The Ugly Wife of the Shady Duke - Chapter 66.2
🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀
‘To discreetly place something here, one would need to act swiftly. It doesn’t seem likely that he would wear gloves just for that moment. So, the reason he’s so confident is…’
He washed his hands.
She reached this conclusion.
‘Didn’t they serve snacks during the shift change? He must’ve washed his hands then.’
Priests always paid attention to cleanliness because of their profession. Whenever the conditions allowed, they washed their hands out of habit.
“……My Lady.”
Benjamin, standing behind Grace, seemed to have picked up on something. He called out to her with a slightly anxious tone.
‘But since there wasn’t an actual spill, it doesn’t matter, does it.’
On the contrary, if he had washed his hands and no ink was found, it would prove Grace wasn’t lying.
Grace addressed Sally,
“Sally, could you bring me the powder from there?”
“Uh? Yes! Understood, madam.”
Without questioning Grace’s order, Sally fetched the powder. Grace handed over the ribbon she was holding to Sally and took the powder.
“Sir Knight, let me have a look at that jewelry box for a moment.”
“……”
“I won’t break it. If I do, I pledge on the honor of the Felton Duchy to fully compensate.”
She murmured, her gaze lowered, subtly pushing back against the intimidating aura emanating from the knight.
The temple knight, who had been looking down on Grace, handed over the jewelry box. After briefly inspecting it, Grace placed the box into Benjamin’s hands.
“My Lady……?”
“Could you hold onto it for a moment?”
Then she turned to the priest who was asserting his innocence.
“Have you ever laid a hand on this jewelry box?”
“Of course not! How could I covet something belonging to the Saintess, and furthermore, place it in the lady’s chamber?”
“Not even the slightest falsehood?”
“As a child of God, I do not commit acts of which I would be ashamed.”
Typically, the culprits in novels, when given a chance to confess, would vehemently deny it till the end.
‘This person seems no different after all.’
Grace let out a soft sigh and opened the powder case.
“You claimed as much.”
“……?”
She began tapping the brush, heavily coated with powder, onto the jewelry box.
“My Lady?”
Benjamin called out to Grace in a puzzled tone.
‘This world doesn’t have any fingerprint analysis.’
If there was, the culprit would’ve acted more carefully.
As she tapped on the box, leaving white powdery marks, several traces began to appear on the seemingly clean jewelry box. They were someone’s fingerprints.
‘Both the temple knight and Benjamin were wearing gloves, so they wouldn’t have left fingerprints.’
Therefore, the only fingerprints on it would likely be Grace’s and the culprit’s.
‘Perhaps even Aria’s?’
Duke Jarte’s gift had been meticulously cleaned by Sally until it shone. If Aria’s side had taken similar care, the chances were high that only the fingerprints of two individuals remained.
“If one looks closely every person’s fingertip has a unique pattern. It’s called a fingerprint, and each one is different for every individual. I plan to compare the fingerprints left here with yours. If they match, you’re the culprit.”
“……!”
“What nonsense is this!”
“We’ll find out whether it’s nonsense or not once we compare them.”
Grace draped the short cloak Benjamin was wearing over the jewelry box. As she did, a faint luminescent residue seemed to shimmer from underneath.
“You may have washed your hands during the course of your duties, ensuring no fluorescent paint was found on them. However, isn’t it evident that there’s some right here on this box?”
‘Of course, that’s probably from when I touched the ribbon earlier.’
It was fortunate that the paint was still visible.
“If you have doubts, we can compare the fingerprints of others as well. If even after that, it’s clear you’re the culprit, I will lodge a formal complaint with the temple.”
“……!”
As expected, the person caught by Roselia was the culprit, so he couldn’t refute Grace’s words and kept his mouth shut.
The surrounding atmosphere buzzed more than expected as things were swiftly coming to a conclusion. But it wasn’t a commotion of resentment, rather one filled with surprise and astonishment.
“……?”
Beyond the bustling crowd, someone came to a halt.
“What’s going on?”
“…….”
Golden eyes blinked, fixating on Grace.
“That person…”
Even when Sylvester called out to Aria, she remained motionless, gazing only at Grace, her eyes seemingly beckoning the latter.
Before long, the seemingly ugly woman raised her head to meet eyes with the most noble lady in the world.
🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀⚔️🥀
