Mrs. Engel’s face turned pale at Hans’s question.

It was strange enough that a lawyer had suddenly come to her house, but now he was digging into this matter as well, making her break out in cold sweat.

Her mind went completely blank, like ink spilled on white paper.

What did it mean that the Klein family heiress worked with a lawyer?

Had she acquired a law firm?

But for now, all she could do was feign ignorance.

“Insurance company? What are you suddenly talking about?”

“That insurance company has been denying claims to policyholders, and our office alone is handling quite a few lawsuits against them. So it’s familiar to us.”

Hans pressed on, preventing Mrs. Engel from continuing her pretense.

She was already wavering.

Marie, noticing how the woman’s eyes flickered at the words “claim denial,” added from the side:

“They’re known for luring people with extraordinarily high coverage amounts compared to other companies, but when policyholders try to claim insurance, they come up with all sorts of reasons to avoid paying. Did you know that for death and injury cases, they assign a team of insurance investigators composed of former police officers to determine if there’s insurance fraud?”

“Is, is that place really that bad? I heard they’re only strict with fraudsters, and claims are paid normally as long as there’s no violation of disclosure obligations!”

Mrs. Engel cried out with an aggrieved expression.

It seemed she had already sealed the deal.

“You can withdraw your application within fifteen days of receiving the insurance policy. As long as it hasn’t been thirty days since you applied.”

“Is that so?”

She was unconsciously checking the calendar.

“You seem to have taken out quite a lot of insurance. If it’s uncertain whether you’ll receive the insurance money, the premiums must be especially burdensome.”

“I suppose that’s right. We scraped together what little money we had from our tight budget.”

“Did you take out policies for both your son and daughter-in-law? Some places offer discounts when you sign up the whole family at once.”

“Yes. My friend was just telling me about that, so I included my daughter-in-law as well……”

Mrs. Engel stopped mid-sentence.

She had unwittingly fallen into Marie’s sales-pitch pace and ended up confessing everything as if in a consultation.

Without Adelaide knowing, a large death benefit policy had been taken out in her name.

“Who did you designate as the beneficiary? Your son?”

A beneficiary refers to the person who can receive insurance payouts when the insured person suffers damage.

In other words, if Mrs. Engel had listed her son as the beneficiary in a contract where Adelaide was the insured, then if Adelaide died or was injured, the insurance money would go to Adelaide’s husband.

“W-well, isn’t that obvious? How could the deceased person receive the insurance money themselves? I’ve even made my son the beneficiary for my own policy. What’s the problem?”

“Then who’s designated as the beneficiary for your son’s policy? Is it my older sister?”

The previously brazen woman suddenly closed her mouth.

If her son died first, she would be the one to receive the insurance money.

She had no intention whatsoever of giving it to her daughter-in-law Adelaide.

Family or not, they weren’t blood-related—just strangers to her.

“Look, I’m the one paying the premiums and I’m the policyholder, so of course I can do whatever I want. Why all these questions?”

“You’re right. The policyholder can do as they wish. I understand you took out insurance out of concern. After all, you never know what might happen in life.”

“Ahem, ahem!”

The woman, her throat dry from the lawyer’s words, cleared her throat awkwardly.

“You’re well aware, of course, that when an insured person dies or is injured shortly after a large life insurance policy is taken out, the policyholder is the first to come under suspicion,” Hans murmured in a low voice while wearing a chilling smile.

It was a blatant warning.

It meant they would be watching to see if anything happened to Adelaide from now on.

“If such a thing were to happen—though hopefully it won’t—and insurance investigators come looking for Marie as a family member during their investigation, we’ll answer truthfully about what we know. Including today’s events.”

“Do as you please. I’ve never done anything against my conscience. I only took this out as a precaution for an uncertain future.”

The expression on Mrs. Engel’s face clearly revealed her thought: ‘I’ve really messed up this time.’

These people would also testify about how the insurance company employee, an acquaintance of the mother-in-law, had fled in a hurry as soon as the daughter-in-law arrived.

If that happened, the insurance investigators would be convinced there was foul play from the beginning.

It was the worst possible situation for her.

“How fortunate. Having such a careful mother-in-law is truly a blessing for our sister,” Marie said with a bright smile.

Even if it was the mother-in-law who had targeted Adelaide’s life, today’s warning would prevent her from approaching carelessly.

Judging by the insurance company employee’s visit to the house today, she must have come to deliver the insurance policy.

What the employee had quickly gathered from the table earlier appeared to be insurance policies rather than application forms, based on the volume.

Considering how Mrs. Engel had looked at the calendar after hearing about the application withdrawal period, it didn’t seem like she had signed up today.

This suggested the insurance application had been made earlier.

Mrs. Engel was a perfectly plausible m*rder suspect.

She had easy access to Adelaide’s medicine cabinet, and she had a clear motive.

She apparently didn’t know yet that her daughter-in-law was a popular author, but in any case, if Adelaide died, her son would receive a large life insurance payout.

‘Even though sister said her husband isn’t that kind of person, I can’t completely trust him either.’

In reality, the person who stood to gain the most from her older sister’s death was her husband.

Judging by how he had allowed his wife to suffer at the hands of his family under the pretext of suspected infidelity, he wasn’t particularly trustworthy.

What if he had planned an insurance m*rder scheme with his mother?

Marie decided to find out how much debt he had after hearing that he owed money.

“Del, when did you get here?”

Just then, a man appeared at the entrance.

Seeing him call her older sister by a nickname, Marie immediately recognized who he was.

It was Joachim Engel, the prime suspect in this case and Adelaide’s husband.

As soon as he entered, he went straight to his wife without even greeting his mother, as if he only saw his wife.

Then, as if by habit, he lightly kissed his wife’s cheek.

“I thought you were in your room. Where did you go?”

“I went to buy these. You like them, don’t you?”

Joachim said, holding up a pastry shop bag.

From the outside, they looked like the perfect couple.

No one would guess that one was secretly preparing for divorce behind her husband’s back, while the other was a suspected attempted murderer of his wife.

As he took out a freshly baked, warm tart from the bag and tried to put it in his wife’s mouth, Adelaide stopped him, saying:

“We have guests.”

Joachim only then noticed Hans and Marie and greeted them.

“Pleased to meet you. If you’re here for a medical consultation……”

“This is my youngest sister, Marie Klein.”

“Ah! Nice to meet you, Miss Klein.”

Her brother-in-law smiled and offered his hand to his sister-in-law.

Marie shook his hand, somewhat taken aback.

He was completely different from what she had imagined.

She had expected a slovenly man with unkempt facial hair, considering he was a suspect who had caused a medical accident by entering surgery while drunk and had made death threats.

But in person, he had an innocent impression and a boyish face, as if he had somehow avoided all of life’s hardships.

Though she had heard he struggled with alcoholism and various difficulties, he had no wrinkles or shadowy areas, and was so full of vitality that he absolutely didn’t look his age.

Even in casual attire—an inexpensive salmon-colored shirt and brown pants—he somehow radiated a certain glow.

He wasn’t a trendy handsome man like Hans or a classically handsome man like her other brother-in-law Alfred, but he was still quite good-looking.

No, rather than good looks, perhaps it was more about his aura?

The surname Engel means “angel” in the Valdek language.

In short, he was a man with an angelic impression.

In that moment, Marie understood why Adelaide had once had a passionate, if brief, love affair with him.

“We’re meeting for the first time, right? I’m Joachim Engel, Adelaide’s husband. What brings you to our home?”

“That’s what I’d like to know. Why suddenly bring a lawyer……”

“……A lawyer?”

Joachim quietly asked in response to his mother’s words.

A flustered Adelaide’s lips quivered.

She obviously couldn’t say she was meeting with a lawyer because she was preparing for divorce.

Hans had actually come to directly check the current financial situation by looking around the house.

They had originally agreed to pretend he was someone who worked at Marie’s house, but revealing that he was a lawyer had created a variable.

Marie, who quickly assessed the situation, swiftly grabbed Hans’s hand and linked arms with him.

He involuntarily inhaled as she clung to him like a cicada on an old tree.

“He’s the person I’ve been seeing lately, with marriage in mind!”

Hans was undoubtedly the most surprised by Marie’s sudden announcement.