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LOS 1
1.
Giles Hessen
A private estate in Solzburg, where lily-of-the-valley and solzburg flowers were in beautiful full bloom. A car, shining like a black beetle, sped along the well-paved road.
Under normal circumstances, this road would have been reserved for luxury carriages carrying the Beldam nobility. Sitting in the backseat, Giles imagined nobles dressed in suits or organza silk dresses passing through here, giggling and chatting.
But times had changed. The Beldam nobility no longer existed. This car, too, must have originally belonged to a noble. The aristocracy had fallen, and the Ipswin Revolutionary Army had requisitioned the assets of the Beldam nobles to arrest and trample them.
The car Giles was riding in was also requisitioned. There were four people in total. Aside from Giles, the other three were his subordinates. The interior of the car was noisy with the chatter of his men. Giles did not join the conversation. He had never been particularly close with his subordinates.
At first, they had been reluctant to serve under Giles.
"No matter how you look at it, fighting under a Beldam... isn't that too contradictory?"
It was when they were drawing close to their destination.
The subordinate driving pointed through the window.
"I see it! That mansion over there!"
At that, the other subordinates leaned over to get a look at the estate.
"Wow, they really built a flashy place."
"I wonder how many rooms it has. I bet half of them weren't even used. Just throwing money away out of vanity. This could be used as a school later."
"Even if they died at our hands, looking at the state of that house, it seems like a profitable trade. How often does one get a chance to live like that?"
Giles could feel them being conscious of him. He, too, could see the mansion where the nobles had once lived. It was a beautiful, antique estate built in the Beldam style. Of course, those who lived there had long since vanished.
The Revolutionary Army had seized this region long ago. They had dragged out the nobles and ransacked every single item inside the mansion. It looked impressive, but in reality, it was little more than an abandoned ruin.
Nevertheless, Giles and his men had returned to the Solzburg estate for an inspection. It was due to an order to examine whether it was suitable as an asset for the new era. If it could be used as a government office, it would survive; otherwise, it would be ruthlessly demolished.
Just as the Beldam nobles, who once boasted brilliant reputations, had been.
Having invaded from the mainland, they had illegally occupied others' land, sucking the Ipswin people dry to live in luxury. It was a time when the Ipswin people, the original owners of the land, lived like slaves.
However, in the aftermath of their defeat in the Great War, Beldam was weakened. Because Beldam became too preoccupied with defending its own borders and completely abandoned Ipswin, the nobles' position weakened, and the Ipswin people took advantage of that gap to start a revolution to drive them out.
After about two years, the revolution was finally winding down.
The Beldam nobles were all executed or exiled. Now, it was difficult to find a Beldam person anywhere in Ipswin.
Giles was the only Beldam who had endured those storm-like times and survived in this land. Long ago, he too had been the son of a landowner, treated as a young master while living in a mansion like that.
Now, however, he was merely a Revolutionary Army officer who had surrendered to Ipswin.
"May I ask you something, Captain?"
"Go ahead."
"About those mansions. Is it true that the bathrooms are as big as living rooms? A colleague of mine told me that a noble's bathroom was larger than the house he grew up in."
It was a pointed question. They knew that Giles was born of Beldam landowner blood. That was why he couldn't avoid their hostile glares, even after he had provided all his assets and handed over his weapons.
Giles had gradually earned their trust by throwing his own countrymen into prison and executing them.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"You're the only one among us with experience, aren't you, Captain? We're people who only know small bathrooms shared by a family of four."
Although Giles was their superior, he had to be careful with his answers.
Even the treatment of a hero who contributed to the revolution could not change his bloodline.
"It was too long ago; I don't remember."
"It couldn't have been that long ago."
The driver grumbled. Peterson, who had been watching the situation from the passenger seat, finally couldn't take it and intervened.
"Ah, why does that matter? Whether the bathroom was made of gold or silver, what does it matter now? It's all ours. Please understand, Captain. Robin's in a bad mood because his lover gave him a piece of her mind while they were drinking yesterday."
"That didn't happen!"
"Stop talking nonsense and think about the bribe you're going to give Rosia. You two need to make up quickly. Looking at your depressed face is killing my morale too."
Robin finally shut his mouth.
While they were talking, the car entered the mansion grounds. The iron gates were already broken and no longer functioned.
Weeds grew haphazardly in the space that should have been a manicured garden. The mansion, which had looked beautiful from afar, clearly showed signs of neglect upon closer inspection.
Giles stepped out of the car.
"You guys check if there are any usable items left. I'll look around to see what I should write in the report."
"Understood."
Giles split up from his subordinates and entered the mansion. His first impression upon seeing the main hall was this:
'What a disaster.'
The marble floor, which must have once sparkled, had lost its luster. Not only that, but fallen leaves had blown in from outside, creating a mess. The crystal chandelier had been completely shattered and cast aside, reduced to lonely trash.
The large mansion was empty. Furniture, including wardrobes and beds, as well as the bathtubs, had all been ripped out and taken. Not even a single pen remained. With the objects gone, the sheer scale of the mansion became even more apparent. As his subordinate had said, if it were converted into a school, it could accommodate many students.
Opening the doors one by one and slowly wandering here and there, Giles discovered a door with ornate embossed patterns. It seemed to be a special space. Even the fact that the door was firmly closed set it apart from the others.
Inside the room was a large grand piano. Surprisingly, it was intact, without a single broken part. It was likely the only piece of furniture to survive here.
Driven by curiosity, he approached the piano. When he ran his fingers over the surface, white dust came off. The keys sleeping beneath the lid were all intact. He leaned over and pressed the keys one by one. It was reasonably well-tuned.
The reason the piano hadn't been taken was obvious. It was useless for the revolution and too heavy. There was a high probability it would be damaged during transport. An instrument used merely for pleasure took up too much space.
Giles was a man who could play simple sonatinas. However, he decided not to play. In a situation where everyone knew his background, there was no need to perform an act that reinforced that fact.
What he had to do was not play the piano, but find and arrest more Beldam nobles. Though such occurrences had become rare now that the great wind of revolution had passed.
Giles left the piano alone and opened a small door in the corner. The sound of ungreased hinges echoed eerily.
Several instruments that had been ruined due to lack of maintenance were stored there. The owner of this house must have loved music quite a bit. I can't even sell these for money, he thought. While thinking this, Giles's eyes landed on a corner.
A large instrument bag was lying there. It looked like a case made for a contrabass. Giles slowly approached the case. The zipper was open. For some reason, he felt he had to open it.
He lifted the lid.
What was inside was not a contrabass.
A skeletal, black-haired woman was curled up, trembling.
Giles, who never expected to find a person inside such a case, was momentarily flustered. Through the hair falling over her face, he saw blue eyes looking up at him. The woman wasn't even properly dressed. All she wore was a white chemise dress used as underwear. Old lash marks were prominent on her thin legs.
Letting out a sigh, Giles asked.
"Who are you?"
The woman, who seemed barely able to breathe, did not answer. However, she did not take her eyes off him for a single moment. As if trying to protect herself, she wrapped her arms around her body.
"What is your name?"
The woman soon answered. It was the raspy voice characteristic of someone who hadn't spoken in a long time.
"I'm Lily."
"What were you doing here?"
"..."
"Did you originally live here?"
"What... what happened to those people?"
Now, Lily asked him back. It was evident she was trying hard not to tremble.
"The people I lived with, they hit me... so they were taken away, right? Because they hit and bullied people. So they're being punished, right?"
"Who hit you?"
"The Count. And Countess Marianna too... everyone."
"Have you been here ever since?"
Not only had the nobles been dragged out, but the servants who worked there must have all scattered. If she was someone bought with money, why would she hide in a ruin like this?
Lily answered.
"I'm hungry. I felt like I was going to collapse, so I lay in here so I wouldn't lose consciousness. It's cozier in here than I thought. I thought I was going to die soon."
"...I'll take you to where there is food."
"No!"
Suddenly, she cried out. Terror surged within her blue eyes.
"I can't go outside. Please."
"There is nothing here. Everything was confiscated for the revolution. There is no reason for you to stay here any longer."
"How do I know who you people are to follow you? You might sell me somewhere else."
"If you want identification, I can show it to you."
"Even so, I don't want to go outside."
The way she stubbornly refused even when offered food was suspicious. It didn't seem like she didn't trust him, but rather that she was terrified of leaving the mansion itself.
Looking at Lily's face, Giles recalled an old memory. He had personally interrogated the nobles and servants who lived in this mansion.
'Five people are listed on the register. Look and answer for yourself. The last name written here. Is this a family member?'
'...Yes.'
'We only arrested four people. Where is this woman now?'
'I'm not lying. She's already dead. So of course you couldn't find her.'
'Aaaagh! I'm telling you, it's true, really! That bitch isn't even my daughter! She was a vulgar, useless thing, so I locked her away where no one knew and killed her. I didn't give her a drop of water for months. Only a corpse would be left. Please believe me. It's true...'
'The youngest lady was the daughter the Master had through a maid. She was called a lady in name only, but her situation was no different from ours.'
'She was so depressed that she was clumsy and lacking in everything. That's why she was beaten a lot... and she couldn't even eat properly.'
'I think it's already been several months since I last saw the youngest lady. She's probably already dead. Because no one can live without eating anything...'
He had ordered them to search the mansion again to find the body.
A while later, a message came from his subordinate.
'We found the woman's body. She was in a closet.'
The corpse had decomposed so severely that it was impossible to think it was the woman in the painting. Regardless, it matched the Countess's statement.
The case had ended there.
Giles still remembered the face of the woman in the painting. Black hair, blue eyes. Of course, the painting showed a much prettier and happier young lady, but portraits are easily distorted.
He felt that something had been manipulated.
"I will ask you one thing."
Giles asked in a low voice, looking down at Lily.
The surroundings were terrifyingly silent.
"Are you Eloise Bismarck?"
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