Chapter 68
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The Male and Female Leads Broke Up - Episode 68
"Truth be told, I felt quite hurt when you spoke to me that day as though you suspected me."
"I was too hasty back then. Please forgive me. I'm truly sorry."
This apology carried genuine sincerity within it.
That day, I too had been without peace of mind.
Of course, my feelings toward Cain Maxius were what forced me to think of him in such a way.
"No, that's not why I brought it up—I wasn't seeking an apology. But since you've offered one, I'll accept it graciously."
"Thank you."
"I absolutely must catch the culprit this time. I cannot forgive whoever has put both the lady and myself in such a predicament."
I couldn't afford to give him an opening.
Just because I'd apologized once, he was already beginning to regard us as though we shared some common fate.
"Yes, I too will not forgive the culprit who injured the Byon Duchy's lady and attempted to frame me for it."
So I deliberately drew a clear line as I spoke.
I could see Cain Maxius's expression stiffen slightly.
"However, I—"
Just as Cain Maxius was about to open his mouth to refute my words, the conference room door opened.
And Aiden Byon stepped inside.
"You both arrived early. My apologies."
"No, I just got here myself."
The moment Aiden Byon appeared, I felt as though I'd been liberated from hell, and I greeted him with a broad smile.
Seeing me like that, Aiden Byon approached with a gentle smile and took the seat beside me.
"Belita, did you arrive home safely yesterday? I've been uneasy all this time for not being able to escort you."
"Yes, I got home fine."
"I'm relieved. However, there is something I must tell both of you."
The smile vanished from Aiden Byon's lips in an instant as he said he had something to tell us.
In its place, a grave atmosphere settled over his face.
"What is it?"
"What has happened?"
Cain Maxius and I asked Aiden Byon simultaneously.
"The Knight who was escorting my sister—the one who was supposedly on leave. That Knight has gone missing."
"What?"
"Missing? What do you mean by that!"
Interrogating that Knight was supposed to be today's most crucial task.
Above all, that Knight was the key that could bring us closest to the culprit.
And now he had vanished.
"Please explain in detail. What do you mean this Knight has disappeared?"
I didn't bother hiding my anxiety as I pressed him for answers.
"First, the Knight's name is Owen Est. Sir Owen Est apparently lived in Spella, a village on the western frontier, before all this."
Cain Maxius and I listened quietly to Aiden's account.
"But several years ago, his entire family was killed by monsters, and he came to the Capital to become a Knight."
I had only asked how he disappeared, yet Aiden was rattling off Owen Est's entire background without pause.
"What does that have to do with this incident?"
I couldn't help but interrupt him with the question.
"Before he joined the Byon Duchy, he served in the House Heitz."
"What?"
This couldn't be right.
The moment those words left Aiden's mouth, it felt as though someone had struck my skull with a stone.
How could such a coincidence exist?
How could every single circumstance point toward the Heitz Family and me?
The incendiary device, the fact that only I knew Adela would be going out that day, and now the Knight's origins....
"Is that... is that truly the case?"
"...Yes, it is."
I studied Aiden's face intently.
I couldn't bear not knowing what he was thinking of me in this moment.
Yet his gaze remained remarkably composed as he looked at me.
Not a shred of suspicion flickered in his eyes as they met mine.
'Does he trust me?'
Even knowing all the circumstances that pointed to my guilt, he harbored no doubt?
"Lady of House Heitz."
And then there was another.
Cain Maxius, seated across from me, called out to me with careful deliberation.
I shifted my gaze from Aiden to him.
Yet his eyes held the same quality as Aiden's.
He regarded me with absolute absence of suspicion.
"What are your thoughts on this matter?"
That's what I needed to know.
I asked them both why they looked at me that way, how they could possibly trust me.
"All the circumstances seem to point toward me and my family as the culprits. I'm curious what you both make of that."
"Circumstances are merely circumstances. We have found no decisive evidence. Therefore, this is far from over."
Aiden answered with unwavering conviction.
"That's right. For now, we must mobilize every available resource to find that Knight. It's clear Owen knows something crucial."
Cain too was telling me it wasn't finished yet.
"...Thank you for saying that. I don't even know how to express my gratitude. I swear to you both here and now: I am absolutely not the culprit. I will never disappoint the faith you've placed in me."
At my solemn and resolute words, both men nodded simultaneously.
"Then let's dispatch Knights to all the city gates to search for Owen Est."
I immediately put forth a plan to apprehend the Knight.
"That would be best."
"And we must dispatch members of the Investigation Team throughout the Capital to focus on searching for Owen Est."
As always, the imperative to capture the culprit had become even more urgent.
Moreover, I grew increasingly convinced that the culprit's true target was not Adela, but me—the Heitz Family.
Perhaps because of this realization, I found myself offering opinions more actively than before, each one tumbling forth in rapid succession.
"From now on, we shouldn't move together. Let's divide into separate groups. I'll head east of the Capital, Aiden north, and Duke, how about you take the west?"
"Very well."
"Let's do that."
"Yes, then let's move with haste."
Once our plan was decided, we immediately dispersed in all directions with the Investigation Team members.
And I began searching the eastern reaches of the Capital alongside those I had brought with me.
"Go to the Heitz Family Estate and deliver this letter to the Duke."
"Yes, understood."
Before leaving the conference room, I hastily wrote a letter to my father requesting the family's Knight Order.
To find someone, more hands made the task easier.
So I resolved to employ every means at my disposal.
It was the only way to escape this wretched false accusation even a day sooner.
Thus, for several days and nights, it seemed we turned the Capital inside out.
Yet no matter how thoroughly we searched, even to the outer districts, we could not find a single strand of Owen Est's hair.
The search parties sent to the gates yielded no results either.
Then came a certain day.
We changed our approach and began searching inward once more, tracking deeper into the city.
And then we finally discovered where the Knight had been staying—a situation that perfectly embodied the saying that the lamp at one's feet casts the darkest shadow.
Owen Est, that Knight, had been lodging at an Inn in the Shopping District at the very heart of the Capital.
My assumption that he had fled far away proved to be a complete miscalculation.
It was thanks to Aiden's suggestion to change our search direction that we were able to find Owen Est.
And the moment I apprehended Owen Est, I received word that Adela had awakened from her long slumber.
* * *
"Aiden."
I greeted him as he dismounted from his horse.
He approached my side.
"Belita, you've arrived early again today."
"We've apprehended the suspect, so we must hurry."
"Indeed. Let us go inside at once."
"Yes."
We walked toward the Interrogation Room to question Owen Est.
Today it was just the two of us.
Word had come earlier that Cain Maxius would be delayed due to business at the Imperial Palace.
However, we had determined that it would be impossible for him to continue working with us here any longer.
It was only natural.
If anything, I thought the timing was rather late.
The Duke of this realm had far too many duties to attend to.
I could understand this from having observed my father closely.
Yet Cain had devoted considerable time to the Investigation Team for a while.
But now that too had reached its limit, and he had ultimately returned to his rightful position.
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