Chapter 18:

EP 18 - House of 20 Bodies(8)

In fact, I didn't care whether a drunkard was framed or had actually committed murder. The issue here was that someone was trying to deceive me, the lord. If I allowed myself to be fooled here, the next time, they would attempt something even bolder and more provocative. And if this continued, I would be doomed into another cycle of misery.

It’s essential to eliminate problems from the root when they first start to show. I needed to wrap up this case cleanly. If I went back leaving just suspicion lingering, I’d be lying awake at night.

===

Name: Henry

Job: Drunkard

Level: 8

Stats

Strength: 3

Agility: 4

Intelligence: 3

Luck: 2

Traits

Muscle Disorder

Due to an injury, there is a problem with his muscles.

Penalty applied to Strength and Agility stats, cannot properly use weapons.

===

Although Henry might be a piece of trash who hits his wife, he wasn’t the culprit in this case. With stats this wrecked, it’d be hard for him to kill someone. Even if Henry’s wife had a frail physique of a tuberculosis patient who would die from a light touch, if she died at the hands of this half-cripple, it would’ve been natural causes.

I ordered the guard to unveil the corpse. When he lifted the covering, I saw Henry’s deceased wife.

She was quite pretty. It seemed she hadn’t had much of an eye for husbands, though.

And the back of her head was completely smashed in. I couldn’t help but frown, the crowd exclaimed, while Henry turned away at the sight of the horrific scene. With her head in that condition, she was definitely dead by the time they found her.

I looked around. Some nuns, along with Sieri, seemed to have come out from the church to watch. I spoke to the guard who had first discovered the scene.

“Guard, what position was the body in at the time of the incident?”

“She was lying face down.”

“Lie down and show me exactly how she was positioned.”

The guard hesitated for a moment, but after I nodded for him to proceed, he lay on the ground and mimicked the position of the corpse. He lay completely face down, with both arms and legs stretched out. I asked. ℞

“Was the body facing Henry?”

“No. The body was lying with its back to Henry.”

The guard stood up and answered.

“Where’s the club used as the weapon?”

“This is it.”

The guard brought over the club that was stored separately. I’d expected it to be an oak club, but it was a sturdy rod made of metal. A blow to the back of the head with something like this would certainly kill a person. It had an excellent grip and just the right heft. But the issue was—could that shaky-handed drunk pull off such a precise blow?

I dismissed the guard and took off the corpse’s top. I could feel the guard and the villagers being taken aback by my sudden action. There were bruises on her back, but no marks that looked like they came from a metal rod. If he was just beating her as usual and accidentally killed her then, there should have been wounds on her body. However, there wasn’t a single mark on her arms or torso.

If he’d hit anywhere else with the same power he used to strike the head, something would have been broken or the flesh would’ve been torn apart. Judging by the state of the corpse, Henry supposedly only hit her head a few times, then suddenly passed out from drunkenness. Doesn’t that sound odd?

It was actually more believable that someone else killed Henry’s wife and placed the club in his hands.

“This is strange.”

“What are your thoughts, My Lord?”

“It’s all too clean.”

“Pardon?”

“Henry can’t even swing his arm properly, so how did he manage to strike her head so cleanly? You know yourself, guard, that if you tried swinging a weapon with your weaker hand, it wouldn’t be nearly as effective.”

“

“And according to your own testimony, the victim didn’t resist at all.”

The state of the corpse was strange, too. She was lying too straight to have tried to run away. It was as if she hadn’t anticipated being hit from behind.

“Perhaps, she fell trying to escape?”

“Where is Henry’s house?”

I decided to head to Henry’s house with the guard. The house was quite tidy. When I asked the guard if he’d cleaned up, he replied that they hadn’t touched anything. He added that it had looked the same when they first came to the crime scene yesterday.

“Where was Henry’s wife found lying?”

“Over here.”

The guard pointed to the kitchen. There was a small window, but no other obvious exit. I asked again.

“And where was Henry?”

“He was over here.”

The guard gestured toward the bedroom door, across from the kitchen. He explained that Henry had been found collapsed leaning against the doorway. The setup seemed too unnatural to suggest an attempted escape. After taking a look around, I noticed something unusual. There was a teacup on the table, and one of the chairs was slightly pulled out.

Conveniently, the table was positioned between Henry and his wife. There was also a kettle rolling on the floor. If Henry had a habit of beating his wife after drinking, she wouldn’t have been making tea for him. However, the teacup and kettle indicated that Henry’s wife had been serving tea shortly before she died.

It meant there was a third party at the scene.

Back at the courtroom, I looked for John.

“I heard John was the first to report it. Where is he?”

John raised his hand from the witness stand. He looked rather tired, as if he had been harassed by the guards since yesterday.

“You reported it to the guards because you thought someone had died?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Did you often hear screams from Henry’s house?”

“Yes… every time he drank, there were always screams or crying from his house.”

“So, why did you think someone was dead when you heard the same screams this time?”

“The screams that day… they sounded different than usual. It was like a feeling of foreboding, My Lord.”

“That’s why you called the guards.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Why didn’t you go to the house when you heard the scream? If Henry often hit his wife, couldn’t you have gone to check?”

“I was too startled to think of that.”

“Was there anyone else who heard the scream?”

I called for witnesses. Henry’s house was located at the edge of the village. The witnesses only stared at each other without raising their hands. I turned back to John.

“So you were the only one who heard the scream and reported it. Henry’s house is at the edge of the village. What were you doing there at that time?”

“A-Are you suspecting me?”

“I’m asking a question under the lord’s authority. Why are you talking back?”

I'm going to find a reason to kill this bastard later.

“N-no, I apologize.”

“Answer me. What were you doing at that time?”

“I-I was just… just taking a walk.”

“What time was it then?”

“It was around midnight.”

The guard answered for him. Midnight was late by any standard here. I questioned John again.

“Taking a walk at midnight?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

There wasn’t much to say that he couldn’t sleep. There was no curfew in the territory. But John was far too suspicious. Every little thing he did felt unnatural.

If it were me, even if I were out for a midnight walk, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the house of a wife-beating drunkard. There was circumstantial evidence of a third party being in the house, and John’s actions were suspicious, but I lacked hard evidence.

I kept watching John, looking for anything I could use. There was something off about him, and as I stared at him, I finally realized what it was.

This guy was supposedly detained by the guards all day after his 'midnight walk,' yet his clothes were spotless. Not even someone going on a date would dress that neatly. No one goes out dressed like that just for a short stroll at night.

“Guard.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“We’re going to John’s house immediately.”

John’s face visibly paled with shock. I ordered the guards to hold him while I rushed to his house. If my suspicions were correct, there would be conclusive evidence inside.

And there it was. When the guard and I opened the door, we were greeted by a pile of clothes in a basin in the corner, splattered with blood like red spray paint. Such a thing had no business being in John’s house.

I took the bloody clothes back to the courtroom. John’s face had already gone ghostly white.

“I’ll give you a chance to explain.”

I showed the bloodstained clothes to the witnesses and guards. John fell to his knees, trembling, and finally spoke.

“I… I was furious.”

I looked at John.

“How could she go to a guy like that... I liked her first… I liked her first!”

“Why did you kill her?”

“I knew Henry was completely drunk yesterday. So I waited until he fell asleep, then went to Julia. She was glad to see her childhood friend and even made tea for me. That’s when I told her, she should leave Henry and live with me. I told her to leave that good-for-nothing who couldn’t make money and just beat her all the time.”

This bastard. He was one of those filthy NTR scum.

“But she rejected me! She left me because of that piece of trash! I couldn’t take seeing her turn her back on me for him, and without thinking, I…!”

“Take him away.”

I was already annoyed with him, so I was killing him for sure. I won’t forgive attempts at NTR. The unexpected ending made people murmur.

John probably killed Julia, changed his clothes at home, and ran straight to the guards. With so much evidence pointing to Henry as the culprit, he must have assumed Henry would be arrested immediately. He hadn’t expected to be detained to participate in the trial until the next day.

I looked at Henry. His face was stained with grief over his wife’s death and betrayal towards John.

“Raise your head, Henry.”

“M-My lord…”

“Your trial is not yet over.”

The guards and the crowd started murmuring again. I had warned them to stay quiet, but this was the reaction I wanted, so I let it be.

“The sin of wasting your life and not cherishing your precious wife is heavy.”

“My Lord…”

Henry choked up with tears.

“I sentence you. From this moment on, you must swear to give up drinking and find a new job. Though John committed the crime, your sins are not insignificant. Reflect on the harm you caused your wife, and repent sincerely.”

“My Lord…!”

I shook my head and said.

“That is all.”

What should I make Sieri do when I go back?

[Previous Chapter]