I Cured the Mastermind and Failed to Run Away - Chapter 24

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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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Chapter 24

“You saw me? Saw what exactly?”
Chedwin’s eyes turned cold and distant.
“That day? Me? On the Balcony?”
He stepped closer, urgency sharpening his movements.
“Why didn’t you tell me until now?”
His gaze flashed with barely restrained fury.
‘Oh God! He was looking for me! He’s been looking for me all along!’
Revelin’s mind screamed silently, the realization crashing down like thunder.
She’d thought his silence meant he’d given up the search.
His reaction told her she’d been catastrophically wrong.
Fear seized her throat like an invisible hand, but she forced herself to hold her ground.
Backing down now would be fatal.
“Surely you sent out letters asking anyone who witnessed the loss of valuables on the Balcony during the victory banquet?”
Revelin’s mouth had gone dry. She’d never been good at lying, but now every ounce of her acting ability had to surface.
“I collapsed on the way back from the banquet and didn’t regain consciousness for four days. I must have been so anxious about appearing in public again that my body simply gave out.”
The word “collapsed” made Chedwin flinch. The relentless pressure he’d been applying moments before eased noticeably.
Of course—pressing someone who’d been ill wasn’t something a decent man would do.
“I didn’t want people to gossip about it, so my father handled it quietly. Your Highness wouldn’t have heard about it at all.”
She wove truth through the lie, plugging every gap with plausible detail.
“And after you woke?”
“Four days had already passed, and I assumed the matter of the lost valuables had been resolved. Since Your Highness and I have no personal connection, I couldn’t very well ask out of the blue.”
“You could have asked when we met directly in the Contaminated Area.”
His sharp interrogation had stopped, but Chedwin still wouldn’t release his thread of suspicion.
Having come this far, she couldn’t falter now.
“But by then, I’d heard the rumors—that the lost valuables story was a lie, and you’d actually set a trap to silence someone who’d witnessed a secret tryst with a lover!”
When she pulled out the rumor she’d heard at the Illegal Auction House, he didn’t answer. Instead, he ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek and furrowed his brow.
“After that, there were so many rumors about Your Highness hiding your lover’s identity and this forbidden love that I genuinely believed it, so I pretended to know nothing.”
Chedwin, who had never once denied the lover rumors, found himself without a rebuttal.
“Ha.”
He exhaled sharply, placing both hands on his hips and lowering his head.
‘Did it work?’
She silently promised herself she’d never slip up like that again—just let him believe her this once.
His fingers drummed against his waist as he contemplated for a long moment, then he clicked his tongue.
“Fine.”
He conceded plainly.
“I do need to find that person.”
Revelin wanted to reach back through time and slap her past self for assuming he’d given up the search.
“I suppose they were a stranger, then.”
She managed to keep her voice level despite the panic clawing at her chest.
Chedwin didn’t respond.
The fact that he admitted to searching but said nothing of the Purifier told her he wanted to hide that he’d needed Purification—that his mind had been contaminated.
‘Why would he need to hide something like that?’
Everyone who entered the Contaminated Area received Purification afterward. It was neither unusual nor shameful, so why conceal it? Pride as a Sword Master?
‘Though I suppose it works in my favor!’
Revelin seized the opening and began to fabricate a description.
“Their face was too far away for me to see clearly.”
Now that she knew he was still searching for her, she couldn’t simply let this lie dormant.
She continued as if retrieving memories from that day.
“I do remember they were exceptionally tall—much taller than me.”
“Exceptionally tall?”
“Yes.”
Chedwin’s brow tightened as if something didn’t sit right, but Revelin pressed on without pause.
“And, um, well, they had blonde hair! The hair was quite short, I think.”
She looked down at her own long silver hair and wove a description that was its exact opposite.
The opposite. Say the complete opposite.
“Young lady, you’re certain about the short hair?”
“Pardon?”
“I said, are you certain?”
What if he remembered something? No. Chedwin hadn’t been in his right mind that night.
Even if he had seen something, he’d doubt whether he’d actually seen it correctly.
“Yes.”
Revelin decided to press forward.
“The hair was very, very short. Quite uncommon.”
Uncommon meant distinctive, and distinctive meant easy to find—a hope that would guide him false.
That hope would become the poison that turned his eyes from the truth.
A quiet silence fell. Chedwin stared down at Revelin for a long moment, then nodded.
“If that’s what the young lady saw with her own eyes, then that must be it.”
The muscles knotted with tension slowly loosened.
‘Thank goodness. I was right to push so hard.’
Lies thrive on momentum!
“Do you know which family she belongs to?”
“Not nobility… well, she might have been a fallen noble.”
“A fallen noble.”
“It’s just my guess. Her dress looked outdated in design.”
Revelin had worn a dress that day incorporating every fashionable design currently in vogue.
“Or she could have been a commoner attending as someone’s partner. There were commoner Purifiers present that evening, after all.”
“Tall, short blonde hair, commoner or fallen noble.”
The complete opposite of Revelin.
“I didn’t look closely—it would have been rude to stare.”
As the sole witness, Revelin spoke with confidence.
“I wish I could help more, but that’s all I remember. What a pity.”
Now Chedwin would waste time searching for someone who didn’t exist—a tall, short-haired blonde commoner Purifier—everyone except Revelin, who at 10th-Grade Purifier couldn’t even perform Purification.
Perfect.
Revelin’s inner smile bloomed quietly.
Then strange words reached her ear.
“In that case, I should spend even more time with you.”
Thunder struck from a clear sky.
“As Knight Commander, I reviewed the guest list for this Imperial Party in advance, and it overlapped significantly with the victory celebration last time. If what you say is true, there’s a strong chance she attended this party as well.”
He should have mentioned that when he proposed being partners earlier.
“You said you wanted to help me more? That works out well.”
Revelin’s gaze dropped slightly to hide the trembling in her eyes.
“You’re currently my only witness—a tall commoner with short blonde hair. Attend as my partner, and if you spot anyone who looks similar, tell me.”
Wait. This isn’t right.
Revelin opened her mouth to refuse the partnership proposal, but Chedwin seized the moment first.
“I’m not forcing your choice. If you decline, I’ll simply investigate the tall, short-haired blondes—commoners and fallen nobles alike—attending the Imperial Party myself. It doesn’t matter to me.”
As Chedwin tilted his head, his eyes gleamed coldly.
“I’m in a state where I’ve lost my mind hunting for that young lady. I didn’t know where to start searching, but your information proved useful.”
Chedwin was the sort of man who, if he set his mind to it, would investigate thoroughly—and more. If a full-scale investigation unfolded, there was no predicting what fallout might follow.
It was possible Revelin herself could be endangered.
‘Perhaps it’s better if I go along directly and obstruct things before they spiral out of control.’
She’d be able to hear about the oracle, and besides, she could confuse the sharp-eyed, quick-witted Chedwin from right beside him.
Good.
“I’ll go with you.”
The moment Revelin said she would accompany him, Chedwin’s pupils flashed with sinister light.
“Contact me once the schedule is finalized.”
Like a man observing a rabbit caught in a trap, he twisted the corners of his mouth softly.
“Of course, young lady. A wise choice.”

* * *

“Your Grace, did you and Lord Ranuia reach agreement on the division of duties regarding His Holiness’s escort?”
Revelin had departed, and Chedwin now climbed into his carriage after discussing the schedule with Ranuia, the Knight Commander.
“Clear away every rumor about me circulating in the empire.”
“Yes? But… the rumors are narrowing down to specific candidates, so if we wait just a bit longer, the pool of suspects should shrink further.”
Chedwin, unfastening his cuffs, narrowed his eyes and regarded his aide in silence.
“Was my speech unclear?”
His voice fell like frost.
At that sharp, piercing gaze, Chedwin’s aide immediately bowed his head.
“I shall attend to it at once, Your Grace.”
“Deny all rumors that have been spread. And going forward, see that anyone who brings shame upon the Belharck Grand Duchy is dealt with by the sword.”
“Yes.”
With the aide’s assent, the carriage fell silent. Presently, it began to move.
Chedwin, sleeves rolled, turned his gaze toward the darkening window.
“Long hair.”
“Sir?”
“What I remember clearly is the long hair.”
“You mean the unknown Purifier you met on the Balcony, Your Grace? Yes, you’ve mentioned that before.”
Chedwin drummed his thick thigh with his fingers.
“Revelin Ethelion.”
“Yes?”
“Find out what perfume and bath products Revelin Ethelion uses.”
The incense unique to the Temple’s prayer chamber had mingled with the scent, making it impossible to identify precisely—but today he’d caught from Revelin a fragrance similar to the one he’d remembered from the Balcony at the victory celebration. It was faint, nearly overshadowed, yet unmistakably there.
From the Balcony at the victory celebration, what Chedwin remembered was long hair, a silhouette, and a fragrance.
He had wandered through perfume workshops and the salons frequented by noblewomen, sampling scents everywhere, but found nothing that matched.
And today, for the first time, he had caught that scent.
“A 10th-Grade Purifier.”
Chedwin murmured it under his breath.

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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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