"Benn Bronte and his elder brother, the current Baron Bronte, Edmund Bronte, were both sons of Theodore Bronte, the previous generation's baron. The old baron had already passed away. I visited his grave, and although there was a corpse buried inside, it was not Theodore Bronte. The age of the bones did not match."
As Shade knew, Theodore Bronte had two sons and a daughter. His firstborn, Edmund Bronte, inherited the title and later became a staff officer of the Royal Army's First Legion. York Bronte, whom Shade had met in 1854, was his second son—and Theodore Bronte's grandson.
"The corpse was replaced? So the old baron never actually died?"
The flickering firelight constantly shifted the shadows across the Black-Haired Lady's face. She took a sip of wine and nodded lightly.
"Yes, and it was more than simply not dying. I tried to use Astrology in the woods to find his trail, which was why I appeared here tonight. Yes, Theodore Bronte is right before us now."
Shade sighed.
"Theodore Bronte is his second son, Benn Bronte?"
She nodded again, pleased by Shade's sharpness.
"I only investigated for a week, so I do not know what method he used. He was quite cautious, and I had not come specifically to investigate him, so I did not resort to anything too extreme. But the old baron's second son was definitely the old baron himself. Benn Bronte never existed. Since childhood, the two had been one person."
Shade immediately pointed out the inconsistency.
"But the timing does not match, does it? I do not know the exact dates, but Benn Bronte had already been born by the time the old baron died. They could not possibly have never appeared together all these years—so he is a Time Traveler, not merely an 'immortal'!"