Chapter 7

The inside of the prison was dark and silent.

Most of the cells were empty.

Anyone imprisoned here had to be a criminal too dangerous to be allowed into the world, and such criminals were usually executed on the spot.

Therefore, any prisoner locked up in this place was someone the kingdom, for whatever reason, could not kill.

Kenneth of the Twin Flames had survived because he was a 5th-class mage.

Across the continent, mages were considered rare and valuable resources, and if someone had skills at the level of a 5th-class mage, they would try to find some way to make use of him.

By sending him on dangerous missions or leasing him out to other countries for money, that sort of thing.

While entertaining such idle thoughts, I walked down the corridor, but no matter how far I went, I saw no sign of any guards.

Was this something Josephine had arranged too?

It wasn’t until I was nearly at Kenneth’s cell that I finally heard footsteps.

A human figure emerged from within the shadowy corridor.

He wasn’t carrying a candlestick or lantern, and so I didn’t realize something was strange until after he brushed past me.

This man was not a guard.

No one working in a prison would wear a hood over their head.

As he passed me, he spoke.

“You shouldn’t handle things this way, Baron.”

“What did you say?”

“That’s what master told me to tell you.”

The unknown man walked off down the corridor, and by the time I grasped the meaning of his words, he had already vanished into the darkness.

A sense of dread filled me, and I hurried my steps.

That’s how I arrived at Kenneth’s cell.

What I found was Kenneth’s corpse with blood gushing from a wound on his neck.

***

“Baron Winslet is not the culprit.”

“I’m sick of hearing that already.”

“When you discovered the scene, wasn’t there a steel bar that was 32 millimeters thick separating Baron Winslet from Kenneth’s corpse? Then how could the Baron possibly have slit Kenneth’s throat?”

“Well, obviously with magic…”

“The place where Kenneth of the Twin Flames was held was a special containment cell. To prevent magical outbursts from criminal mages, mana suppression devices are installed all around. Magic can’t be used anywhere near those devices.”

“But I’ve heard that the suppression effect doesn’t work well on mages of the 6th class or higher. And Baron Winslet is a 7th-class mage!”

“Then if you knew that, you should’ve stopped him from entering the prison in the first place. Kenneth’s death is ultimately your responsibility, isn’t it?”

“What? That’s ridiculous!”

“If you continue to press this issue, I’ll report today’s neglect of duty to the royal court.”

“Are you threatening me right now? Do you think the Inspection Department is a joke? If this case is escalated, do you think even Baron Winslet will come out unscathed?”

“He will be just fine.”

“What?”

“Whose side do you think the royal family will take? The warden of a prison, someone who can be replaced at any time? Or one of only two 7th-class mages in the entire kingdom? Court mage Wendrick is already old….so who do you think will be appointed as his successor?”

“Y-You sly bastard!”

“I trust you’ll conduct yourself wisely.”

Bang!

The warden of Dintalvy Prison, who had come to the interrogation room to determine who was responsible for the incident, eventually stormed out with a face red with anger.

The intelligence officer, who had rushed over to defend me the moment he heard I’d been arrested by the military police, let out a victorious whistle and extended his hand to me.

“Donatel. We meet again.”

“Can I leave now?”

“Yes, yes, of course. The warden won’t be able to lay the blame on you, Baron. The decision’s already been made from above.”

“But in the end, the truth wasn’t revealed. I really didn’t kill Kenneth.”

“Haha, even if you were the culprit, Baron, if no one can hold you accountable, doesn’t that make you innocent? Don’t worry too much about one dead criminal.”

He doesn’t even pretend to believe me when I say I didn’t do it.

I ignored the handshake offered by someone with such dangerous thinking and left the interrogation room.

Outside, Josephine was waiting for me.

“Ah, Winter!”

“Did you wait long?”

“I was just released myself.”

Come to think of it, since she opened the prison for me, she must have also been suspected as an accomplice in Kenneth’s murder.

“I’m really sorry. It’s because I weakly agreed to help that you ended up caught in this unlucky mess…”

Even in this situation, Josephine was apologizing.

I found the whole thing oddly amusing.

Because in Candela of Judgment, Josephine was someone who shuddered at the mere mention of her fiancé’s name.

She would rather hurt herself than apologize to Winter Winslet out of wounded pride.

[Notification]

[A death flag has been raised by this character.]

“Josephine.”

“Yes?”

“Do you really think I didn’t kill him? Isn’t it possible I used you to get revenge on Kenneth, who attacked me last night?”

“Well… I believe you didn’t.”

“Why?”

“That’s…”

Josephine hesitated for a moment but then shook her head as if she couldn’t find an answer.

“I’m not really sure. Maybe I just want to believe it. But does faith always need a reason? I want to trust you, so I do.”

“Since you trust me, I’ll trust you too.”

“That’s… a nice thing to say. But why are you saying this all of a sudden?”

As Josephine blushed slightly in embarrassment, I handed her the paper I’d brought from the interrogation room.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a magazine I read for fun earlier in the interrogation room. There wasn’t much else to do while I was stuck in there, so I picked it up. And as it happens, there was a story about you, so I tore out the page.”

“A story about me?”

Rose Blanc Issue No. 132 – Special Feature: Love and War, In-Depth Coverage!

A man appeared in front of the house of Miss J, who was the fiancée of the famous Mr. W, at 2 a.m. and started shouting loudly.

A stalker, or perhaps a secret lover?

Flap.

Josephine dropped the paper in her hand.

I asked her as her face turned pale.

“Is what’s written there true?”

At 2 a.m., a young man reportedly showed up at Josephine’s house and knocked on the door. He called her name so loudly that it woke the neighbors.

Josephine’s father Marcel who had also been woken up, tried to chase the young man away. But Josephine stopped him. She then left with the man and disappeared to an unknown location.

That was the story as written in the magazine’s feature article.

The article raised suspicion. Perhaps the woman who slapped her fiancé over his affair was actually cheating herself.

In a trembling voice, Josephine said,

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“Are you saying the article is fabricated?”

“It’s not completely made up, but… what I mean is—!”

Josephine couldn’t finish her sentence; her lips just moved silently.

I asked her calmly and one step at a time.

“Can you explain what happened?”

“No.”

“Then can you tell me who the man was that came looking for you?”

“…No.”

In the end, Josephine lowered her head.

Even she must have felt how shameless it all seemed.

But I knew. Unlike what others might have thought…. that nothing disgraceful had happened last night.

That morning, I had confirmed that the current point in time was the very beginning of the original game, which allowed me to guess what must have happened to Josephine the night before.

Josephine who had slapped me across the face and stormed off must have met a hungry country boy on the verge of collapse in front of her house that night.

His name was Pierre Chauvin.

He was the protagonist of Judgment of Candela, a boy full of dreams who had come to the capital with nothing but a letter of recommendation, determined to become a knight.

And I even knew the reason why that boy had sought out Josephine.

Josephine D Azetta.

My fiancée was none other than the commander of the Candela Knights, whose name was written on that very letter of recommendation.

***

Judgment of Candela was a story centered on the Candela Knights and its protagonist.

The Candela Knights were a secret special force under the royal family.

Naturally, the identities of its members were also classified.

Josephine served in the Royal Guard, but that was a cover; in truth, she was the commander of the Candela Knights.

However, since she was bound by a secret oath, Josephine wouldn’t have been able to reveal what happened last night even to her fiancé. So she wouldn’t be able to say that a countryside boy had come to her with a recommendation from the former commander.

But Josephine wouldn’t have known.

That Winter Winslet already knew her secret. And that the reason he pushed for their engagement was to exploit her double identity.

To a villain dabbling in all sorts of crimes from the shadows, the military power protected by the king and the kingdom’s secrets held by such a group must have looked like the sweetest of fruits.

But even Winter Winslet didn’t know everything.

He had no idea that Josephine and the Candela Knights, whom he thought he could control at will, would one day drive a blade into his back.

The death flag Josephine had raised against me would disappear someday. When I was no longer the enemy of the kingdom.

“Winter.”

“Speak.”

When I maintained a calm demeanor, Josephine looked at me with a guilty expression, but also with a hint of hope in her eyes, and asked,

“Are you not angry with me?”

“I have no intention of being angry.”

“But if I were in your position and heard those kinds of rumors…”

“You would’ve gone and slapped someone?”

“Ugh. I’m still reflecting on what I did yesterday.”

“It was a joke. Didn’t I tell you earlier? Since you trust me, I’ll trust you too.”

“But…”

Realizing that she would clearly stay downcast all day at this rate, I made her believe my words the same way I had last night.

A gentle kiss, followed by eye contact.

“Look into my eyes.”

“Huh?”

“Do these look like the eyes of someone who’s lying?”

Earning the heroine’s favor was a struggle for survival. It was an essential skill for any veteran of Judgment of Candela.

It wasn’t because I had ulterior motives or anything.

“Um…”

A voice from the side made me turn my head, and the warden who had been watching us the entire time spoke awkwardly.

“I’d appreciate it if you could save the public display of affection for outside the cell.”

“Oh.”

Josephine’s face turned red.

***

After finishing a brief date with Josephine and returning home, I organized my code of conduct as Winter Winslet.

In the original story, Winter Winslet became a target of the Candela Knights because she committed several illegal acts and, most decisively, got involved with the rebel forces.

If so, then all I had to do was flip that around.

In other words, commit no crimes, make no enemies, and live as peacefully and uneventfully as possible.

How easy that sounded.

When I arrived home, just like yesterday, the front door opened before I even touched it.

Dahlia greeted me.

“Welcome back!”

Did she stand by the door all day while I was gone?

I handed her the box of pastries I was holding.

“Oh, dessert! Are we having guests today?”

“No, it’s for you.”

From the look of things, the morally flawed Winter Winslet probably never took care of this child in the original story, so I had packed it up while I was out at the café with Josephine.

Of course, this was also part of building favor.

[Notification]

[A death flag has been raised by this character.]

Since this maid was one of the people who could one day be the cause of my death, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared.

Kids loving food was a universal truth no matter the world, and Dahlia bounced with joy after receiving the cake.

“Ah, right! A package arrived for you, Master!”

“A package?”

Dahlia nodded, then ran off somewhere and soon returned with a small box.

It was about the size of a ring or necklace case. It looked luxurious, with a black base and gold-foil patterns.

“They said it should be delivered as soon as possible. Maybe it’s urgent?”

I nodded and took the box, then opened it.

And immediately shut the lid.

I needed a moment to take a deep breath.

…Damn it.

What the hell did I just see?

Click.

When I opened the box again, the object was still there.

I hadn’t imagined it.

Inside the box was… a pinky finger.

A severed pinky finger, belonging to someone I didn’t recognize.

So much for a peaceful, uneventful life.