I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 153

19. Flashback (12)

After ten days of carriage travel, Killian and Edith arrived at the Ludwig mansion.

But unlike their expectations of a warm long-awaited reunion, the mansion was in disarray.

“Killian! Edith!”

Only the Duchess greeted them, and she looked worried despite seeing her long-awaited grandson.

It was natural.

With the Imperial Knights occupying the mansion and searching every room, it was only natural.

“Mother, what’s going on?”

“Sob…… I don’t know what’s going on either, Killian.”

She finally let out the tears she had been holding back.

“Lizé…… has been taken away, accused of disgracing the imperial family.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you know that Marquis Theroux lost his youngest son five years ago?”

“If you are referring to the Marquis Theroux’s youngest son, isn’t he raised on an estate from a young age because of his weak body?”

The Duchess shook her head. “That’s what everyone thought, but it turns out he was actually kidnapped and kept secret for one reason or another, until Lizé…… found him and brought him back.”

“Then why not reward her, and why is she being accused of disgracing the imperial family?”

“Sob…… because the child was a fake.”

“What?”

Edith looked like she’d been punched in the back of the head, as well as Killian.

“No, I mean, how on earth could that be……?”

“Because the child Lizé brought in knows things that you wouldn’t know unless you were the Marquis Theroux’s son, and they were all told to him by Lizé.”

“What?”

“How did Lizé know that…… so now your father and brother have been taken to the Imperial Palace, and the imperial knights are searching the mansion.”

This was enough to send the duchy reeling.

Then, something clicked in Edith’s mind.

‘Now that I think about it, the last episode of the original story was about finding the missing child, wasn’t it? And that child is a relative of the imperial family. Could it be that Lizé forced that episode to happen?’

The last episode of “I Refuse Your Obsession,” which I had forgotten for a while, came to mind.

However, since most of the flow of the original story had already been broken, there was no way the story could go on as it was.

I realized it when I read Renon’s diary about Lizé’s meeting with the Crown Prince.

In the original story, Lizé’s status changed drastically after the Crown Prince who met her introduced her to his confidants.

This time, however, the Crown Prince did not do so as in the original story, and Lizé was even scolded by Duke Ludwig for it.

‘That’s enough to know that the original story has already crumbled, yet she can’t let go of her obsession with it?’

Edith grabbed the back of her neck.

‘You idiot, you should have thought of the suspicion you’d attract if it failed!’

She had the audacity to bring in a fake child, knowing all about what the imperial family kept secret.

The imperial family would naturally assume she was behind the kidnapping.

“It’s my fault. All of this is my fault.”

“Mother, why do you say that!”

“I shouldn’t have raised Lizé the way I did, I just gave her everything out of pity, and I guess that ruined her.”

The Duchess trembled with anguish.

But Edith knew they couldn’t have done that; they had existed to give Lizé everything.

Of course, they are not completely blameless.

Lizé’s control over them must have weakened when I met the third exception condition, and I wonder why they hadn’t noticed something odd about Lizé then……

‘Well, even I didn’t realize she was the author until I met all the exception conditions, so who am I to blame?’

I sighed.

It’s easy to judge after everything has happened, but it’s not easy to doubt someone you’ve lived with and loved as much as your own family.

Just then, another carriage pulled up outside. It bore the imperial crest, so the imperial knights who guarded the outside of the mansion moved in unison to open the carriage door.

Marchioness Theroux stepped out of the carriage, her face cold and stern, and Princess Catherine looking perplexed.

“Marchioness Theroux!”

The Duchess hastily wiped her tears and greeted her, but Sierra’s face remained cold.

“I’ll be supervising the investigation at the Ludwig mansion, I’m sure you’ll understand, right?”

“Of course. But are you all right? I hear you’re not feeling well.”

“I’m afraid I’ll get sick if I just lie down.”

Her two lean fists balled up. “How is it possible that neither Duke Ludwig nor his heir didn’t know what Lady Lizé knew? I assume you would say that you didn’t know either?”

“I swear to God we did not know. But…… we are guilty of knowing nothing that would allow Lizé to do such a thing. I am sorry, madam.”

At the apology from Duchess Ludwig, whose complexion was as pale as her own, Sierra could only grit her teeth and tremble, unable to say anything more.

Just then, a servant unloading luggage from the carriage approached Edith and asked what he should do.

Edith went outside the mansion to check on the situation and approached the carriage. Fortunately, they hadn’t unloaded much.

“Stop, for now, until the imperial knights have finished their investigation.”

As the servants, who had heard her command, reloaded the luggage back into the carriage, Edith approached Daniel, who stood dazedly beside the carriage.

“I’m sorry you had to go through this so soon after arriving in the capital, Daniel. Are you okay?”

Edith assumed that Daniel was frightened by the presence of the imperial knights, but he shook his head.

“No, rather…… I got my wish. Thank you, madam.”

“Your wish?”

“There’s someone I wanted to see just once before I left for Ryzen, and now that I have, I can leave for Ryzen with peace of mind.”

At those words, Edith looked around.

There were so many imperial knights and servants of the mansion milling about that she couldn’t tell who Daniel was talking about.

“If you can tell me who it is, I’ll arrange for you to meet.”

“No. I don’t think she’ll want to meet with me, so no thanks.”

The boy’s eyes were filled with sadness.

“Okay. I won’t ask any more questions. There’s nothing else to do right now anyway, so let’s go inside and get something to eat. Follow me.”

Edith walked into the mansion with Daniel, who looked like he was about to burst into tears.

As they entered, Killian, who was standing by the side of the Marchioness and Duchess, approached.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, the unloading has stopped anyway, and Daniel looks very tired, so I’d like to give him some warm milk and cookies.”

“He must be surprised.”

Seeing Daniel’s head bowed, Killian felt sorry for him. Since he was a boy living on the streets, he was probably afraid of the knights coming to investigate.

Killian nodded, and Edith was about to take Daniel away again.

“Wait. Who is that child again?” Sierra reacted sharply.

The fact that he was the same age as the boy Lizé had brought, and a blond one at that, seemed to arouse her suspicions.

“He’s our errand boy. He seems to be afraid of the knights, so I’d like to give him some warm milk.”

But Edith’s explanation didn’t seem to allay Sierra’s suspicions, and she approached Edith and the boy.

As she approached, Daniel ducked his head further, hiding behind Edith’s back.

“Did you tell him various things about the Theroux family too?”

“Sorry? That’s impossible, because it was only yesterday that we met him.”

“Yesterday?”

“Yes. He almost got run over by our carriage, and he said he had nowhere to go and needed to find a job, so we decided to take him to Ryzen…… wait a minute, madam!”

Edith tried to stop her, but Sierra tugged at the collar of Daniel’s shirt at the back of his neck as he bowed his head. On the nape of Daniel’s neck was a small, red mole, shaped like a butterfly at first glance.

“He’s scared! He has nothing to do with this!”

Edith protected Daniel from the Marchioness. In Edith’s arms, Daniel only tried to hide further.

But Sierra’s expression was strange.

“No way, are you…… Johann? No, no way……”

“I’m…… Daniel.”

The boy replied in a small voice, not even looking up.

“Your name is Daniel?”

“He didn’t tell me his name, so I named him,” Edith said, still hiding Daniel in her arms.

Feeling safe in Edith’s arms, Daniel slowly turned his head to glance at the Marchioness.

“No, no! That mole on the nape of his neck……!”

“Madam!”

Sierra suddenly lunged at the boy and wrapped her arms around his cheeks.

“Johann! You are Johann, right?”

Edith tried to stop Sierra, but she cupped Daniel’s cheeks without backing down an inch, wondering how such strength could come from such a slender body.

“I- I’m…… not Johann. I’m Daniel,” Daniel protested, pulling out of Sierra’s grip.

But Sierra’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at Daniel’s face.

“Johann……”

Tears filled her eyes. But before she could say another word, Sierra collapsed in a heap.

“Madam! Are you okay?!”

Only after Edith let go of him to support Sierra’s body did Daniel turn his attention back to her.

He looked at the unconscious Sierra and screamed in alarm.

“Mom!”

Killian, the Duchess, and Catherine, who had rushed to Sierra’s side, widened their eyes at his cry.

But Daniel clung to Sierra as if he couldn’t see anything around him.

“Mom! I’m sorry, Mom! Sob, Mom……”

He then grabbed Edith’s hand and begged, “Please save my mom, I’ll do anything, please save my mom!”

Edith seemed to be losing her mind.