“Come out.”
It wasn't long after Yi Kyung was confined to her room. Without warning, Jayden appeared through the suddenly opened door. Yi Kyung, who had been pacing anxiously in the room, flinched at the sudden visit.
“Why, why?”
“You’ll see when you go.”
“Are you really going to hand me over to that Public Security Bureau? Please, call the butler. He knows I’m not the culprit…!”
“Shut up and come out now.”
Yi Kyung was pulled out to the door in an instant by his rough grip.
At that moment, the face of the man, the family head, came to mind, and the fear of death instantly surged.
She tried to reassure herself that this wasn't the real world, but such assumptions were of no help to her at this moment.
However, Jayden, unlike his violent touch, walked silently down the long corridor. How long did they walk? The place they arrived at, following him, was an ordinary room.
Fortunately, Kaisern, whom she had been so desperately looking for, was waiting for her at the door.
Overwhelmed with relief, Yi Kyung called out without thinking.
“Butler!”
“Shh, quiet.”
Kaisern glanced around cautiously before looking down at her and asking quietly,
"I just have one question. What exactly is an ‘inspection’?”
“Yes…?”
It was an entirely unexpected question. Yi Kyung just stared up at him, unable to grasp the intent of the question, when Kaisern asked her again.
“I asked what kind of thing this ‘inspection’ you speak of is.”
“Do you mean…? You’re giving me a chance to inspect?”
"Answer my question first. What exactly is this ‘inspection’ you’re talking about? If you do it, can you really catch the culprit who killed Ruidel?”
A sharp gaze, as if trying to see through her, was directed at her. Yi Kyung barely opened her lips and answered.
“An ‘inspection’… means examining a body with one's eyes. In cases of death with an unknown cause, we check for traces left on various parts of the body to find out the cause.”
“Is that possible just by looking with your eyes?”
"To find out the more precise cause of death, an autopsy is necessary. However, in the case of this incident, an inspection alone is enough to confirm it was a homicide.”
“Then can you also find the culprit?”
“No. Both autopsy and inspection are to clarify the exact cause of death; they alone cannot catch the culprit.”
“Then there’s no need to give you a chance.”
A flicker of disappointment crossed Kaisern’s eyes.
However, Yi Kyung instinctively realized that she had to seize this opportunity. She couldn’t be dragged away by the Public Security Bureau without trying anything.
Yi Kyung, determined to find the culprit of this incident by mobilizing all the knowledge she possessed, said in a resolute tone,
“But it can provide crucial clues to catch the culprit. If we don’t proceed with the inspection immediately, even that opportunity will disappear.”
“Is that true?”
“Yes. So, you must give me a chance. A chance to clear Ruidel’s name.”
At Yi Kyung’s words, Kaisern silently looked down at her for a moment. It was the same look he had given her the first time she set foot in the mansion.
After a moment, he turned and opened the closed doorknob.
“Come inside for a moment.”
Inside the opened door, something covered with a white sheet was visible. Yi Kyung followed the butler inside.
***
The body lay neatly on the bed. Kaisern took out a pocket watch from his pocket, checked the time, and said,
“I can only give you a very short time. So, let’s start quickly.”
“Yes.”
“If you cannot find any meaningful clues right now, you will not be given another chance. The Public Security Bureau will visit soon for the investigation. So, I hope you inspect it as carefully as possible.”
At his words, Yi Kyung, who had been meticulously examining the mark on the body’s neck, turned her head and asked.
It was somewhat difficult to understand why he would have her inspect the body first if the Public Security Bureau was arriving soon.
“Then… why are you entrusting the inspection to me?”
“Didn’t you say so yourself? A chance to clear Ruidel’s name. The moment they take this child to the Public Security Bureau, that chance you spoke of will also disappear.”
“Are you saying that a proper investigation isn’t being conducted there either?”
"That’s right. All they do is take bribes and cover up incidents somehow.”
Kaisern looked at her with a bitter expression.
“So there’s no time. If you can truly clear Ruidel’s name, I hope you proceed with the inspection to the best of your ability.”
Yi Kyung met his anxious gaze and nodded. It was like a promise to herself that she would clear the name of the deceased.
“Then I will begin the inspection.”
Taking a deep breath, she reached out to the body to examine the mark on the neck more closely. But at that moment, she flinched in surprise and backed away.
The butler looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“I, I was just a little surprised, as if it were alive.”
Unexpectedly, there was almost no drop in the body’s temperature.
‘So that’s why the bathtub water was running.’
Yi Kyung recalled the situation when she first discovered the body.
When the bathroom door was opened, the inside was so filled with steam that it was impossible to see anything, and the internal temperature was high.
She wondered if the culprit’s intention in leaving the bathroom water running was to prevent an accurate estimation of the time of death.
In her mind, the suspicion that the culprit might be someone from inside the mansion began to grow stronger.
Yi Kyung calmly continued the inspection after that. Although this was her first time conducting an actual inspection, fortunately, the cause of death in this case was remarkably clear.
Asphyxiation due to neck compression. More precisely, it wasn't a death by hanging, but rather by strangulation, with the neck squeezed by hand. Upon closer inspection, clear fingernail marks of the strangler remained around the neck.
Yi Kyung covered the body with the white sheet again when Kaisern’s face was tinged with anxiety.
“Is it all done? Was he really killed by someone?”
“Yes. It seems someone strangled him and then tried to make it look like he hanged himself.”
“Is the culprit really someone from inside the mansion?”
I can’t say for sure yet, but… I think that’s the most likely possibility right now.”
“I’d like to hear your reasons for thinking that.”
Yi Kyung looked at Kaisern, who was staring at her with a tense expression, and began to speak.
“First, the biggest reason, as the butler knows, is that it’s difficult for outsiders to enter this mansion. Since there was a New Year’s celebration yesterday, the possibility of an outsider secretly intruding cannot be completely ruled out, but if that were the case, they would surely have been witnessed by someone.”
“But there’s always a ‘what if’.”
Kaisern seemed unwilling to believe that the culprit was within the mansion. It was natural not to want to believe that someone they lived with could be a murderer overnight.
However, Yi Kyung had no choice but to completely shatter his expectations.
“As you also saw, Butler, when the body was first discovered, hot water was running in the bathroom. Although the body wasn’t directly exposed to the water, the steam and heat in the bathroom alone would have caused the body temperature to drop very slowly.”
“What does that mean?”
Kaisern, with a slightly impatient expression, urged her to answer. Given that she was talking about the body’s temperature when he was concerned about the time limit and asking about the culprit, it was understandable for him to be anxious.
Fortunately, Yi Kyung quickly provided an answer.
“When a person dies, their body temperature gradually drops over time, and the extent of that drop is heavily influenced by the surrounding environment. If a warm environment like this was continuously maintained, the rate at which the body temperature drops would inevitably slow down significantly.”
"Then Ruidel died a long time ago?”
“It’s highly probable. However, we can’t accurately measure the body temperature at present, and even if we could, precisely determining the time of death is almost impossible. It’s even more difficult when the temperature is maintained by external factors, like this case.”
“So you’re saying you can’t find out anything after all?”
Kaisern, who had been listening to her words with a serious expression throughout, looked utterly disheartened, as if all the energy had drained from him.
However, Yi Kyung began to state her deductions in a calm voice.
“But one thing is clear: the culprit wanted the body to be discovered as late as possible. They probably set up an alibi that would never be suspected. We should consider all possibilities, such as a business trip or a sudden outing.”
“Wait. Alibi… what did you just say?”
“Alibi. It means providing proof that you were somewhere else at the time the incident likely occurred, thereby proving you are not the culprit.”
"So, you’re saying they would have prepared a situation beforehand to escape suspicion even if they were suspected?”
“Yes. The culprit would have wanted the body to be discovered as late as possible to create an alibi. That’s probably why they put the body in the bathroom of a room that hadn’t been used for a long time.”
As the conversation reached a situation he didn’t want to believe, Kaisern’s expression grew darker and darker. Kaisern pondered Yi Kyung’s words for a moment, then opened his mouth with a bitter expression.
"Hearing your words makes me think that the culprit might really be inside the mansion.”
“But what I’ve told you are all just assumptions. We’ll only know for sure with further investigation. I think telling the Public Security Bureau the information we’ve found out now would help identify the culprit…”
At her words, Kaisern’s expression hardened sharply. His distrust of the Public Security Bureau seemed to be deeper than she had expected.
“It’s useless anyway. Unless we get a direct confession and hand them over, they won’t move.”
"Then what exactly is the Public Security Bureau doing?”
Kaisern looked at Yi Kyung, who was gazing up at him, and could not give any answer. The meaning of the Public Security Bureau had already faded long ago.
It was a place that wouldn’t move unless money was offered. That was the extent of the Public Security Bureau's perceived role among the imperial citizens.
“For now, I will try to identify the culprit based on what you have said. There’s not much time, so let’s discuss the rest outside.”
The butler never provided an answer to that question. He then put his pocket watch back into his pocket and quickly exited the room.