been wearing something like a mask, so her eyes were the only thing he could see. Her beautiful golden eyes, as if they had been made by melting pure gold, were deeply engraved in Eden’s mind.
“She killed that monster with an axe… An axe? She killed it with an axe? Did you see how big that thing was?”
“It’s strange, isn’t it? I find it very strange too. My younger sister said she witnessed the scene herself. Even an adult man would have had difficulty doing it, but that woman killed such a huge monster with her own strength.”
“With her own strength… That really is strange.”
As Inspector Marcel stared at him in surprise, Eden raised the brooch in his hand.
[C. S.]
Those initials were engraved on it.
Even if that woman was Aurora’s savior, she was still a suspicious person who had fled the scene. And although it was only a suspicion for now, Eden felt that she might also be connected to that unidentified monster.
‘C. S. could also be the initials of Cherry Sinclair.’
Her eye color was the same, too.
The thought suddenly crossed Eden’s mind, and he let out a hollow laugh without realizing it. It was a completely ridiculous thought. Cherry Sinclair hated such remote and rough places, and she was physically weak as well.
He handed the newspaper he was holding to a police officer waiting nearby and left the yard of the mansion at 61 Notium Street.
Behind Eden, Inspector Marcel asked,
“Where are you going?”
“I received a tip that a large amount of firearms was illegally brought in from the Kingdom of Briwood. Thanks to you, Inspector, it seems there’s nothing more for me to do here, so I should go take care of that.”
“Who gave you the tip?”
Eden took a bag of chocolate from his pocket, opened the wrapper, and tossed one into his mouth before answering.
“I’ll find out from now on. I’ll be back.”
His attitude was not exactly proper, but he gave Inspector Marcel a fairly respectful greeting before leaving.
Benton, Westmore, Honderf, and then Kintne.
There were three stops in total from the Benton train station in the capital to Kintne Station. After getting off at Kintne Station, I would take a carriage deeper into the mountains, and then I would arrive at Brunel.
A place where neither automobiles nor trams operated. It made me realize just how comfortably and elegantly I had been living in the capital.
Still, the train was very fast, so although I left in the morning, I arrived in the afternoon.
‘I’m finally here!’
In Brunel, the village where I would build my shelter!
I shaded my eyes with one hand and looked up. On a hill outside Brunel, I saw an isolated mansion standing like a fortress.
The isolated mansion where Vanilla had lived in the novel was the only one in this village. In fact, it was hidden among thick trees, so the only thing I could barely see was the mansion’s chimney. It was a gloomy, huge mansion that looked like something from an American horror movie.
‘This place looks like it was made for monsters to come out of.’
I swallowed nervously. It felt as if a chill was coming from the mansion.
I planned to meet the owner, Vanilla, after being introduced to her by the village chief of Brunel, and then purchase the mansion.
‘So this mansion belonged to Vanilla.’
As I had said before, the mansion was like a fortress, safely positioned on top of a hill. The village was in front of it, while behind it was a mountain where I could gather many different kinds of supplies.
Although the village was small, it had all the stores necessary for survival: a grocery store, general store, medical clinic, weapons shop, restaurant, inn, and more. It was good enough to use the entire village as a survival camp.
‘It would be nice if I could just buy the whole village.’
Of course, I knew that was impossible. There were many things in this world that even money could not buy.
After looking around the mansion, I decided to wait for the owner, Vanilla, so I could purchase it.
However, even after waiting for a long time, Vanilla did not come.
After asking around, I learned that Vanilla was away today and that I would probably have to wait until tomorrow to meet her.
‘Not a good start. What is going to happen tomorrow?’
I pushed away my uneasy feelings and had no choice but to spend the night at an inn in the village.
That night, in the capital, Benton.
Eden grabbed the back of a man’s neck as he stumbled around in front of a dead-end alley. Then he pulled out a baton from his waist and swung it.
Thud─.
“Ugh!”
The man struck by the baton fell to the ground. With a tired face, Eden rubbed his face dry and sat down on the man’s lower back.
“Hey, do you know who I am?”
Eden muttered irritably as he ran his fingers through the back of his head. The man beneath him could only groan in pain.
Eden pulled out his revolver and opened the rotating cylinder. There were three bullets inside the six chambers. He took new bullets from his pocket and loaded them into the empty chambers as he spoke.
“I’m not normally at the level where I’d come to catch someone like you myself. So what do you think it means that I came here personally? It means you’re fucking screwed.”
The vulgar curse that came from Eden’s mouth did not match his appearance at all. He looked like someone who would follow strict and old-fashioned gentlemanly manners.
The man Eden had just caught had been arrested at the scene while meeting an illegal weapons dealer.
“Tell me. I heard most of the firearms illegally brought in from the Kingdom of Briwood are supposed to be sent down to some remote countryside. We still don’t know where that countryside is.”
In the Kingdom of Grayden, it was illegal for ordinary people to own firearms. From Eden’s position as a police officer, this was clearly an issue worth investigating.
Eden spun the cylinder after loading all the bullets.
Click─.
Hearing the sound, the man groaned in fear.
“I-I really don’t know. I’m just a messenger. I only receive the goods and deliver them!”
“You expect me to believe that? You were caught at the scene, you bastard.”
Eden irritably tapped the man’s head with the barrel of his revolver. The man stiffened his neck in fear. His shirt collar was already soaked with sweat.
“I confirmed that Lawyer Howard is involved. Is this something the Sinclair family is doing? Answer me.”
In Grayden, the name ‘Sinclair’ carried as much power as Eden’s Lancaster family. A family that wealthy would have no trouble smuggling firearms if they truly wanted to.
Eden had told Inspector Marcel that he had received a tip, but he had seen it clearly with his own eyes. Jose, an illegal weapons expert from the Kingdom of Briwood whom Eden had been watching recently, had secretly met with Harrison Howard.
There was no evidence, but the suspicion was almost certain.
‘And Cherry Sinclair has been avoiding my calls.’
Whether she knew something or not, it was difficult to even speak with Cherry. It was as if she was deliberately avoiding him.
“The heiress of the Sinclair family suddenly borrowed 100 million gold and then disappeared. Is that related to this?”
Even at Eden’s question, the man only let out a painful groan and remained silent.
Eden took a notebook from the pocket of his uniform. When he opened it, he saw a photograph cut out from a newspaper and pasted inside.
Golden eyes that sparkled as if they had been crafted from gold, and cherry-colored—in other words, dark pink—messy curly hair. The woman in the photograph was wearing a cute cocktail hat and smiling brightly, showing her perfectly white teeth. Her lively energy seemed to jump right out of the picture.
He could understand why she was called the embarrassingly ridiculous nickname, ‘Lady Rock Candy.’ She had such a flashy and lovely appearance that people’s eyes would naturally be drawn to Cherry no matter who she was with.
More than anything, her appearance was exactly Eden’s type.
‘But…’
The rumors about Cherry Sinclair usually described her as a spoiled rich girl. She loved fancy parties, spent money like water, and was a gossip girl who always caused one scandal after another.
There was also a common opinion that, despite her picky personality, she was indecisive and incapable, and therefore had no qualities needed to lead the Sinclair family.
She was exactly the kind of person Eden despised most.
And now, she also seemed to be connected to the firearm smuggling case.
‘Cherry Sinclair…’
Eden hated it when things did not go according to plan. He also hated leaving unanswered questions behind.
The monster incident was the same. So was this firearm smuggling case.
However, the Chief of Police had already decided that this case was connected to Harrison, and therefore the Sinclair family, and was trying to keep it quiet.
‘It makes sense. The Sinclair family was the one that made the current Chief of Police what he is.’
Cherry Sinclair was bothering him.
And when something bothered Eden, he could not rest until he brought it directly in front of him and investigated it himself.
Eden’s cold gaze fell on the man beneath his feet.
“I just had a good idea.”
