🌷 🌷 🌷
YESTERDAY had been a terrible shock.
Ophelia clutched the handle of the broom she was holding tightly as she thought back on the unexpected kidnapping attempt.
“I sincerely hope that today will be uneventful.”
Just as she muttered that and was about to get started sweeping, two shadows appeared on the ground at her feet. Ophelia hesitantly turned and found two young men in black outfits standing behind her. One had fluffy blond hair, and the other had straight black hair cut cleanly at the shoulders. In terms of appearance, they were polar opposites, but both wore the same smile. Instantly, Ophelia’s legs began shaking.
Her name was called, and she was given an explanation, but in her agitated state, Ophelia couldn’t process what she was hearing. After that, the two men led Ophelia to a carriage where Bernard was already waiting, his face pale and his brow dotted with a nervous sweat. The two black-clothed men, who’d named themselves as employees of the Ministry of Justice, settled in on the opposite bench, leaving the siblings unable to do anything more than huddle together in fear.
I haven’t done anything wrong! Why am I being taken to the Ministry of Justice for questioning…?
Although the Ministry of Justice was also within the grounds of the Royal Palace complex, the carriage ride felt impossibly long to Ophelia. Her shoulders curled forward instinctively when she heard the tires squeak and felt the carriage come to a stop, and then the door was pulled open.
“Sorry for asking you to come in so suddenly like this…”
The moment she saw the man standing just outside the carriage door, Ophelia sucked in a huge gasp that sounded more like a squeak and leapt half on top of her brother.
“Th-That’s him, the kidnapper from yesterday…!”
“That guy…?”
Samael, who had his black hair in a stylish deep part again today, was so shocked by the siblings’ words that he froze, smile still on his face.
Bruno led the group into a reception room, struggling to resist the impulse to burst out laughing, and the siblings gingerly sat side-by-side on a sofa on the far side of the room.
“Wh-Who would’ve thought an organization like this would be used as a front for kidnapping…” Bernard said, forcing a fierce expression despite his fear as he came to Ophelia’s defense.
“So the brother is just as big an idiot as the sister, eh?” Claudio observed in a disgruntled voice as he swept into the room. Claudio sat heavily on another sofa opposite the Narve siblings, and Samael sat beside him, facing the two.
“I am the Assistant Director of the Ministry of Justice, Samael Anerre. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance yesterday.”
A strangled sound escaped Ophelia, who’d ducked frantically behind her brother as much as their positions seated on the couch allowed.
“Um, what business do you have with us…?” Bernard’s voice grew gradually quieter under the force of Claudio’s unveiled glare.
“Director, I will give you a full report later, so please excuse yourself from this meeting,” Angelo said.
“Why?”
“You’re too intimidating.”
“Shut up. Just ignore me.”
“That is quite impossible.”
Bernard looked curiously back and forth between Claudio and Angelo, who leaned against a wall near the back of the room. Despite being addressed so casually by a subordinate, Claudio hadn’t reprimanded him. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t look angry, though…
“A-All righty then! First, may I confirm that you are indeed Lord Bernard Narve and Lady Ophelia Narve, the children of Earl Sigmond Narve?”
Samael pointedly cleared his throat and moved the conversation along. He was wearing what seemed to be a calculated smile, but since Ophelia wasn’t shaking, it seemed he wasn’t trying to deceive them, so Bernard nodded mechanically.
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
“I’m sorry for the misunderstanding yesterday. As you may have gathered, we have been investigating the two of you.”
“Huh?! You’ve been following us?!” Bernard exclaimed.
“You didn’t notice?”
“Not at all…”
Bernard and Ophelia turned to look at one another, and Ophelia grabbed her brother’s sleeve uneasily.
“It seems it would be easiest to just come out and ask you. Why did you attend the ball several weeks ago?”Claudio huffily crossed both his legs and arms, clearly impatient, and interrupted Samael with this direct question.
Ophelia instantly paled.
“U-Umm… Well…”
“W-Well, you see! W-We’re both reaching that age, you understand, where it’s about time we should really start searching for sprouts—I mean, spouses! —so…”
The facetious excuse that Bernard was awkwardly concocting caused Ophelia’s legs to tremble. Claudio immediately picked up on this, but Samael maintained his disarming smile and continued the conversation.
“Even though Lady Narve hasn’t attended a single ball up to this point?”
Everyone in the room’s eyes focused squarely on Ophelia, who clung desperately to her brother’s arm while shaking like a leaf, and she forced herself to nod once in confirmation.
“I-I’m sorry, my sister isn’t good with social interactions…”
“So I can see.”
Why is this happening to me? Didn’t I just pray for a peaceful, uneventful day? Being surrounded by people and ruthlessly interrogated is anything but!
Ophelia gulped nervously, feeling Claudio’s eyes boring into her. This man wasn’t the same charming Duke Stolarni she’d seen that day at the wedding ceremony. Here in front of her was the sharp-eyed and frightening Director of the Ministry of Justice. Under the force of that glare, she felt compelled to confess to all manner of crimes she hadn’t even committed.
“So you’re saying that you were there in your capacity as aristocrats, searching for a marriage partner… All right, let’s say we believe you. Where did you go after leaving the ballroom, then?” Claudio asked.
“Huh? What do you mean by where? W-We went home,” Bernard insisted. “We quickly realized that we’re not suited for such a lively environment…”
“I assigned someone to follow you,” Claudio admitted. “Now I’m going to ask you once more: where did you go after leaving the ballroom?”
“Er, um… My sister couldn’t walk, so I thought I’d better… Let her rest in the break room a bit before we… Uh…”
Unable to bear her brother’s lies, Ophelia’s entire body began trembling faintly.
“Ophie, hold in there! Er, um… So, we headed to the break room, but we got a little lost…” Bernard was holding her arm still, but Ophelia’s legs began shaking twice as hard, to the point of nearly bouncing on the sofa. “Come on, Ophie…”
“She doesn’t look good… Hey, you! Go get Lady Narve a hot cup of tea.”
With genuine concern apparent in his voice, Samael barked out an order to one of his subordinates. The man named Bruno, who’d been leaning back against the wall beside Angelo, immediately reacted. Claudio continued watching Ophelia the entire time, his gaze unwavering.
“From what I hear, you moved pretty confidently for someone who was supposedly lost,” Claudio said. “Why did you go to that corridor?”
“It was a coincidence… Really, we got lost, and…” Bernard began sweating profusely and trailed off without finishing his sentence.
Bruno silently set a cup of hot tea down on the table. Ophelia jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of his arm reaching out from behind her.
“Here, mister, use this hand towel. You’re sweating a lot.”
“Huh? Oh, uh… Th-Thank you…”
This time, Angelo suddenly appeared by Bernard’s side, holding out a chilled, wet cloth. Bernard automatically accepted it from him and hesitantly wiped his forehead.
“Lady Narve, would you like milk and sugar in your tea?”
Ophelia found herself unable to respond to Bruno’s kind question, resorting instead to merely shaking her head.
There’s no way I could force myself to drink tea at a time like this!
Bruno and Angelo stood on either side of the siblings, making no move to return to their previous spots. Aside from Claudio, all of the men were smiling at Bernard and Ophelia. There was nowhere left to run.
“How did you know that section of the floor was rotted away?”
Claudio posed the question slowly and deliberately, one intimidating word at a time. Bernard paled even further, unable to formulate a coherent response, merely opening and closing his mouth repeatedly as if mimicking a fish. Ophelia clutched his arm and buried her face against it, her eyes firmly shut. Claudio’s words didn’t produce any trembling in her body. He had no doubt. Claudio was certain that Ophelia and Bernard knew about the rotten floorboards before Bernard had stepped on them.
“Or perhaps you were the ones who set up some kind of trap there in advance? I asked around, and it seems you two are in charge of repairs at the Architectural Institute. It would be easy for you to set it up under the pretense of a maintenance inspection.”
“We would never do something like that!” Ophelia cried.
Bernard, too, raised his head and answered without hesitation, “There is no way we would ever do anything that might injure another person.”
Claudio frowned faintly. It was clear even to him that the two of them took pride in their work. He couldn’t see the sister’s expression, but she’d stopped shaking. “Then why did you head straight for that corridor and intentionally step on the rotted section of the floor, causing a scene?”
“…Th-That’s…! We didn’t intend to cause a scene, if that’s what you’re implying… We just…”
“Bernard… Enough, already,” Ophelia whispered, her face still pressed against her brother’s arm. Although she spoke quietly, Claudio and the others heard every word. “These people are asking questions they already know the answers to. They are telling the truth—they were watching.”
“Ophie…”
“We’re not going to be able to lie about this.”
“Ophie… But, that means…”
Ophelia seemed to have calmed down, so Bruno took a step back and turned his gaze toward Claudio, silently asking for orders.
“If you finally feel like telling the truth, then by all means get to it.” Claudio straightened, then refolded his legs in the other direction.
Ophelia peeked out from where she’d been hiding her face to see what had caused the sound of clothing rustling, then immediately buried her face against Bernard’s sleeve again.
“I-I can’t! Bernard, you do it, please!”
“Huh?! Why me?!”
“I’ve never spoken to so many people at once before. I can’t do it!”
“I don’t care which of you does it; just start talking!” Claudio’s fist slamming down on the table caused both Ophelia and Bernard to jump.
“…I can’t…” Ophelia squeaked.
“I thought you decided to tell the truth!” Claudio roared.
“B-But… Your Grace is so… angry… that I…”
Seeing Ophelia argue back despite the tears welling in her eyes, Samael impulsively spoke.