Through the window, the dark night sky stretched out with a chilly atmosphere.

I wondered if Carlo had arrived at the imperial palace by now.

“Your Highness, it’s Norbert. May I come in?”

I quickly lifted my head at the voice that came after a knock.

“Of course.”

Norbert quietly opened the study door and entered with some documents in his hand.

“What have you brought?”

Odin, who was sitting at the desk helping me, looked at Norbert with curious eyes.

Odin was beside me, comparing expense reports prepared for the charity event to ensure there were no discrepancies between the imperial palace’s records and December’s.

This was necessary because after the charity event, the imperial palace would likely try to fabricate embezzlement charges against me. We needed to record daily expenses and seal them with both my seal and the imperial palace’s as evidence.

Besides that, Odin was diligently helping me every night, fully utilizing his abilities as Grand Duke to ensure they couldn’t bring any accusations against me.

“I’ve compiled a list of people reported missing among nobles and imperial palace servants.”

He placed the documents neatly on the desk and stepped back.

So quickly? I had made a difficult request and knew Norbert had plenty of other duties, so I expected it would take much longer.

“Thank you, Norbert.”

As I expressed my gratitude, he showed his usual gentle smile and stood calmly.

I began looking through the documents, and Odin approached with interest to read along with me.

“I organized them using ages between two and ten years old at the time of disappearance as criteria. Some cases were later processed as deaths, but I included them just in case.”

The first page was a summary that allowed me to grasp the list at a glance, while the following pages contained brief descriptions of each person listed.

Anyone serving as the head butler of a Grand Duke would naturally possess exceptional abilities, but seeing these documents made it clear why Norbert could be the superior to all servants here.

Even I thought my request was unreasonable, yet Norbert had investigated everyone from nobles to commoners working at the imperial palace and brought the results to me.

“You must have been busy with His Highness away from the castle. When did you find time to investigate all this?”

“Not at all. It was actually a refreshingly different task that I enjoyed tracking down.”

Norbert’s polite response with his gentle smile eased my feelings of guilt.

I smiled back at him and returned to examining the contents.

The documents detailed each missing child’s name, age, parents, and current situation.

They indicated whether the child had been found after being reported missing, if they remained unaccounted for, or sadly, if they had been processed as deceased.

“Huh?”

While turning pages, my eyes suddenly stopped at an unusual entry.

“It says reported missing after being processed as deceased…?”

The remarks column contained the phrase “request for missing person report after death.”

Isn’t it usually the other way around…?

Following the content back to the name, I felt a familiar sensation prickling my skin.

Odin, seeing me turn back to the front page, looked down at the document with me.

“Count Maximus… Greatroyson…?”

Odin read aloud the name I was looking at, then looked back at me.

“What is it?”

“I think I’ve heard this name before…”

As I searched my memory, Violet’s voice from our conversation at Rishelt Island in Brüpelier echoed in my ears.

“When Your Highness greeted Her Majesty the Empress earlier. That’s when news came that Count Greatroyson had gone missing again.”

I remembered this count’s surname because I later learned he was the reason the Empress Genevieve had stared at me with a frozen expression when I greeted her.

“Count Greatroyson had gone missing once before. After losing his wife and daughter, he completely withdrew from political affairs and refused to leave his estate. It happened over ten years ago, but he still seems unable to bear the pain. Her Majesty the Empress has been his friend since childhood, so she often looks after him.”

Norbert, noticing I had paused at someone’s name, approached the desk and looked down at the documents.

“Ah, are you referring to Count Maximus Greatroyson?”

“Yes. I noticed his surname because I heard it in Brüpelier. Is he truly Her Majesty the Empress’s friend?”

When I answered, Norbert nodded and furrowed his brow.

“That’s correct. Though it happened long ago, it was such a widely discussed tragedy that everyone felt sorry for him. Countess Greatroyson and their young lady were traveling by carriage when it overturned off a cliff. The lamps in the carriage caused a fire, and it was announced that everyone died instantly at the scene.”

“Ah…”

It matched the story I had heard from Violet.

“But why would someone file a missing person report after a death certificate was issued?”

“Everyone said Count Greatroyson couldn’t accept reality… He adored his daughter immensely. Moreover, she was his only child.”

Indeed, how many parents in this world could easily accept the death of their child?

“Also, Count Greatroyson identified the recovered remains, but only the Countess’s body was found. They couldn’t find the young lady’s remains.”

“They couldn’t find… the child’s remains?”

The word “remains,” applicable only to the dead, attached to a young child made a part of my heart crumble.

“Because they fell off a cliff, it took considerable time to find them. No one expected them to have fallen there. Although the road ran alongside a cliff, it was a safe, even path that had never seen an accident before. People even joked that the carriage carrying the Countess and the young lady must have vanished into thin air.”

“……”

“After thoroughly searching the surroundings, they finally considered the possibility that the carriage had fallen off the cliff and began searching there.”

Norbert paused briefly, seemingly recalling the officially announced details.

“Meanwhile, heavy rain had caused the stream at the bottom of the ravine to swell. Experts suggested that the light body of the child might have been swept away by the water flowing below the cliff. Since everyone else in the carriage, from the Countess to the servants, was found dead, they concluded there was no chance the young lady could have survived.”

“So that’s why she was processed as deceased…”

“However, Count Greatroyson couldn’t accept this fact and requested she be listed as missing. Considering his friendship with the Empress, the imperial palace granted his request. Therefore, the young lady is officially listed as missing, but everyone knows she’s already dead.”

It made sense that the Count would refuse to leave his estate after losing both his wife and daughter in an instant.

How much must he have wanted to deny reality to personally request changing his child’s death certificate to a missing person report?

As I stared at the note about the request to change the missing person status at the imperial palace, I felt not just sympathy but pity for the Count. A lump seemed to form in my chest.

With mixed feelings, I read through all the remaining missing person cases and separated those still listed as missing.

I wondered whether to include Count Maximus Greatroyson’s case since it was still listed as missing but had been processed as a death.

“Thank you, Norbert.”

However, thinking about how painful it must have been for the Count to request his dead daughter be listed as missing, I wanted to believe she was alive too and put her back on the list of cases to examine further.

“Have you found what you were looking for?”

“I think I need to look into this more.”

“Whatever you need, I will do my best to find it.”

Feeling reassured by Norbert’s words, I asked something I had been curious about.

“Norbert, why are you so good to me?”

Surprised by my sudden question, Norbert’s eyes widened.

“What do you mean? You are the master I must serve, so isn’t it natural?”

“But not everyone was good to me from the beginning. Ah, when I say beginning, I mean… when I lost my memory and woke up again. Everyone disliked me, but you didn’t. Why? You had every reason to resent me.”

Looking back, Norbert was the only person who took my side when everyone else was hostile toward me.

“……”

Norbert looked at me for a long time, as if finding it difficult to answer.

He appeared to be smiling as always, but somehow his face seemed full of contemplation.

“I serve Your Highness with complete respect now, but that wasn’t the case before.”

“What? But from the first time we met…”

“That was my way of apologizing to Your Highness.”

After deep consideration, Norbert continued with a rather heavy gaze.

“I committed something so terrible that I felt unworthy even to ask for your forgiveness.”

“Norbert?”

“Something that would justify dismissing me from this position.”

“What are you saying?”

“On the day of the St. Berte attack…”

At this unexpected beginning, I involuntarily tensed up.

“I had previously reported to His Highness that the Lamberoo tea prepared by Madam was suspicious.”

“!”

A chill ran down my spine as I looked at Norbert with shock.

Norbert had known. He knew what Lea was planning to do with that tea.

“But His Highness drank it anyway.”

Why would Carlo drink it after hearing such a report?

Norbert paused briefly and took a deep breath.

“Actually, before the attack, His Highness was returning from modifying his will.”