Don't Ask, It'll Hurt If You Know - Chapter 20
All of this was just a hypothesis based on speculation. She needed concrete evidence, like proof Bianca used dark magic or notes exchanged with the culprit.
Dark magic was strictly forbidden in all countries, including the Empire. Those who used evil dark magic were naturally executed, and even those who merely approached it out of curiosity were branded heretics, their eyes gouged out and hands and feet cut off.
So if Bianca had used or been involved with dark magic, she likely would have already destroyed any evidence, but just in case, Chloe searched Bianca’s entire room for physical evidence.
She searched everywhere something could be hidden – the vanity, bed, wardrobe, sofa, under the bed, and so on, but found nothing.
* * *
The overly enthusiastic young inspector investigated diligently as if keeping his promise to Chloe, but even after four days, he found no clues about the culprit.
Chloe likewise made no progress. She visited libraries and bookstores searching for any magic that could switch souls, but found nothing of the sort anywhere.
“Maybe I should ask a magician directly.”
The problem was that meeting such a skilled magician was as difficult as getting an audience with the Emperor. Even if she managed to meet one, it was questionable whether they would tell her anything.
“I could try asking the temple…….”
Since the temple handled matters related to dark magic, that might be more reliable. But she couldn’t risk it, as she might be branded a heretic and put on trial.
For the same reason, she was hesitant to ask magicians.
“Ah, should I ask Jeremy?”
Though he wasn’t officially a priest yet, he might know something about dark magic.
If she revealed that she was Chloe and explained her current situation, her kind youngest brother would gladly help, but she worried he might be branded a heretic too.
“What should I do.”
Should she ask Jeremy or not.
After contemplating, Chloe finally decided to send a letter to her youngest brother. She was getting anxious after finding no clues despite living as Bianca Lloyd for nearly a week.
Others might see it, and Jeremy wouldn’t believe her if she suddenly claimed to be Chloe and asked for help.
So she wrote a letter pretending to be Bianca, saying she needed to meet to discuss something important regarding Chloe.
“If I had decided just three days earlier, I could have asked him right away.”
Three days ago, Jeremy was still at the Elena Countess’s residence, not at the Grand Temple of Basilock.
Regretting the wasted time, Chloe left the post office. Given the letter’s importance, she mailed it herself rather than through a servant.
The sky had been blue when she left the Lloyd Viscounty mansion, but now it had turned reddish.
“I should head back.”
Besides it being almost dinner time, Bianca’s body was needlessly weak and tired easily from even light activity. Having experienced muscle pain the next day after staying out late once before, not knowing this, Chloe hurried toward where the carriage was waiting behind the post office.
There were many carriages there, but strangely, the Lloyd family’s carriage that had brought her was nowhere to be seen.
“What? Why isn’t it here?”
Am I just not seeing it?
Chloe looked around again in confusion, but it wasn’t anywhere.
“They couldn’t have left without me?”
While unthinkable from Chloe Elena’s perspective, it was possible from Bianca Lloyd’s. After all, the Lloyd household servants didn’t consider Bianca a master they needed to serve.
She thought things had been calm lately, but to think they would pull something like this.
“Ugh, how annoying.”
Chloe frowned and ran her hand through her hair. Since it was an hour’s carriage ride from the post office to the Lloyd mansion, walking was out of the question.
“I’ll have to hire a public carriage.”
Where was the nearest carriage rental place again?
As she headed toward the rental place, trying to remember its location, Chloe stopped when she felt like someone was following her. She turned her head to look around but saw no suspicious people.
‘Am I being too sensitive because of the coachman who abandoned me?’ (t/n: ‘coachman’ is a driver of a horse-drawn carriage.)
Thinking it was nothing, she hurried on, but soon stopped again. She felt once more like someone was following her.
‘No, I’m certain.’
Though she didn’t know who was following her, it surely wasn’t with good intentions.
Her mouth went dry at the thought that it might be the maid’s murderer or someone connected to them. Chloe clenched her fists.
‘I need to lose them.’
If she had been in Chloe Elena’s body, she would have confronted them rather than trying to escape, but she couldn’t do that in Bianca Lloyd’s body. This woman had never even held a sword, let alone fought. She had to avoid physical confrontation as much as possible.
Chloe kept looking around while walking casually as if nothing was wrong. As she searched intently for places to escape or people who might help her, a carriage bearing a golden lion emblem entered her field of vision.
