Chapter 217 (1/2)

Chapter 217: Chapter 217

I narrowed my eyes when he hesitated. Given that he usually had few changes in his expression, he must know something about the blessed criminal.

“I came to hear about him from others by chance. All of them showed some strange reaction like you.”

After hesitating a bit, I mentioned an assumption that had been lingering in my mind all along.

“Does he have anything to do with my family?”

“… ”

“Baron?” When I asked, tilting my head, he kept silent for a moment, then said, “Well, yes, but…”

“… ”

“Sorry, my lady. That’s all I can tell you for now. It’s because your father gave me a gag order.”

“My daddy?”

“That’s right.”

As he nodded heavily, I didn’t ask further and got to the point. If my father wouldn’t tell me about it even when I was curious, there must be some reason for it. And I understood him.

“Okay, did you find out anything new this time?”

“Yes, but…”

“Hummm…Did something go wrong?”

When I asked with a puzzled look, he hesitated for a moment, then picked up the documents and handed them over to me, asking me to review them first.

They were the documents that he obtained from Viscount Apinu that he had succeeded in bringing into my fold recently. Organized in chronological order, the documents recorded various intelligence tips such as the noble faction’s need to cajole the foreign princesses by using all kinds of ends and means, actively supporting the princess of the Eet kingdom that decided to cooperate with the empire in return for its economic aid such as lower tariffs and increasing the export of iron ores by citing the in-law relationship between the two countries as soon as Princess Eet became the crown prince’s concubine.

If the documents were written in someone’s handwriting, I could double check it against somebody else’s and find out who composed the documents, but I couldn’t. Given the curvy handwriting, it was obvious that these were secret documents that somebody ordered an illiterate man to copy from the original documents to cover up his handwriting.

When I put aside the documents with a sigh, I suddenly noticed a seal on the edge.

A shield and a sword and the phrase engraved under the rose were none other than Volente Castina.

What the heck is this?

I opened my eyes wide at that. Why is this seal here?

“What the heck is this?”

“Well, I’m kind of in a difficult situation because of that. Unless I have any specific evidence including the handwriting, I can’t prove Volente Castina’s connection to the Jena family, right?

Besides, as you know, Volente Castina is…”

“Yes, that’s actually Sir Lars’s seal. That gives me a headache.”

I sighed long. Of course, I didn’t know if Earl Lanier kept documents hidden to save him later, but in this situation it was useless to obtain the secret documents of Earl Lanier. Unless I could prove that the seal was the same as that of the Jena family, the heat would be on the Duke Lars family.

While pressing my stinging temper, I turned over other documents. It was a report about things like no big progress in finding additional information about Earl Lanier despite continued monitoring, no progress in the investigation of the poisoning incident since the last report, no one noticed anything, and the temple’s plan to hold a massive event to make Jiun the true child of God’s prophecy, as she was relatively unknown to the people.

“Oh, is this all?”

When I was about to close the last page of the document, Baron Carot nodded with a very regrettable expression. He seemed to be bothered by the fact that his findings contained nothing valuable.

“Thanks for your hard work. I think it was very difficult for you to obtain the information as much as this, but I’m sorry to keep adding your assignment.”

“That’s fine, my lady. I’m sorry I couldn’t bring you some good news. ”

“Oh never mind. Well, they would not have committed this crime if we could catch them easily. Let me tell my butler about this, so please handsomely compensate your informants working hard right now. Also don’t forget to push them a little more.”

When I spoke with a bright smile, the baron expressed gratitude by bowing, feeling more or less relieved.