Chapter 54 (2/2): CASE 3. The Third Bride (29)

“Hey! Don’t steal my toast!”

I smiled aimlessly as I sipped from my empty glass.

I quite liked this noisy and chaotic scene of harmony.

‘…Since it’s this noisy, it feels like the empty seat is being covered up a bit.’

To be honest, the empty seat beside me was quite bothersome. It was the seat of the only person involved in the case who wasn’t here—Lyman.

[Sir. I’m sorry, but Lyman has disappeared without a trace.]

[What?!]

[When we investigated his tracks, they said he left immediately after packing his bags right after coming out of the room where he went to offer his condolences to Lady Marie.]

‘Quick-witted bastard. He must have seen the secret passage open and realized his attempts at driving a wedge between us would soon be exposed.’

My throat felt dry, so I poured a glass of brandy.

According to what I heard later, Lyman was not originally from the North.

Even though he had acted like a local to me, saying how every man in the North grows a beard and whatnot.

As it turned out, Lyman had become a close confidant of the Grand Duke after helping him when he was a young boy in trouble in the capital several years ago.

Instead of staying in the North, he stayed mostly in the capital and handled various affairs for the Grand Ducal house. In fact, even when the people from the North came to find Marie, Lyman hadn’t come down from the North to the capital; he had joined them from the capital from the very beginning.

‘The more I hear, the more suspicious he is. Who the hell is that guy?’

In the end, it was a question that became impossible to answer as Lyman vanished.

But I had a hunch that my connection with Lyman wouldn’t end here.

If I continued to track the Taylor John case, wouldn’t the day come when we met again?

When that day comes, will I finally be able to find out his true identity and his schemes?

—Thud!

“Sister Lure! Wake up!”

“Mmm, mmm…”

Well, that was a story for when that day arrived.

***

After the heavy farewell party ended, it was truly time to say goodbye.

“I’m going to stay at the Grand Duke’s castle a bit longer to finish laundering my identity, and then I’m planning to head over to Oswan.”

Lady Sara said with a hollow face, suffering from a hangover.

“I’m going to become a female painter in a country famous for its art and start a free and glamorous new life.”

I wished for Sara that the new life she desired would unfold.

“Then what about Lady Elise?”

I turned my gaze and asked.

However, Elise was bowing her head with swollen eyes, desperately avoiding my gaze.

‘Is it because she’s embarrassed? Well, that makes sense…’

The chaos of last night came to mind.

Marie had whined for a long time about how Elise had abandoned her and found a new sister, and eventually, Marie couldn’t take it anymore and said something that made the situation even worse.

[Ugh! Sister, you still don’t know me! Do you know why I still couldn’t throw away the striped pajamas and the rope from Scarlet even though I’ve started liking Pink Lorelei? It’s all because you gave them to me as a gift! You didn’t even know that, did you? That’s why you wore the pink loungewear and tried to mimic me!]

[Oh my god! Marie…!!!]

I didn’t even want to think about the sobbing that followed.

If I had done something like that, I wouldn’t have been able to show my face either.

“…I’m going to leave for a quiet rural village in the North with Marie.”

Lady Elise finally spoke haltingly.

“I’ve finished talking with Marie. I’ll be leaving soon for a rural mansion the Grand Duke prepared, and I’m going to take Marie with me disguised as my younger sister.”

“I suppose two is better than one. I think I’ll be staying there with Sister Elise for the time being.”

It seemed Lady Elise had been planning to live with Marie since the moment she brought her to the North. It was a relief that the still-young Marie wasn’t leaving alone, but…

“How long is ‘for the time being’?”

“Until Taylor John is caught, and Sister and I can return to our original identities without fear.”

“That’s…”

I hesitated for a moment.

That was a wait with no promised end.

I couldn’t guarantee when a criminal who hadn’t been caught for five years would finally be captured.

“So, you have to work hard, Sir.”

Marie said with a playful smile.

“I have to meet my father and get angry at him for treating me like a child, but it would look ridiculous if I did that after I’ve become a grandmother. So, you must catch Taylor John before then. Got it?”

“Am I the only one who has to catch him?”

“Who else but you would catch Taylor John, Sir?”

Marie spoke with such innocence, as if she didn’t have a single doubt.

“That’s right. Who would catch him if not Master? But, but…!”

Lure cried out, becoming choked with emotion.

“Does this mean the Phantom Thief Lure Team is disbanding now?”

“I suppose so. We have to return to the capital.”

We might reunite someday, but for now, it was a farewell.

“Marie…!”

“Sister…!”

The two looked at each other with lingering regret in their eyes. They didn’t even notice Elise biting her handkerchief with a desperate look beside them.

No, looking back now, the Grand Duke was also standing behind them, peeping this way secretly. The look in his eyes as he watched Marie was incredibly pathetic. Marie, however, didn’t even spare a glance for the Grand Duke.

‘Marie seems to have no lingering feelings at all. Well, considering what the Grand Duke did.’

“Come here, Marie! Let’s say goodbye.”

“Sister, thank you for everything.”

Lure and Marie hugged each other tightly, and in that moment.

—Crinkle!

The sound of paper came from Marie’s arms.

“…Marie? What is this?”

“Ah, Sister! It’s just…!”

Lure checked the identity of the papers Marie had been hiding.

“…These are marriage certificates, aren’t they?”

Perfectly intact marriage certificates.

And there were two of them.

“T-They’re just souvenirs! To remember the Phantom Thief Lure Team!”

“So you secretly kept two marriage certificates, and your own and the Grand Duke’s at that?”

“W-Well, since we didn’t even have a wedding, they have no legal effect anyway!”

“Conversely, if you just have the ceremony, they become legally binding immediately?”

“Ah, Sister! I told you it’s not like that!”

‘…Is it not?’

Maybe it was just my misunderstanding that Marie had no lingering feelings.

A sudden, amusing thought crossed my mind.

‘…What if Marie and the Grand Duke actually fall for each other later? They could just get married right away without even needing Baron Menzel’s permission, couldn’t they?’

She already had the marriage certificates with the family seal in her possession. From what I saw last time, there wasn’t even a specific wedding date specified on them.

It was news that would make Baron Menzel—who only wanted a disguise and had no intention of marrying off his daughter—clutch the back of his neck, but in a way, wasn’t this also the Baron’s karma for hastily using his daughter as bait with marriage certificates?

‘It might end up like the story of the King who married off Princess Pyeonggang to Ondal the Fool.’

The relationship between Grand Duke Kalan and Marie was now in a realm that no one could know.

‘Come to think of it, I wondered when I first heard that a Northern Grand Duke was involved in the case. I wondered what the role of a Northern Grand Duke would be in the mystery genre.’

Now I knew the answer.

Just because I had entered a mystery didn’t mean everyone was living inside a mystery.

Everyone was the protagonist of their own life, and among them, the story of Grand Duke Kalan and Marie was a firm romance.

It would probably have tags like childhood ill-fate, reunion, and regret.

‘How will it turn out?’

If the Grand Duke met her again and clung to her piteously, would Marie coldly reject him as she said? Or would she accept him as if she couldn’t help it?

Would the Grand Duke’s heart change in the middle?

What role would Elise play in this story?

All of that was still an unknown story.

‘I’ll know when that time comes.’

I leave the North after solving a mystery, yet leaving another mystery behind.

No one knows the conclusion to this new mystery yet. Only time will have the answer.

However, one thing was certain: what was left behind was a mystery far more pleasant and enjoyable than the one that was solved.