Chapter 42 CASEFILE·4: Night Bandit (9)
Andrei walked down the stairs while listening to the diners' discussion outside. When he turned around, he saw Nasha hiding in the stairwell and wiping her tears quietly.
Andre: “…”
Nasha: “!!”
The round-faced girl quickly wiped away the tears from her face and tried hard to put on her previous indifferent look, but the red corners of her eyes completely betrayed her.
"When loved ones go through something like this, sadness and anxiety are normal emotions," Andre said. "Don't push yourself too hard."
Naxia sniffed: "...I never liked her, nor did I like my father. I didn't like anything about that family. For so many years, I have been trying to get rid of them."
She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. "But when I heard the news that she was kidnapped, and thought about what might have happened to her, even though I know it was the result of their own actions, I still couldn't stop worrying about her."
"Even if there are conflicts between you, you are still connected by blood and sisters who grew up together. It's understandable that you have these emotions." Andrei comforted her, "We will catch the criminal as soon as possible and rescue her."
Nasha nodded.
"But to do that, I need more information," Andrei said earnestly. "You just said this was the result of their own actions. What do you mean?"
Nasha's face showed a clear expression of hesitation and struggle. After a long pause, she finally spoke, "On the day I arrived at the workshop for the job, my sister and I attended a luncheon hosted by the Baroness."
Although she was eating voraciously throughout the luncheon, she wasn't completely oblivious to what was happening outside. She knew that Kirsina had gone there that day with a mission given by her father, and her target was the nobles attending the luncheon.
During the luncheon, Vivian, the Marquis's daughter, whom the Baroness had hoped to win over, left the table early. While her reason was legitimate, it was still a loss of face for the host. Throughout the luncheon, the Baroness appeared to be nonchalant, but even the most sensitive could sense the anger emanating from her.
Naxia carefully described the scene she had witnessed, and then added, "I just don't understand. Miss Vivian is the daughter of the Marquis. How could the Baroness have the confidence to express such dissatisfaction so openly?"
If Nasha, a layman in the political arena, could understand something, there was no way the nobles couldn't understand it.
As a member of the royal family's side branch, Andrei could better understand the open and covert struggles among these nobles.
There were indeed ranks among the nobility, but these ranks, such as duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron, merely indicated the size of their respective territories and the number of their private armies. In essence, there was no direct hierarchical relationship. They were essentially princes who accepted fiefs from the previous king and controlled a piece of land.
With the current king above them, even the biggest conflicts among these nobles were unlikely to come to blows. Private soldiers were useless, and even if they disliked each other, they would only make pointed sarcastic remarks at tea parties and dinners.
But more often than not, the nobles would hide their discontent deep within their hearts, while still putting on a smiling face. Political figures are all shrewd people wearing masks; it's impossible for them to not even act well.
"I'm afraid the Baroness had no intention of winning over Vivian from the beginning." Andre thought for a moment and then understood. "The Marquis of Leicester has always been a fence-sitter, but Vivian is not. She is the niece of Earl Saka. Earl Saka is the king's right-hand man, so Vivian will naturally be acquiesced to the current royal faction."
Count Saka was assassinated by Evil Eye Moon, with whom Baron Neumann had previously been in cahoots. Once the truth is revealed, the two factions will inevitably become enemies. Vivian is unaware of the underlying vendetta, but the Baroness is fully aware. She would have to be incredibly clever to try to curry favor with Vivian.
"The Baroness is simply using this as a pretext to create conflict and set up a target... This way, we can see who is dissatisfied with Vivian's faction, who is betting on both sides, and who ultimately chooses the Baron's side."
I'm afraid everyone present—including Vivian herself—thought this was nothing more than a clumsy and failed attempt at wooing: the Baroness couldn't hide her unwavering pride, and her flattering words betrayed a hint of disrespect, causing Vivian to angrily leave the room. Those who remained would naturally choose sides.
Only the Baron family, who are hiding a secret, know what they are doing.
"I see." Nasha finally understood. "I thought the Baroness and her son's actions were very abnormal. Instead of forming a marriage, they made enemies... I didn't expect they were going for the purpose of making enemies..."
She couldn't help but be shocked. The nobles' intrigues and deceptions were indeed beyond her comprehension.
Nasha sighed like this, but Andrei seemed to be thinking: "Maybe Qiersina understood it."
The cooperation between the Chena family and Baron Neumann began at the luncheon and intensified after Victor's death. Perhaps seeing the Baroness's actions, Chirsna quickly clung to her support and began working for the Baron in secret.
Nasha nodded. "When I left that day, my sister stayed. She said she had something to discuss with the Baroness. A few days later, I heard she and Victor were engaged. My father was very happy about this and even gave her the management of the family fleet responsible for transporting rough gemstones."
'That is to say...' Andre thought, 'the person who actually delivered the black money to the Baron and knew the inside story was the missing Chirsna... I don't know how much her father knew.'
Naxia continued, “It’s just that I don’t think the convoy that had the accident last night was transporting raw stones.
"Our family's jewelry business involves shipping raw gemstones from out-of-town mines into the city. After they're cut and screened at the gem workshop, the valuable gemstones are handed over to the craftsmen there for processing. The raw gemstone mine is in the north, and the gem workshop is also in the north of the city, so it's impossible for the caravan to go southeast."
Andrei had already guessed that the cargo on the truck was the Baron's illegal assets, and he wasn't surprised. However, Nasha's words reminded him of something: this might not be the first time Qiersina had delivered these "goods" to the Baron. So where did the previous "goods" that hadn't been robbed by Evil Eye Moon go?
Andrei was sent by the king to the western city of Eston to investigate the crimes committed by Baron Neumann and Evil Eye Moon and to search for relevant evidence. He not only had to recover the people and goods kidnapped by Evil Eye Moon, but also naturally had to track down any evidence hidden by the baron.
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