Truth Revealed

After a while, a surprised looking young blonde woman with glasses entered the Town Elder's home. She was none other than Gilda, the Adventure Guild's receptionist.

"Uncle, Adelaide. May I know why you suddenly called me here?" She asked politely, but there was a hint of confusion on her face when she saw the Town Elder's serious face.

"Gilda, did Adelaide tell you about her condition and about the necklace's properties?" The Town Elder asked seriously.

"...Yes." Gilda replied, understanding the line of reasoning. "Uncle, are you perhaps suggesting that I tried to hurt Adelaide?"

At this moment Adelaide coughed and her face turned paler. The Town Elder looked towards his daughter.

"Darling, are you alright?" He asked.

Adelaide nodded. Dante shifted his line of questioning.

"Miss Gilda, did you perhaps mention about this matter to anyone else?" He asked.

"I would never." Gilda said confidently.

"Miss Gilda, why was your proximal relationship with the victim not mentioned in the case files?" Dante continued asking. "It is only here that I discovered that you are Miss Adelaide's closes friend."

"This... the report wasn't prepared by me! It was prepared by the Guild Leader. He believed my innocence and thus didn't include my information in the report." Gilda explained excitedly. "I would never hurt Adelaide, she is closer than a sister to me!"

Dante turned to look at Adelaide, who looked at Gilda with a bit of fear. "Miss Adelaide, if there is something you still aren't telling us, then please don't hesitate. If we don't have all the clues, we can't retrieve the item." Dante tried to convince her.

"Gilda would never harm me. My ex-fiance... Gilda was in love with him." Adelaide suddenly said. "When father decided upon our marriage, she said she would steel her heart for my happiness."

"What?" The Town Elder suddenly flared up. "Is this why you did it Gilda?" He was about to lose his calm as his face flushed a bright red!

"Wait..." Dante suddenly said. "Did the fiance have feelings for Miss Adelaide?"

At this moment Gilda spoke up. "No. He and I were lovers, however his family and the Town Elder decided upon his and Adelaide's marriage." She said. "At that moment I cut all ties with him for Adelaide's sake."

"Very well. I think I know where the necklace is. Miss Gilda is innocent." Dante then said

"You do?" Adelaide suddenly asked in shock. "How do you know Gilda is innocent?"

Dante looked at Adelaide and smiled. "I thought you believed she was innocent? Isn't that why you so reluctantly hinted at her name and laced a poisonous bait by pointing out her affair with your fiance?"

"What are you trying to say?" The Town elder frowned as he looked at Adelaide, whose face crumpled into an ugly place.

"Town Elder, what would be a place where miss Adelaide is most likely to hide her secrets?" Dante changed the topic and asked.

"This.." The Town elder turned towards his butler. The butler bowed and solemnly replied. "In Miss Adelaide's toy box."

"Butler! How dare you!" Adelaide screamed viciously!

Dante smiled. "There is no theft at all. Miss Adelaide never agreed to your marriage proposal and wished to get rid of it altogether. If I am not wrong, Miss Adelaide told Miss Gilda about her condition only after the marriage was announced, am I correct?"

Gilda thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, that is correct."

Dante shook his head. "Miss Adelaide wanted the marriage cancelled, but at the same time wanted to be absolved of the blame. So she laid a bait to put all the blame on her best friend, since she would be the only one other than herself with the motive to break the marriage. Unfortunately, Miss Adelaide's acting was a bit too unrealistic. It can fool the Town Elder who is blinded by worry and love, but it cannot work in such a manner against an observant outsider. Your words seemed to be sympathetic to Gilda, but were actually directing a poisonous dagger towards her.

The necklace should be in Miss Adelaide's possession."

The Town Elder was stunned. As was Gilda, who looked at Adelaide with shock. "Ade, is this really true?"

Suddenly Adelaide's expressions twisted. "Hmph. Yes, the necklace was never stolen. I have it with me, but I stopped wearing it, letting my body become ill again, so that that scum would break the marriage.

And you don't need to act so heartbroken. You claim that you cut off ties with him, yet you were actually having an affair despite knowing that he was now my fiance. I did not love him, but that didn't mean he was yours to use!"

Gilda was stuned. "Adelaide, that isn't true. I cut ties with him the day I learned about your marriage proposal."

"Hmph, he told me himself." Adelaide harrumphed.

The Town Elder was flabbergasted by what he heard. And his expression turned worse and worse with every passing instant.

At that moment Dante said a simple sentence. "It could also be that the fiance lied to get you to break the marriage. After all, he too seemed to like miss Gilda, but if she cut ties with him, he may have driven to lying to you."

When Adelaide heard that she was stunned and couldn't speak. The Town Elder raised an eye even further. He walked towards his daughter and slapped her. Then he calmly turned towards Dante.

"Mr. Dante, thank you for your help in solving this situation. I will deal with this embarrassment from here. I will come to the Paradise Inn tomorrow to thank you in person. Please excuse us for today."

Dante nodded, and calmly left the mansion of the Town Elder.