Lily asked a nearby street vendor, just in case. Fortunately, the vendor seemed to have seen the carriage and nodded.
"That carriage left a little while ago."
"It left?"
"Yes. It seemed to have urgent business and left immediately."
Lily had told the coachman to wait for just a moment before she got out of the carriage.
But to leave without saying anything. Lily gave a hollow laugh at this action that was clearly meant to give her a hard time. She didn't think the coachman had done this of his own will. Surely either Samantha or Brian must have ordered it.
Samantha might hurl insults to her face, but she wouldn't play such pranks, so Brian was more likely to be the culprit.
"How childish."
Not only was his mental age young, but his actions were childish too. Lily walked towards the opposite side of the square, heaving deep sighs one after another as she pondered what to do.
[This is the timeline separator]
As soon as Austin left, Herald ordered the information guild to investigate the Viscount Benjamin family. Although he had received documents from Austin, he wanted to investigate separately in case there were any missed points.
Generally, the more difficult the request, the more expensive the fee and the longer it takes, but the information on the Viscount Benjamin family cost only 1 gold and took only 2 hours.
That meant it was information of little value... why was Darius digging into the Viscount Benjamin family?
Becoming more curious, Herald settled in a cafe near the information guild and carefully examined the documents provided by the guild.
His adjutant, Dillon, who had insisted on coming along despite Herald saying he would go alone, asked worriedly.
"But if we use the information guild, won't the second prince's side notice? Will that be alright?"
Herald answered with a smile.
"That would be good for me."
"What? Good for you? Why?"
"If they know I'm investigating, the rushed second prince will try to hurry his planned actions. Then mistakes will occur, and it will be that much easier for me to catch his tail."
"Ah, I see."
Dillon nodded as if he finally understood.
Herald focused on reading the documents again, but no matter how much he looked, it was just an ordinary record. If he had to pick out something special, it would probably be the fire incident that occurred two years ago.
Two years ago, a large fire broke out at the Viscount Benjamin residence, killing the Viscount Benjamin and most of the family members living there. Not only that, but the Viscountess Benjamin, the only survivor among those present at the scene, suffered severe burns in addition to developing a mental illness, and is still undergoing treatment.
'Was the second prince the one who set fire to the Viscount Benjamin residence at that time?'
That couldn't be. Not only was there no reason for the second prince to kill Viscount Benjamin, but if he were the culprit, he would have quietly assassinated him rather than setting a fire. Arson was too conspicuous.
Above all, since the fire at the Viscount Benjamin residence was concluded as a simple accident, there was even less reason for the second prince to dig into it if he were the culprit.
Could it be that he belatedly remembered leaving some clue?
Even if that were the case, that evidence would have already been destroyed in the fire. The only survivor, Viscountess Benjamin, couldn't give proper testimony because she went insane.
Even when the investigator in charge of the case at the time asked if she had seen anything, Viscountess Benjamin only spoke nonsense.
'It seems the fire incident is unrelated.'
Then what is it? Why is Darius trying to dig into such an insignificant family?
As Herald was pondering and skimming through the documents again, what caught his eye was a portrait of Liliana Benjamin, the daughter of Viscount Benjamin who died in the fire two years ago and the current Viscountess Benjamin.
"Is this the current Viscountess Benjamin? Wow, she's a beauty."
"Is that so?"
Unlike Dillon who was admiring, Herald was indifferent. Objectively speaking, she was certainly pretty, but having seen countless beauties prettier than her, he wasn't particularly impressed.
Rather, what caught his interest were the modifiers attached to Lily in high society.
A parasite clinging to a swallow. A legal wife worse than a mistress, the wife of a gigolo, and so on. All sorts of unfavorable modifiers were attached to her because of the Viscount Benjamin who engaged in selling his body.
Well, it's not entirely wrong since she married Freddie Benjamin for money.
Although there was a sad story about her mother's hospital bills, Herald didn't sympathize with her. Nor did he condemn Lily's actions.
He just had no thoughts about it. If it weren't for Austin's request, he wouldn't have even known about the existence of people from a family he had never heard of, and whatever their situation was, it had nothing to do with him.
Search "lover" on redcatty(.)com to read ahead up to chapter 70.