“There is blood on the cloth…”
The black cloth was soaked in blood.
It wasn’t just a smear; it was wet enough to be damp.
If this blood had come from a single person’s body, could that person still be alive?
A heavy weight felt present in the hand grasping the cloth.
‘Is this the weight of the dead?’
“Mr. Hayes! Look at this!”
I snapped back to my senses at Charlie’s shout.
I had been so distracted by the bloodstains on the black cloth that I had missed something else.
An object lay atop the black cloth, partially obscured by the dark fabric.
It was a black lace fan.
I knew the owner of this object.
“Miss Daisy…”
Unable to contain my agitation, I asked, “Where is Madame Moss?”
It was the same question as before.
However, the meaning had changed.
“You said she was at the very front line of the incident. Was the front line you mentioned… here?”
Inside the pumpkin, which should have been filled with fireworks.
If it were a corpse laid inside, one could certainly say it was at the heart of the case.
It was a cruel play on words.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the culprit said calmly.
“Surely… you don’t think I’m a murderer?”
The culprit shook her head as if the idea was absurd.
“That’s impossible. I couldn’t have killed anyone. More importantly, Lord Jaguar, didn’t you just see Madame Moss a moment ago? You were with me.”
The culprit emphasized the title “Lord Jaguar,” as if reminding me who had given me that nickname.
“Madame Moss was walking around the ballroom just 1 hour ago. Are you saying that in this short time, I murdered her and hid her inside this pumpkin?”
“Yes,” I replied firmly. “That is exactly what I am saying.”
“But how? The hall was full of people the entire time. How could I hide a body inside a pumpkin like that?”
The culprit was right.
There was almost always a crowd in front of the giant pumpkin statue, and many people showed interest in the hideous carving.
Then when could she have killed the person and hidden the body inside?
‘The answer is obvious.’
“You likely used the moment the lights went out.”
Just a few minutes ago, all the chandeliers except for the ones on the stage were extinguished.
The identity of the singer, which had been a secret all along, was finally revealed, and she began to sing a high-pitched song.
Cheers erupted from everywhere, and everyone’s attention was focused on the stage.
“All of that was a meticulously planned show. An opportunity artificially created by you, the person in charge of this party. An opportunity to commit a murder and hide the body in the middle of a crowd without being caught.”
I remembered the time just a moment ago when I was struggling to move through the crowd toward the stage.
I also remembered the sharp, ear-piercing scream I heard then.
‘I thought it was just the crowd caught up in the festival heat, but…’
Perhaps that chilling scream was the final death rattle let out by Madame Moss.
Many people heard it, but no one knew what it truly was.
“Wasn’t everything elaborately planned from the beginning for this murder?”
The timing of the stage lights turning off and on, the timing of the singer’s reveal, and the singer’s song choice.
Every element drew eyes to the stage.
It induced the crowd to scream and fall into a state of excitement.
All to blind them to the murder happening behind their backs.
‘Madame Moss must have been near the pumpkin when she was killed. That location must have been meticulously planned by the culprit as well.’
I had thought it was strange.
Madame Moss had told me that an important event was prepared for 7:00 PM.
However, the female singer’s stage performance began earlier, at 6:30 PM.
The event Madame Moss mentioned was something else entirely.
‘Yes. A person with such a strong desire to show off like the Madame wouldn’t have cared so much about an event where someone else was the protagonist.’
The culprit must have prepared a different event.
Something Madame Moss had to prepare for near the pumpkin while everyone was distracted by the stage.
A special event where Madame Moss could be the star.
Madame Moss moved near the pumpkin following the culprit’s sweet words, and she was murdered there.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t the culprit say something similar?’
The culprit told me she was preparing an event where Madame Moss would be the protagonist of the party. Perhaps I should have felt a sense of foreboding then.
This party was to celebrate the Pharmakos festival.
And the protagonist of the Pharmakos — the scapegoat — festival…
Was the pumpkin that was to be burned at the stake.
“If the event had proceeded according to your plan, you would have lit the head of that pumpkin as the finale of the party.”
That was a fact the culprit herself had admitted when I questioned her about the fuse on top of the pumpkin’s head.
“Inside the pumpkin, there must be a massive amount of fireworks and the body of Madame Moss.”
The finale of the festival. The moment the burning of the scapegoat began, the fireworks would have exploded.
A spectacular explosion would have occurred.
Countless people gathered in front of the pumpkin would have been killed or injured, and at the center, the Madame would have burned fiercely.
She would have become the perfect Pharmakos of the festival.
“Is that what you wanted? To recreate an ancient, cruel ritual in an even more cruel way?”
I glared at the black shadow and spoke as if grinding my teeth.
“You’re a mad bomber.”
The black shadow laughed.
“That’s impossible. You’re overthinking it, Lord Jaguar.”
“We can find out whether I’m overthinking it or not by lifting this cloth.”
I grabbed the black cloth I had half-pulled out once more. The weight of the dead transmitted through my fingertips was chilling, but I had no reason to hesitate.
“Once we check what’s inside, everything will become clear, won’t it?”
“No. I wasn’t saying your deduction was wrong.”
“What?”
It took a moment to process the words that came out so nonchalantly. The culprit spoke again, as if to confirm her words.
“It’s exactly as you deduced, Lord Jaguar. I killed Madame Moss. Of course, I was also the one who stole the fireworks and imprisoned the Detective who discovered the theft.”
It was an unbelievably submissive confession.
*Sssshhh.*
Soon, the black shadow receded.
A woman in elegant attire revealed herself.
The culprit, like the others attending the party, was wearing a mask…
‘What is that? It’s not a half-mask.’
It was a mask full of dissonance.
It was different from the other masks that barely covered the eyes like party props. It was a design that covered the entire face, making even breathing look uncomfortable.
It was reminiscent of the iron masks placed on prisoners whose faces must not be known.
‘It doesn’t even look like a daisy.’
Although it evoked a flower, the mask was entirely yellow and didn’t have many petals.
Rather than a daisy, if I had to be precise…
‘It looks more like that.’
It was a mask that looked much closer to the pumpkin flowers decorating the giant pumpkin statue.
“Your deduction was perfect, Lord Jaguar, but I would like to correct one thing. I am not a madman. I merely took rightful revenge.”
The culprit threw off the mask she was wearing.
I gasped involuntarily.
“You. That face…”
It was a distinctive face, but it wasn’t unique.
It was a face that was neither particularly ugly nor beautiful.
However, the problem was the place where the culprit was standing.
The hideous, giant pumpkin statue that caught everyone’s eye.
The statue and the woman’s face were clearly alike.
It was as if someone full of malice had captured every single flaw in the culprit’s face, then distorted and exaggerated them to create a malicious sculpture.
“The Madame was a human being who deserved a hideous death.”
The culprit’s face looked indifferent, but there was a definite madness in her eyes.
Step by step.
The culprit moved away from the pumpkin toward the people.
The onlookers, who had been watching the situation breathlessly, stumbled backward.
“You may arrest me. I don’t care what happens to my future. But everyone, would you mind listening to my story for a moment before that? I’m sure it will be interesting.”
The culprit raised her voice.
“Aren’t you curious why I killed Madame Moss?”
Capturing everyone’s attention.
The culprit began the defense that would be the finale of the party.
***
Daisy was Madame Moss’s right hand.
She did whatever the Madame ordered.
Naturally, she was able to quickly realize that Madame Moss was not a very good person.
Every evening, when a thick bundle of newspapers was delivered, the Madame would take a red ink pen and begin editing the articles.
Even with the same incident, the nuance of the article changed completely once it passed through the Madame’s hands.
For example, a worker who died after being caught in a machine during forced night shifts.
The headline of the newspaper article Madame Moss put out was this:
[Worker Ignores Safety Regulations, Another Tragedy]
The fact that the safety regulations he failed to follow were completely unrelated to the cause of death was omitted.
The fact that if he had followed those regulations while working, the work would have been delayed and he wouldn’t have been paid properly was also omitted.
There was no mention of these facts in Madame Moss’s article.
Or, when a promising noble who was close to Madame Moss was involved in a large-scale fraud case.
Madame Moss wrote an article like this:
[Catastrophe Caused by Greed Aiming for Blind Money]
Madame Moss bitterly criticized the victims who had fallen for the obvious scam.
She said they were fell for such a scam because they were not diligent and aimed for free money. The content implied that if they had any intelligence, they would not have been fooled by such a scam.
After seeing the article, the victims were ashamed to reveal that they were victims.
No additional victims came forward to report the scammer, and the progress of the case slipped from the public’s interest.
The culprit was able to conclude the incident through a minimum financial expenditure.
‘It’s always like this.’
Those close to the Madame have their names erased from the newspapers. Madame Moss’s enemies suffer from malicious articles until they leave the Imperial Capital or commit suicide.
Daisy watched it all.
She also thought it was wrong.
However, she had no intention of acting.
‘It can’t be helped.’
The Madame was Daisy’s benefactor.
She had made a large donation to a collapsing orphanage, feeding and housing Daisy and her siblings.
After Daisy grew up, she had readily accepted her as a secretary despite her not having learned any skills.
While working as a secretary, Daisy realized that Madame Moss’s donations were merely for show, but that did not change the fact that Madame Moss was her benefactor.
‘Besides, who else but the Madame would accept someone as incompetent as me as an employee?’
The Madame always lamented Daisy’s incompetence.
But she did not fire the incompetent Daisy.
Instead, she assigned her important tasks and taught her various things.
Daisy came to handle important matters on the Madame’s behalf.
Daisy was deeply grateful for this.
She believed it was clearly out of a lingering affection for the child she had watched since she was young.
‘Right. It doesn’t matter if the Madame is a bad person to others. At least she’s a good person to me.’
Daisy intended to remain the Madame’s loyal hound.
That is, until she found out ‘why’ the Madame had hired her.