The Villainess is a Millionaire Solver - Chapter 176

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

Chapter 176

I wanted to stay like that forever if I could.

But….

In the comfortable and warm darkness that enveloped me, suddenly a certain scene came clearly to mind.

A figure in black clothes, standing with their back to gently swaying curtains.

The murderer.

He was looking straight at me.

“…!”

I came to my senses as if waking from a dream.

“Ah, that’s right! The documents!”

At the Subterranean Master Guild Headquarters beneath the chapel, I had received the investigation results that Ruellian had commissioned from a lower guild.

But being surrounded by the Security Forces, I had somehow completely forgotten about them.

“Wait a moment.”

I briefly separated from Ruellian and hurriedly searched through my clothes.

Though my clothes were thoroughly soaked, those documents weren’t ordinary papers but magical documents with some degree of self-protection.

Moreover, whether the Maritime Kingdom’s traditional clothing I had worn had waterproof functions, even though everything else was wet, the tightly wrapped inner chest area had suffered relatively less damage.

‘I’ll take back what I said about it being an unhelpful country. At least I benefited from one thing.’

Seeing me pull out a bundle of documents from my clothes, Ruellian’s eyes widened.

“That is…?”

“Right. These are the background investigation documents you commissioned.”

“How did you know to bring those?”

“Of course, because you mentioned them directly before. You said we needed to compare them with what the Empress investigated and found out. That’s why I broke off my engagement and rushed here. Since you were being pursued and would have restrictions on your actions, I tried to receive the investigation results in your place.”

“….”

Ruellian looked at me for a moment, at a loss for words.

His eyes showed both surprise and emotion at the fact that I had such thoughts.

What’s so surprising about that?

At this rate, he’ll be moved if I eat bread, and moved if I wash my face.

I shook my head and held up the bundle of reports.

“Which of these should we look at?”

“Let me see….”

Ruellian gathered his momentarily scattered thoughts and spread out the documents.

“First, I asked them to find anyone who could testify even a little about that dead maid Eloise, and since there were results, they must have responded, right?”

His hands flipped through the papers at lightning speed.

Soon, from among the reports marked with the Dark Guild’s seal, he pulled out certain documents.

“No family, no relatives, no friends. Even if there were people who occasionally remembered someone named Eloise, they all said they had nothing to talk about. Only one person testified. Her dead sister’s ex-husband.”

“Her dead sister’s ex-husband. That’s worse than a stranger. It’s amazing they found him.”

“That’s why it’s the Dark Guild.”

Ruellian read the report aloud.

“According to his testimony, Eloise was loose-lipped. Even though she absolutely shouldn’t reveal what happened inside the Imperial Palace, when she got drunk, she would chatter excitedly. About who was having an affair with whom, about some Duchess’s hair being a wig. She even talked freely about matters concerning the Emperor and Empress.”

He turned to the next page.

“So her dead sister constantly nagged her about it. She said if Eloise couldn’t fix that habit, she might be killed and buried without anyone knowing.”

“Oh….”

A sigh escaped from my lips.

“Could she really have been killed for that reason?”

“It’s entirely possible. If the murderer heard Eloise’s words and became enraged, or wanted to silence her.”

Ruellian said this while looking at me.

“Aristina, you clearly said this earlier, right? That the Imperial Palace is one of the most dangerous places for you.”

“Right.”

“After hearing those words, I finally realized why I lost track of that bastard while chasing him. He fled to a place I never expected. The Imperial Palace. That was his stronghold.”

Ruellian’s face hardened.

“Someone with such force and ability who can hide freely within the Imperial Palace. No matter how I think about it, there’s only one such person.”

“….”

“My thinking is correct, isn’t it?”

Instead of answering, I nodded once.

I couldn’t bring myself to answer with words.

Because Theseus Marquis was also the Master who had taught swordsmanship to Ruellian.

Ruellian still deeply respected this Empire’s greatest knight.

But that very Master killed his parents and brought disgrace to the entire family, driving him into this predicament?

It would be an unbearable shock.

“….”

Ruellian said nothing for a while. He seemed to need time to process the shock.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to that….

To give us both time to sort out our feelings, I rifled through the documents.

“Tesseud, who was a knight at the height of his success, ended up killing a palace maid one ball night. It would be an unbelievable story to anyone, but it’s not entirely impossible. He has one weakness. His love for Empress Imelda.”

My muttering voice echoed softly in the quiet cave.

“For some reason related to the Empress, there’s a possibility he killed the maid Eloise. The weapon was Windfearer, the Empire’s sacred sword. It was probably an impulsive crime. He couldn’t have been unaware that if the sacred sword disappeared due to being tainted by sin, everyone would blame Empress Imelda.”

“….”

“Anyway, by the time he came to his senses, the milk had already been spilled. The Empire’s only Sword Master and respected knight killed a palace maid? If this fact came to light, he would be finished. Moreover, if it was revealed that the motive for murder was related to the Empress? The Empress, who was already going to be blamed for Windfearer’s disappearance, could have fallen together with him over this incident.”

“….”

“So he decided to cover up the crime. Making it look like the maid Eloise died of a heart attack in her quarters. He succeeded in moving the body without anyone knowing, but there was one problem. There were people who witnessed his crime.”

The color drained from Ruellian’s face as he listened to my voice while lost in thought.

I sighed once and muttered.

“The Lacroix Couple realized they had witnessed a scene they should never have seen and, terrified, immediately packed their bags to flee the capital. But they couldn’t escape Tesseud’s grasp. To protect himself and Empress Imelda, he ended up killing the innocent Lacroix Couple as well.”

The terrible scene I had witnessed when entering Ruellian’s dream came to mind.

Poor people….

“Empress Imelda, who learned of this fact, suffered and eventually took her own life. Tesseud was plunged into grief. But now that it had come to this, the Empress’s honor had to be protected even more. The truth of the incident was buried in darkness, but Tesseud still couldn’t rest easy. Because there was one more witness. That was me.”

Recalling the image of the murderer in the darkness once more, I shuddered.

“Little Aristina was secretly hiding in the Imperial Palace following the Crown Prince around, and witnessed Tesseud moving the body to cover up his crime. But seeing that Tesseud didn’t kill me right away, I must have somehow made excuses that I saw nothing and escaped. But he still didn’t let go of his suspicions and continued watching me….”

I let my shoulders drop.

“Then when he secretly retrieved Windfearer, he must have decided he had to kill me with it. Because with that sword, a perfect crime was possible.”

Indeed, he carried out that plan. He stabbed and killed me.

But unexpectedly, I avoided death and returned through the miracle caused by my two mothers.

Thinking this way, the events that had happened so far roughly fit together.

“How….”

Ruellian, who had been lost in thought in a daze, finally let out words mixed with groans.

“How could this be….”

His eyes, which had been wandering aimlessly unable to find a place to rest, turned toward me.

Though the aftermath of shock still remained in those eyes, he seemed to have somehow come to his senses.

“If that’s the case, this is no ordinary matter. The opponent is too strong. We need to move quickly.”

“…Grace.”

I held up the document stamped with the Dark Guild’s seal.

“On the night Eloise was murdered, the Empress was with her maid Grace. When I appeared to interrogate her, this old veteran maid took poison herself and ruined her tongue. Grace definitely knows something. We must meet her.”

“Good. The key is that maid.”

Ruellian nodded.

He was right. The opponent was too strong. To survive, we had to hurry.

We quickly headed toward the inside of the cave.

Following the long corridor, we came to high stone stairs.

It was said to be a refuge for monks who had suffered religious persecution. It appeared to have been made by carving natural stone long ago.

“Come, this way.”

Ruellian took the lead up the stairs, pulling my hand along.

At the end of the stairs was a stone door.

When Ruellian pulled a lever on the wall, the stone door opened and revealed a basement.

Wine barrels made of oak were stacked everywhere around us.

My eyes widened at the unexpected scene.

“A tavern storehouse?”

“Right. We can get outside through here.”

Ruellian took the lead while keeping watch in all directions.

We went up the basement stairs to the tavern’s first floor.

The place was empty. But it wasn’t quiet. Outside the window was very noisy.

What’s that? Just as I approached, a loud boom! echoed through the air.

We both flinched in surprise.

“Cannon fire?”

I pressed my body close to the window and looked out to see the streets filled with Security Forces.

Ruellian frowned.

“There are more people than before?”

“Did reinforcements come?”

Something didn’t seem right.

I thought the Security Forces would be busy searching the sea area. So I assumed the village would have relatively less security.

Unexpectedly, reinforcements had swarmed in from somewhere and were thoroughly surrounding the village. Among the noisy footsteps, I could hear someone shouting.

“It’s a strict order to capture her! Find even her corpse!”

That person, who seemed to have quite a high rank, shouted loudly.

“Aristina Rosen is a serious criminal who attempted to assassinate His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Second Prince!”

I doubted my ears.

What did he say?

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