Chapter 144: The Note

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Charles and the merchant were ultimately escorted by the monks to the underground prison, awaiting judgment from the Holy Church.

Theresa left with them. Just before she went, she asked me a very strange question.

“If one day… you found out that everyone had been deceiving you, and that even included the people you trusted most, your closest friends. Sylvia… what would you do?”

I looked at her face, which had gone a little pale.

“Why… do you ask?”

Theresa shook her head. “Just answer me. You can choose to stay silent too.”

I didn’t understand the point of her asking something like that.

But since she had brought it up, I figured I might as well answer her properly.

“Hmm…”

After thinking it over for a moment, the answer came to me.

“If… the deception you’re talking about hasn’t hurt me, or the people I care about, then… I’d only feel sad.”

Theresa nodded, then asked again, “And if it has hurt them… or if it will, eventually?”

“I’ll put a stop to it.”

“Even if it costs you everything?”

“Even if… it costs me everything.”

“…Good luck, then.”

After taking a couple of steps away, Theresa turned back one more time.

“I hope we can be friends.”

…Friends?

I thought we already were…

Theresa… was that really all you wanted to say?

Long after she left, I just stood there in a daze.

The Fire of Sin in the back alley had burned itself out completely. All that remained was a wide stretch of ice spikes and frost, making the early spring air feel like the dead of winter. No one could do anything about it, not even me, so all we could do was wait for it to melt on its own… that would probably take quite a while.

The Sword of Kanri finished inventorying the goods. They confiscated all the guguo grass mixed in with everything else, and the remaining clothing was sent back over to the orphanage.

No matter what, the children were innocent. Without this shipment, they might go a very long time without any new clothes.

When I went to check earlier, most of the kids were already wearing pretty worn-out things.

After that, I left the back alley together with the Sword of Kanri and boarded a horned carriage belonging to the royal palace.

My mind was unsettled the whole ride back.

Vice-captain Tanis, sitting beside me, also had a distant, thoughtful look on her face. Her mood was clearly low, and after a while, she let out a quiet sigh.

I understood why she was troubled.

Today’s operation had, all things considered, ended in failure. Yes, they had intercepted the goods, made arrests, and even killed one heretic, but the trail of clues had almost completely gone cold here. It also threw off Victoria’s original plan, and our position had shifted in an instant from the one holding the initiative to the one reacting.

All because of 2 children who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

But what was done was done. For now, all we could do was wait, wait for the arrested merchant, or for Charles, to talk, and see if any new information could be pried out of them. Assuming, of course, they really were people from the Gate of Truth.

“Her Majesty the Queen is definitely going to be furious… going to get an earful again… this is just, awful.”

Tanis’s quiet muttering drifted to my ears. I turned to look at her profile and offered what comfort I could: “This isn’t your fault.”

Those simple words weren’t enough to bring a smile back to her face. Tanis just shook her head.

“Her Majesty the Queen… only cares about results.”

She lowered her head and mulled it over for a moment, then, as if something had suddenly occurred to her, she snapped her head up and asked me, “Miss Sylvia, did you get a good look at those 2 children’s faces?”

“No.” I frowned. “They were… very dirty, and their hair was covering their faces.”

My mind turned it over quickly, and I immediately caught what Tanis was getting at.

“You mean…”

“Those children, were they really there by coincidence…? It’s too much of a coincidence…” Tanis murmured. “There’s no one living in any of the streets nearby… what kind of children would wander that far to play around… and with their faces covered… Marco, Marco!”

She hurriedly stuck her head out through the carriage curtain and called out loudly for someone by name. A moment later, a voice with a hooked nose answered from outside.

“What is it, vice-captain?”

“Did you see where those 2 children went?”

“No.”

“Go ask around, see if anyone else did. If nobody saw them, send people to search immediately… actually, forget it, I’ll go myself.”

With that, Tanis turned back to me and shouted one last “Miss Sylvia, please head back first!” before she leapt out of the carriage and hurried off.

Part of me wanted to go with her. I shifted slightly, and was stopped cold by a sharp, searing pain in my lower abdomen, bad enough to push cold sweat out onto my forehead.

…Better go back and rest first.

After Tanis left, there was no one else around me, so there was no need to keep up any pretense. I curled into the corner of the carriage, pressed both hands tightly against my stomach, and scrunched my brows together so hard they nearly tied themselves in a knot.

Back in the alley earlier, when I was holding the guguo grass… for a split second, there had been a very real impulse to light it and take a drag.

Because of the pain.

It was SO. DAMN. PAINFUL. Painful enough that I wanted to knock myself out just to escape it.

I had been holding it in since morning. At first it was only a faint, dull ache. It gradually shifted into that kind of dragging, pulling sensation that’s impossible to describe. By the time we were in the alley, it had reached the point where it felt like a giant hand was wringing me out from the inside, and after enduring it all the way until now, I was genuinely at my limit.

This was my first real introduction to just how brutal period cramps could be.

The few times before, maybe because I had no prior experience, I’d been pretty tense about it all. Even though I couldn’t really control my temper during those times, I at least kept a lid on my behavior. I didn’t eat anything random, and I’d always make sure to bundle myself up properly when sleeping… Over time, I gradually came to realize that this body was actually quite healthy, not the type that tends to get cramps easily, and so I got complacent. Figured it wasn’t that big a deal. And then I started slacking off.

I deeply regret that now.

Why couldn’t I just control myself, I knew it was coming, so why did I have to go drink last night…

I desperately tried to redirect my thoughts, turning them to those 2 children who had fled… they probably can’t be found anymore, can they?

In a royal city this enormous, looking for 2 children whose faces nobody even got a clear look at, it was like searching for a needle in the ocean. Maybe I should approach it from a more reliable direction…

By the time the carriage pulled up to Londor Street, it was already past noon.

Warm light filtered lazily through the thin layer of clouds and the barrier overhead, falling softly on everything below.

Along the smooth stone road, there were chirping insects and the faint scent of flowers.

Victoria still hadn’t come back. At this hour… she was probably still stuck in that tedious Advisory Council meeting, trading scheming looks with those pot-bellied nobles.

I made my way back to mansion No. 2 with great effort. I felt a little hungry, but I was utterly exhausted, so all I managed to put together for myself was a simple bowl of honey pies.

I hugged the bowl of pies, burrowed into the sofa, and stared blankly at the living room which had already been tidied up, slowly nibbling away at them in small bites.

Before long, stars started swimming in front of my eyes. My dress, soaked through with sweat, clung tight against my back… a little miserable.

Really… feels like I’m dying…

I suddenly recalled something a friend from my past life had once said, girls who suffer from period cramps are angels who were cast down from heaven.

She had said it lying in bed, face pale as a sheet, and I had laughed at her for being dramatic… hah, never thought I’d end up here too. This is karma.

The pies in my mouth had turned a little bitter, they didn’t taste good at all. I only managed 2 and a half before I couldn’t force any more down. I was even starting to feel a little nauseous, like I might throw up.

Silently, I put down the pie I’d been holding, already with a few bites taken out of it, and hauled myself up off the sofa, shuffling toward the bedroom with all the energy of a dying person.

Might as well just sleep for a bit… I won’t even bother taking off my clothes, just leave the bag by the cabinet… the bag… ah!

I suddenly remembered, there was still something Abel had quietly slipped into my bag.

What was it, exactly?

I opened it up and rummaged around inside, then pulled out a small yellowed slip of paper. I unfolded it, and written on it in crooked, hurried scrawl was a single line:

Tonight. Meet at Alix Alley.

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