Chapter 20

“Investigator.”

When the old butler approached with a respectful face, Fisher looked at the butler as if asking what was the matter.

And the old butler, whose face was no different than usual, clapped his hands in front of Fisher’s nose. With the sudden sharp ‘clap’ sound, the wide gray eyes instantly became cloudy and vacant.

Even as mucus flowed down his philtrum without being wiped away, when he handed over the notebook from his pocket, Clayton received the notebook with a nonchalant face. Then he pushed it into his pocket and snapped his thumb and forefinger in front of the dazed Fisher’s eyes.

Snap—

Soon Fisher blinked and looked at Clayton.

His expression showed he remembered nothing of what had just happened.

While he wiped away the flowing mucus with his handkerchief, the butler calmly grasped the door handle and opened it. As cold winter air entered, Fisher, whose mind cleared instantly, unconsciously raised the collar of his outer coat.

“I’ve prepared the horse you rode here in advance. The master was sorry you had to leave so hastily. The weather is cold and it will get dark soon, so please travel carefully.”

Receiving the exemplary butler’s farewell and stepping outside, Fisher felt somehow at ease despite the cold. The feeling of his nerves being on edge was also much less. Someone wearing a cap who had brought out a horse from over there silently bowed his head slightly and handed over the reins.

Fisher found himself turning back without realizing it.

The manor door had already closed silently. As the day was short and darkness was falling quickly, the manor was looking down at him. And something seemed to be looking down at him from the third-floor corridor window, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“…”

Even looking again, nothing could be seen. Blinking vacantly while looking up at the manor, Fisher sniffled again and turned around. Anyway, the case was concluded. Grasping the reins and mounting the horse’s back, Fisher urged his way forward, wanting to get away from the manor before sunset.

After the investigator came and went from the manor, a reply arrived from the carrier pigeon that had been urgently sent to the capital via a nearby village on the day the incident occurred.

The reply to the letter informing Jason of Jeremy’s sudden death and asking him to relay the news to close relatives began with polite phrases praying for the deceased’s peaceful rest.

As requested, they had made inquiries to find Jeremy’s relatives, and after much difficulty, they had managed to contact his family in a place far from the capital. Having obtained consent, they wished for the funeral to be held there, along with concern for Ian and apologies for not being able to visit.

Ian put down the letter he was reading and sighed deeply.

“It seems we’ll have to hold the teacher’s funeral ourselves.”

Clayton, who had been standing beside him silently like a still life, blinked slowly and then spoke:

“If the teacher’s family finds it difficult to participate, it would be good to cut some hair before burial. If they visit later, we can deliver it to them.”

Thinking this must be how things were done in this world, Ian nodded weakly.

“That’s a good idea.”

Ian, who had been watching the crackling flames, briefly moistened his dry lips with saliva and spoke as if whispering:

“I feel terrible. How did such a thing happen…”

Shadows had formed under Ian’s eyes, and his cheeks, which Mrs. Loska who was in charge of the manor’s kitchen had filled out, had become gaunt. The burden weighing on his heart was clearly written on his face. It was the face of someone who couldn’t escape even a little from the shock of the sudden death of someone he had considered close.

Even now, when he closed his eyes, that cheerful face was vivid.

The way his eyes sparkled as he talked about his discoveries, or his nimble appearance as he fled from Ash’s questions… It felt like if he opened the window right now, he would see Jeremy examining the ground…

As soon as that thought ended, a deathly pale face came to mind.

Eyes with dilated pupils, wide open as if startled by seeing something, on a pale frozen face.

When he unconsciously shuddered, hands wrapped around his shoulders. They were the old man’s dry, wrinkled hands. When Ian turned his head, a gray-haired man was looking at him with a face full of the traces of time.

The sunken, wrinkled eyes looking straight at him were filled with concern and affection for the heartbroken young man before him.

“Master, you’ve done everything you could. You requested an investigator to find out what happened, and you informed the teacher’s relatives of the situation.”

The hand on his shoulder slowly patted that spot. It was a touch that seemed to genuinely care for the other person.

“So now it’s time to let the teacher go.”

At those words, Ian covered his face with both hands. Though he had already experienced a funeral here, this time was different. The predetermined death of someone he’d never met had only brought heavy emotions. But the death of someone he had talked with and grown close to brought up the heavy anxiety that had sunk deep in Ian’s heart.

‘How on earth did such a thing happen?’

Had there been some premonition that day that he failed to notice?

Why was Jeremy, who had gone up after finishing dinner as usual, found in that bleak garden? If this were reality, they might have learned the results through an autopsy, but it was frustrating that even that was difficult to hope for.

Nowhere had there been a conclusion that the bereaved could satisfactorily accept.

Faithful Clayton patted the young master’s shoulder as if comforting him.

Some time later, there was a modest funeral.

Unlike the funeral a few months ago, a spot was used in a corner of the cemetery, and only a few people attended. Ian and butler Clayton who accompanied him, and Gabe who had brought them in the carriage.

The breath of workers brought from the village, digging the ground frozen hard throughout winter, puffed out white. While the clergyman Ian had met at Arthur Walton’s funeral was again lighting the way for the departed, fierce wind swirled past.

“It’s been a while.”

After the funeral ended, when the round-faced clergyman called to him with the same kind face as months ago, Ian expressed his gratitude. Though he had said when they first and last met that he hoped to see his face from time to time, Ian felt awkward that they were only meeting now.

“Priest, thank you for coming again this time.”

“I heard the deceased was a tutor who taught the young master, but to have such misfortune happen must make you feel terrible.”

The good-natured face looked around as if searching for something and continued:

“But it seems the young master couldn’t attend.”

Ash, who had been by Ian’s side when the body was discovered, was still lying in bed with a sudden high fever. With that thought, Ian spoke with a worried face:

“He’s been ill for the past few days… I’m worried. He needs to get better quickly…”

At those words, the clergyman’s eyebrows drooped and he closed his mouth for a moment. At the sudden silence, Ian’s heart beat wildly with anxiety. The clergyman, who couldn’t know such feelings, spoke with a somewhat heavy expression:

“It’s probably a regional endemic disease. There are several children in the village also bedridden with high fever. Times when such fierce wind blows and snow falls are harsh for young children and elderly people… Spring needs to come quickly. I’ll pray for the young master’s swift recovery.”

At those words, the anxiety in Ian’s heart flared up again.

What if something happened to Ash while he remained at the manor when he should have left originally? Then what would happen to him? Would everyone be sacrificed due to his wrong judgment?

As he clenched his previously relaxed hands into fists, the priest who had bowed as if saying final farewell turned around, stopped, and came back to Ian. Though thick fabric wrapped around his legs, his steps were nimble.

“And whenever your heart is troubled, please visit the sanctuary in the village. It’s a place open to everyone.”

At those kind words, Ian silently nodded.

After finishing the funeral and shivering in the cold, they returned to the manor.

Just as he was about to head straight to Ash’s room, Mrs. Gauner approached and informed him that lawyer Gale had arrived. Opening the study door and entering, the massive body that had been standing by the blazing fireplace turned toward Ian.

Since he had been busy carrying out Ian’s requests for a while and hadn’t been able to visit the manor often, he didn’t know Jeremy well, so his stoic face that briefly bowed and raised was no different than usual.

“I only heard news that a tutor had entered the manor, but I didn’t know I’d hear such bad news without even meeting him.”

“He was too good a person to go like that.”

Gale, who had been examining Ian’s gloomy face for a moment, sighed and scratched his head with his thick hand. His rough face showed the light of things having become complicated in various ways.

“This is a different matter, but I came because I thought I should tell you about what I’ve been looking into. At first, I sent people casually. But there were no particular results. So I went to the village written in the letter myself, but not only in that village but nowhere in the surrounding area did I hear about a young couple with a small child.”

In ordinary commoner villages, it was natural for several generations to live in one place. So if there were new migrants, especially a couple with a child, they would be easy to identify, but there wasn’t even a trace.

“I think we need to consider other possibilities now.”

One side of Gale’s serious face flickered in the light from the blazing fireplace.

“Other possibilities…”

Ian made an unwilling expression.

Gale lowered his voice, closed the distance, and leaned in to whisper almost into his ear:

“That’s why I came like this.”

Without anyone knowing, the two lovers had suddenly disappeared one day and a letter had come from a village with no connections. But since there were no traces of the two lovers in that village, or even in the surrounding area, they had to turn their attention back to the manor.

With a stern face, Gale looked at Ian:

“Mr. Clayton is a rare person, but I don’t think we can believe everything he says. They might not have been able to escape in the first place. But to investigate this further, I think you need to be prepared, Baron.”

While Ian digested what Gale was saying with a hardened face, he continued quietly:

“Are you prepared to know what kind of people surround you and the young master inside the manor? If you wish, I can investigate and inform you of anything.”