493 Loyalty
Selma Payne’s POV:
Benson found a homeless woman named Julie. After some investigation, he was convinced that Julie had worked part-time as a servant in the manor for a short period of time. However, the strange thing was that no investigation had mentioned her; not then, not now.
Moreover, it seemed everyone had forgotten that such a woman had once worked in the manor. Not to mention Julie’s former colleagues, even she herself had completely forgotten that period.
All the people who had been investigated had forgotten about Julie, so no investigation involved her.
This was obviously strange. Julie was a lunatic, and the manor obviously would not hire a lunatic as a servant, so Julie must have gone crazy after she left her job.
However, her records in the manor had also been completely erased. If not for the fact that she was still wearing the servant’s uniform, even Benson would not have been able to find any clues.
Who was it that wanted to lay their hands on a servant, and what was the point of eliminating her? Could Julie be related to Layla’s death?
Benson was certain she had something to do with the incident twenty years ago, and my intuition told me so.
There was another suspicious thing about Julie. Julie remembered that several people like Benson had come to investigate her. According to her vague description, they were probably members of the Intelligence Department.
But when I asked them about it, they said in unison that they had never seen Julie. No one was in the manor except for an old man guarding the door.
Unless Julie was a ghost, and Benson happened to see a ghost, someone must have done something to the intelligence agents. It was basically impossible to bribe them. The Intelligence Department had thoroughly investigated their internal affairs but still couldn’t find any evidence of bribery.
There was only one possibility: someone had somehow erased their memories of Julie, just like how they had erased the memories of the people who had been related to the manor.
There was a high possibility that the same person or force committed the crime.
The first thing I thought of was the Woof Anca Family. They immediately tactfully restrained themselves after the Evaria Family collapsed like a collapsing mountain, even though this had something to do with the beating I gave them before.
Due to my suspicions, the Woof Anca Family was again in the limelight. This time, not only them but many institutions under their name or funded by them, especially those related to witchcraft or supernatural powers, were also under strict interrogation.
This caused this seemingly strong but actually weak clan to be filled with fear. They had already lost all the power in the imperial court and could not obtain any information. As a result, they could only anxiously come to me and beg for mercy.
Casti Woof Anca. We hadn’t seen each other for a few months since he was summoned. That little wimp who had once spoken wildly at my wedding had already grown into a tall and slender noble youth. That doll-like pretty face of his should have been extremely likable before the elders, but the uncontrollable panic made him look bitter.
He trembled as he kissed my hand, then half-sat on the sofa, as if ten assassins were hiding behind my screen, ready to rush out at any time and chop him into a pulp of flesh, and he was ready to jump out of the window and escape.
“Don’t worry. No one else is in the room beside you and me, and I know why you’ve come to me.” I asked, “Did you follow my instructions?”
Casti trembled and said weakly, “Yes, Your Highness. Per your instructions, I’ve contacted everyone in the Evaria Family I can contact. From what I’ve observed, there’s nothing different about them. If I have to say something, it’s that they’re like a group of roosters who lost a fight. Everyone’s gloomy and depressed as if going to the countryside could take their lives.”
“There’s no one suspicious?”
I deliberately looked at him deeply, and as expected, this shallow kid began to panic. He furrowed his brows and sucked in his cheeks tightly. He seemed to be thinking hard but also seemed to be hesitating.
He had suspicions about some things or people, but he was hesitating whether to tell me.
He knew the consequences of hiding it from me, but he still intended to hide it. Casti wasn’t a bold person. Even being alone in a room with me made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. What gave him the courage to resist me?
What was it worth for a stupid boy who had just turned twenty and had no ambitions to do this?
I didn’t think anything other than ‘friendship’ could give a boy of this age more courage.
The person or thing he was hiding was related to his ‘friend’ in the Evaria Family, or it might even be that ‘friend’ themselves.
I didn’t want to torture this poor boy anymore, so I asked directly, “Let me guess. Perhaps that person from the Evaria Family is more important to you than I thought, so much so that you’re willing to bet your life and even the future of your entire family to hide it from me.”
“What?!” Casti was so shocked that he could no longer maintain the polite posture he had forced himself to maintain. He lost his composure and fell back onto the sofa.
