The Unyielding Façade

Part 3 - Lies everyone is telling

"Look mate, there's a difference between being involved and getting dragged into something," I said, "we don't even know which situation she's in!"

"I understand she's your friend and you believe in her, but I'm just worried about a trap being devised in the background somehow..." he said and looked out of the window, "not that I can proof my hunch, but..."

"But... so far, there has been no progress on the investigation, right?" I said, trying to be optimistic.

"Yeah, which is weird, don't you think?" he asked, "in case you don't know, that supermarket actually belongs to us. It was genuinely closed down two years ago because it was out of business - bad location choice and terrible access,"

"No shit sherlock, it took us hours to walk there," I said.

"What I'm saying is anyone can just google who the building belongs to or something," he said matter-of-factly.

"Maybe they thought you just used a random abandoned building and it's perfect because of the isolated location?" I suggested and put a hand to my chin.

"That is what I intend to say if I need an alibi," he said and shrugged his shoulders.

"Though you're definitely not a random hobo if you have enough fund to provide them food and other needs," I said, "someone definitely backs you up somehow. They just don't know who since you're just using 'a random abandoned building',"

"That's what worries me. I'm more or less insignificant here, so even if I get caught - not as part of the Amarillo household, but as an individual who acted on his own - I wouldn't cause that much problem. But it's going to be a totally different case if it's a noble," he said and looked out to the distance once again, "it's going to affect the surrounding area. People will start rejecting all of our projects and efforts to make it up - but at that point, it'll be hard to make even a single progress. Then, someone else's going to take over the area... and knowing our neighbours, it's not going to be pretty,"

Well, isn't that how most nobles are received in this country anyway? What's new? I thought, people still end up having them around the area anyway.

"But I don't think any of the girls realised you're linked to the Amarillos nor do they even know your name. Azul just kept referring to you as 'that green-eyed guy,' because she doesn't know your name," I said, "they can't put a case against you based on someone's hunches,"

"For now," he said and put a hand over his forehead.

"And I'm guessing the marquess didn't know what you and Antonio did either. So, even if they question him, he would have refuted everything and he would still be 100% honest. You're at the point where you could still escape to another region with no extradition law and pretend it never happened," I said, "even if you don't, there shouldn't be any motive or proof of abuse that's conclusive enough either. You could pretty much say they're spies sent by your neighbour but you treat them well out of ethical consideration in the court,"

"You're worryingly good at this," he said and looked at me in the eyes, "but it's not just a matter with the court. Yeah, the incident itself doesn't provide enough evidence for a banishment sentence or something. But we have enough problem with the Gris family, our neighbour, and that incident alone is enough for them to build up a random narrative and bring us down somehow. One mistake and they'll get rid of us. It's not about what the court says, it's about what the public thinks,"

"Is that... the troublesome neighbour you guys have always been referring to?" I asked and followed his gaze. Behind the window, miles away, I could see a dark grey castle-like building sticking out like sore thumb, which must have been very big since we could see it all the way from here.