I Unintentionally Cured the Grand Duke’s Insomnia - Chapter 139
70. — It Seems God Undoubtedly Has a Grudge Against Me (1)
We decided to take a short break to shake off the fatigue from the long journey. I sat in the castle courtyard, sorting through my thoughts.
What Lord Jackson told us wasn’t much different from what we had already heard. The people who had returned as corpses were either unidentified or from the lower class. While the times and locations of their disappearances were different, they were all found in the same place.
Their hair had turned completely white.
And.
〈 Oh, and this is something we found out from a body discovered just a few days ago. It seems the recent corpses aren’t from the residents of Retinem’s territory. 〉
〈 …What do you mean? 〉
〈 What I mean is that the faces and fingerprints of these recent corpses were completely erased, making it impossible to immediately identify them. Of course, that doesn’t mean their identities are completely lost. 〉
Lord Jackson’s voice lowered, darkening the mood in the room. He met each of our gazes one by one as he continued.
〈 In other words, the culprit intended to delay the time it would take to identify the victims in this case. They wanted us to think all the bodies belonged to the residents of Retinem. 〉
I lowered my gaze, mulling over what Lord Jackson had said.
The more I thought about the case, the more confusing the criminal’s motives seemed. If the culprit’s plan was really as simple as Lord Jackson claimed, then what was their real goal?
“…Could it really be the Blaise family?”
Once again, I couldn’t help but suspect that the Blaise family’s assets might be involved.
It was clear that black magic was at the root of this incident, and if things were unfolding as I had originally written, then it made sense that Marquis Black would be after our family’s wealth. But one thing bothered me—the fact that he had never publicly displayed the bodies of those he sacrificed for black magic until the very last moment.
But now?
Now, it was as if he was deliberately scattering bodies for us to find.
Even if I considered the possibility that he was doing this to expose Joan’s incompetence in handling the situation, there were still too many things that didn’t add up.
“This is driving me crazy.”
My head pounded from the lack of answers.
When I wrote this story, it was supposed to be a lighthearted romance—a sweet, sunshine-filled tale where the saintly heroine and the dark-haired grand duke vanquish the villain and live happily ever after!
“But why am I suddenly stuck in a mystery novel…?”
I hugged my knees and rested my face against them, feeling somewhat drained. A slightly warm breeze blew by, and despite my tangled thoughts, the calm scenery around me offered a small measure of comfort.
“It seems like you have something on your mind.”
Startled, I quickly lifted my head at the sound of a voice above me.
It was Abel, smiling as he sat down in front of me.
I furrowed my brows at his unexpected approach and asked,
“…I didn’t expect you to strike up a conversation with me first.”
“I’m curious about something.”
“….?”
“Why don’t you tell me what really happened between you and the lord thirteen years ago?”
“….”
“I enjoy hearing stories like that.”
Abel’s grin didn’t waver, and his face was full of blatant curiosity.
It wasn’t exactly something difficult to talk about, but how could I tell a story when I had no memories of it?
Asking me about something I knew nothing about…
I looked at Abel, whose eyes seemed to sparkle as he eagerly waited for me to speak. I finally responded with a pout on my face.
“…I’d like to tell you, but it’s been so long, and I really don’t remember anything.”
“Was it maybe a one-sided love from the lord? The one being loved usually doesn’t remember very well.”
“No, it wasn’t like that. I just honestly don’t remember…”
As I answered his questions naturally, a thought suddenly struck me.
‘Why am I even answering this?’
“Come to think of it, I’m not obligated to answer Lord Michael’s questions, am I?”
“You’re colder than I thought.”
“You don’t care about me enough to be that interested, do you?”
At my blunt response, Abel tilted his head.
“That’s not true. I’m very interested in you.”
“…”
“Why do you think that?”
“…Because Lord Michael thinks I made Irene cry.”
Abel blinked at me for a second before suddenly bursting into laughter. Still chuckling, he grabbed the teacup that had been sitting in front of me and said,
“You didn’t make her cry.”
“…Yes?”
“I know you didn’t make her cry.”
He noisily slurped the tea, the sound filling the air. The tea must have been too sweet from all the sugar I’d dumped in to cheer myself up because he scrunched his face.
Watching him frown as he set the teacup down, I felt a strange sensation.
“Why are you so sure it wasn’t me?”
“That’s an odd way to put it. Do you want me to say you made her cry?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. You just sound so certain.”
Abel locked eyes with me, the corners of his mouth curving into a smirk. Leaning lazily against the armrest of his chair, he answered with a grin.
“Irene talked about you the whole way here.”
“….?”
“At first, I thought she was just doing it to keep me from bothering you… but no, that wasn’t it.”
“….”
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