KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 95

Lev seemed to recall something at the lawyer's words.

[Lev] "Ah. Don't tell me, is it the case? I think I heard something a few days ago about a bastard impersonating a noble. Hmm. I think I even received a sketch."

Unlike ordinary imposters, this man hadn't used the fake identity to commit any additional crimes.

Impersonating a noble was a serious offense, but the only victim—Köndel himself—showed no real desire to press charges. The most the Watch could do was draw up a sketch. Lev had only just remembered it.

[Officer] "Bring me that sketch."

Lev stepped out of the interrogation room and quickly returned, shoving a piece of paper with an illustration right under Paula's nose.

[Lev] "Don't tell me this is the guy you're talking about?"

Please, please.

Paula prayed it wasn't him, but the face on the paper was one she knew intimately. It didn't capture the warm, gentle aura she associated with Köndel, but it was undeniably him.

[Paula] "Hic."

Thick tears spilled from her eyes as she confirmed the sketch. She had desperately wanted the Köndel she knew to be the real one. The anxiety she had forced herself to ignore had finally become reality.

[Lev] "What the. Is this him? Ah, for fuck's sake. You scared the shit out of me. I actually thought I had messed with the fiancée of a nobleman."

He spoke as he wiped his chest in relief. Paula continued to sob.

[Lev] "Why are you crying? You even got a warm meal out of this. Wow, what a mess. An arsonist got scammed by a con artist? Criminals backstabbing criminals. It's a real circus in here."

Come to think of it, this is hilarious.

Lev muttered to himself, chuckling as he lit a fresh cigarette.

[Paula] "It…… it can't be. He is the real one. This man is the real one."

Her hands and voice trembled violently as she gripped the paper. But no matter how much she cried, nothing changed. The only result was that even the usually polite senior officer could no longer hold back his laughter.

It can't be. This really can't be happening.

Nausea surged in her stomach. The devastating sense of betrayal twisted her guts.

[Paula] "How could you do this to me? Köndel, how could you do this to me?"

He was her only path to becoming a true noble. He was the only person who could take her to the life she had always craved.

[Paula] "Gustav, Gustaaaaav!"

Not even knowing the real name of Gustav Köndel, Paula could only scream the name of the man she thought she loved. It felt as if her fairy-tale plans, built entirely on the name of a fake Köndel, were crashing down around her.

Now, all that awaited her was prison. Betrayed by the one person she trusted—her only hope. Only the abyss remained for her.

*****

Inside a carriage parked across from the City Watch Station.

Odette, dressed in a two-piece outfit featuring a white blouse and a beautiful purple skirt, lowered her opera glasses. She had clearly seen Viscount Köndel enter the station.

Köndel. He is surprisingly meticulous when it comes to things like this.

The one who sold Köndel's identity was none other than Gustav Köndel himself. He was a gambling addict, but he wasn't brainless. He knew the man he recognized as Wolfgang had spent a massive amount of time and money to borrow his noble title. He couldn't possibly be unaware that there was an ulterior motive.

Worried about how his identity might be misused, Köndel hired a detective to look into the matter. Honestly, it was comical. He was so deep in gambling debt that he had no choice but to sell his name, regardless of how it was used.

Yet, he worried so much that Odette felt bad keeping him completely in the dark. Thus, she had Müller secretly track the detective and feed him breadcrumbs. She provided a perfect mix of true and false information—information Köndel had no choice but to believe.

By now, Köndel had likely drawn his own conclusions.

Wolfgang and his backer are planning a romance scam under my name. They want to swindle the life savings of some illegitimate child with an incredibly wealthy noble mother.

Since the target is a commoner and an illegitimate child, they can run off with the money without any backlash. They borrowed my identity to pretend to marry her and then disappear with the cash.

Selling one's identity was a heavily condemned act in high society. If he was unlucky enough for the news to reach the Emperor, he risked incurring absolute royal wrath. Therefore, after his detective finished the investigation, Köndel chose to play dumb. He acted the part of an innocent victim.

That was why he had reported the impersonator to the Watch and requested a sketch. Now, he was waltzing into the station pretending to know nothing, even though he knew full well that the person asking for him was the "swindled illegitimate child."

A victim's performance required an audience. And the Imperial Watch was the perfect audience.

Going so far as to court Lady Luise to clearly separate himself from the romance scammer… he is very thorough.

It was obvious he had worked hard to distance himself from the con artist. Odette almost wondered why he never showed such meticulousness at the gambling tables.

The rest was predictable. Gustav Köndel would put on a spectacular performance inside the station, and Paula would finally realize Damian was a fraud.

After that, she will thrash around, trying to grasp at straws.

She would search for Köndel's true identity, then for Köndel's butler, and even the servants she met at the townhouse—people who had long since vanished without a trace.

Once she realized they were all fake, she would reach the conclusion that Gisella was also a fraud. Then, she would beg for mercy, claiming her act of arson was the result of being deceived by a wicked fortune teller.

But no one listens to the words of a criminal branded as a liar.

The Watch will probably acknowledge that she was fooled by the fake Köndel. Will she demand that they track Damian down?

The Watch would never agree to that. The only victim of Damian's scam was "Köndel," not "Paula." Damian had deceived Paula, but he had never officially stolen her property or caused her financial harm. All he had stolen was her heart and her fleeting hopes, and the Watch would never waste their manpower on something so trivial.

You always loved giving long speeches about how ridiculous I looked as a fake noble lady.

Paula's life would now end in a prison cell. She would spend the rest of her days thinking only of the fake Köndel and the fake fortune teller, chewing on the memories of the fakes who had utterly humiliated her until the day she died.

Odette smiled faintly. Damian and Gisella had boarded trains back to their hometowns long ago. Paula would never see them again.

Just as she was enjoying the satisfying conclusion to her revenge, a voice broke her thoughts.

[Viktor] "Can you not change that skirt?"

The man sitting across from her in the carriage asked, his voice tight with suppressed rage.

Odette looked at the owner of the voice. The man was glaring at her clothes with a deep scowl.

Was her outfit really that offensive? Viktor had been sulking ever since they met.

[Odette] "Does this dress look that bad on me?"

[Viktor] "Of course not. It's because that bastard obviously dressed you in it with disgusting intentions."

She had asked the question lightly to clear the air, but his fierce reply froze the atmosphere inside the carriage.

[Viktor] "Fucking watchdog."

While she was lost for words, he muttered a harsh curse. It was as if her clothes were unbearably grating on his nerves.

However, to Odette, Viktor's reaction seemed completely unreasonable.

Anyone can see he is just being stubborn.

What "disgusting intentions" could this outfit possibly hold? She was covered from head to toe; not even her collarbone or neck was visible.

The only thing she could think of was that the color of the skirt was remarkably similar to the color of Zion's eyes. But Viktor's reaction was too extreme for such a small detail. It was a bit childish.

[Viktor] "Let's go to a dress shop or a boutique. I’ll buy you whatever you want."

Odette concluded that he was simply picking a fight. She assumed he was bringing up dress shops as an excuse to avoid being alone with her.

Just as he had avoided her purification until now, he was trying to find any way out of receiving a proper purification today.

Even with a body ruined and covered in dark, throbbing scars.

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