Betrothed to My Sister's Ex

"This is absurd... it’s beyond ridiculous..."

On top of the swaying carriage, I groaned, but Lady Mio remained calm and composed.

The skirmish at the inn happened in the blink of an eye. Lady Mio fired off a powerful statement right from the start. The innkeeper was thrown into a panic, and instead of piling on clumsy lies, she stuck to one point: "I can't go into details. Just show me your student ID." When the innkeeper handed it over, Mio gently but firmly took it, saying, "I'll borrow this for a moment," and swiftly retreated.

"I'm not lying about anything."

Saying this, Lady Mio took off her hat and put on a simple village girl’s bonnet along with round glasses. Of course, she usually didn't wear glasses.

"A detective isn’t like the police—no official agency or qualifications required. It’s a profession where claiming the title is half the battle. Actually, I sometimes conduct these kinds of investigations on my master’s orders, so you could say I’m a professional detective."

"I don’t think that’s acceptable. And what is all this about an incident?!"

"The death of the baron’s daughter might have been an accident, but what if she’s actually alive? That would be a major case. There’s even a possibility Karina Barton is involved."

"There’s no connection at all, right?! We only just heard that name at school!"

"There’s no result saying there’s no connection. Because we haven’t investigated yet."

What an overbearing logic. Wait, has Lady Mio always been conducting investigations like this? Is this even legal?

As I started feeling uneasy, Lady Mio lifted her fake glasses with a sly smile.

"Don’t worry. The big lies start now."

What could possibly be reassuring about that? And what even are the bigger lies?

"Thomas, from this point on, making a fuss will really cause trouble. No matter what I say, keep a poker face."

"Ugh, can’t we at least rehearse the script first?"

"That won’t work. I’m adapting my arguments to the situation on the spot. You need to be more flexible."

"Got it. I’ll stay silent."

"By the way, you’ve met Baron Chadelan once, right? His face is unremarkable, and he dresses in plain clothes, so he looks quite different, but let’s change your name just in case. How about Henry?"

"...I just want to go home right now..."

"When we’re done, I’ll treat you to a raw egg."

"Why would that make things even?"

We joked like that as the carriage rolled on.

The irrigation ditch soon turned into a small stream, the wheat fields gave way to open plains. Continuing along the gravel road with nothing around, we finally reached a hilltop, where the Chadelan Manor stood.

Tall iron fences twice as high as me, and brick walls stretching endlessly to the left and right.

We got off the carriage at the gate, and I couldn’t help but exclaim.

"Wow... This is way more impressive than I imagined."

"Yes. But as you can see, the upkeep is lacking."

I looked toward where Lady Mio was pointing and frowned.

A rusted iron lock had broken, hanging loosely on the gate which was left wide open. There were no gatekeepers or guard dogs. We passed through the gate unimpeded.

Feeling nervous about whether this was okay, Lady Mio was surprisingly casual.

"Last time I came, it was the same. That’s why I thought this must be the back gate and ended up going around the actual back gate on the other side—"

"Hey! Who are you people?!"

Suddenly, a sharp voice called out. Lady Mio stepped protectively in front of me as a woman around sixty hurried toward us.

A maid of the Chadelan Family...!

"What business do you have? Who are you? Merchants? If so, use the servants’ entrance at the back gate. Why are you here? Who are you? A debt collector? They won’t understand even if I tell them!"

Ugh. She wasn’t angry about our intrusion, but her tone was fierce. It felt hard to talk to her.

As I hesitated, Lady Mio shot me a look saying “Stay quiet,” then turned back to the maid and raised both hands beside her face, waving them cheerfully.

"Wow, what’s up? You startled me. Eh, I’m Karina. The gate was open, so we came in. This is my fiancé Henry!"