“Mr. Simon, do you know where Eleanor is?” Mabel hopped down from the windowsill, straightened the water glass, and walked over to Simon’s bed.
I do. She’s right under my covers.
I wonder if Eleanor or Lady Necklace has any escape spells they can use.
“Miss Eleanor seems to enjoy wandering around,” Simon said, hinting that Mabel should look elsewhere.
“I’ve already searched everywhere else. She’s not in the washroom either.”
“What about the roof?”
“Not there either.”
You actually went up to the roof to look for her?!
“Have you asked the maids?” Simon suggested.
“I don’t think there’s any need to ask the maids. Eleanor probably went out for a stroll on her own.” Mabel sat down on the edge of the bed, her long red hair spilling over the white sheets. Her usually bright, vibrant crimson hair looked subdued in the darkness.
Simon felt Eleanor poke him in the waist from beneath the covers, urging him to get rid of Mabel quickly.
Actually, the simplest solution right now would be to use the “Finger Bone” to turn invisible, but Elisa had taken it back immediately after the exploration ended.
“Miss Mabel, staying in a male servant’s room late at night isn’t exactly proper,” Simon reminded her.
“I know. That’s why I came in through the window. Nobody saw me.” Mabel gave Simon a mischievous smile.
Eleanor poked Simon again, urging him to think of something.
Simon sat up. Of the three girls in the main group, Mabel was the smartest, although she rarely bothered to use her brain.
He had to get Mabel to leave quickly. Otherwise, one careless slip might give everything away.
He shouldn’t have pulled Eleanor under the covers in the first place. There wouldn’t have been anything wrong with Mabel finding Eleanor here. They could have simply said they were telling late-night stories. But now it was too late.
At first, he’d only caught sight of a silhouette and hadn’t been able to tell it was Mabel, which had led him to make the wrong decision.
Simon sighed. Unlike in the game, the characters in reality had more distinct personalities and were much harder to predict.
Eleanor poked him in the waist for the third time. Simon slipped out from under the covers and sat on the edge of the bed, blocking Mabel’s view.
He asked, “Miss Mabel, what did you want to see Miss Eleanor about?”
“I originally wanted to find Eleanor so we could drag you out for a stroll, Mr. Simon. I’ve never explored the streets at night before.” Mabel stood up.
“Perhaps we could invite Miss Elisa and go ahead with that plan. I’m also quite curious about what the streets are like at night,” Simon replied.
“No, thanks.” Mabel walked toward the window. “I wouldn’t want to disturb you and Eleanor, Mr. Simon.”
With that, she climbed out through the window.
Eleanor threw off the covers and stared at Simon in horror. What had she just heard?
Simon nodded, confirming that she’d heard correctly.
[Eleanor couldn’t believe she’d been discovered. Simon told her that the fragrance lingering in the room had probably given her away.]
Elisa munched on a cookie and shook her head.
Well, this is a disaster. Eleanor’s been completely exposed. Mabel must think she was so desperate that she sneaked into her male servant’s bedroom in the middle of the night!
Hehe, compared to her, I’ve managed to keep my secret hidden for so long. I really am a genius!
After finishing her black tea and putting away the dishes, Elisa lay back down on her bed, feeling thoroughly satisfied, and drifted off to sleep.
***
Eleanor sat on the edge of Simon’s bed, looking utterly dejected for quite some time before deciding to pretend nothing had happened.
There was absolutely nothing wrong with the esteemed Transcendent Lady Eleanor visiting her companion late at night.
If Mabel thought there was something wrong with that, it simply meant her horizons were too narrow.
Having successfully reassured herself, Eleanor picked up a pen and paper, performed a meditation ritual, and drew the spirit she’d encountered in the “Little Door in the Woods.”
The spirit had been a blurry humanoid figure whose facial features were impossible to distinguish. However, through the meditation ritual, she could see past its spiritual form and discern what its physical body looked like.
The figure of a middle-aged man gradually appeared on the paper.
“How are we going to find him?” Eleanor asked. “Through the police? Or should we hire a private detective?”
Simon shook his head. “Either option would make it far too easy for us to be exposed.”
“Exposed?” Eleanor recalled her father’s earlier warning. This matter really did run much deeper than she’d imagined.
But how did Simon know they would be exposed?
“The person we encountered that night was Miss Ophina,” Simon said.
“What?!” Eleanor exclaimed, her face draining of color.
“I’ll find someone to investigate him,” Simon said, taking the portrait from her.
Eleanor’s mind was a mess. Far too much had happened tonight.
More than all the information that had suddenly come to light, what frustrated her most was just how much Simon seemed to know.
Back when she’d sneaked into Simon’s room that night to propose an alliance, Eleanor had imagined herself as the detective and Simon as her assistant. Yet somehow, their roles had now been completely reversed.
Wasn’t I supposed to be the protagonist? I have Lady Necklace on my side, and my rank is higher than his!
Feeling thoroughly defeated, she left the room.
Simon put the portrait away, returned to bed, and slipped back under the covers, ready to sleep.
A moment later, he shifted his foot and felt something beneath the blankets. Reaching down, he pulled out a small piece of fabric. It was white, roughly square-shaped, and had two openings for the legs.
They were a pair of bloomers, the undergarment worn closest to the body by women in the Victorian era.
Which raised a rather important question: Why was a pair of bloomers in his bed?
The sound of a water glass tipping over rang out. Eleanor returned with a flushed face, snatched the bloomers from Simon’s hand, and left again.
“Why did it have to be this of all things?! You useless necklace!” Eleanor’s furious voice came from outside the window.
Simon sighed. Miss Eleanor had come tonight wearing a nightgown, without any small accessories on her person. That meant the only things she could lose were the clothes she was wearing.
Still, Eleanor couldn’t really be blamed for this. Before coming here, she hadn’t planned on using Lady Necklace’s power.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Miss Elisa’s “Late-Night Classroom” began. Today’s lesson was on the Archipelago language.
As the acting head of the Archipelago’s intelligence agency, how could he possibly not understand the Archipelago language?
***
Everything proceeded smoothly after that. Elisa kept a close eye on [Simon’s Log]. She had already guessed whom Simon would ask to help investigate the portrait, and events unfolded exactly as she’d expected.
During one of his days off as a servant, Simon brought the “Lighthouse Badge” to a designated contact point, where he met with the operations director of the Archipelago’s intelligence department.
[Simon requested a list of members from the operations director, checked off six names, and informed him that all six had betrayed the organization. He ordered them all to be apprehended and sent back to the Archipelago for interrogation.]
Just as I thought. He’s starting by establishing his authority, using the information about the five traitors he obtained from the yellow door to earn their respect.
Holding a copy of the “Searl Daily”, Elisa marveled at her own remarkable foresight. Once he’d established his authority, the next step would be to assign a mission to the Archipelago spies and have them track down the man in the portrait.
Wait a minute. Something doesn’t seem right.
Elisa went back to the previous entry and stared at it, her eyes widening.
Why are there six people on the list you handed over?! Didn’t the yellow door only give you the names of five traitors?!
Where did the extra person come from? What have you done?!
[Simon instructed the operations director to arrest the secretary-general last and deliver him unharmed to the Archipelago. The secretary-general’s betrayal had been extremely well concealed, making evidence difficult to uncover. However, the other five had all left traces of their treachery, which would serve to establish the credibility of the list.]
I see! So the secretary-general’s betrayal was so well hidden that even the yellow door didn’t know about it… As if that were possible!
Whenever the yellow door encountered something it didn’t know or couldn’t reveal, it would say so honestly. If it said there were five traitors, then there were exactly five traitors. Not one more, not one less. The secretary-general was innocent!
My male servant knows this perfectly well. That’s why he instructed the operations director to bring the secretary-general back unharmed. He’s eliminating a political rival! From the very beginning, when he questioned the yellow door, his goal wasn’t to root out traitors. It was to frame the secretary-general!
And the secretary-general was the one in charge of the intelligence department’s budget…
Elisa clutched her head.
I’d already prepared myself for you to embezzle some funds, but I never imagined you’d go this far! You’re actually getting rid of the secretary-general who controls the entire budget!
Once the secretary-general is gone, the budget will be entirely under the control of the person in overall charge.
Are you seriously trying to drain the Intelligence Department’s entire savings?!
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