Worrying wouldn’t make this situation disappear, and getting angry wouldn’t create a solution either.

Until she could talk with him after he returned, she had no idea what to do about any of this.

Speaking of which, it’s been quite a while now. Why isn’t he coming back?

Even knowing that plainclothes security officers were lying in wait, he had climbed through the window to carry out some planned operation.

She couldn’t understand what he was trying to accomplish.

While Debbie tossed and turned, she noticed it was getting noisy outside.

What’s causing all the commotion?

At the same time, the fire alarm began blaring loudly.

“Following fire safety protocols, all guests must evacuate immediately!”

Fire?

Debbie looked outside and instead spotted a group of people running up toward the opposite direction.

They were people who had been running the charity bazaar auction and plainclothes security officers.

“You need to evacuate! You can’t go up there!”

When they ignored the warning and continued running up the stairs, a hotel employee rushed after them.

“You can’t go up that way!”

“Can’t you see? We’re going to perform official duties! Official duties!”

A plainclothes security officer snapped angrily.

“Ah! Are you going to fight the fire?”

The hotel employee handed a nearby fire extinguisher to the security officer.

“Who needs this junk?”

The security officer roughly shoved the hotel employee aside.

“Stop getting in the way!”

Something the security officer was carrying clattered to the floor during the scuffle. It was a tool with something resembling an amethyst attached to it.

“What if this expensive thing broke because of you? This is a magic crystal stone – there aren’t many left in the Empire! Damn it.”

“Give me your name tag! If there’s even a scratch, I’ll make you pay for it!”

The security officer who picked up the purple object and the auction organizer snatched the name tag from the employee’s vest pocket and hurriedly climbed the stairs.

Debbie approached the hotel employee and looked at the spot where the security officer had dropped something. Strangely, it felt like heat waves were shimmering there.

She picked up tiny purple fragments from that spot.

Though they were just a few specks no bigger than dust particles, her palm felt burning hot the moment she picked them up, making it impossible to hold the fragments properly.

In a hurry, she took out her handkerchief, wrapped them up, and stuffed it into her pocket. Then she helped the fallen hotel employee to his feet.

“Thank you, but please go outside. When the fire alarm sounds, evacuating outside is the rule.”

The hotel employee struggled while reminding himself of his duties.

“I’ll get fired if I don’t manage things properly. Please help me.”

At the hotel employee’s plea, Debbie had no choice but to go outside the hotel.

Countless people milled about in the hotel garden, murmuring among themselves.

For a fire alarm, no smoke was coming out anywhere. However, Debbie was worried about Blake.

Then it happened. Suddenly, with a bang, a guest room window exploded outward and black smoke poured out fiercely.

Soon the windows on either side also burst, and flames shot up dramatically.

“Miss Debbie Jones!”

At the voice calling her, Debbie turned to see photographer Black running through the crowd, sweating profusely.

“Why are you alone? Where’s the Editor-in-Chief?”

“Well, as soon as the fire alarm went off, security officers dragged the Editor-in-Chief away!”

“Why?”

“They said it was classified and wouldn’t explain!”

Pushing through the particularly crowded area, Debbie found Eric, Young Lord of the Clarence family, shouting at security officers who had just arrived.

“…When I returned, he was running away frantically! Something felt strange, so I went back to the room and found him bleeding, so I went down to get help. In the meantime, that guy must have set off the fire alarm and started the fire!”

In front of him stood Gray, his arms restrained, glaring at Young Lord Eric.

“I was in the event hall the entire auction for reporting purposes. Ask the people around.”

“You must have left your seat at some point!”

“The fire started after I was arrested.”

Though Gray, the disguised Fret, protested, Eric kept repeating his own words like he had already decided on the answer.

“Isn’t Young Lord Eric the one who killed Henrietta and is framing me?”

“No! Irina and Belida can prove my alibi!! I was with them the whole time.”

“Are you certain? That fugitive you supposedly glimpsed?”

“Well said. Yes. I’ll expose that lie!”

Eric approached Gray. Then he grabbed his hair and yanked it hard.

The attention of everyone in the garden focused on them.

In Eric’s hand was a silver wig, and Fret’s original purple hair was visible to everyone. People murmured.

“Hey! Why were you wearing a wig? Aren’t you the one who stalked Henrietta so much that she filed a restraining order? Was this revenge?”

Debbie bit her lip and tried to step forward.

“Isn’t it a serious error to accuse someone of being a criminal just for wearing a wig? I know him well – he’s just been too busy with deadlines lately to dye his hair!”

A cold hand pulled at Debbie’s shoulder.

“That’s right. You could say you saw a silver-haired suspect, but a wig can’t be evidence. Especially when he was at his post for reporting throughout the auction.”

It was Blake. Debbie looked up in surprise at the man behind her.

He stood calmly wearing only a bathrobe, dripping water like someone who had just stepped out of the shower.

“That’s right! The Editor-in-Chief was with me throughout the entire auction!”

Photographer Black raised his hand.

“I saw that person go outside briefly!”

Someone stepped forward from beside Eric.

“He just went to the bathroom!”

Photographer Black looked aggrieved.

“It really was just for a moment. About 15 minutes?”

“Enough time to kill Henrietta.”

At those words, the security officers tried to escort Fret away.

“I guarantee it. This person never left during the entire auction. He was talking with me.”

Someone appeared from behind, raising one hand.

“I’m Sergeant Jerome Dublac from the Central Investigation Unit.”

He removed his mask and showed his badge from his jacket.

“Due to Investigation Unit business, I approached the Editor-in-Chief of ‘Troublesome’ magazine during break time and asked various questions. So I can vouch for him. If necessary, I can go with you and give a statement.”

Then Fret roughly shook off the hands of the security officers holding him. He brushed off his wrinkled clothes with sharp movements.

Sirens wailed as firefighters arrived belatedly. They began fighting the fire in earnest.

Young Lord Eric glared at Blake, but Blake raised one corner of his mouth, shrugged his shoulders, and led Debbie away from the crowd.

Since the day was quite chilly, Blake’s hands, soaked with water, trembled slightly.

However, his expression maintained a faint smile like he was showing off to Eric. But even that disappeared once they were out of sight, and he whispered quietly.

“Damn it. I’m freezing to death.”

Eric could be seen in the distance, venting his frustration to the security officers.

“Everyone here will be treated as potential suspects in a murder case, so you must all write statements about where you were and what you were doing!”

The security officers shouted at people with disgruntled expressions.

“What happened? I thought you were caught and my heart nearly stopped.”

Debbie asked Blake in a small voice.

“What else? They’re trying to frame me for the crime.”

At his words, Debbie’s face stiffened.

“Really, is Henrietta dead?”

“When I got there, she was on the verge of death. This whole bazaar thing was a trap from the start. I’ll tell you the details later.”

He kissed Debbie’s cheek and pretended to kiss her neck as well.

To anyone watching, they would look like a couple who had just been rolling around in bed together. But their lips never touched.

Debbie’s shoulders trembled.

When Lorraine died, and now with Henrietta’s death, she had only heard the stories secondhand. It didn’t feel real.

Just that terrible things kept happening around her made it feel horribly unreal.

It felt like a nightmare where she would wake up and someone would tell her it was all a lie.

Blake was trembling too.

“Fret, is the information Eli gave us reliable?”

“He was convinced someone’s been digging around lately. That’s why he was racking his brains, worried that giving bribes directly might leave a trail.”

“‘Holding a charity bazaar and donating the proceeds to a charity organization established by Marquis Clarence’… Creative thinking. He should use that brain for other things too.”

He recalled the conversation he’d had with Fret.

He had participated based on that single piece of information.

Blake had considered it a simple job since just securing the list of auction winners and amounts would serve as evidence of bribes given to Marquis Clarence.

So Blake had Fret stay until the end at the auction venue.

The problem was Henrietta calling Gray.

“I have something to say about Lorraine’s case.”

It smelled like a trap, but Henrietta pleaded for her life.

“I don’t know when I’ll die. It seems my usefulness is over. I think I’ll be silenced soon. Even if I die, I won’t die alone. I’ll spill everything, so please help me just once.”

When he went to meet her as promised, Henrietta was already dying.

Suddenly the fire alarm went off and people who had been waiting rushed out to catch him. Blake threw an explosive he was carrying, pretended to escape by sliding down a drainpipe through a window on the opposite corridor, then came back in, changed into a bathrobe, and walked out pretending nothing happened.

If he had been even one second later, he might have been caught. The thought made his body tremble involuntarily, but he didn’t show it.

No matter how he thought about it, this charity bazaar itself had to be a trap for such events to unfold.

It’s remarkable he hadn’t been caught until now.

The fact that he had been secretly investigating Marquis Clarence might have been exposed through Lorraine.

Most telling was that this incident specifically targeted Gray Turning. It was time to change all strategies.

“Wait a moment! Please stop there.”

Someone called out to Debbie and Blake. Debbie saw it was the plainclothes security officer who had been going upstairs with the employee, carrying something.

“This is a magic tool detector. We received a tip that the suspect used an ancient artifact utilizing magic crystal stones, so we’re checking for magic wavelengths. Everyone needs to be examined once, so please extend your hands. If you’re carrying any magic tools, report them first.”

The moment Debbie heard the security officer call it a magic tool detector, she realized the amethyst-like object embedded in its center was a raw magic crystal stone.

“Are you suspecting me? How unpleasant.”

Blake spoke calmly, but his eyes wavered.

“Since there’s a possibility the suspect used magic tools for disguise, it can’t be helped. It only detects wavelengths from within a day. Please extend your hand.”

When the security officer passed the magic tool detector over Blake’s body, a loud alarm suddenly sounded.