Not Like Usual
There was something off about Hank.
His calm tone, his composed and polished behavior—while technically this version of him was far more proper, the fact that it was *him* acting that way made it stand out like a sore thumb. Instead of making him seem mature, it only made him look suspicious.
I wasn’t the only one who felt it—Elina clearly sensed something as well.
“There’s definitely something going on behind the scenes, Senior.”
“Hmm…”
Could Hank really be involved in this…? No—I can’t say for sure that he isn’t.
I’ve heard his position in the Order is pretty shaky right now. He’s bound to be grilled at the second session of the Royal Council in two days, especially after what happened with Gary and Miracca. That much is certain.
To survive this mess, Hank would need not only the backing of his noble household but also an even stronger ally.
And that’s Lady Alyssa, daughter of a duke.
Lord Donold, the head of the McCreed family, still favors political marriages. If someone were to rescue his daughter, he might very well be inclined to forge a marriage arrangement as thanks.
It’s not impossible to imagine such a scenario.
Though I doubt things would go that smoothly, for Hank right now, it probably looks like his best option.
That said, he’s still a Holy Knight, same as me, even if he’s a rotten one.
At his waist hangs a holy sword crafted by the same blacksmith as mine.
And while he’s definitely operating in some morally gray areas… if it turns out he is involved in Lady Alyssa’s disappearance, that would be a disaster beyond recovery.
We decided to tail him quietly—but Hank showed no suspicious behavior.
Still, I noticed that servants from House Delant were surrounding him. It seemed he had ordered them to search for Lady Alyssa as well. It looked like he was trying to leverage numbers to outpace the others… but so far, it didn’t seem to be working.
It was possible he still had something up his sleeve, but chasing him any further felt like a waste of time. We decided to change tactics and conduct our own search for Lady Alyssa.
That said, a huge number of people were already involved in the search.
And yet, no one had found her.
With knights constantly watching the mansion’s perimeter, and barrier magic in place, the odds of her being kidnapped by an outsider were slim.
Which meant… she had to be somewhere inside the mansion, right?
“Maybe…”
As we were nearing the thirty-minute mark before the ball was to begin, Lord Doyle suddenly seemed to have an idea.
“Did something come to mind?”
“Well, if she hasn’t turned up after all this searching… maybe she’s just hiding in her room. If this ball isn’t something she wanted in the first place, maybe she’s insisting on staying put until it’s over.”
“T-that seems a bit…”
“No, that actually makes sense.”
Elina seemed to be thinking the same thing.
“If she’s really refusing to come out, she might’ve ordered her servants to pretend she disappeared, just to ride things out. Don’t you think the way they were making such a big fuss felt a little… staged?”
“Well, yeah, now that you mention it…”
It wasn’t just suspicious—it was almost perfectly timed. If someone told me the whole thing was planned, I’d probably believe it.
But if that’s the case… then there’s nothing we can do.
What do you think about this chapter?
