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IN the secret room behind the interrogation room’s hidden window, all of the pilfered mats and pillows had been removed, and a specially ordered material had been laid down in their place. It was made of a thick, springy, and extremely durable fabric that wouldn’t tear easily.
Today, Ophelia was accompanied by Bruno. Just like Angelo, during the interrogation, he only observed without ever touching Ophelia, even when she fell over. However, unlike the delighted expression Angelo was always wearing, Bruno gazed down at Ophelia with a sub-frigid, expressionless face.
Ophelia didn’t bother fighting her body during the interrogation, letting it shake and even fall over as it wanted, so when she was done, her hair was a disheveled mess that she was left to desperately try to finger-comb back into place.
“Thank you for your hard work, Lady Narve. You sat in on multiple interrogations today. Are you feeling okay?” In stark contrast to his behavior until just a moment ago, Bruno knelt down beside Ophelia and examined her face closely, a concerned look on his face. The fact that Ophelia’s hands didn’t shake proved that he was genuinely worried about her.
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. I can still keep going; bring the next one out!”
“While I appreciate your enthusiasm, that was the last interrogation for today. Please take it easy for the rest of your shift.”
The shape of his narrow, tilted eyes sometimes made him seem cold and aloof, but, when you least expected it, Bruno would break out a gentle smile. Ophelia understood how this gap between his cold image and the tender expressions he sometimes showed drove the ladies from other divisions wild, but she knew her place and wasn’t about to misinterpret it as anything more than friendliness between coworkers.
She was content knowing that tomorrow she’d probably again be privy to another of his rare, special smiles.
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“LORD Bruno was arrested?!” Ophelia shouted the moment she arrived at work.
She ran right over to Samael and Angelo, not even bothering to stop and put down her bag first. Both of them were wearing uncharacteristically troubled expressions.
“He hasn’t been formally arrested yet. He was taken to the Ministry of Safety in order to prevent him from fleeing and is being questioned there.”
In response to Samael’s calm answer, Ophelia practically wailed, “Wh-What…?! But why?!”
“Bruno’s under suspicion for breach of trust,” Angelo flippantly explained.
“Breach of trust?! …What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Essentially, they think he might be a spy.”
Ophelia leapt forward as if intending to grab Angelo by the lapels after his casual reply. “Lord Bruno is not that kind of person!”
“We know that. Calm down, Ophelia.”
As Samael went on to explain, a suspicious person had been arrested close to the Cathedral the previous night. This person had entered the country illegally from a neighboring country and was found to be secretly carrying a schedule for the upcoming Ordination Ceremony. The schedule was not technically a classified document, but it wasn’t allowed to be removed from the Royal Palace without permission.
“Just the other day, someone requested a copy of that exact schedule from the Ceremony Coordination Division at the Ministry of Ceremonies. That person was Bruno. But he followed all the appropriate channels and obtained it legally.”
“Even if he were a spy, he wouldn’t do something so obvious that would immediately get him caught.”
Both Samael and Angelo chuckled wryly and wore expressions of disbelief, but it was clear they were enraged. Thanks to their calm demeanors, Ophelia was able to maintain her composure without falling to pieces like she normally would.
Ophelia crossed the room, planning to set her bag down on her desk, but when she passed by Bruno’s desk, her hands trembled faintly.
Two sheets of paper were haphazardly tossed on top of Bruno’s desk, which was normally militaristically tidy. Ophelia presumed the others had been looking at these papers earlier and tossed them down without thinking much of it. Ophelia took a peek and saw that it was the schedule in question. She picked up the sheets, and immediately her hands trembled more urgently.
“This— It’s a fake!”
Angelo gaped in response to Ophelia’s alarmed shout. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what’s incorrect about it, but this schedule is making my hands shake.”
Samael and Angelo rushed over and peered down at the papers in Ophelia’s hands. All three of them traced each individual letter painstakingly with their eyes, but none of them could figure out what was wrong with the document.
Samael closed his eyes for a brief moment while he thought it over, and then he spoke up. “It would be quickest to go to the Ministry of Ceremonies for confirmation.”
“Then I’ll go downstairs as planned, and leave that up to you.” As he said this, Angelo rummaged through the mess atop his desk until he found what he was looking for—a messenger bag. The bag made a strange clinking noise as Angelo waved to them, then all but skipped out of the room with a big smile.
“Downstairs?” Ophelia asked.
“The suspicious person who was arrested last night is being interrogated by Angelo’s former division,” Samael said.
“His… former division?”
“That’s right, the division he originally worked for before transferring here.”
Is it really okay to just pop in to your previous post and join one of their interrogations? I suppose for Angelo it must be… If so, I’d be willing to bet that messenger bag contains exactly what I think it does… Ophelia decided to pretend she hadn’t noticed anything.
“Huh? Come to think of it, where is the director?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, Claudio… He immediately headed over to the Ministry of Safety. Contrary to appearances, he’s a worrier. Bruno is the heir of an earl, so he shouldn’t be thrown in the dungeon, but…” Samael slid the schedule into the inner pocket of his jacket.
“I-I’ll go too!” Ophelia shouted, causing Samael to widen his eyes in surprise. Everyone was working on Bruno’s behalf. Ophelia couldn’t stand to sit around idly doing nothing.
“Hm, that might actually be a good idea. Things would probably move more swiftly with you there. All right, let’s go, Lady Narve!”
“Okay!”
Ophelia quickly followed Samael out of the room.
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AROUND the same time, at the Ministry of Safety…
“I heard that one of my subordinates has caused some trouble due to my poor supervision and I came to apologize.”
The officials paled as Claudio looked down on them oppressively, not seeming the least bit apologetic.