Chapter 61

The evening after returning from watching the play with Josephine.

The plan to invite Josephine over for the “Introduce Her to Dahlia” Project had failed, but that didn’t mean I intended to let the rest of the day go to waste.

I divided up my time and began preparing to head out again.

Once I was fully ready, I asked Dahlia,

“How do I look?”

“You look great. Very nice. Handsome.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?”

“I mean, if we ran into each other outside… would you recognize me?”

What I had done just now was a disguise.

But I might have picked the wrong person to test it on.

“Hmm… other people probably wouldn’t notice. But me? I’m pretty sure I could still tell it’s you.”

Dahlia answered with her chin propped in one hand, wearing a thoughtful expression.

Even with everything wrapped up like this, she was confident she’d recognize me?

Maybe it was because we lived together every day, or maybe her eye for detail was just that sharp.

“Oh! But since your voice is different, it’d be harder to figure out. Wow… I can’t believe your voice can change like this. Is this magic too?”

“In a way.”

Changing my voice was simple. Just a touch of magic to alter the vocal cords.

Since magic that directly affected the body was more effective when it came from the black magic school, my B-rank talent in Black Magic came in handy.

I looked at my reflection in the full-length mirror Dahlia had moved into the living room.

A thick overcoat to disguise my build, a hood to hide my long hair, and an opaque white mask made from ice magic.

This would be my outfit whenever I acted as Nice Goodman.

Nice Goodman had originally been a name I came up with on the spot to fool a royal informant, but I decided this was the perfect chance to put it to good use.

A false identity has two main uses.

One was to impersonate an Imperial agent to mediate the relationship between the royal family and Winter Winslet.

By posing as a neutral third party, I could defend Winter Winslet or leak false information to prevent his crimes from being exposed.

The other was to intervene in incidents occurring in the royal capital while avoiding the eyes of the Heptagram Society.

Even if they pretended otherwise, those bastards all knew that the Third Point was Winter Winslet. If I tried to clean up the messes Winter Winslet left behind, they would brand me a traitor and attack me.

That was why I had no choice but to roam the capital of Lambart as a new persona of Nice Goodman and work to restore it.

If I wanted to survive as Winter Winslet, I had to evade both the royal family’s pursuit and the Heptagram Society’s watchful gaze.

A precarious tightrope walk.

That was the reason I needed to wear the mask of Nice Goodman.

“By the way… a mask? Planning to give someone a scare?”

“That’s right.”

My first mission as Nice Goodman—

It was connected to the Heptagram Society’s Second Point, Sakis Lubas.

After reading the will of Glenn, who had stolen Caraphine to expose Winter Winslet’s misdeeds to the royal family but was murdered for it, I made up my mind.

To carry on Glenn’s will—

To atone, even in part, for the wrongs Winter Winslet had committed.

And that meant not allowing a bombing to take place in the heart of the capital.

So I cut off my dealings with Sakis Lubas and began deliberately inserting defects into the Caraphine I delivered to him.

But that alone didn’t eliminate the risk of a bombing.

Before I possessed this body, Sakis Lubas had already obtained the first shipment, which was perfect bombs with no flaws whatsoever.

I needed to track down those Caraphine and either recover or destroy them.

In other words… cleaning up Winter Winslet’s mess.

Shhhhhh…

The ice mask in my hand evaporated like a mirage.

The mask was made by freezing the moisture in the air. It could be created and erased at will.

I liked that it left no trace whatsoever.

I gave Dahlia an order.

“Bring me the garment bag.”

“What size would you like?”

“The largest one you can find.”

A disguise or whatever. It would mean nothing if I left the house already dressed as Nice Goodman.

After all, who else but Winter Winslet lived in one of the five top-class official residences on the academy grounds?

The moment anyone tailed me, my identity would be blown.

So, I needed to transform into Nice Goodman only in a place where there were no prying eyes.

And I already had a location in mind.

“Ugh… here!”

Dahlia came struggling in, dragging a travel bag almost as big as she was.

I had her pack my clothes into it, then told her,

“I won’t be coming back tonight. Don’t wait up. Go to bed first.”

“An overnight trip?”

“Yes. If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I went to see Rose Bly.”

“Understood. Have a good trip!”

Dahlia didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at being told I was going to visit a mistress; instead, she cheerfully sent me off. She was clearly a maid with an exceptional sense of professional detachment.

Or maybe Winter Winslet had been unfaithful so often that she no longer found it surprising.

In any case, Winter Winslet was an infamous womanizer.

That unpleasant reputation would, for once, serve as a convenient alibi.

***

As I had told Dahlia, I went to find Rose Bly’s newspaper office.

Dating my fiancée by day and visiting my mistress by night—

If there were ever a model example of a scumbag, it was me.

But I had no ulterior motives.

Really.

On the northern corner of Royal Mile stood a small newspaper, the Lambart Daily, and even in the evening, its lights were burning brightly.

It seemed the night shift was in full swing.

There was no one at the reception desk on the first floor of the newspaper office, so I went straight up the stairs to the second-floor newsroom.

As I expected, Rose Bly and her staff were working under the glow of oil lamps, locked in a battle of wills with stacks of paper documents.

Rose Bly had a pencil in her mouth and a frown on her face.

“Hey, boss…?”

“I’m concentrating, Andy. Don’t talk to me.”

“You’ve got a visitor.”

At that, Rose Bly let out a long sigh and glanced toward the unannounced guest.

And…clack. The pencil dropped from her mouth.

I asked,

“Got a moment?”

“Mhmm.”

Her reply was as meek as a lamb’s.

I held out something I’d brought as a gift for someone working late.

“What’s this?”

“Picked it up on the way here.”

“Sweet stuff? And from that famous confectionery just down the street? How did you know I like this place…? But it should be closed by now.”

“If it’s closed, you just open it.”

“Oh my.”

As I’d said before, in Lambart there wasn’t a single door that wouldn’t open before Winter Winslet.

Rose Bly immediately popped one of the chocolates I’d brought into her mouth, then licked her fingers and gave me a smile with her eyes.

“Sweet. Just like you.”

This woman turned breathing into flirting.

I glanced at the staff who were watching the two of us, and Rose Bly, catching the meaning in my gaze, called them over and gave instructions.

“Andie, could you run a quick errand? I’ll put this month’s office rent in an envelope. Just take it over to Mr. Willum. On your way back, stop by the print shop and pick up the proof that’s ready. Oh, and it’d be nice if you could grab sandwiches and coffee for everyone for a late-night snack. If you still have time after that…”

“I won’t. How much are you planning to work me to death?”

“Emma, you…”

“I’ll just leave early today. I’ll come in early tomorrow instead.”

“This is why I love you, you know?”

Before long, the office grew quiet.

With only the two of us left, Rose Bly perched on the edge of a desk and crossed her legs.

“So, what brings you here at this hour? Without even a heads-up.”

“I wanted to see how you’ve been.”

“Fufu… is that really true?”

Rose Bly smiled as if genuinely pleased.

I asked,

“Do you often work this late?”

“It happens a lot.”

“Where do you sleep?”

“There’s a lounge upstairs. I usually sleep there. If I have to check the morning edition before it goes out, I have to be here at the crack of dawn. Might as well stay over.”

“You don’t have a separate place?”

“Of course I do. A little apartment in the suburbs. I only go there when I’m completely exhausted or need some time alone. …So why do you ask? You want to come over?”

I nodded.

“If you have a spare key, I’d like to have it.”

A man who even asks his mistress for the keys to her apartment—

That’s me.

***

“You want a key to my apartment?”

“Yes.”

“For what reason?”

“I need an alibi.”

Rose Bly’s eyes narrowed for a moment. Then she gave a faintly amused smile.

“Aha, so you’re cooking up something interesting again. Care to let me in on it? I might be able to help you, you know.”

How much could I reveal?

Rose Bly was certainly a trustworthy partner.

When we’d met over the matter of the Academy’s student council president, she’d shown remarkable cooperation and loyalty.

But this time, the affair was tied to Winter Winslet’s production of Caraphine. This was too dangerous a secret to share with anyone.

So I summarized, glossed over a great deal, and in the end it came out like this.

“There are bad guys in this city, and you sneak around taking care of them without anyone knowing…right?”

“When you put it that way, I suppose that’s about the size of it.”

“So you want to play vigilante? Like some masked hero? Puhuhu, that’s a funny joke.”

It wasn’t a joke.

She’d even guessed right about the mask.

“Well, all right. A wife’s virtue is not prying into what her husband does outside. I’ll just keep it at that for now. Here, you can have my apartment key.”

Rose Bly held out a key.

But when I reached for it, she closed her hand into a fist and hid it.

What was she playing at?

“I should tell you in advance…you can’t come by until the weekend’s over.”

“And why’s that?”

“Well…”

Rose hesitated a moment, then replied.

“It’s… a little messy.”

“……?”

“I haven’t cleaned in days. It’s not like I use that place often to begin with.”

“That’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, okay? There are stockings and underwear lying around unwashed. Do I really have to spell this out for you, darling?”

I almost said it didn’t matter, since I only meant to use it as a hideout and safe house anyway, but Rose Bly’s serious expression made me hold my tongue.

I only needed to recover the Caraphine by summer, after all.

Rose said,

“I’ll have a housekeeper in tomorrow to tidy everything up. I’ll swap out the bedsheets for new ones, get some fragrant flowers and wine. Oh, and I’ll need another glass… Do you need anything? Men’s underwear and socks, maybe? What about shirts and ties? What designs do you like?”

“What exactly do you think I’m borrowing your apartment for?”

“I don’t know… our newlywed home?”

I let out a sigh.

“Oh, and darling. Since I’m letting you have my apartment, I’d like you to do me a favor in return. Nothing difficult, and nothing that would put you in trouble.”

I nodded.

“Tell me.”