I Became the Female Lead Ruined by Others - Chapter 34

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 34

A chill raced up from my feet to the nape of my neck in an instant.

‘If it’s a small errand boy, it has to be Cap.’

I couldn’t fathom why Cap had gone to the Marquis Residence and told such a lie.
The commotion on the night the Assassin appeared had been loud enough that the servants couldn’t possibly have missed it.

‘Did Ted order him to do this?’

If House Brilliant had decided to make a preemptive move before I could think things through.
For now, there was no way to know, but dealing with the Adjutant in front of me took priority.

‘Execution, no less. No matter how much he threatened me, this could become troublesome later.’

I made my expression as menacing as possible and folded my arms with arrogant dismissal.

“Thanks to you, I’m recalling some rather ghastly and unpleasant memories.”

As I muttered an irritated aside, the Adjutant blinked several times.

“The moment he was subdued, he swallowed poison he’d hidden and took his own life. Spitting up scarlet blood in gushes.”

I watched the Adjutant’s mouth fall open in shock, then shuddered as if seized by a terrible memory, scrunching my face and wrapping my arms around myself.

Though it was deliberate acting, the Adjutant seemed taken aback that I’d produced details of the incident he hadn’t anticipated.

“But my errand boy is still just a child. There’s no need to expose him to such disgusting particulars. I only told him we’d handled it cleanly, but it seems a misunderstanding arose.”
“So when he sensed the failure, he took his own life right there in front of you?”
“Yes. It’s common enough for assassins who fail their contracts to end themselves, isn’t it? The poison he swallowed must have been virulent enough to kill him outright. The corpse revolted me so thoroughly that I had it thrown into the Crematorium at once.”

At my words, the Adjutant’s lips moved soundlessly before he spoke in a distinctly puzzled tone.

“I have received no account of this story from his Excellency.”
“Of course not. I never told him.”
“Had you mentioned it beforehand, it might have aided the investigation.”
“Might have is all it is, isn’t it?”

I stretched my head forward with my eyes wide open, my tone cutting.
Something about my flickering expression seemed to unsettling, for the Adjutant’s shoulders flinched.

“I didn’t fail to conduct one interrogation and then wait for investigation results. It was impossible because my interrogation subject was already dead, and it just so happened that day was when House Brilliant sent security personnel to support us.”

Of course, this was a bald-faced lie as well.
But my mind remembered the scene from the game where Bianca methodically crushed others with her own logic.
And the lie I was now constructing was organizing itself in my head with its own flawless reasoning.

“But watching the Adjutant report this excuse as investigation results, I find myself thinking something else.”
“Something else, you say……?”
“The assassin who penetrated the defense of House Brilliant’s renowned Knights Order must have been quite skilled, wouldn’t you say?”

The Adjutant’s expression grew uncertain at the unexpected question, yet he nodded without hesitation.

“That is correct.”
“But from another angle, the story changes entirely. I wonder if the Knights Order wasn’t simply a ragtag assembly sent to a minor baron’s residence. Is that not how he broke through so easily?”
“That’s—that’s not true!”

The man’s eyes, which had been held fast in an expression as sharp as his uniform, trembled violently.

“Of course, I’d prefer not to think such things. But another thought keeps gnawing at me—what if the Marquis simply doesn’t wish to investigate the true architects of this incident?”
“That cannot be, sir. Absolutely not! His Excellency has commanded us to pursue the investigation with every resource at our disposal!”
“Then perhaps—is there some connection between him and those behind this?”
“No, sir. I swear upon the Totex River itself—I am innocent. The Marquis and House Brilliant have no involvement whatsoever!”

I regarded him in silence, then drew myself upright once more.
The dignified bearing he had presented when waiting for me in the reception room had utterly vanished; now he avoided my gaze with obvious discomfort.

“Perhaps I should have them bring me ashes from the crematorium itself. By your own account, his belongings shouldn’t have decomposed just yet.”
“No, miss. The insufficiency of my investigation report is my own failing.”

The Adjutant spent some time after that offering excuses that were not quite excuses.
But whatever he said, it all amounted to the same conclusion: the Marquis was treating this matter with utmost seriousness, and every responsibility fell upon his own carelessness in assuming the investigation’s authority.

‘He’s quite devoted, isn’t he.’

After he had rambled on at length, I reluctantly waved my hand, and he lowered his head.

“If you would grant me a little more time, miss, I shall present you with results worthy of your confidence.”

Whether he had truly struck a nerve or merely looked genuinely aggrieved, my response could only be one thing.

“Very well. I’ll wait.”

He bowed deeply once more and turned to leave.
The moment he disappeared, I rapped my fist against the wall twice—bang, bang—and Ted came bursting into the reception room.

“Master, what—”
“Did you happen to tell the Captain that we’d killed the assassin?”

Ted’s eyes widened at my urgent question.

“What? No, sir. I haven’t said such a thing to any of the other servants. In fact, I warned them all quite firmly to stay nowhere near the basement, since we’ve got him locked up there.”
“So you did send the Captain to the Marquis Residence that day, though?”
“He usually takes on such errands anyway, but—”

Ted’s voice grew hesitant, as if he sensed something amiss.

‘So the Captain made up that absurd lie on his own?’

But in that moment, I realized the real problem lay elsewhere.

“Never mind that—what about the assassin? How is he now? Is he still out of his mind like before?”
“Ah, well, that is—”

Ted’s answer trailed off.
He had stiffened at my question, stammering incoherently.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t checked on him once this entire time?”
“Well, that is… since you gave no further orders after that day, I thought you meant to leave him undisturbed…”
“Did you not even feed him?!”

Truth be told, I had been too caught up in various matters to remember myself, so I was hardly in a position to blame him.
But Ted, steadfast as ever, hurried to make excuses for his oversight.

“I reasoned that for proper interrogation of a criminal, one must restrict even their basic needs to break their spirit, so I believed leaving him was actually the right course—”
“What are you talking about? Who on earth said that?”
“I read it in a book!”

An image surfaced in my mind—Ted as he’d been during the Assassin’s interrogation.
Not a trace of menace about him, only those rehearsed lines delivered with such transparent awkwardness.
My hand rose to the nape of my neck, which had begun to ache with tension I couldn’t quite name.

“I need to go down there. Now.”

I gathered my skirts and bolted from the Reception Room.

‘I have to check on the Assassin’s condition first!’

I came to a halt before the hidden door concealed behind the central staircase and nodded toward Ted as he caught up.
He drew the Key from his pocket, his hands trembling as he worked the lock.

“My lady, if you’ll permit me, I should go down first—”
“No. I’m going alone. Wait here.”

Two things had become certain from the last interrogation.
For one, Ted was more hindrance than help during questioning.

“While I’m down there, don’t let anyone in. And I mean anyone.”

And second, the man himself posed the same problem.
I snatched the ring of keys from Ted’s hesitant hand.
Without further hesitation, I descended alone into the Basement.
My urgent footsteps echoed across the cold stone stairs.

‘If that man dies, I’ll have no way to learn who sent him after me!’

Even if the Adjutant returned with proper investigation findings, there was the complication that I couldn’t simply take Marquis Brilliant’s word at face value.
My original plan had been to cross-reference the Assassin’s confession against whatever results the Adjutant brought back.

‘A person doesn’t die from going without food for a week, surely. He must have drunk the water in the bucket at least.’

Upon reaching the iron door, I inserted a key Ted hadn’t used—one I’d kept aside.
The lock, reinforced ever since that man’s appearance, as I’d ordered for security, clicked open with stubborn resistance.
I opened the door without pause.

“…What?”

Deep darkness filled the Basement’s interior. The man who should have been sprawled bound within the cage was gone.
To be precise: there was no one here at all.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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