The Reason I Got Engaged to My Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 35
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 35
I couldn’t identify what kind of plant scent was coming from Michael.
As Chris said, I thought maybe the scents had mixed since there was nothing particularly special about how they were handled, but even when I gathered two or three and held them to my nose, that scent didn’t come out.
‘…Maybe that man just ate some food he should have avoided before going to see Michael?’
Perhaps it was an allergic reaction caused by a factor completely unrelated to Michael.
I tapped the table with a serious expression, then
‘Could it be…?’
suddenly thought of one possibility.
“Chris.”
“Yes.”
“Give me a cigar. Light it up.”
“…?”
Chris looked at me with shocked eyes and stammered.
“O-Owner, do you smoke cigars? Since when? I really had no idea…”
“No, you think I’m asking for one to smoke myself? It’s not like that, so just give it to me quickly.”
Chris took out a cigar from his clothes, lit it, and handed it to me.
Even while doing so, he looked at me with suspicious eyes, as if he couldn’t shake off the ‘Owner is a smoker theory.’
I brought the smoking cigar close to the plants.
Until the plants were sufficiently infused with the cigar smoke.
Then, when I brought my nose close again…
‘This is it.’
I was finally able to find the culprit behind the smell that came from Michael. Just how much of a chain smoker must he be.
‘Clark flowers. He’s allergic to these.’
They were neutral-colored flowers that young ladies often used to decorate their dresses.
‘…Or maybe he really was someone who doesn’t use his voice much, like someone with a cold.’
Now there was only one clue left.
The pattern discovered on the back of the hand of the person called ‘Teddy.’
And I would soon be able to find the end of this small clue at the Security Bureau.
***
Lionel sent a letter. The content was simple.
He had something to say regarding the pattern that Viscount Racon had told him about, so please visit the Security Bureau quickly.
Thinking that traces of Teddy might emerge, I headed to the Security Bureau with Chris.
The Security Bureau we arrived at was…
“Move quickly!”
“Catch him over there!”
“Hey, I told you not to come closer so many times…”
“Hey!”
It was complete chaos.
‘Hmm… I need to find Sir Lionel first.’
Where should I go.
The problem was that it only said ‘please visit quickly’ without any content about ‘when and where to meet.’
‘Well, I did visit once before.’
Thinking I’d naturally be able to find him once I went inside, I started walking.
“…Huh?”
At that moment, Chris, who had been following behind me, hesitated.
Chris’s gaze fell on the chaos unfolding next to the Security Bureau entrance.
More precisely, on the medical trolley that the officers were surrounding.
The officers were standing guard so no one could see, so I had been deliberately not paying attention, but once I focused on it, I suddenly became curious.
Could the person on that trolley be related to the reason Lionel called me?
“Ah… haha, Young-ae.”
But there was someone blocking between the chaos and me, none other than Lionel.
“Someone as delicate as Young-ae shouldn’t see such things.”
“Such things?”
“Yes, well, I don’t know if you’re aware… It’s the fourth person pulled from the Rüpel River. Since they were in the water for a long time, their condition is a bit… Ah, anyway, let’s go inside!”
Lionel, who hastily cut off his words, guided us both inside the Security Bureau, almost pushing us.
Following Lionel, I quietly asked Chris.
“What happened earlier?”
“…Well, the person on the trolley. I got a rough look at their face between the officers, and they looked similar to Teddy.”
“Teddy?”
“Yes, as that officer said, they were in bad condition… but I could recognize them immediately. He’s someone I’ve lived with like family since childhood.”
Chris clenched and unclenched his fists with an anxious expression, then spoke to Lionel.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes, yes? Are you talking to me?”
“The person outside… I think I know them. Can I check now?”
“…”
Lionel hesitated and spoke with extreme tension.
“W-well, if you go through the procedures, you can check… Please briefly state what your relationship was… and y-y-y-you’ll have to see the c-corpse. A-are you really asking me to…”
Sniffling. Lionel’s face had become one that looked like he might cry at any moment.
‘It doesn’t seem like he blocked me earlier for my sake…’
He seemed terrified of seeing corpses. Well, it would be a horrific sight.
Just then, an officer passing by us looked at Lionel with disbelief and said to Chris.
“Come to my desk. I’ll guide you.”
It was that senior who had called Lionel a ‘chicken heart’ last time.
“And Lionel, come see me later.”
Lionel’s face became increasingly tearful as he watched the senior pat his shoulder and walk away.
What to do with this righteous but cowardly believer.
After Chris disappeared following Lionel’s senior, I sat down and asked something I’d been curious about.
“How did you come to choose the profession of officer?”
Of course, few people choose jobs based on their talents, but an officer who’s dozens of times more fearful than ordinary people…
“Well, that’s. When I was young, I once lost my little sister Lini… on the street.”
As if he’d received this question quite often, Lionel naturally brought up the story.
“I cried and searched for her all day, and that night an officer found my sister for me. Looking back now, it was a really trivial matter, but back then that officer looked so cool to me… That’s all.”
Lionel laughed, saying it was too trivial a story to be embarrassing.
Then he suddenly flinched and carefully added.
“Um, well… if you find an unqualified officer like me unreliable as your contact, you can change anytime…”
“What? No. I think you’re a very reliable officer.”
Not simply because it suited his aptitude, or to make money, but because the officer he met as a child looked so cool.
In the Security Bureau where justice was most important, there couldn’t be a more reliable person than this.
“Well, it’s true that you’re fearful, but you’re trying to overcome it, aren’t you?”
I gestured toward the angel sculpture and cross decoration on the desk.
“The world isn’t soft enough to give qualifications to those who don’t try. Have confidence.”
“Y-Young-ae…”
Lionel’s eyes turned red.
Then he unnecessarily shuffled through papers and changed the subject.
“I’d like to have such conversations with Young-ae all day… but there’s an important matter, so let’s handle business first.”
Lionel began explaining why he had called me to the Security Bureau.
“Currently, a total of four corpses have been found that are presumed to have jumped into the Rüpel River, with no blood relatives to be found. The most recently discovered one is that person who was on the trolley earlier.”
“Um, yes.”
“And on the back of every single corpse’s hand, we found the symbol that Mr. Racon had drawn. That’s why the Rüpel River case was transferred to our department.”
“…The symbol?”
I had thought there would be a symbol on Teddy’s hand outside.
But I never imagined that Teddy wouldn’t be the only one bearing the symbol that Viscount Racon had drawn.
“Yes, that’s why I contacted you, Young-ae. Of course, you are also the younger sister of the Marquess’s wife, and I did promise to inform you immediately whenever new information came up… Do you happen to know anything about this symbol?”
“Well, I don’t really know anything in particular…”
I rubbed my thigh with an anxious expression.
The corpses discovered in the Rüpel River.
The symbols on the backs of their hands.
That very symbol that was on the hand of the murderer who silenced Viscount Racon and killed Sister.
The man who made a murder request to Michael, making strange demands…
“…”
My eyes widened in shock.
It felt like scattered puzzle pieces were fitting together perfectly.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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