episode_0149

Ten days have passed since the prime suspect, Charlotte La Rochelle, was placed under surveillance.

As the incident was an incident, I thought that the other party would not take it easy. I never thought it would show up until 10 days… … .

“Phew… … .”

I closed the notebook containing the alibis of everyone involved that day and sighed as my head throbbed.

As I was soothing my headache by pressing my temples, I looked at my junior who was sitting down and organizing the materials and said,

“What about the letters from Baron Galbarn and the other two families?”

My junior looked at me for a moment, scratched his head and answered in a sighing tone.

“First of all, the Argyll and Durin families said they would cooperate as much as possible, assuming that the incident would not be revealed on a large scale. However, there is no news from Galbarun Baron yet.”

“What?”

There was even a handwritten letter from the king, and the count and the viscountess said they would cooperate with the investigation. At best, the author hasn’t responded at all yet?

“… … Phew.”

I took a deep breath, tried to keep my composure, and thought about it carefully.

It takes about six days to travel from the royal capital to the western outskirts where Baron Galbarun is located, even on horseback.

Yes, no matter how fast you go, if it’s that far away, it’s not surprising that news hasn’t arrived yet.

“Ha… … . I guess I got a little impatient.”

Feeling a surge of frustration, I nervously scratched my head.

Headaches that come periodically, holes in memory that appear at some point as if eaten by a rat, and even sluggish investigations as if something is blocking them.

All of that was stressing me out.

“Tsk, what am I doing that is so uncharacteristic of me?”

“Senior, please stop being annoyed later and take a look at this material.”

“Ah? The way the kid talks to his senior… … . no. Okay, what is it?”

I stood up and accepted the paper he handed me.

On the paper was an outline of the events that occurred during the Spring Festival. Since it was something I had seen dozens of times before, I was able to quickly realize that nothing had changed.

“Well, I thought they gave me a revised version because new information came out, but it’s the same content as last time.”

“I guess I asked you to look at it because I found something strange about the same content.”

“You’re a bastard. … .”

I felt like the blood vessels in my temples were shaking, but I thought now was not the time to get excited, so I took a long deep breath and put down the materials in front of my junior and said,

“Ha… … . Okay, let’s find out what’s so strange about it.”

“If you look at the data that you have organized here, doesn’t it say that Galvarun’s bastard brainwashed three other female students and committed a terrible crime?”

“Okay. I’m talking now, but the bastard was cheap even if I died. So, what was that?”

“Please wait a moment.”

After saying that, the junior started looking through the materials in front of him, then took out a piece of paper, checked it, nodded, and put it down in front of me.

“This is a newly reconstructed content based on the information written by the senior in his notebook. Please read it.”

“There are three female victims in total――”

Two of the students appear to have been brainwashed at the same time that Galvarn’s bastard died. However, the remaining victim, a female member of the Argyle family, was still subject to brainwashing.

And this female student appears to have been freed from her brainwashing at the same time that the legitimate son of the Durang family in the underground died.

Afterwards, through investigation, it was discovered that the Durin family’s legitimate son and the Argyll family’s daughter were even engaged… … .

“Wait a minute.”

“Do you see anything strange now?”

“No human being in their right mind would willingly give up their fiancé to such a horrible person.”

“According to the stories heard around them, it was said that the two people were very fond of each other. I definitely wouldn’t have done that of my own volition.”

In that case, the bastard from Galvarn brainwashed the bastard from Durrain. The story goes that Durin’s legitimate son brainwashed his fiancee… … .

“No, wait a minute, isn’t it still a little strange? Brainwashing isn’t something that can be done in such a short period of time. If Durin’s legitimate son had called my fiancee and tried to brainwash her, she would have noticed something strange first, right?”

“It’s probably one of the two. Maybe he brainwashed his fiancee while she was sleeping. If not――”

The moment I listened to my junior, one word passed through my mind.

“Casting.”

My junior nodded slowly at my words, and I quickly put together the information in my head with other papers spread out.

“That bastard from Galvaren used a fetish to brainwash his opponents and brainwashed the legitimate enemies of Durang. Did you give that fetish to Durain’s legitimate son to brainwash my fiancee with his own hands? Like some kind of subcontracting?”

” Excluding all other conditions, it is said that the probability of this happening is highest when considering only the information provided here.”

“But that doesn’t really fit the story. Once you’ve been brainwashed, you probably won’t be able to get rid of it with any amount of mental power, right? Hey, how many people passed the brainwashing resistance training this time?”

“Among this year’s applicants… … . There was only one person. Oh, and the total number of applicants was thirty-two.”

Thirty-two, at first glance, may seem like a small number. Considering that all applicants have undergone rigorous training to become royal investigators. It is by no means a small number.

Even though their numbers are small, they have a level of mental power that makes it rude to compare them with academy students who are still just rookies.

If you think about the fact that only one of them succeeded in resisting brainwashing… … .

“There’s something… … . Something like external help.”

“And that external helper may not be the person you think of.”

Feeling like I had some clue to the incident, I smiled despite the stabbing headache.

“What do you think?”

“Ah, yes. While I was distracted, I found something good. thanks. Thanks to you, progress will be made in the investigation.”

“Huh… … .”

After hearing what I said, my junior suddenly stopped organizing the data, looked at me, and blinked.

As I looked at him, I frowned as I felt a strange sense of discomfort somewhere on his face.

“Hey, can’t you open your eyes straight?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. This is my first time seeing my senior say thank you… … .”

“The cub… … . I only say thank you when you do something to be grateful for. You always say hateful things, so who will praise you?”

“… … No matter how much I think about it, it’s a little strange. Senior, do you remember the first operation I did with you?”

At those words, I slapped my forehead and sighed.

“You really… … . ha… … .”

“No, if you were a real senior, it would be normal for you to be angry by now… … .”

For a moment, I felt the headache that had disappeared for a while come back again. I roughly grabbed the pile of paper in front of me and hit my junior on the head.

“You, you, bastard. Do this, Joo Daeng, do this Joo Daeng guard, do it, you bastard, do it!”

“Ack! sleep! wait a minute! Sorry! Sorry! Senior!”

“You’re a dude. That cursed, rotten, rotten mess is the problem. You bastard, are you a dude? Huh? Even if I say something nice――Ugh… … . done. How many times have I said this already? … .”

As I sighed and scratched my head, my junior, who was smoothing the affected area, smiled slightly.

“Do you feel better now?”

“What?”

As I blinked at the unexpected remark, my junior shrugged his shoulders.

“You seemed to be in a very bad mood, probably under a lot of stress since starting this case. Everyone knew it, but they were hissing it out. Didn’t you know?”

“… … I did it because I had so much to think about that I didn’t have time to worry about anything else.”

“You don’t know that. But, didn’t you know that other kids were very concerned about that? Everyone has been coming to me and saying that they are scared of my senior these days.”

Sure, it’s been a little edgy lately.

After scratching my head, I sighed and shook my head.

“Okay. I feel a little better thanks to you, so please tell them. There is no need to be afraid of me from now on.”

“Yes, I understand. Still, I’m glad. Lately, no matter what I do, he seems to be in a bad mood. It was difficult because I couldn’t tell whether it was okay to joke or not.”

“This bastard is really… … .”

When I lifted up the pile of papers I was still holding in my hand, my junior smiled mischievously and pretended to block me.

It was obvious that if I responded to this, I would get into trouble again, so I sighed and roughly threw the pile of papers on top of the data.

” Organize it yourself.”

“Ah! God is so great!! I’ve just finally sorted this out!!”

“Noisy! Organize everything until you leave!”

After saying that, I turned my back and tried to leave the empty classroom of the academy that was being used as an operation headquarters.

At that time, I heard my junior’s voice from behind.

“Senior.”

“Just try talking nonsense again.”

“No. That’s not it, it’s a different story.”

Seeing my junior talking without even using unnecessary words, I stopped for a moment and looked back.

My junior was looking at me with a serious face.

“I personally think it is better not to touch this incident. Also, isn’t the reason that you think that Princess Charlotte is the culprit of this incident because the contents of the notebook and her memories are different? To put a princess under surveillance because of that kind of obsession… … . I don’t think it’s a bit much.”

I kept my mouth shut at those words.

The reason I began to suspect Princess Charlotte la Rochelle was when, as usual, I opened my notebook to write down the investigation records. This was because the contents written in the notebook were different from what I remembered.

In my memory, the relationship between Princess Charlotte and Princess Hermel is nothing more than sharing the same dormitory room. What was written in the notebook was completely different from what I remembered.

The princess called Princess Charlotte her friend. There was shocking information written about how he even beat the crown prince to protect her. I had no memory of that at all.

“… … .”

“The decision is made by the senior. I am a lieutenant after all.”

Just when I was about to think too much. There was a light knocking on the door, and I, who was standing in front of the door, immediately opened the door.

“Si, please excuse me! This time, I came in as a trainee investigator directly under the royal family――”

“Business.”

“Yes, yes! The letter I sent to Baron Galbarn has returned! This means that we will cooperate unconditionally with the investigation!”

“Go out. I’ll follow you soon.”

“Yes! Okay!”

The newbie, who looked foolish, turned his back and walked out. I sighed and scratched my head.

“――I’ll give it a try first. Have my feelings ever been wrong?”

“… … ha. yes. You were always that kind of person. I understand. My senior said that, so what can I do?”

“I will come back after finding evidence, so please organize the materials. If you can’t do it, I’ll have you organize your documents all night long.”

“Oh, senior, really!”

At the sound of a voice coming from behind, I smiled and walked away.

ruler… … . Now it’s time to find the evidence.

wait a moment. I’ll catch you soon.