"Why is the royal palace gatekeepers’ family suddenly coming up? It’s a completely unrelated case."

"That’s what I want to ask. Why is a handkerchief embroidered with that name coming out of there?"

Fiel and I were thrown into confusion by this massive piece of evidence that completely flipped the direction of the case. No matter how I thought about it, the connection was just too unexpected. What in the world could there have been between the royal palace gatekeepers and a forest keeper?

When I examined the handkerchief closely, I could see traces of age on it.

If handkerchiefs with elaborate patterns are the trendy design these days, this one had its patterns concentrated only along the borders, with the rest of the surface showing the beauty of empty space.

"Was your grandmother’s name Lydia, by any chance?"

"Yes, yes! That’s right! That handkerchief was something my grandmother treasured."

"Did your grandmother ever work at the royal palace?"

"I never heard anything like that!"

Lydia’s grandson Ralph didn’t know much about his grandmother, but he explained that she had been warm and affectionate, and remarkably cultured for a forest keeper. It’s not easy for commoners with limited access to education to acquire such refinement.

"If that young man Ralph isn’t the culprit, then whose work could this be?"

"Fiel, the victims were tortured. Why would they have been tortured?"

"It’s strange. Unless there’s a deep grudge involved, people don’t usually torture their victims to death."

Ralph, who had been trembling and watching everyone’s reactions, seemed to relax a bit once I showed that I believed in his innocence to some degree. Watching him cling to his lover and weep, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

If Ralph had been arrested as a family murderer, he would have been executed without question, and the truth would have been buried. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out what the culprit stood to gain by wiping out an entire forest keeper family.

The only clues we had were this handkerchief embroidered with the Karlstadt name and the hairpin. Anyone could see these were gifts meant for a loved one. The handkerchief carried the meaning of love.

[From Rudolf Ritter von Karlstadt to Lydia]

A bittersweet love between a forest keeper maiden and a royal palace gatekeeper?

There were simply no connecting points. If Lydia had at least been from Breisburg, we might have found some kind of link. But Vintenheim was a village far to the north, distant from the capital.

"Lydia of Vintenheim..."

Viktor had been mulling over the name Lydia for a while now. Just as there are many women named Emily in America, Lydia was an extremely common woman’s name, so it would be hard to identify a particular person by name alone.

"Fiel, tell me more about the Karlstadt family. What kind of family are they?"

"As far as I know, they’ve guarded the royal palace since the founding of the Duchy of Beren."

That old of a family? Beren has over two hundred years of history, and there’s a family that has guarded the gates of the royal palace all that time. Well, you wouldn’t trust just anyone to guard the royal palace.

"So they’re the family that holds the final line of defense for the royal palace. If they ever end up fighting..."

"It would mean the duchy is on the verge of destruction. Or rather, it would essentially mean it has already fallen."

If things ever came to the point where even the last bastion of the royal palace had to fight, that would be the end. That’s why people jokingly call them the Garrison of Terror. Why terror? Because the very fact of them fighting is terrifying.

There wasn’t much to be gained by sitting here racking my brains.

It would be better to just go and ask directly.

They’re royal palace gatekeepers, so meeting them won’t be easy, but I have to try.

"Don’t tell me you’re planning to go ask the royal palace gatekeeper himself?"

"That’s exactly what I’m planning. It won’t be easy to meet him, but couldn’t I go through the crown prince?"

"The reason the Karlstadt family hasn’t entered high society is precisely because of their position as royal palace gatekeepers. The moment they form connections with other noble houses, secrets of the royal family could leak out one way or another."

So along with the Grand Duke’s Guard, they’re a family with the special position of being closest to the royal family, which is why they’re forbidden from associating with other noble houses? On the flip side, that means they have plenty to hide.

"How do you know all this so well?"

"My grandfather told me a lot."

Ah, right, Fiel’s grandfather was Adolf.

Sometimes I forget that Fiel is the grandson of a great hero.

"They’re a wall of iron. But what would happen if I delivered this handkerchief to him?"

"...I can’t say for certain, but I think there would be a reaction."

Whether positive or negative.

The stench of conspiracy was wafting in from every direction.

A conspiracy is, in the end, just a means to someone’s benefit.

I haven’t suffered any losses, but somehow I keep getting tangled up in things wherever I go.

"Commander, I’ve remembered it clearly now. It must be Lydia of Vintenheim."

Viktor, who had been continuously muttering the name Lydia, seemed to have finally remembered. I expected him to look relieved, like someone who had just solved a nagging puzzle, but his expression was off.

Viktor asked Ralph a question.

"How many women named Lydia are there in this village?"

"E-excluding my grandmother, there are two, but they’re both children."

"Is that so? Then perhaps your grandmother is someone I knew."

Viktor first revealed that he had come to know Lydia of Vintenheim fifteen years ago. That would have been around the time Fiel and I were born. Back then, Viktor had just become a squire candidate.

"Lydia of Vintenheim was a handmaid in the household of Baron Constance."

A handmaid in Baron Constance’s household?

This was an unexpected revelation.

It seemed Ralph was hearing this for the first time as well.

But the earlier testimony that his grandmother had been remarkably cultured for a forest keeper lent credibility to Viktor’s words. If she had been an educated handmaid, her refinement would have come naturally.

Sabine, who received intensive training from Priscilla, has now become a proper noble household handmaid, carrying herself with an effortless grace. It’s the same way Daniel, who received butler training from Göring, has taken on the bearing of a butler.

"The baron trusted Lydia greatly and appointed her as the manager of Rosengarden, which is now your mansion, Commander. I believe she lived in Breisburg from around that time."

We had at least a basic connection. However, Viktor had no idea what Lydia had done in the capital, because his area of activity as a squire had been Rosenheim.

After time passed and Lydia retired and returned to her hometown, Viktor knew nothing more about her. Though it was only a brief acquaintance, his testimony was now extremely valuable.

"It wasn’t a long acquaintance, but I never imagined she would die in such a way."

Viktor wasn’t free from the shock either. They hadn’t been close, but she was someone who had lingered in a corner of his memory, and learning that she had died like that would shake anyone.

If she really was the same person as Ralph’s deceased grandmother, the connection to the royal palace gatekeeper made sense. But then who had killed Lydia and her family? In the end, the only way forward was to ask directly.

"Sir! What’s going to happen to us?"

When the decision was made to head back, Ralph asked anxiously.

Ralph still hadn’t been cleared of the family murder charge. The problem was that with the Church having officially endorsed the accusation, even if I argued for his innocence, they would dismiss it unless we produced solid evidence and the actual culprit.

The Church might tolerate other things, but heresy, family murder, and homosexuality were absolutely beyond the pale. Fiel had also accepted Ralph’s innocence and seemed worried, asking carefully:

"Commander, what will you do with these two?"

"We have to take them with us, of course. If we leave them here, they’re both as good as dead."

The hunter’s daughter wouldn’t fare well with her family either. Didn’t I mention how the head of household in this era had the right to beat his wife and daughters? The hunter’s attitude toward me couldn’t possibly be favorable.

"I can’t believe the man called the Gale Knight is defending a family murderer."

"Based on my investigation, Ralph isn’t the real culprit. I’ve determined the actual killer is in Breisburg. So while I track down the real criminal, I’d like you to keep this matter about Ralph quiet."

"But the Church identified Ralph as the family murderer!"

In this world, if the Church declares someone a family murderer, they’re a family murderer; if the Church declares someone a witch, they’re a witch. Eventually I gave up on persuasion and was reminded once again that force is more persuasive than words.

"Go ahead and report it to the Church if you want. But the consequences will fall entirely on your family. You’re not naive enough to think the Church will protect you, are you?"

"..."

It was naked intimidation, but to take Ralph and his lover with us, there was no other way. When words don’t work, you have to resort to force. Eventually, the hunters’ chief caved to the threat.