Chapter 13
When Josée arrived at the Fédor estate, the place was buzzing with activity. Servants darted back and forth across the grounds, clearly in the midst of preparing for something.
She stopped one of them and asked, “Is Suzune-sama here? I’ve come to return the gold wedding ring Frédéric-sama left behind at our place.”
The servant blinked in surprise and immediately hurried off.
Left standing alone, Josée fidgeted on the spot, tapping the toes of her shoes restlessly against the floor.
Before long, the servant returned.
“Lady Josée. The madam wishes to see you at once.”
A butler appeared to escort her, seamlessly replacing the servant, and led her through the estate.
Rather than being shown to a guest room, Josée was taken directly to Suzune’s private bedroom—an unusual choice, likely meant to ensure privacy. A chill ran down her spine as they entered, the tremor in her chest confirming that her suspicions were about to be proven right.
“Good day,” Josée greeted.
Suzune stood by the window, dressed in mourning black. She turned slowly to face her visitor.
A poised woman in her fifties, Suzune still retained a striking beauty. Her once-black hair now bore streaks of white that no dye could fully conceal.
Josée smiled politely and held out the ring. “I’ve brought the gold wedding ring Frédéric-sama left behind.”
Suzune accepted the ring without question, her expression unreadable. She didn’t seem to suspect anything from the girl’s forced smile.
“Thank you. I must repay you for this.”
“No repayment is necessary. However, there is something I’d like to ask…”
Josée’s tone hardened with purpose.
“Madam, when Frédéric-sama informed you the ring had gone missing, you hurried to place an urgent order for a duplicate at the Midona workshop, didn’t you? Could you tell me what exactly that was meant to signify?”
“...!”
“I’ve heard the corpse was wearing the replica, wasn’t it?”
“Wh-what are you talking about…?”
“You can’t deny it. The real one is right here.”
“I—I only had the copy made at my husband’s request… I don’t know anything about its meaning or whatever you're implying.”
Suzune tried to play dumb, but the color had drained from her face. Josée pressed forward relentlessly.
“That headless body—it’s a fake. Frédéric-sama is still alive.”
Then—
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Suzune snapped, her voice rising in fury.
But Josée didn’t flinch. Instead, she deliberately lowered her voice, letting the weight of her words sink in.
“The headless corpses from the serial killings… the police identified them as men suspected of espionage. So why were they decapitated? It wasn’t some bizarre fetishistic murder—it was a spy’s trick to obscure identity. Those bodies were purchased from a human trafficking organization.”
“How dare you mock the dead!?”
“Their heads were severed cleanly—something a saw’s back-and-forth motion couldn’t achieve. So how exactly were the heads removed?”
“St-stop it!”
“With a guillotine. Twenty years ago, they were supposed to have been destroyed—a symbol of tyranny and bloodshed. But in reality, some fell into the hands of traffickers. They used them as tools of fear. Everything went smoothly in creating the decoy, but then Frédéric-sama lost the wedding ring he always wore—his proof of identity. You panicked, commissioned a replica, and forced it onto the corpse to make it look like him.”
“Stop…”
“Madam, if the traffickers confess and Frédéric-sama’s crimes come to light, you’ll be charged with aiding a spy. You’re only delaying the inevitable. But if you confess now, your sentence might be lighter. I understand—you did it for your husband. But please, turn yourself in.”
Suzune’s face had turned the color of ash—but then, quite suddenly, she smiled.
“Then bring my living Frédéric here.”
Josée froze.
“You can’t, can you? Then I win.”
Suzune’s smug smile returned.
But Josée wasn’t done. She smirked right back.
“Then if I do bring him here… he won’t be declared dead, will he?”
Suzune’s eyes widened in shock.
“What are you saying? The funeral is about to—”
“He’s already been found, actually.”
“Wh-what…!?”
Josée straightened her back and declared triumphantly, “He’s been hiding with the royal capital’s guillotine this whole time, hasn’t he?”
Suzune’s face went pale as a sheet.
“H-how do you know that…?”
Josée smiled knowingly.
“So you admit it?”
Suzune’s expression locked into place, frozen with disbelief.
“Y-you… you set me up…!?”
Josée’s triumphant smile didn’t fade.
And then—
A familiar sound echoed from the distance: the rumble of carriage wheels.
Josée turned toward the window and murmured, “...Seems we’re just in time.”
She cut off the conversation there and turned to Suzune, whose face was now twisted in confusion.
“The police are here… to stop this funeral.”
“!?” Suzune gasped. “You don’t mean Frédéric is really—!”
“It seems they’ve caught him. I’m glad he’s safe.”
With a cry of outrage, Suzune lunged at Josée. But Josée was ready. She stepped aside and stomped down on the hem of Suzune’s dress. The woman stumbled, arms flailing, and crashed to her knees.
At the sound of the commotion, servants burst into the room. Without hesitation, they seized Josée by both arms.
She was dragged out of the mansion by force.
Just then, Bernard stepped out of the carriage that had arrived moments earlier. Another servant ran to meet him.
At the estate’s entrance, Josée and Bernard came face-to-face.
“Well, well. A brothel madam, thrown out of a noble’s estate,” he remarked with a smirk.
“The traffickers finally confessed,” Bernard continued. “They told us everything—the weapon used to sever the corpses, and Frédéric-sama’s whereabouts. I rushed here to stop the funeral. There’s a warehouse owned by that group right near the palace. That’s where they kept the guillotine used for the murders. And Frédéric-sama is hiding there.”
“Just as I suspected,” Josée said calmly. “I figured he’d stay in the country until the death certificate was processed. He never expected the traffickers to be caught so quickly, or for his fake body to be exposed.”
“But… why did you claim Representative Fédor would be with the guillotine?”
Josée answered plainly, “Because there’s no other place in the world where you can find a real guillotine. Smuggling something that large out of the country would be impossible. So I figured he had to be staying close to it.”
Bernard let out a groan. “Oh, for…”
“We can discuss the rest with Suzune-sama at the station.”
At that moment, Suzune’s shriek echoed from within the estate, and Bernard immediately rushed inside with his officers.
“The funeral is canceled! Bring the madam here!”
The servants scurried back into the mansion.
As they disappeared inside, a voice called out behind Josée.
“Josée.”
She turned to see Serge, a suspicious look on his face.
“What did you mean, earlier? About having a lead on the warehouse owned by the human trafficking organization?”
Josée replied coolly, “I couldn’t say this in front of Bernard, but… I already knew the real guillotine was being stored next to the palace. The one in my establishment was a replica—crafted by a carpenter friend of mine. He coordinated with the warehouse keeper and built it to look exactly like the real thing.”
“I see…”
“This is the first I’ve heard that the warehouse was owned by traffickers. But it’s all out in the open now. Let’s leave the rest to the police.”
With no more reason to attend the funeral, Josée and Serge turned and walked away.