How to Be a Dark Hero’s Daughter

Jade stood quietly next to me.

“Jade.”

“Father, you must not hand over Leticia. The royal guards torture even children.”

Torture?

Heheek. I tightened my grip on Collen’s collar.

‘Are they aiming for a conflict between the Duke and the Royal Family? By making me stab the princess?’

No, that’s not it. Angel was originally supposed to use the knife.

And I’m just an adopted daughter. I’m not worth that much, unlike Jade.

But who and what did they want by switching the knife?

‘Think, we have to think. We have to solve this. If we don’t…’

My hands trembled.

‘I might end up harming the Duke. What if they arrest Collen and Jade?’

Just thinking about it was terrifying.

“Wasn’t the sword switched from the beginning? Claire!”

The weeping queen raised her head. The maids got up from their seats.

“No, it’s really not. We confirmed the safety of all the props under the supervision of the maids. The knife has never been switched.”

Claire said firmly. The maids, including Mira, nodded vigorously.

“Yes, we saw it. The last time we tested the knife, the blade clearly went inside. It was a fake knife.”

The maids nodded, looking ahead.

“That means the only person who could switch the sword on stage is that child…”

Someone muttered and Jade’s eyes narrowed. The young nobleman flinched and closed his mouth at the gaze.

‘I was there when the knife was tested. I saw it too, clearly. But…’

I held my breath.

A few seconds. In that short time, my head spun with breathlessness.

‘We have to solve this…’

Memories of my past life. And the Blue Rose incident. How did I solve the case back then?

‘Change the way of thinking?’

What was once certain is now uncertain. That was the way to find the truth behind the incident. It was also the way countless detective novels I read in my past life went.

And it was the way I solved cases myself.

‘Let’s take a critical look at everything I’ve seen. What’s true and what’s not.’

There was definitely a conspiracy in this case.

This time it was more desperate. I had to solve this case for myself and for the Duke’s people who trusted me.

“Maybe the magician cast a spell!”

“Or it could be the work of a ghost.”

I slowly lifted my head.

“It’s not a ghost.”

I spoke to the people, and their eyes focused on me again.

“Even if there was a lot of cloth on the stage, I don’t think it would catch fire that quickly. Don’t you agree?”

I spoke cautiously to Collen.

“Ah, yes. I thought that too. Someone must have deliberately put a small amount of oil on the cloth on the stage,” Jade spoke up.

“And the reason you couldn’t smell the oil was because of the incense, right?”

As expected, the two of them were on the same page. Their words caught the attention of the people.

“Who decorated the stage?”

“Well, my chamberlain and the servants did decorate the stage, but…”

The king’s gaze turned to the chamberlain named Dihan.

“Did you install the incense burners, chamberlain?”

“N-no, Your Majesty! The incense burners were prepared because Your Majesty favored them, and they were recently procured.”

“But there were also outside vendors and our maids frequently visited the area,” the queen said, her face full of tears. Her heart felt heavy.

“Then we should investigate everyone involved,” the king said.

It was what I wanted to hear.

“Dad, they’re right. But, then we don’t know who might be implicated,” I said, scared and trembling like an ignorant child.

Because I was a child, in fact.

“Then we should gather all the people here in one place and prevent them from moving before conducting the investigation. It’s scary, but I will also be investigated because of what happened to Lavigne. Of course, I’m innocent, but…” I carefully chose my words, knowing I couldn’t say anything that might be taken as an admission of guilt.

“Oh, that’s a good idea. And if we don’t do that, there might even be fatalities,” Collen pointed out, and the air around us became painfully cold.

We were standing in a spacious pavilion in the eastern garden. Guards surrounded us, and the situation was grim.

“Let’s go somewhere now so that no one can slip away unnoticed.”

In response to Collen’s words, the king responded with a trembling look.

“Escort everyone here to the palace. No one will be allowed to move until the investigation is over!” the king declared, and the nobles who were sitting down stood up immediately.