Chapter 48: CASE 3. The Third Bride (23)

“How about we turn back even now?”

It had been a long time since they passed the fork in the road, but Lure continued to grumble.

“We shouldn’t just follow what that woman said! Anyone could see she was suspicious. What if she guided us into a strange path on purpose?”

“She might have anticipated us predicting that,” Heis replied.

“Ah, so she might have guided us to a safe path, thinking we’d avoid what we thought was a dangerous one! But what if she predicted we’d predict that and guided us to a dangerous one? But if she even predicted that prediction…”

‘Her head’s going to explode at this rate.’

This was the kind of thing where the more one thought about it, the more they lost.

My choice to take the left path was closer to an intuition.

‘That woman, Copper, was exhausted by lies.’

She was someone not accustomed to lying, and she was clearly drained by this situation. Such a person had left behind a piece of advice she didn’t necessarily need to give.

She must have known we wouldn’t simply believe her words, so there would be little to gain by lying.

Therefore, Copper’s advice was highly likely to be the truth.

‘Though that’s just a guess, too.’

In any case, I had made my choice.

Now, I could only pray that the choice was right.

“Ah! Teacher, over there!”

Lure let out a short exclamation.

At the end of the dead-end path, the same device I had seen in front of Mary’s room earlier was attached to the wall.

“Is it… like this?”

I gave the device a hard turn.

*Drrrk.*

As expected, a secret door opened, revealing a new path.

“This is…”

It was a long hallway.

It was an ordinary hallway, the kind I had seen throughout the castle. Since it had been an uphill climb the entire way, this was likely a hallway on the second or third floor of the castle.

‘I could be more certain if I could look outside…’

However, not a single window could be seen in this long corridor.

“Oh, I think I know where we are!”

Lure looked around and shouted as if she had realized something.

“This is the third floor hallway. If you open that red door back there, there’s a long room displaying the history of the Grand Duchy. In front of that is the banquet hall, which leads to the main hallway of the third floor.”

A display room, a banquet hall, and a main hallway.

‘There’s no way someone could be kidnapped and hidden in such places.’

“What’s up ahead?”

“Well… a storage room? There shouldn’t be anything special.”

“Good. Let’s go forward.”

However, I couldn’t help but feel troubled as we moved.

‘The front seems more likely, but why on earth would they connect a secret passage to a place like this?’

From what I knew, the purpose of a secret passage was usually one of two things.

Escape. Or concealment.

They wouldn’t be escaping through a hallway without a single window. If it was for concealment, it seemed plausible, but wasn’t this a hallway open to everyone?

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like a place to come while holding a kidnapped person…

As I fell into thought, my pace slowed down without me realizing it. Lure noticed my expression and asked.

“If it’s really suspicious, how about we turn back now?”

“…No. Let’s keep going for now. We have to at least check.”

“But, there really won’t be anything…”

“Miss Lure is right. There is nothing behind there.”

“…!”

Beyond the turn in the hallway, a familiar voice drifted over. Even without seeing him, I knew who it was.

“…Riman.”

“Hello, Heis.”

A familiar long shadow appeared from beyond the passage.

“Were you looking for traces of Miss Mary?”

“……”

“That’s unfortunate. No matter how hard you try, the truth won’t change.”

“…The truth?”

A cold laugh escaped my lips. The truth, coming from a man whose face was swallowed by shadows?

“What exactly is this truth you’re talking about?”

“The unfortunate truth that Miss Mary threw herself off the cliff in the middle of the night, of course. As for the reason… well, regrettably.”

“Does it become the truth just because you spit it out carelessly?”

“Everyone except for you knows the truth. You’re the only one stubbornly insisting otherwise. Heis, my poor friend. I know you’ve gone mad with guilt, but continuing to deny reality only makes you look more pathetic.”

“I don’t think so!”

Lure shouted boldly.

“I agree with the teacher. There’s no way Mary would have jumped of her own free will!”

“Oh, Miss Lure…”

As if it were a pity, the shadow put on a loathsome voice.

“You should know that Miss Mary has suffered from mental illness for a long time.”

“That doesn’t matter. Mary was hurting, but she was a person strong enough not to give in to that pain! She would never jump! Besides, my teacher is the kind of person who achieves what he sets out to do, no matter what. Since he said he would find Mary, we will definitely find her. No matter what happens!”

Lure shouted firmly without a hint of hesitation. Her conviction was enough to influence even me, who was listening.

“You’re right, Lure. I will definitely find Mary.”

The shadow seemed quite displeased with how the atmosphere was turning.

“Haha, I see you like wasting time?”

“We’ll have to wait and see if it’s a waste of time or not.”

“No, it is a waste. Do you still not understand?”

The shadow flickered violently as if annoyed.

“Fine. Actually, all your guesses were correct, Heis. Your lady didn’t commit suicide. I harmed your precious lady on the Grand Duke’s orders.”

“…!”

“…If I were to say that, what could you do?”

The black shadow shrugged its shoulders.

“This is the Grand Duke’s castle, and everyone here is his person. Even if you tried to arrest me or His Grace, who would help you? It might be different if you found evidence and presented it, but the evidence you want will never appear. Or, even if you do find evidence, it will disappear without a trace while you’re away!”

Through Riman’s words just now, I learned a few facts.

First, Riman does not yet know about the arrival of the detective.

If he had known, he wouldn’t have said “who would help you,” but rather “would such a half-wit be of any help.”

The fact that he still doesn’t know about the existence of a person making such a fuss means Riman has been staying in a place with few people all this time.

In a place like this hallway, for instance.

‘Above all, Riman appeared from beyond that passage, which Lure said was nothing but a storage room.’

There is definitely something there.

Second, Riman is stimulating my anxiety.

By saying that the evidence I gathered could disappear while I am away.

It’s a guess, but his purpose is likely to induce me to turn back now.

‘I’m certain. There is something beyond there.’

I gained certainty from his threat, but I kept my mouth shut.

For now, pretending to be shaken as he wanted would be good for making the enemy lower his guard.

Since I didn’t have as much talent for acting as Mary, I simply lowered my head and hid my expression.

“Haha! Was my joke too excessive?”

Fortunately, that seemed to be enough, as Riman laughed at me mockingly.

“It seems you don’t want to talk. Then I’ll be on my way, so let’s see each other in Miss Mary’s room in a bit. Shouldn’t we mourn her death together?”

The shadow tapped my shoulder and walked past me.

*Tramp, tramp.*

The sound of footsteps gradually faded away and disappeared at the other end of the hallway.

‘Wait a minute.’

At a thought that suddenly occurred to me, I snapped my head around.

I saw Riman leaving in the distance, a flickering black form.

Yes, a black form.

‘…Why didn’t the shadow peel off?’

Wasn’t Riman’s statement just now a complete confession? A criminal admitted to a crime, and everyone in the room learned the truth.

‘Is it because he finished it like a joke?’

But even when Mr. Bernard broke the carriage, hadn’t his shadow peeled off despite a much more ambiguous confession?

Why did Riman’s shadow…

“Teacher! What are you doing?!”

I was jolted back to my senses by Lure’s urgent whisper.

“Mr. Riman is gone. We have to move!”

Right. Lure was right.

‘Riman mentioned Mary’s room. If he really intends to go there, there’s no time left.’

Minor issues like why the shadow didn’t peel off could be thought about later.

“First, let’s quickly search the rooms beyond the hallway!”

We ran along the corridor.

A room was visible at the end of the dead-end passage.

When we opened the door to that room, what we saw was…

“…Junk?”

“I told you. It’s nothing.”

The room was a very small and narrow storage space. It was just a warehouse with a few cleaning tools and junk lying around. There were no windows, no vents, and no furniture fixed to the floor.

*Thud!*

I knocked on the wall, but only a dull sound returned without any resonance. That meant there was a very solid stone wall behind it.

“See? Now let’s go back. We have to quickly check the other path!”

Lure said, stomping her feet as if anxious.

“But Riman was in front of here.”

“So? It could just be a coincidence!”

“That he was coincidentally standing in such a deserted hallway?”

“Then, what do you think, Teacher? That there’s some hidden secret in this room?”

Lure asked skeptically, and I had nothing to say. Even to my eyes, there really was nothing in this room.

‘What should I do? There’s no time…’

I had to find something quickly, or I had to turn around and run right now. But I couldn’t see anything, and I couldn’t think of anything.

Time was ticking away…

“Teacher?”

“Wait, just let me think for a moment!”

I had to think of something quickly.

Because I was anxious, my head wouldn’t work.

“…First, let’s investigate the items in the room.”

But there was nothing special.

They were all commonly used miscellaneous items, and they didn’t seem to contain any hidden spaces or function as keys to a secret area. I only wasted time by investigating them so elaborately.

‘How much time has passed? Damn it!’

I should have brought a watch. Since I couldn’t even see out the window, I couldn’t know anything.

How much time was left to save Mary?

“The door…”

Just then, I heard Lure muttering.

“Is there something on the door?!”

“O-Oh, no, it’s not like that… I just suddenly wondered why they bothered to paint the door of this storage room… I’m sorry.”

“No. Well said! That’s a good point.”

The door to this room was painted a vivid red.

There would be no need to go through such trouble for the door of a room that was no better than a warehouse.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say the door on the opposite side was also red?”

“Ah, yes. The door to the display room is also painted red.”

I had already confirmed that there were no special devices on the door. But perhaps there was some meaning hidden in this color?

“I’ll have to look from the hallway.”

I stepped out into the hallway and closed the door to the room.

It was a gray hallway without a single window. Colorless walls and floors without even a carpet.

The red door placed at the end caught our eyes instantly.

As if it were declaring that the target was right here.

“…The hallway.”

“Pardon?”

“If a secret is hidden, it must be in this hallway! The room was a bait!”

But where in this monotonous hallway?

Lure and I searched desperately, but we saw nothing.

‘No, it must be here…’

Doubt crept in.

What if I was doing something stupid right now?

What if Mary was dying on the other side while I was stupidly believing the enemy’s words and thoroughly searching an empty hallway?

How much time had passed? Were people running over from outside?

Even the noise from far away grated on my nerves and made my heart anxious.

Just as I was about to burst out and shout that we should go investigate the other path since I seemed to be wrong.

“Th-There!”

Lure pointed her finger toward the air.

“Teacher! Look at that! What is that?”

The moment I understood what Lure was pointing at.

“Ah.”

The tension left my body.

“It’s Mary’s trace.”

It couldn’t be anything else.

Since the princess locked in the tower had let down her golden hair for us.

Now I could be certain.

Right up ahead, in the place where that golden radiance guided us.

Mary was waiting for us there.