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Chapter 45
A place even more shrouded in secrets than my aunt’s guild.
The oldest guild in Brosia, and one that appeared in all sorts of conspiracy theories.
It was Arabesque.
There’s nowhere better when it comes to keeping secrets.
Honestly, I couldn’t trust the other guilds.
There was no way a greedy Count obsessed with power hadn’t made connections with guilds.
They must be searching for me like crazy right now.
If that was the case, the other guilds might already know about my existence too.
Which meant I couldn’t act carelessly.
But Arabesque was different.
Damn it! How the hell are you supposed to meet those damned Arabesque bastards?!
That was what the Count had shouted when he received the report while disciplining me.
That had been before my death, so it was obvious that he had never managed to meet them before then.
Well, it made sense. They were as secretive as Vankadium.
Arabesque was a guild that had appeared repeatedly in the history books the Count had thrown away.
No one knew what they actually were, but because so little information about them had ever been uncovered, people’s speculations had been recorded in the books as well.
The guild that everyone thought would remain hidden forever had only appeared publicly once……
The Rohaif Auction.
They made their first appearance at an auction hosted by Marquis Rohaif, a man who loved art.
Of course, they hadn’t appeared to participate in the auction.
They had come to steal one of the auction items.
The reason was never revealed.
But the card they left behind bore the head of a snake, the symbol of Arabesque.
And furthermore—
It wasn’t just one person. At least three or four people were involved.
According to eyewitnesses, an explosion occurred first.
Then, taking advantage of the chaos, several people robbed the auction house.
It was probably Arabesque’s doing, too.
It had been such a huge topic at the time that the story was always printed in the newspapers the maids threw away.
I think it happened around this time.
It must have been no later than autumn.
I could find out the exact date by checking the newspapers.
That’s when I’ll approach them.
I only had one chance.
They were far too good at keeping themselves hidden.
“There are only two ways, theoretically, to make a request to Arabesque……”
Wasn’t there supposed to be two ways to contact the guild?
Either you had a personal relationship with the guild master.
Or you offered a Tribute of Trust.
The Tribute of Trust meant the most precious thing you possessed.
That was why it was usually something of enormous monetary value, such as a huge amount of money, land, or buildings.
But I had heard that in some extreme cases, people even sold their own children or parents.
Of course, even then, the guild master had to like the offering.
But I’m not going to sell a person.
I couldn’t sacrifice someone else for the sake of my own goal.
If I did that, how would I be any different from the Count, who only cared about satisfying his own selfish desires?
No matter how badly I want revenge.
I didn’t want to abandon my conscience.
Then I needed to think of another offering.
The thing that matters most to me……
Of course, there was only one thing it could be.
That was what I had decided after spending a long time planning.
Knock, knock.
“Karin. Shall we go read a fairy tale with your sister now?”
My sister’s voice came through the slightly open door.
I hurriedly folded the densely written papers and carefully placed them inside the drawer.
After making sure I had locked it securely with the key the maid had given me, I scampered toward the door.
“Or, if you don’t want to read fairy tales, shall we go play Coco?”
“Yes!”
I threw myself into my sister’s arms and nodded enthusiastically.
Maybe it was because I had roughly worked out my plans.
Somehow, I feel like everything is going to work out.
That made me a little uneasy, but—
Things going well is a good thing.
I shouldn’t entertain unnecessary ominous thoughts.
After rationalizing it to myself, I headed toward the room with my sister.
They say that ominous premonitions are never wrong.
Two days later, at dawn—
An unexpected urgent report arrived.
A fire broke out at the communal cemetery in the back alleys. And there…… a woman believed to be the Crown Prince’s maid was found dead.
A variable had appeared.
“This is staged.”
My sister casually muttered the words after reading the letter.
Early that morning, the Duke, who had received an urgent report from Hyacinth, summoned my sister and me to the drawing room.
I cautiously pointed at the letter my sister was holding.
“Can I read it too?”
“Of course, sweetheart.”
My sister willingly handed me the letter.
I quickly took it and read through Hyacinth’s report.
Just in case, I went back to check the area once more at night, and I found a small note there.
And the one sentence written on that note was—
When the sun had set and night came, one of the twelve bells had broken, but thanks to the moonlight, the eastern tower clock could still be clearly seen.
“This is……”
That was a line from a fairy tale.
There was a passage like this in one of the fairy-tale books Veronica had read to me.
It was a story about a child who went on an adventure, overcame all sorts of hardships, and eventually returned to their family.
I had remembered it because of how unusual the wording was.
Well, of course.
Someone who had managed to hide so well from everyone until now wouldn’t suddenly die just like that.
I agreed with my sister.
It didn’t make sense.
The death was far too pointless for someone who had been hiding so successfully all this time.
“What do you think the code is pointing to?”
“I wonder. In the fairy tale, it suddenly said that one of the bells had broken.”
“Hmmm……”
I narrowed my eyes as I carefully examined every word.
Fairy tales were different from other books.
Their expressions were often ambiguous, which made them difficult to interpret.
They weren’t simply filled with straightforward facts. There were countless metaphorical expressions.
Huh?
Metaphors?
“Karin?”
Ignoring my sister calling my name, I immediately headed for the study.
I found the fairy-tale book I had seen before and hurriedly flipped through its pages.
Here it is!
If there was one great advantage to fairy-tale books, it was their adorable illustrations.
I found the exact page described in the letter and examined the illustration alongside it.
Even though it was a dark night, the street had been colored completely white.
Beyond a corner stood an old tower reflecting the moonlight.
An old clock hung from it, clearly showing that it was one o’clock.
Twelve bells hung from ropes along the tower.
“Karin!”
My sister entered the study right after me and called my name.
I spun around.
The Duke was with her as well.
“The code in the letter!”
I showed them the page I had just opened.
“It’s right here!”
When the sun had set and night came, one of the twelve bells broke.
But thanks to the moonlight, the eastern tower clock could still be clearly seen.
Taken literally, the description seemed meaningless.
But when viewed alongside the illustration, it was completely different.
“The twelve bells represent the time!”
“The time?”
“Yes!”
I pointed at the old clock tower.
“It’s dark at night, so it’s the middle of the night, and the clock shows one o’clock. As for the date…… I think the line about one of the twelve bells breaking is meant to represent that.”
Then the date the maid was referring to was—
“Tomorrow.”
I quickly pointed at another part of the illustration.
“And the place seems to be in front of a clock tower where the eastern tower can be seen……”
“If it’s a white street, then it must be White Street.”
The Duke, who had remained silent until then, suddenly spoke.
Surprised, I asked,
“There’s a street like that?”
“It was once a bustling district frequented by nobles. It has fallen into ruin now.”
The Duke narrowed his eyes.
“And there’s a clock tower there. I’m not certain whether it’s on the eastern side, though.”
“!”
It really existed!
While I was marveling at the discovery, my sister raised one corner of her mouth.
“Then, to summarize.”
One in the morning.
A corner of White Street where the eastern tower could be seen.
“But how do we know the maid left this……”
My sister paused after speaking for a while.
I grinned.
“The sun represents the Imperial Family, doesn’t it?”
So when it said that the sun had set—
“It means that a member of the Imperial Family had died.”
The setting sun mentioned here meant none other than the Crown Prince.
How many people could possibly leave behind a message like this?
“Maybe the maid was also the one who set fire to the cemetery.”
To leave behind this message.
And—
“To make everyone think she was dead.”
