Pokémon Detective Case Files

Chapter 454 The Reflection of the Truth Behind the Decapitation

Chapter 456 The Reflection of the Truth Behind the Decapitation

headache.

The travelers felt as if someone was tapping their temples with a dull chisel.

There's a feeling that my stamina is decreasing.

Of the three, the magician Yueju was the first to regain consciousness, not because of the light—there were no windows in this place—but because of the chill seeping from the damp stone walls, the icy temperature seeping into his bones through his thin hotel pajamas.

When Lingju moved, she realized that her wrists and ankles were bound with rough ropes, and she was tied to a heavy wooden chair.

On the other two chairs, Lian Wu and Gadriya were also leaning back in the same position, not yet fully awake.

The air was filled with the mixed smell of old dust and rusted metal. The only light source came from an oil lamp flickering on an iron table in the center of the room. The lamplight cast shadows on the walls, making it seem as if invisible ghost Pokémon were playing silently.

A person was standing next to the lamp.

Tall and slender, she was dressed in a perfectly tailored black gown, her long, silver-grey hair neatly tied back. It was none other than Count Black Moon—Ducum Leclerc—whom he had met at the palace just yesterday.

In this room, which was completely opposite to the office next to the Qinjian Hall, he was facing away from the travelers, slowly wiping a dagger with a white silk handkerchief. The blade gleamed with a cold luster under the light.

Yueju recognized the dagger—it was Lianwu's ever-present personal weapon. A chill ran down his spine as he noticed the rusty iron table not far away, where all three of their belongings were haphazardly piled up: staffs, bags, amulets—everything had been looted.

"woke up?"

Leclerc did not turn around; his deep voice sounded like a eulogy at a funeral.

"I hope my men weren't too rude. But given the seriousness of the situation, a little discomfort is understandable."

"W-Where is this?" Even Wu woke up. He struggled slightly, and the rough ropes dug deep into his wrists. "Weren't we just sleeping in the inn attached to the tavern? Why are we tied up here?"

Leclerc finally turned around and gently placed the thief's dagger on the iron table, alongside Lianwu's other spare weapons. The metal struck against the table with a chilling, crisp sound.

"Where?" the count repeated, a sardonic smile playing on his lips. "A place for questioning. A place that needs no sunlight, and where no irrelevant people will bother you."

He stepped forward to the travelers, bent down, and his cold gaze was like a scalpel.

"As for why, that's a question for me to ask you. Yesterday, you were among the last people to see His Majesty Hugo XVI—during his lifetime."

"You killed Hugo in your life?" Lian Wu, standing to the side, stared wide-eyed.

Leclerc frowned: "Our king is not a character on the pages of a book, but he has indeed lost his life—that is an indisputable fact."

"We're just going," Cattleya, who had just woken up, tried to say, her voice hoarse from just waking up.

"You went to plead for that insignificant tavern," Leclerc interrupted her, his tone laced with undisguised sarcasm. "How touching. And then? His Majesty mercifully granted your request, and you left. The story should have ended there."

He straightened up, put his hands behind his back, and walked around in the cramped space.

"But the story doesn't end there. After you left, His Majesty didn't summon the gardener Sander and the guards who were waiting outside. At first, no one thought it was unusual; His Majesty would occasionally immerse himself in the tranquility of the garden—until time passed abnormally. When Sander finally mustered the courage to enter the garden with the guards—"

Leclerc paused, the only sound in the room the crackling of the oil lamp. His voice suddenly turned low and dangerous—"They found His Majesty lying beneath the oldest fruit tree. Blood stained the soil around the roots. And his head—was gone."

The atmosphere suddenly became eerie.

"So, the moment we left, Hugo XVI was killed and beheaded?" The thief grinned, his expression a mixture of absurdity and horror.

"It seems Wanlong wants to add a mystery plot to this role-playing game so he can show off in front of Hugo." The magician yawned.

"Poor king, rest in peace." The warrior monk suddenly remembered her role, her hands bound, and closed her eyes, bowing slightly in mourning.

"Alas," Leclerc sighed, a mixture of helplessness and pity. "It seems you all haven't grasped the current predicament."

He turned sharply to the three men, his gaze as sharp as a pheasant swooping down to hunt. "Now, answer me. What happened after you 'left'? Which of you, and for what reason, severed the king's head?"

"No, no, no, we absolutely did not assassinate the king!" Lian Wu hurriedly protested. "Besides, there were more than just us present at the time; they can all testify!"

"That's right, and the tavern waitresses and Luna too," the monk Cattleya added. "Isn't the latter still your direct subordinate, Count Black Moon?"

"The tavern owner's daughter is being questioned elsewhere; she fainted upon hearing of His Majesty's murder. As for Luna—"

Leclerc's expression grew increasingly grim. "I haven't seen this subordinate since yesterday. But I can assure you, Luna Silvia could not possibly have murdered His Majesty; she had no motive. Judging from the current situation, the prime suspects are you three, the last 'travelers' to meet the King."

"Strictly speaking, the last person to see the living Victor Hugo XVI should have been the murderer who killed him."

The lingonberry calmly pointed out the error.

"The premise is that the killer is indeed not one of you."

Count Leclerc maintained his stern expression. "From the time you left the garden to the time the gardener discovered the body, no more than two hours had passed. And during that time, no one else entered or left the garden except for the three of you."

"So, this is a 'locked room murder'?" The magician raised an eyebrow and threw out this term from futuristic literature.

"A locked room? What's a locked room?"

This powerful minister from the ancient United States era clearly couldn't understand the later concept of genre fiction, but he still quickly grasped the core meaning of the term: "However, the garden at that time was, in a sense, indeed a closed space that no one could freely enter or leave—just like this locked, dark room right now. Apart from you few who left last, it was impossible for anyone else to sneak in."

"That doesn't make sense!"

Seeing that suspicion was about to be firmly placed on him, Lian Wu hurriedly retorted, "The royal palace gardens have more than just the exit we used! Right, there's also the secret passage Luna led us into—this 'secret room' clearly has two doors! The murderer of the king could easily have escaped through that unguarded exit."

"Oh? You mean the secret passage you used to sneak into the garden?"

Leclerc shrugged dismissively.

"Almost every important location within the palace has similar escape routes; it would be strange if the garden didn't have one. No one except His Majesty and a few close advisors like myself knew about this. Besides..."

He then changed the subject, his tone revealing an undeniable certainty: "You should also know that my office window faces the only way through that secret passage. If someone were to pass by, I couldn't possibly be completely unaware."

"But it's just a window, isn't it?" Yueju interjected. "Your eyes aren't electronic monitors, and you can't be staring out the window all the time while working. If someone were to sneak up under the window frame, they could easily avoid your sight, couldn't they?"

"Do you think that just because I know about the secret passage, I won't send people to investigate it thoroughly?"

Leclerc slammed his knuckles on the iron table beside him, making a dull thud.

"I personally examined the footprints in the passage and carefully checked every entrance and exit of the secret passage. All the traces clearly show that only one group of people went to the garden, but no one left from there."

"But we also have no reason to assassinate the king. What good would that do us?" Blueberry calmly retorted.

"That is precisely the question I want to ask you—why did you attempt to assassinate His Majesty?"

The count slammed his hand on the table again, causing the oil lamp flame to flicker violently. "Is it because the magician was ostracized after graduating, and thus harbors resentment towards the kingdom? Or is it because the thief, seeing the wealth, greedily plots against His Majesty? Or is it because the warrior monk believed the nonsense of that half-baked prophet, and is determined to eliminate the so-called 'evil dragon possessing the king'?"

He chuckled sarcastically. "I have absolutely no idea what the reason is."

"You know about us?" Cattleya stared at the Count and asked suspiciously.

"I know a little about most of what happens within this kingdom."

Count Black Moon responded casually.

"If that's the case, why did you allow us to enter the palace in the first place?" Yueju keenly grasped the key point and immediately asked in return.

"This was my mistake, and therefore I have a responsibility to make amends."

Leclerc closed his eyes sadly. "I thought that although you had a motive, you wouldn't be so foolish as to harm the King. Even during your first audience, I had sentries and guards around His Majesty—but you deliberately held back then, waiting until after you left the palace to sneak in and commit the crime. And I, due to a moment of carelessness, failed to stop you in time—and made a grave mistake."

"But we really didn't kill the king. Look, we don't even have any blood on us. Wasn't he beheaded? Shouldn't there be blood everywhere?" Lian Wu continued to use the [Negotiation] skill, still unwilling to give up.

"All three of you are experienced adventurers who have ventured into many dangerous places," Leclerc said coldly. "For you, there are far too many ways to take a life without getting your hands dirty."

His fingertips traced the staff leaning against the iron table. "Mage, since you graduated from the magic academy with excellent grades, you must have at least mastered [Wind Blade], right? And Monk, you should be proficient in techniques like [Chi Gong] that can injure without contact, right? As for thieves—"

The count turned his gaze to Lian Wu.

The latter hurriedly retorted, "Even if I knew the [Throwing Dagger] skill, there's no way I could use it to cut off someone's head without getting any blood on my hands!"

"That is indeed somewhat difficult," Count Leclerc nodded understandingly.

"But you still have this in your belongings."

He picked up a seemingly ordinary roll of silk from the iron table; the fine threads gleamed faintly under the lamplight.

"This tool may look as thin as silk, but its strength is comparable to thick iron wire. Simply wrap it around the victim's neck and then apply sudden force, and a head can be easily severed—"

The court count gestured as if he were strangling someone. "There's a fountain in the garden. After you've committed a crime, you can easily and comfortably wash the bloodstains off your silk threads there."

"I would never do such a thing!" Lian Wu struggled again, and the ropes binding his hands and feet tightened even more.

"Of course, I'm more inclined to believe you all conspired rather than acting alone. That way, the blame would be lessened for each person, wouldn't it?"

Leclerc shook his head, hiding his face in the shadows. "My spy was murdered while protecting the king, and the tavern waiter lost his mind after witnessing a horrific scene—surely, this is the 'perfect crime' you all planned."

"Killing someone and then running back to the hotel to sleep, what kind of perfect crime is that?" Cattleya curled her lip in disdain.

"Count Leclerc, there's no need for further bluster."

Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense, Yueju suddenly spoke in an almost lighthearted tone, thwarting the Earl's relentless offensive.

"You must be trying to scare us. If you truly believed we were the regicides, you would have executed us by now. Why go through all this trouble to interrogate us here?"

The magician shifted his numb, bound body, finding a slightly more comfortable position. "From the afternoon of the incident until now—even if we consider it midnight—it's only half a day, but for someone who practically holds the power of a nation, that's enough time to do many things. Yet you only brought us here now, which means—we 'suspects' weren't your primary target, but rather a last resort. Am I right?"

Count Black Moon fell silent.

Blueberry's speculation clearly hit the bullseye.

"Head." Cattleya suddenly spoke up.

If the crime scene is indeed a completely sealed room, as Leclerc claims, then there is still one most obvious question that remains unresolved.

"You said the king's head was missing, which means you didn't find it at the scene, right? Otherwise, you should have said the king died with his head severed from his body, but you said Hugo's head was missing."

"Then please tell me."

The monk stared into Count Black Moon's eyes. "Where is this crucial head—where did it go?"