“There, there. Good boy. It’s not your fault. It’s the fault of the person who scared you.”
As I gently stroked the bridge of his nose, Esh closed his eyes and snorted as if he felt good. As I thought, the person who messed with such a gentle creature was the one in the wrong.
“Where is the evidence!”
At the sudden noise, I frowned and turned around.
“Are you spouting such nonsense with actual evidence?”
A small, fat shadow was pointing a finger and raising its voice.
‘I thought this might happen.’
There was no way he would obediently admit his guilt.
If anything, the resistance came a lot later than expected.
‘But something… isn’t the direction a bit strange?’
He clearly seemed to be pointing at me, but the direction the shadow extended was way off.
Just as I was feeling puzzled.
“Isn’t your current appearance the most powerful evidence, Uncle?”
Marie sneered.
“You’re so scared of Esh that you can’t even look straight ahead. You’re trembling and can’t even lift your head. What else could that be but proof that Sir Hayes is right?”
Ah. No wonder he was quiet. It seemed he hadn’t recovered from the trauma of being kicked.
‘The impression must have been deeper than I thought. Come to think of it, he even fell on his backside earlier just by looking at another horse, not even Esh.’
In that state, it would be difficult for him to enjoy horse racing or carriage racing.
Perhaps Esh had saved the soul of a gambling addict through some “physical therapy.”
“…Fine, I’ll admit one thing!”
Still pointing into the air, the shadow spoke.
“It’s true that I was kicked by that fierce beast last night. But that was just because I was suddenly attacked while I came to check on the horses!”
“Didn’t you say you couldn’t remember anything earlier?”
“That was… I lied because I was embarrassed about being kicked by a horse! How could I say I was kicked after bragging about being an expert?”
“Hmm, hearing that, it might be possible.”
“R-right?”
“But if Sir Hayes’s reasoning is wrong, how do you explain the carriage full of luggage appearing out of nowhere?”
“That must have been stolen by another coachman. Using the method that guy described! Even if I’m not the culprit, it still makes sense, doesn’t it? Yeah, for example, that idiot Jefferson, or maybe Clinet—!”
*Pffft!*
When Esh snorted, Bernard hurriedly shut his mouth. A moment later, he whispered in a voice significantly smaller than before.
“A-anyway, show me proof that I’m the culprit, proof! Or is there anyone who witnessed me moving the carriage’s luggage all night?”
Evidence and witnesses.
“There are.”
And I have both.
“What?”
“Last night, you were the only one who could have moved the luggage from the carriage.”
‘And I can prove it.’
“The items we found inside the carriage were all dry, without a single drop of moisture. It is certain that the carriage was used to transport the items during the night. Do you understand this far, Mr. Bernard?”
“……”
Bernard seemed to suspect a hidden trap, but soon nodded slowly.
“Yeah. Your words seem right up to that point.”
“Good. Then shall we do some arithmetic?”
There were seven carriages we brought along.
One passenger carriage and six luggage wagons.
“Last night, there were six carriages lined up at the campsite.”
Marie and Lur were in the first passenger carriage at the very front. Leiman and I were in the second luggage wagon right behind them.
A little further away, three luggage wagons were gathered to form a shelter, and a campfire was lit.
One plus one plus three equals five. Therefore, only one carriage remained.
It was Bernard’s carriage at the end of the procession.
“I sat in the second carriage of the procession all night, guarding the first carriage and watching the campfire inside the roof created by the other three carriages.”
I myself was the witness to this incident.
“If the first or second carriage had moved, I, being nearby, would have noticed immediately. If the three carriages a short distance away had moved, I would have noticed because the campfire, having lost its roof, would have gone out.”
But the campfire only went out at the last moment, just before the raid. That was only a few minutes before sunrise, so if the carriage had moved then, there was no way it could have returned in time.
“I also vouch for Hayes’s words. I was with him the whole time.”
The tall, thin shadow that had been listening quietly took my side.
“Ugh, ugh…!”
The small, fat shadow huffed for a long time before finally shouting.
“Fine. I understand that my carriage moved! My carriage was probably used for the theft! But what does that matter?”
“Uncle… you’re persistent.”
Ignoring Marie’s words, the shadow continued its desperate struggle.
“As I said earlier, I was unconscious after coming to check on the horses! Even if someone else drove my carriage during that time, I wouldn’t know anything about it!”
“Mr. Bernard, it seems you don’t even remember the words you just spat out.”
I looked at him with pity and delivered the finishing blow.
“Regardless of who drove the carriage, it has become clear that the missing luggage was loaded onto your carriage. But you clearly testified that your carriage was empty from the start.”
“…!”
On a rainy day, if the luggage from another carriage had been moved to Bernard’s carriage, there was no way those items wouldn’t have gotten wet.
The items that were in Bernard’s carriage were moved through Bernard’s carriage, and Bernard, who would have known the state inside the carriage, said “nothing is missing.”
“Admit it, Mr. Bernard. You are a disgusting thief who laid hands on your niece’s dowry.”
“Urgh, ugh! Aaaaaah!!!”
The shadow was stripped away. Bernard’s face, covered in tears and snot, was revealed to the world.
“It’s not like that! I didn’t intend to do such a bad thing!”
“Are you still making excuses?”
Lur looked at him with disdain.
“It’s not that! I really didn’t have even a tiny bit of intention to touch the dowry! Everyone, look at this! Look at this once!”
As he said that, the item Bernard pulled out from his bosom was something I truly hadn’t expected to appear at this moment.
“That is…”
“That’s my marriage certificate?!”
Marie screamed.
“Why do you have that!”
“Heh, hehehe…”
Bernard’s shoulders trembled as he laughed through his sobs.
“Marie, your father really cherished you terribly. Even though he treated his only brother like a beggar who came to plead. So what could I do? I had to pick up what you carelessly threw away without knowing its value, like a beggar!!”
The self-pitying thief’s excuse began.
***
That day, Bernard was in a very bad mood.
When his brother suggested he be his daughter’s guardian, he readily accepted, only to find that the money given as a fee was a mere pittance.
‘Tsk! This won’t even last a day at the racetrack.’
To think that this Bernard, a noble born of a Baronial bloodline, would personally travel to the North to help with his daughter’s marriage, and he was only given this much?
Is there no family affection left in this world!
If his brother didn’t have money, he could have understood and been generous. But look at the long line of dowry carriages in the yard.
There were six luggage wagons alone, and each one was packed to the brim.
Curious about what was so heavily loaded, he peeked into one of the crates and found it filled with pearls, which were said to be more expensive than gold.
‘Is he crazy? Anyone would think Marie was becoming an Empress.’
A bride bringing that much money would be welcomed anywhere. Instead of suffering under her in-laws, she would be treated like a princess.
And yet, his niece was throwing a tantrum, saying she didn’t want to get married. While this uncle didn’t even have enough money for a night of fun.
The more he thought about it, the more unfair it felt.
‘This won’t do. I need to get at least a few more coins out of my brother.’
Talking to him would only lead to a needless outburst of anger, so stealing it was the best way.
If he swiped a few coins from the office safe, his brother wouldn’t even know they were gone. Couldn’t that be accepted as a younger brother’s charm?
“Hmm? What. No money, just a piece of paper?”
However, when he actually opened the safe in the office, there was only one piece of paper inside. Upon checking, it was Marie’s marriage certificate.
“Hmm, let’s see just how grand a marriage she’s making.”
With a bored face, Bernard read through the list of dowry items written on the certificate. But as he examined the contents, he noticed something strange.
‘What? This is different from what was promised?’
According to this document, the dowry Marie was promised to bring was only at a general level. There were no records of crates full of pearls.
‘Why are they trying to bring more than what was previously agreed upon?’
Deep in thought, Bernard soon came up with a plausible explanation.
For the daughter worried about her married life, his brother, who loved his daughter terribly, had packed more dowry than promised.
As a gesture of asking the groom to take good care of his daughter.
‘Wait. Then the Grand Duke won’t even know that all these items are coming?’
Bernard had a personality that was as timid as the horses he loved.
Although he was jealous of the enormous amount of dowry Marie was taking, he didn’t want to take the risk of becoming a criminal by touching it recklessly.
But what if it was an enormous amount of dowry that even the groom didn’t know about? Even if he siphoned off a bit, who would notice?
Bernard hurriedly grabbed the certificate, left the office, and pressed his ear to the door of the reception room.
‘They’re just greeting each other. They’ll be talking for a long time.’
His brother would be absent for a while.
Now he just had to check on Marie. Bernard burst open Marie’s door.
“Ugh!”
He did fall on his backside because of some ruffian-like fellow Marie had picked up from somewhere, but the subsequent conversation with Marie was worth enduring that much.
“The dowry carriages are lined up outside, so what exactly are you complaining about?”
“If you like Grand Duke Kalan that much, why don’t you get married to him, Uncle!”
“Ha! Do you really not know how much effort your father put into this marriage?”
“Yeah, yeah, I don’t know and I don’t care.”
‘As I thought!’
The corners of Bernard’s mouth twitched with joy.
‘As I thought, Marie has no idea how great her dowry is!’
Then it was settled. Even if he stole the money, this foolish niece wouldn’t know a thing.
“Marie, you will deeply regret it one day when you realize how much your father loved you! Of course, it’ll be too late by then!”
Thinking he had fulfilled his duty as an uncle by delivering an ominous warning, Bernard finally left the room after playing a cunning trick.
“Stop being stubborn, dress up prettily, and come down quickly! We have to move fast to make a good impression on the Grand Duke’s people!”
‘If I say this, her pride won’t let her come out quickly, right?’
Hurrying outside, Bernard dismissed the people under the pretext of checking the carriages. Then, comparing the luggage with the certificate he had brought, he moved all the treasures not listed on the certificate into one carriage.
“Hehehe, pearls, gold coins, rubies, emeralds… How much is all this?”
Every single one of them was a valuable item that was perfect for turning into cash once stolen. Moreover, Bernard’s good news didn’t end there.
‘What’s with those coachmen? How can they know so little? Are they even coachmen?’
The coachmen who said they came from the North were surprisingly lacking in professional knowledge.
They couldn’t follow Bernard’s orders well, and there were many minor accidents. Even when he gave the wrong orders as a test, they didn’t seem to know what was wrong.
After testing the coachmen several times, Bernard was convinced.
‘Those guys won’t notice at all even if I tamper with the carriage.’
If he pulled out a few pins from the carriage axle, the carriage would tip over even with a small impact.
It would be fine as soon as he put the pins back in, but there was no way they would know that!
‘Hehehe… I’m a genius!’
Bernard laughed joyfully while secretly nurturing the dream of becoming a master thief. This was the story of just one day before his dream collapsed.