The duke looked at Veronica with a confused look when he heard this as he asked, "What do you mean?"
Veronica lowered her head as an awkward look appeared on her face, but in the end, she still said, "I was the one that caused them to realize that they had been discovered and that's why they are coming to the city."
There was only silence that followed after she said this as everyone looked at her with a stunned look.
After a while, the duke finally said, "What do you mean? You were there today?"
Veronica gave a slow nod in response.
There was another silence that followed, but this time, I was the one who broke it, "Ronnie? Are you Ronnie?"
The others all revealed confused looks, but Veronica looked at me with a shocked look, as if she couldn't believe what I was saying. Then she slowly said, "Did you not notice already?"
I just shook my head in response.
After a pause, Veronica said, "What?! I thought that you already knew it was me, that was why you were staring at me so much! You're telling me that you didn't notice at all!"
I once again shook my head.
Veronica looked down and put her head in her hand before saying with a sigh, "Then it was all for nothing…"
The duke gave a cough to show that he was still there and to calm the situation. Then he said in a serious voice, "Let's hear what you all have to say. It feels like there are things that I'm missing here."
The two of them were silent for a moment before telling the duke everything that they had found.
I was the one that told them most of what happened since I was the one that discovered most of the things.
Veronica added a few bits of information in, but most of what she added was just the stuff that she did. Namely the things that she did behind our backs that didn't have anything to do with the investigation.
Well, they had a bit to do with the undead horde and the villages.
It turned out that she had left notes for the villagers in the villages, trying to see if she could walk them up from their daze.
She had done all of this without us noticing…
So even if the enemies didn't start moving because of the incident in the cave, they might have started moving because of the notes that she left behind.
I couldn't help being surprised since she not only escaped my senses, she even escaped Shaka's senses.
Shaka was someone who specialized in this kind of work, so his senses were much sharper than mine.
She had to be very skilled to escape his perception.
But the duke quickly solved this doubt of mine.
The duke narrowed his eyes to look at Veronica for a bit before suddenly asking, "You used the magic item I gave you?"
Veronica looked away when she heard this question, clearly avoiding the duke's gaze.
The duke revealed a frown as he said in a scolding voice, "You know that item can't be used that many times and I only gave it to you so that you can keep yourself safe. If you keep using it in such a manner, I'll take it away from you."
Veronica finally reacted when she heard this.
She turned back and said, "Dad, I had to do it."
The duke looked at her with a stern look before suddenly giving a sigh and saying, "It's my fault in the first place. If I had done my job better…none of this would have happened."
When he said this, no one in the room dared to say a single thing as they just waited for him to finish.
But the duke still didn't say a thing.
In the end, it was Veronica who started to say, "Dad, I…"
But the duke suddenly raised his hand to cut her off before saying, "Honey, I know that you have a strong sense of justice, but you should also know when to limit yourself. This kind of thing was too dangerous…what if something had happened to you? If something had happened, I really don't know what…"
His voice trailed off as his eyes filled with sadness.
This time, Veronica couldn't remain calm anymore seeing the duke like this.
She had been willful her entire life, but that was all because she had the backing to protect her so that she never suffered a setback.
For the first time, she was realizing the consequences of her actions and seeing how it hurt the people close to her…
So for this young miss who was a bit spoiled, it really was a wake up call.
After a long period of silence, she said through pouted lips, "I'm sorry. It was all my fault."
Though it seemed like she was angry, one could see the sincere look of apology that was in her eyes showing that she did feel remorse for her actions.
The duke looked at her for a bit before saying with a sigh, "Please be careful next time. I don't know what your mom and I would do if we ever lost you."
Veronica gave a nod before suddenly coming forward.
She walked around the desk and walked over to the duke before reaching out her arms to hug him.
When the duke saw this, he couldn't help being surprised.
But in the end, he revealed a doting look and patted her on the head.
This was his precious daughter, it already hurt his heart being strict with her.
So when she acted this way, he really couldn't do anything other than give in to her.
After they hugged for a bit, they separated and the duke turned his eyes back to Zwein and Shaka.
He narrowed his eyes to look at us for a bit before saying, "Let's not beat around the bush. Have you already contacted Shadow Garden?"