Chapter 26: Lies

The situation changed in the blink of an eye, leaving Rosie a little dazed.

She looked at the two men and one woman who had suddenly appeared and at Hannah Carter, who had been easily subdued.

A myriad of thoughts flashed through her mind, but she understood the principle of “the more you say, the more you risk a slip-up.”

Before she knew whether they were friend or foe, it was better to play dead.

If the sky falls, there’s still the old swindler to hold it up.

Unfortunately, her hands were held up in mid-air by the chains; otherwise, she would definitely have frowned and retreated behind Hermann.

Harvey Michelson looked at the tragic scene in the dining room, feeling that his already sparse hair was about to fall out from worry.

The Baron’s daughter had clearly joined some evil god’s cult.

If Mullen had been a little slower to stop her, her body would likely have collapsed, and she would have lost control and become a monster.

As for the Viscount’s daughter, she had started yelling to shoot without a second word upon meeting them.

There were two corpses lying beside her; one’s head was missing, and the other had several holes in its body.

This was likely the handiwork of this Miss Moulton and her “accomplice,” the gentleman named Hermann.

Of the seven missing persons, three were present.

Dennis Sandek was dead, Hannah Carter had become a cultist, and Rosie Moulton was a suspected murderer.

‘What a mess,’ Harvey sighed inwardly.

He then took out his leather wallet from the inner pocket of his greatcoat, opened it, and showed it to Rosie and Hermann.

“Harvey Michelson, Church of Truth Guard, Glenn City Special Investigation Division police.”

‘Church? Police?’

‘Heavens, this is the one episode where the police aren’t late.’

Rosie was so moved she was about to cry.

She lifted her chin, jerked her head towards the unconscious Hannah, and accused:

“Officer, it’s her, Hannah Carter.”

“She’s the murderer.”

“She tied us up in this old castle and cruelly murdered her own maid.”

“Miss Janice Herbert.”

“As you can see, she was just attacking me and this Mr. Rhys.”

“Calm down, Miss Moulton. Can you briefly recount what happened?”

Harvey held out a hand to signal her not to be anxious.

Then, he turned his head to his colleague beside him and said:

“Yvette, you can stop now.”

Yvette Lambe nodded.

Her light-blue pupils gradually dimmed, turning into brown eyes.

The hands crossed over her chest also separated slightly but still maintained a hand-seal gesture.

Rosie felt the chains binding her hands lighten, no longer holding her arms up in the air.

‘Is this also a Covenanter’s ability?’

Although Rosie was curious, she didn’t show it on her face.

She just nodded slightly at the police officers.

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to be nervous, Miss Moulton. Just ‘honestly’ recount what you experienced.”

Harvey Michelson put a slight emphasis on the word ‘honestly’.

‘What does he mean? Does he have a way to distinguish truth from lies?’

Rosie’s heart sank.

She couldn’t possibly tell him she was a transmigrator.

‘But does concealing that point count as a lie? And what are the criteria for judgment?’

However, refusing to communicate would definitely be seen as problematic.

Rosie nodded.

“Alright, Mr. Michelson.”

“I woke up in a strange room…”

“…just as Mr. Rhys and I fell into despair and were about to make a desperate stand, you all appeared.”

After speaking, Rosie looked straight at him magnanimously, without the slightest hint of guilt.

Of course, everything she said was the truth.

The difference was that she concealed some parts, or rather, downplayed the process, telling ‘partial truths.’

Rosie did not hide the parts involving human life, such as being forced to kill Donahue Bobby in self-defense and planning to deal with Dennis Sandek.

She only concealed the matter of her transmigration and the issue of her own portrait appearing in the room.

At the same time, she simplified the process of her reaching an agreement with Hermann, because a detailed discussion of this matter would inevitably bring up the conditions he used to threaten her.

In the room on the second floor, was there some connection between the portrait of ‘Rosie Moulton’ and the eyeless girl who killed her?

Until she figured this out, she couldn’t possibly reveal the core secret of her transmigration to anyone.

Harvey listened quietly to the ‘testimony’ of the viscount’s daughter.

He didn’t speak, but just extended an arm, letting the amethyst pendant on his wrist hang in mid-air, and then closed his eyes.

After a brief silence, he opened his eyes and looked at his wrist.

The crystal pendant hanging in the air was swinging clockwise in a small arc.

Harvey’s expression immediately relaxed a lot.

He smiled at Rosie.

“Your honesty is praiseworthy.”

“And please forgive our rudeness, Miss Moulton.”

As soon as the man’s words fell, Rosie felt the restraints on her wrists completely loosen.

The chains, which were between illusion and reality, broke apart section by section, turning into faint blue fluorescent light and dissipating into the air.

‘That simple?’

Rosie flexed her wrists slightly.

She did not let her guard down just because she had successfully ‘passed,’ and replied politely:

“Your caution is what makes us trust the judgment of the Church and the Kingdom even more.”

Harvey nodded, then shifted his gaze to the other person, the reporter who had not appeared in the missing persons case, Hermann Rhys.

“Mr. Hermann Rhys, is that right?”

Hermann nodded, then shook his head.

“It’s Hermann Hughes.”

Rosie, “???”

‘A fake name, was it?’

‘And I was just calling him Mr. Rhys over and over again to the police.’

‘This swindler!’

“Mm, Mr. Hughes, and your profession is?”

“Private detective,” Hermann said candidly.

Rosie, “!!!”

‘Aren’t you a reporter? D*mn it, so you’ve been lying about everything, haven’t you!’

Rosie could even feel the probing gazes from Harvey’s two colleagues directed at her.

After all, this ‘companion’ who had shared life and death with her in her ‘testimony’ just now matched neither in name nor profession with what Rosie had said.

‘Humiliating, truly humiliating.’

‘Being sold out and still helping the person count the money.’

‘Well, that’s just great. The persona of a naive young lady who knows nothing of the world is now firmly established.’

‘Thank you so much, Hermann Hughes!’

Harvey was a professional; his expression did not change.

He continued to ask:

“According to our intelligence, seven victims have been confirmed in this missing persons case. You are not on this list.”

“Because I live alone and don’t work for a proper agency.”

“Most of my business comes through referrals from old clients, and I don’t have a fixed place to go to every day.”

Hermann was unhurried and continued, “This job was also recommended by an old client.”

“To help Mrs. Nair, oh, that is, Mr. Dewitt Nair’s wife. He might be on the missing persons list.”

“Mrs. Nair suspects her husband of having an affair and asked me to help gather some evidence.”

“In the process of my investigation, I suddenly lost consciousness, and when I woke up again, I was in this castle.”

“The rest of the story is just as my companion, Miss Moulton, described.”

After speaking, Hermann turned his head and smiled at Rosie.

‘Who’s your companion? Get lost, you d*mn swindler! Don’t touch me!!!’

Rosie cursed fiercely in her heart.