CH 23

It was a beautiful mansion. Never in her life had Iris seen a mansion so beautiful even in the rain.

After taking a bath, she went out to the room Sandra gave her, and saw the meal.

The wine served as an appetizer was a fragrant fruit wine. After taking a sip of the pleasant drink and putting it down, the meal continued, as if it had been known in advance that guests would come.

When she thought it was over, the food came out again, and when she thought her stomach might explode and die, Sandra appeared in her room to check the guest’s condition.

Sandra said.

“If I had known in advance that there would be guests, I would have prepared more… That’s not all. Please don’t rate it like this because it’s the princess who suddenly appeared.”

“You’re preparing more than this?”

“Am I preparing more? This is something I didn’t prepare for at all.”

From Sandra’s words, Iris could see how proud the Hall family were in inviting guests and throwing parties.

When Iris was queen, Sandra never visited the royal castle, which was not too far away.

On the contrary, Sandra invited her to the Hall mansion, but Iris didn’t go either.

Iris couldn’t get rid of the thought that if she had accepted Sandra’s invitation just once, the relationship between the Lepos family and Hall family would have improved.

Sandra checked the bowl Iris had emptied as best she could, and looked quite satisfied.

“Still, you eat better than you look.”

“The food was delicious, so I ate more than usual.”

“If that’s the case.”

Sandra gestured to the servant, and soon a piece of meat was placed on the table, with hot butter sizzling on the skin.

Sandra said, sharpening her knife, while Iris, who had already eaten to the limit, was embarrassed.

“No matter how full you are, you should eat this. Just put it in your mouth. You’ll be confused about what’s butter and what’s meat.”

Iris didn’t think she would be able to eat any more food, but she was lucky enough to be invited because of the rain, so she held back to please Sandra as much as possible.

Sandra, with a careful expression on her face, cut the meat so that it felt full in your mouth for each bite.

While focusing like so, Iris casually looked at her prosthetic hand, then shifted her gaze back to the meat.

Sandra said, putting the meat on the plate.

“I haven’t had a left hand since I was very young.”

“I see.”

Iris nodded. It was something she already knew.

She took a deep breath of the meat on her plate, then picked it up with a fork and put it in her mouth. She was so full that she thought she wouldn’t taste it, but it was more delicious than she thought.

“…Wow.”

Sandra said happily when Iris admired.

“Is it good?”

“Can I have a little more?”

“I’m glad you’re eating well.”

As expected, Sandra was very satisfied with the guest giving out her plate again even though she was full.

Iris took another piece of meat that melted in her mouth, leaving only the juices. It was a great dish to be proud of.

After eating like that, Sandra left for the party hall to fully check the condition of the Knights and make sure that no one was less full.

* * *

Sandra was very generous to the Knights of Tejas. There was only one reason.

“You eat well.”

It was because everyone ate well.

The Knights of Tejas quickly devoured the ingredients in the Hall family’s mansion.

The mansion had a huge field and raised countless livestock of each type, so it was possible to produce them quickly.

Sandra said to Hayer with a satisfied expression.

“Even the princess ate quite well, didn’t she? I thought she’d eat a bite and nibble.”

At her words, Hayer thought Iris must have had a hard time eating more than enough food.

In any case, the Knights of Tejas were at their wits’ end because they were so happy with the food Sandra served them.

As the Knights looked full, Sandra stopped serving food. In Hayer’s eyes, it felt like the farm was crushing the Knights.

After filling his stomach with rare food, Hayer returned to his room.

Looking out the window, he saw that the rain wasn’t going to stop soon. Hayer prepared to take a bath, thinking that if he does well, they would be able to stay here tomorrow as well.

At that time, Dylan, who was preparing his bath, asked sullenly.

“You were lying, right?”

Hayer smiled at Dylan’s words.

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s a lie, about knowing the cure.”

Dylan’s crying voice made Hayer look in the mirror.

No difference was felt before Iris started the treatment. Dylan, who checked his back every day, would know better than Hayer.

“Why, I look so much better.”

“I know better than you do, Captain.”

There was a sense of sadness in Dylan’s voice.

Hayer didn’t have much hope from the beginning, but it was a pity to see Dylan sad.

He still felt guilty about Tilla, the god of all things, and thought it was nothing to be pleased about, being too easily forgiven after cutting the sacred tree.

“With how old the wound is, can it be cured so soon? Wait patiently. I’m sure it’ll get better.”

Hayer soothed him, and Dylan held back his sorrow and nodded like an adult.

* * *

Iris followed the butler to the Hall family’s patio for a moment to digest what she had eaten.

Since it rains so often, logs are woven and tents can be placed on them.

The logs, where tents were placed out for the guests, were nicely intertwined with rattan.

Iris covered the raindrops falling through the tent with her hands, then recalled Sandra’s prosthetic hand.

She recalled the game on her way to the North Gate. Sandra’s name came up once.

* * *

“Sandra Hall. Let’s talk about the head of the Hall family.”

When Hayer said so, Hencke explained.

“Wasn’t the competition for being the successor of the Hall family complicated?”

“It was.”

“The son-in-law…”

Iris asked, as Hencke murmured his words.

“Why? What happened?”

When she asked, Hencke explained.

“The previous head of the Hall family only had two daughters. Like His Majesty the former King.”

Iris nodded at his words.

Just as the former king handed over the throne to his nephew because he only had one daughter, the Hall family seemed to have no son.

Hencke continued.

“The rift between the Everhart and Hall family is old. Then, as the situation happened to be like this, the eldest daughter of the Hall family and the second son of the Everhart family signed a marriage agreement, and the agreement was concluded for the young man to come to the Hall family and become the head of the household.”

“Yes. But?”

Iris forgot about the cold and curiosity twinkled in her eyes.

Annamaria suddenly interrupted and said.

“But the eldest daughter, who stayed with the Everhart family for a while, fell in love with a servant and ran away.”

“Ah.”

As Iris nodded, Hencke continued.

“So the Everhart family went into an uproar. What are you going to do now that the marriage is broken?… Eventually, the Hall family decided to marry their second daughter, Sandra Hall, to the second son of the Everhart family. But that’s when a problem arose. On the first night, the second son was hacked to death with a knife.”

Iris flinched and looked at Hencke.

Hencke found it interesting that she was scared, so he set the mood even more and continued to talk.

“A culprit actually appeared. Wouldn’t it be the person who was in the same room that day?”

“Was the family head the culprit?”

“It wasn’t like that again.”

Hencke shook his head and continued.

“The bride was out of her mind and couldn’t say anything for about a week. And in the meantime, those who checked the scene of the murder noticed that a left-handed person stabbed the second son with a knife. Left-handed people are rare, so they thought they could find the culprit quickly. But of all things…”

“Of all things?”

“Sandra Hall doesn’t have a left hand. When they questioned her later, she said she’s never had one since she was a kid. In other words, she has been hiding it with gloves all her life because she is the daughter of an aristocratic family.”

“…….”

“The culprit was only found out later. He was the eldest son of Everhart. It turned out that he had a crush on Sandra, so after a quarrel with his brother, the murder took place…”

“I think Sandra Hall is the culprit…”

Everyone looked back at Iris when she said to herself.

Hayer asked when Iris paused and closed her mouth.

“Why do you think so?”

“A left-handed person was the culprit, but a woman without a left hand wasn’t the suspect.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“If it were me, I would have cut off my left hand as soon as I committed the crime. Surely Sandra would have been executed because they had a bad relationship with each other, so it’s better than losing your life.”

“……”

The party paused, including Hayer. And it wasn’t long before Annamaria muttered.

“…That makes sense.”

afterword

iris my smart lil pookie