Arc 5 Chapter 3 : Deception

[Raul PoV]

Misha was found dead in a sewer...

Those words kept echoing in my mind.

It hadn't been long since that woman had escorted me to this hotel. Yet instead of resting in the room we had booked, Misha had gone out to take care of some business she had in this town.

“Tell me! How did my sister end up being murdered in that filthy place!” Rurik shouted again.

“After escorting me to my room, Lady Misha said she had some business to take care of outside,” I answered him. “That was the last time I saw her here.”

“No. I already asked the receptionist, and she said she never saw Misha leave through the front door of this inn!” Rurik shouted again.

His mind was clearly in turmoil, considering that his younger sister had just died under unnatural circumstances.

“First, let's examine your sister's body, Lord Rurik,” I said to him. “Perhaps we can find some clues.”

Rurik released his grip on my shoulders. He nodded, but he continued staring sharply at me as though he suspected me.

“I've already brought her body to the nearest Temple of Goddess Diana,” Rurik replied before turning around and beginning to walk.

I followed behind him, and the two of us soon left the inn.

This incident had happened so suddenly that I couldn't think clearly at first. However, I think I can do so now.

Let's analyze the information I just received.

Misha was murdered, and her body was found in a sewer within this town. Furthermore, no one saw her leave the inn after the two of us entered earlier.

“Lord Rurik, may I ask you something?” I said to him.

“What about?” he replied coldly.

“Does Misha possess any ability that could make her body invisible or something similar?” I asked him just to be certain.

“She doesn't possess any such ability,” Rurik answered while continuing to walk. “She isn't an Animagus either, nor does she have any ability that would allow her to leave the inn without being noticed by the hotel receptionist.”

“I see...” I muttered.

If that was the case, it was understandable why Rurik kept suspecting me. However, if the circumstances really were like this, then I seemed to be the only potential suspect in this murder.

But I wasn't the one who killed Misha.

Judging from the circumstances, it seemed that someone wanted to frame me for the death of Misha Stronov.

But Rurik should understand that there would be no benefit for me in committing this murder if I really were the culprit, shouldn't he? However, an unclear motive wouldn't be enough to remove me from Rurik's mind as a potential suspect.

Not long afterward, we arrived at the Temple of Goddess Diana in this town in the middle of the night.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Bishop Krul, are you inside?” Rurik called out while knocking on the door.

“Yes, just a moment. I'll be there shortly.”

The voice of an old man could be heard from behind the temple door.

The door then opened, revealing a man in his sixties wearing the robes of a Priest.

“Bishop, have you performed an autopsy on my sister's body?” Rurik asked the old man.

“Of course. Come inside.”

Rurik and I entered the temple. The Bishop then led us to a morgue. Several bodies were lying on the tables inside.

One of them was Misha's corpse.

The three of us approached the table where Misha's body had been laid. There was a fairly deep stab wound around her heart.

“After my investigation, it has been confirmed that this body belongs to your sister, Lord Rurik,” the Bishop said. “I tested it using a blood-matching spell between your blood and the blood from this corpse.”

A spell to check blood compatibility?

Usually, this spell was used to verify that a baby born into a noble family was truly their descendant.

“So it's true... Misha—my sister was murdered by someone...” Rurik muttered, lowering his head as he clenched his fists.

I then examined Misha's corpse.

At a glance, there was nothing strange about her body aside from the stab wound to her heart. Since this wasn't a game, I couldn't simply summon a status window and look at the condition data of the corpse.

Although I possessed knowledge from the game, scanning a corpse required a special ability if I wanted to identify every abnormality within the body before determining the results of the examination.

“Bishop Krul, may I ask you something?” I asked the Priest.

“Of course, Young Man. What would you like to ask?”

“Can you perform a Scan to determine when this corpse last used Mana?” I asked him.

Hearing my request, the Bishop looked toward Rurik as though asking for his permission.

Rurik nodded.

The Bishop then placed his palm against Misha's forehead. He began muttering something under his breath while closing both of his eyes.

Shiiinggg!

A light enveloped Misha's corpse.

Corpse Scanning was a spell that every Priest was required to possess as a prerequisite for becoming a Bishop. Learning this spell took several months because if the data obtained during the Scanning process was incorrect, it would affect the diagnosis of the cause of a person's death.

Not long afterward, the light surrounding Misha's corpse disappeared. The Priest opened his eyes and looked at me.

“This body last used Mana approximately six months ago,” Bishop Krul answered.

Rurik looked shocked, but I wasn't surprised at all. I had already considered this possibility.

“Lord Rurik, have you ever seen Lady Misha use magic within the past six months?” I asked him.

“I don't know,” he replied, shaking his head. “I spent most of my time in the capital guarding Tsar Feodor's family, while Misha spent most of her days in our city—Windhowl. I suppose I should ask Father and the people who were close to Misha.”

Why did I ask the Bishop to perform a Mana Scan on Misha's corpse?

Because I had a suspicion about the person responsible for all of this.

Lilith ur Luciferus—the Demon King's daughter.

I suspected that she had killed Misha Stronov and then stolen her identity to disguise herself.

This story originates from NovelPhoenix. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She must have hidden Misha Stronov's body inside a Pocket Dimension and brought it out tonight so that the nobles of this country would have even more reason to suspect me.

That meant that throughout the journey here, the person who had been speaking to me wasn't Misha Stronov.

It was the Demon King's daughter.

That night, Rurik and several guards took Misha's body back to Windhowl, while I continued my journey toward the capital, Herminsky.

---

[Leon PoV]

Several days after Tsar Feodor's funeral ceremony, the condition of the palace seemed to have begun returning to normal.

When I first heard the news of his death, I was shocked and couldn't believe it. Although I wasn't particularly close to him, he was the person who had cared for me and given me a place to live since I was a child.

I was currently in the Tsar's chamber, which now belonged to Alisha.

The desk of this country's ruler was covered with countless documents containing reports about every matter throughout the country.

Alisha had been sitting there for hours, reading through those reports and making revisions whenever she found something she believed was incorrect. The documents would then be reviewed by the ministers before being implemented into the governing system of the Tsardom of Slavia.

“Alisha, you've been working for almost ten hours without taking a break,” I said to the strongest woman in the country. “If you keep pushing yourself like this, your health will deteriorate.”

Despite what I said, Alisha continued reading and writing notes on a sheet of paper, completely ignoring my words.

I could only stare at her in silence, unable to do anything to help her.

Although Alisha had told me that simply staying by her side was enough, I wanted to do something to lessen the burden she was carrying, especially now that she was at her lowest point after losing her father.

She hadn't even had time to grieve and had immediately thrown herself into handling everything related to the country.

“Alisha, can't you hire an assistant to handle some of this work?” I asked her again.

This time, Alisha stopped what she was doing. She pushed her chair back and sighed, relaxing her body.

The white-haired woman then looked at me with eyes as cold as ice.

“You're very noisy, Leon,” she said with a smile.

“I'm only worried about you, Alisha,” I replied with a smile of my own.

“Make me a cup of hot tea,” Alisha ordered.

I bowed before approaching a table where the ingredients for Alisha's favorite tea had been prepared. I mixed several of them into a cup before pouring hot water into it.

“I actually want to hire an assistant to help me with my work,” Alisha said, answering my previous question. “However, because of what happened, I need to carefully select my assistant to make sure they are loyal only to me and no one else.”

I thought what Alisha said made sense.

After what happened to Tsar Feodor, I thought we needed to be more careful about enemy spies infiltrating our country so that information about Alisha's whereabouts and other important matters concerning the nation wouldn't fall into enemy hands.

There would always be enemies looking for an opening to bring us down. Although we still had absolutely no idea who was targeting our country, we had to remain vigilant.

After finishing the tea, I turned around and handed the cup to Alisha.

“Thank you, Leon.”

I nodded.

Alisha then took a sip of the hot tea I had made. Her expression changed, and it seemed that some of her exhaustion had faded after drinking it.

Of course, the ingredients for this tea were imported from other countries. The geography of our nation made it difficult for us to obtain commodities such as tea leaves.

After finishing the tea, Alisha stood up and walked toward the window, looking out at the capital from the palace. Judging from her expression, it seemed that she was thinking about something.

“Is something wrong, Alisha?” I asked her.

Hearing my question, she turned around and looked at me with an exhausted expression.

“This is about Raul de Garcia,” she answered.

Raul de Garcia?

If I remembered correctly, that man had only recently arrived in this country, specifically in Windhowl, a few days ago. He would probably arrive in the capital tonight or tomorrow.

It seemed that Alisha truly didn't want this engagement, even though she had told me that she would do anything, including marrying him, if it meant saving the country.

“Read this letter,” Alisha said before handing me a piece of paper.

It was a letter from Boyar Lenin Stronov.

It stated that Misha Stronov—the daughter of Boyar Stronov, who had accompanied Raul de Garcia's group on their journey to the capital—had mysteriously died while they were stopping in the city of Dniper.

Misha had last been seen with Raul de Garcia, making him the only suspect in the case. However, the Boyar couldn't order the authorities to detain a foreign guest without the permission of the country's ruler, which was Alisha herself.

Boyar Lenin requested that Alisha detain Raul de Garcia and conduct a thorough investigation into his connection to the case.

He was convinced that his daughter had noticed something suspicious about the man. That was why Raul de Garcia had killed her before she could tell anyone else what she had discovered.

“Everything is becoming more complicated,” Alisha muttered, seemingly unsure of what to do.

She only showed this side of herself to me.

Whenever she was in front of Ana and her subordinates, Alisha always presented herself as a strong and resolute woman who never showed any weakness.

She only showed this side of herself to me because after Tsar Feodor's death, I was the only person left who knew the secret about her illness.

That was how close the two of us were.

“If that man really committed a crime in this country, shouldn't we detain him and punish him according to our laws?” I said, agreeing with what Boyar Lenin had requested in his letter.

“It's not that simple, Leon,” Alisha replied. “I still don't know who my enemies are, what they're planning, or what they're after.”

“Enemies? Isn't it obvious? Isn't this exactly what the Boyars said before? This aid agreement was merely a pretext for House Garcia to approach our country. Once our minds were blinded by their kindness and we stopped suspecting them, that family began executing their plans one by one to weaken our country and eventually take control of it!”

Alisha touched her temple after hearing what I had just said. She seemed genuinely troubled by the problem that had just emerged.

“Then, if we're wrong, what compensation can we offer after accusing the family that helped save our country, in order to make them forgive us? If we can't provide sufficient compensation, then our country's credibility will be destroyed. No one will be willing to invest in a country that treats its partners unfairly and poorly!”

I couldn't respond to Alisha's words.

There wasn't enough evidence to detain Raul de Garcia for Misha Stronov's death. Everything Boyar Lenin had said was merely an assumption and had yet to be properly proven.

But if we could prove that Raul de Garcia was guilty of this case, not only would he be detained for murdering a member of this country's nobility, but his status as Alisha's fiancé could also be revoked.

I had to take advantage of this opportunity to free Alisha from that man.

“Don't worry, Alisha. I'll do something to resolve this problem!” I said firmly and confidently.

“Huh? Why are you saying something like that? That's unlike you, Leon,” Alisha asked in confusion.

It was true. I had never taken action to help Alisha deal with her problems before.

But this time was different.

I would do it to free the woman I loved from the clutches of a man who wanted to destroy her country.

“I want to change, Alisha. This time, I won't stand by and watch you suffer!”

Hearing my words, Alisha smiled slightly. She then walked closer and gently caressed my cheek with her warm palm.

“I'm glad, Leon,” Alisha said.

My heart began pounding violently as I looked at her beautiful face from such a close distance.

“Good luck, and do your best, okay?”

Her encouraging words made my chest feel warm.

I instinctively wrapped both arms around Alisha and pulled her into an embrace. I could feel the warmth of her body, and I hoped this moment could last forever.

“I love you so much, Alisha,” I said sincerely.

“I know.”

I would never let her go...

I would never let another man have her...

For that... I swear I will destroy you...

Raul de Garcia...

---

[Lilith PoV]

After carrying out the plan Alvaro had told me about, I went to meet him at the place we had agreed upon beforehand.

Several days ago, Alvaro had told me that the person who had infiltrated his son's body would surely come to this country to investigate his death.

He said that he predicted this person's presence in the country would ruin our plans.

That was why I disguised myself as a nobleman's daughter whom I had killed when I first came into this world and framed Raul de Garcia.

After we arrived at the inn, I transformed into a cat and left the inn where Raul de Garcia was staying. After that, I headed to the nearest secluded place and took the corpse of the nobleman's daughter I had previously killed out of my Pocket Dimension.

That was how I framed Raul de Garcia according to Alvaro's instructions, ensuring that everyone's attention would remain focused on that man while he was in this country.

Not long afterward, I arrived at an old shack and entered.

Inside, I saw a black-haired man reading a book. Upon realizing that I had arrived, the man stood up and bowed.

“Welcome, Princess Lilith. Thank you for being willing to assist me with the preparations I've made,” the man said with a smile. “By the way, what was your impression after seeing him?”

He was probably asking about his son.

“Nothing special,” I replied without interest. “His Mana capacity is low. Besides that, I didn't sense any unique power possessed by that man at all.”

I even wondered why someone as formidable as Alvaro was being so cautious around a human whom he should have been able to deal with easily.

He had even been more willing to face that Archwizard than his own son.

“Even so, he was able to kill a Holy Knight—one of the pinnacles strenght of a knight,” he said, still wearing that strange smile. “Everyone has their own secrets, Your Highness. Including the person who has infiltrated my son's body. That is why, until I discover his secret, I will not act recklessly.”

“Do as you please.”

I then sat down on one of the chairs inside the shack.

“So, what is our next plan after making those nobles focus on your son?”

“Ah, we will begin killing the Boyars who openly oppose Raul de Garcia once the situation becomes heated,” the cunning man replied.

“Huh? Why would you corner him only to help him afterward?” I asked, questioning his decision.

“Your Highness, if we make this maneuver, we will kill two birds with one stone,” he answered confidently. “Besides weakening the country's power, we can also increase their suspicion toward Raul de Garcia. If we're lucky, they will start taking extreme measures and eliminate Raul de Garcia for us, won't they?”

“You... You have a point...” I muttered as I thought about what he had just said.

“However, just in case, I want you to approach Raul de Garcia when he lets his guard down later, once the final phase of our plan begins.”

Alvaro's words caught my attention.

However, to be honest, whenever I was around that man, he never lowered his guard at all. If I attempted to kill him at that moment, he would undoubtedly be able to fend me off, and my disguise would ultimately be exposed.

“Is there any particular time when he might let his guard down?” I asked Alvaro.

“Of course there is.”

The man standing before me then whispered a plan to ensure that Raul de Garcia would never leave this country alive.