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Chapter 4

Kalcion continued.

"It looked like a suicide, but it couldn\'t have been a suicide under the circumstances."

"How are you….so sure?"

"The wound was very sharp."

"How can you be sure of that either?"

"How many people can cut bodies so keenly? The Baron was a man who had never held a sword except a table knife in his entire life."

"So you\'re saying that someone killed him and made the scene look like he committed suicide, right?"

It was like a mysterious situation. All the evidences pointed to suicide, but Kalcion was sure that it was a murder.

"Right."

"Did the Duke investigate it alone?"

"Yes."

"Have you tried questioning around?"

"The investigation is already over. The Baroness did not want me to continue, so I couldn\'t help it."

Whether it was a suicide or a murder, the soon-to-be Duchess\' marriage was already abolished. Some truths were more painful to pester. Selena understood what position the Baroness was in.

"In that case, the one who usually insists on suicide is the criminal."

"Still, there are so many straws."

As expected, he had a lot of enemies since he was the Duke of the North.

"Then why don\'t you find the straws by prying them out?"

"The problem is that the majority of them are from the society and I am not very good at socializing."

Selena was not expecting for this to be the reply of the scout.

"So that\'s why you needed someone to get into the society and find out?"

"I\'m sure you will be better at pretending than me."

He was behind the case. There was no way he could have been easily seen by anyone who wanted to know.

"The problem is that people don\'t meet an unknown person that easily."

There was no way the Duke\'s subordinates would show their true colors in front of her.

"In my world, they used to do a background check on me and used to test my skills before they let me become an actress."

"So I am the perfect person for this job. I fell from the sky, so there must be no background. I excel in acting, too."

Kalcion nodded satisfactorily.

"And your convincing exotic beauty. It would be a perfect excuse for a sudden lover."

"......Huh? What?"

"Your exotic beauty. Wouldn\'t it?"

It seemed as if his words had stamped a pink dot on the black world. A word that is completely opposite of the harsh words he had laid out so far. Selena\'s mind went blank for a moment.

"I didn\'t think you would say that."

Kalcion frowned.

"Is that because I am the Northern Duke again? Do the Northern Dukes not have eyes?"

"In my world, the word \'Northern Duke\' is for those who are very selfish."

"Ah."

\'Or I could have just stayed silent.\'

The Northern Duke turned his eyes away as if he did not know, but it was already clear to him that it was the truth.

\'He knows about it too.\'

Fortunately, he was classified as one of the most selfish dukes in the Empire.

"In that case, you\'re qualified. So I hope you can help me without dying here."

Kalcion clearly threatened her.

But, Selena couldn\'t just decline him when the situation was like this.

"Yes, sir."

However, there was a remaining important procedure that must be addressed.

"What will be my reward if I can complete the task?"

No matter how scared you are, no matter how bad your position is, don\'t work for free. This was one of the mottos of her life.

Kalcion answered.

"Your life."

"......"

Was this a joke of the Northern Duke or was he serious? Selena\'s face turned pale.

"I\'m sorry, but isn\'t my life already mine?"

"If I don\'t take you to the castle safely, you are no better than a simple life, right?"

"......."

It was deplorable for Selena that this \'deal\' could not be denied.

"No..… I mean there must be a motive. I have to gain something to work hard."

It made sense even to Kalcion. It was too much to ask for loyalty without a reward until they could find the culprit.

"You have to pretend to be my lover while I will be working. So, I will provide not only food, clothing, and shelter, but also extra cost for maintaining your dignity. I will also be providing you with enough money to settle down after the task."

"And how much will it be?"

Kalcion chuckled at the daring question which he had never heard in his life before.

"It\'s all right to ask, but it\'s strange that you directly asked me."

"I am sorry to make you uncomfortable, but you have to clarify."

There was no compromise for Selena when it came to the matter of payment. She clenched her teeth and desperately waited for his response.

Kalcion raised his eyebrows, noticing her nervousness.

She was fearless as an actress. Even though she was tense, she did not want to back down.

This was the best deal she had ever encountered in such an unexpected place.

"A lifelong expenditure of a house with more than two rooms and two maids, which is twice the average cost of living."

This was a general reward for an informant who had jumped into a dangerous job. However, Kalcion was also aware that this task could be dangerous for her more than once.

"And let me give you some hope that you may be able to return back to where you lived."

".....huh?"

The last remuneration by Kalcion was a surprise to Selena. She had never thought it was possible.

"Ca-can I….really go back?"

"I am not sure."

Kalcion began to explain.

The Renbird Territory was located at the North of the continent. But at the further north, the land was inhabited by monstrous beasts.

Between the land of the beast and the Land of Renbird stands a mountain range. A snow-covered mountain range that could not be crossed by humans. It was also tough for a monster to cross it.

However, in winter, when the land became scarce for food, sometimes there were beasts that came down the mountain range.

So, in winter, the Dukes and the knights inspected the range once in a while to clear up the \'monsterity\' that had crossed the mountain.

It was not an easy task. Only some particularly talented people could deal with it. That\'s why the Duke himself came to look down through the forest carrying a sword.

So, this time, he met someone alive who had crossed over from another dimension. As he had mentioned before, they used to find people in a dead state. However, he always carried an interpretation device with him in case of emergencies.

"I never thought that I would really use it."

The interpretation device, like Selena\'s, was a legacy of a great sorcerer.

About two hundred years ago, the great sorcerer, who crossed the dimension, brought much prosperity to Renbird.

However, she was also a great sorcerer even where she lived. She found a way back to her world and it was in the land of the monsters beyond the mountains.

The entrance and the exit were different. But when the time came for her to return, the sorcerer and the Duke of Renbird fell in love. So, she began to live with the Duke and did not return to her own world.

"There is certainly a way back. But the problem is that the exit exists in the land of the monsters. I can\'t even go there. The sorcerer was the only one who had ever been able to cross between the worlds more than once."

In other words, Kalcion was not sure if one could go back if he/she was not a sorcerer.

"If you finish your work safely, I will take the risk to escort you to the land of the beast. However, I\'m not sure if you can go back there, so it\'s just a hope. But that would be a great motivation for you, wouldn\'t it?"

Selena couldn\'t say anything because her heart was pounding.

Most of the dimensional objects seem to have well adapted for her until now. She never imagined that such a concrete way to return would be proposed.

She had no work, no past, no memories, no friends, no family, nothing here. It was literally just a strange land.

As a celebrity who knew no one in this world, of course, she would want to go back if she could. And for that she had to take some risks.

"I will do my best!"

"Good."

"Yes! Then shall we begin the operation tomorrow?"

"......What?"

Kalcion, who was also motivated at Selena\'s agreement, raised his head in a daze.

He was a capable man, but basically he was in a position to give orders to someone. He wasn\'t always deeply involved in how his subordinates specifically carried out their orders.

However, this was a two-man operation. It was a very rare situation in which he went into the operation by himself earnestly.

"The operation begins the moment I enter the castle with the Duke, right? Then, I will have to decide my personality, my relationship and everything beforehand. I have to set up the whole situation."

From acting in simple theaters to superhit movies, Selena always wanted to be the perfect. Getting into the character was the basic thing she could master.

"Well, first of all, what role should I play?"

By the mention of \'work\', Selena became so excited that she forgot that she was intimidated by the cruelty of Kalcion.

It seemed as if she crumpled like a bean worm and swelled up like a pillow of feathers. Kalcion, who was gazing at Selena\'s sparkling black eyes, was slightly dazed. Such eyes that he had never seen before.

".....Then, you will be evil."

"Well, I am evil. By the way, there are a variety of evil women."

Kalcion tilted his head.

"Is there any other kind of evil woman? Can\'t you just do what you did earlier?"

"Well, it would be a temporary expedient, and it would be a poor thing to call me \'evil woman\'. Evil women are human too, you know. We need to decide what kind of an evil woman I can be."

"I don\'t know if I can help you with that."

"Well, for example, there are simple villains who offend others as they please, ambitious villains who do whatever they want, and there are the ones who can slander the world around them."

Selena\'s concrete example shocked the concept of Kalcion, who just had a vague idea about "evil woman".

"....Oh. I see."

"Yes, so if I have to act as an evil woman, I have to know why she would be evil, how evil she\'s gonna be, and so on."

"....Hmm."

Kalcion nodded.

However, she was far from being creative. It was very difficult to create a plausible villain character so fast.

Selena wondered why there was no immediate answer. She thought he might have had a reason for this specific role. However, when she asked, he couldn\'t answer properly.

"But, why did you think of the role of an evil woman?"

"We have received information that my dead fiancée was evil, who was well-known in the kingdom."

\'As expected.\'

There was a reason. Selena asked more seriously.

"What did she do to be known as an evil woman?"

"The problem is that she was not properly investigated. It was a rumor, so I don\'t know exactly what she used to do."

Had it been easy to know, there was no need for him to offer Selena a deal.

"I don\'t know why, but it seems like she was a well-known rascal…...what was her personality like?"

"She was gentle in front of me. According to our survey, she couldn\'t get angry no matter how much she heard bad insults. She couldn\'t say a word of hate to others. She always smiled, and so on."

"So, she was rumored to be evil only in social circles, right?"

"Yes."

She was an innocent girl on the outside but she was actually evil inside. No one knew what wrongdoings she had done in the past.

"Well, I guess I should aim to be an evil woman in the kingdom."

That way, they would be able to figure out what exactly happened to that woman.

"Yes, is that possible for you?"

Selena snorted, fluttering her eyebrows. Kalcion looked dumbfounded.

"The easiest thing in the world is to be blamed. You can blame me for being pretty, for being nice, for lending money."

She could use this as an excuse to swear at someone. If she wanted to become a villain, she didn\'t need to be ugly. Just breathing could make her a malicious woman.

Selena grinned keenly.

"Instead, I will be the greatest evil woman in the history of your world."

Kalcion directed his look towards her.

"In order to achieve that, there is something else you need to do."