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Chapter 190: When the clock rings multiple times (1)

Christelle pretended as if she was suddenly having a serious discussion with Sir Johann.

“Oh, definitely. Gerrit, as expected, likes me more than he likes his Royal Highness.”

“It does seem that way. However, the pouch of gold coins his highness gave him as an allowance is by his head when he sleeps.”

“Ah. His highness is trying to buy his way to victory again.”

Christelle grumbled in a truly heartfelt tone. ‘Is this really an important conversation?’

“I greet our esteemed Royal Highness and Prince Jesse Venetiaan.”

The seer entered our detective agency and stiffly showed his respect.

His sulking face from yesterday was gone and he was back to his perfectly composed self.

His silver eyes underneath those large round glasses were glowing intelligently.

I greeted him back when I happened to gaze at the young man’s robe.

The luxurious material that I had removed the blood from with a washcloth was still stained and wrinkled.

‘I thought that he would have another robe. Is that his only one?

‘No, that’s not what is important right now.’

“You really came for some bread, Little Bacary. Do you like fougasse? It is fresh and still nice and warm.”

I smiled and asked him.

I hoped he would come when he needed someone to vent to, but I never expected it to be this quick.

He scowled as if he heard something weird.

“Wasn’t bread a form of code, your highness? I came to give you information regarding Victoire D’Andresy. I recall you mentioning that you would accept information related to her. I also heard that everybody here was chasing after that thief under an Imperial Decree.”

‘Uhh……’ I opened and closed my mouth without being able to say anything.

I had said that because it felt weird just telling him to come eat some bread. I didn’t expect the seer to come right away for that reason.

The young Countess, who had magnificently covered up her expression earlier, pulled her lips in and looked out the window.

Crown prince Cédric simply enjoyed his espresso in silence.

The one to speak was our main character.

“Of course, our Bakery Detective Agency is always open to clients and informants. We are full of anticipation for the story you will share with us, kind sir. Please take that empty seat right there.”

Christelle motioned with her chin before taking a pipe out of her pocket and putting it in her mouth.

This time, a strawberry flavored candy released pink-colored smoke.

Bacary moved without any objection. I was the only one questioning things.

‘A bakery is a bakery and a detective agency is a detective agency. What the hell is a Bakery Detective Agency?’

*

After that, I was a bit busy.

The red panda three musketeers used the moment the door was opened to charge in and hug me.

I placed a pomegranate in Demy’s mouth, stopped Perry from flipping the table over, and gently soothed Rhea, who seemed to want to take a nap. Bacary had an odd look on his face as he watched.

‘This is nothing. It is three times as chaotic when Jung Percy and Jung Tithé are around as well.’

“Our Agency is one with a caring culture in the office. Have you heard about how it takes a village to raise a child?”

Christelle brought up some nonsense before taking Rhea and hugging her.

The red panda flailed her short legs with her eyes half closed before falling asleep in Christelle’s arms.

I moved Perry over to the damn crown prince’s knee before finally managing to take a breath.

The punk’s eyebrow twitched as he ignored the divine beast crawling up his six-pack.

Bacary looked at us with a chaotic gaze.

“……I will get right to the point, your highness. Victoire has left the Imperial Capital and is heading south.”

He immediately shared. I asked back in shock.

“She left? How do you know that?”

“I was passing through Claire Plaza in a carriage last night when I saw a figure standing next to the late Emperor Romero’s statue. You personally chased her, so I am inclined to believe that she is Victoire.”

“Yes, that is what we believe.”

I answered. Bacary’s tone became sharp.

“It was only for an instant, but I saw her future. She put an old robe around her to fully cover herself at dawn and got on a cargo carriage to leave the Imperial Capital. I couldn’t confirm her face but the revelation itself is certain.”

Christelle puffed on the pipe.

“This is quite the information if it is true.”

“Of course it is true. I am a Grade 8 mage and the Captain of the Fleur-de-lis, the group who answers all of her Majesty’s important questions.”

The young man stood up straight after saying that.

His eyes were firm as he was certain about his prophecy. This was an unexpected demeanor.

His unprecedented level of foresight made it so that he did not have his family’s approval or protection and other people were ostracizing him, but……

He himself seemed quite proud of his special ability.

I still thought it was an issue that he called himself a magic tool, but it was surprising to see that this kind of situation was possible.

“Any other information?”

The crown prince asked in a low voice. His orange eyes gave off their particularly authoritative glow.

Bacary’s momentum was slightly dampened.

“Please accept my deepest apologies, your Royal Highness. That was all I saw before that criminal disappeared. I cannot tell which carriage she got on nor her exact destination.”

“No, that’s already very helpful. Thank you for the information, Little Bacary.”

I smiled as I answered. He looked at me for a bit before getting up.

“Huh?”

“Wait, where are you going?”

Of course, Christelle and I gasped and made him sit back down.

It was unfathomable that we would send him away on an empty stomach when we had a mountain pile of freshly baked bread.

I only felt at ease after making him eat a thick slice of pain complet with a bunch of honey and cheese and a warm cup of Café au lait.

The Captain seemed to be in quite the shock but at least he ate everything we gave him before he left.

I tried to pack him some Pissaladière as well but the crown prince explicitly showed his discomfort, making me unable to do so.

‘What a funny little punk. He took all sorts of goodies from me when he showed up looking like a kid.

‘……Maybe outsiders are not allowed take out?’

“If she left the Imperial Capital and headed south, could she have headed toward Andresy?”

Christelle stood in front of the furnace and seriously asked.

She marked Victoire’s movements on a wooden board with red thread, staying true to her detective agency concept.

The top even has the words, ‘The Plan to Arrest the Thieving Madame Victoire’ in terrible handwriting.

She used blue thread to mark the circus troupe’s movement path.

Tithé, who had returned after a swim, was rolling in front of the furnace with the red pandas.

“That place does seem to be most likely. It is highly likely that she has a grudge toward the House of Andresy. I was chatting with my subordinates this morning and basically everybody from the central region knew of the Count’s House and their illegitimate children story. They shared the same information as the thugs we met at the tavern. However, it only seemed to be at the level of gossip.”

Vice Captain Élisabeth responded.

The crown prince called David to prepare carriages to head for Andresy.

“Then why did she suddenly pivot? Why would she suddenly say she would steal Prince Jesse?”

“Maybe she wants people to focus on the Imperial Capital while she gets the ultimate revenge on her family? Maybe she is planning on murdering the Count.”

Christelle and the young Countess continued their exciting deduction show.

I was staring at the explanation of tarot cards on the table.

Next to it was the sun tarot card that Victoire left behind. To be more accurate, it was The Sun Reversed.

“The Sun probably does not mean Her Majesty…… Right? It seems weird that she would talk about her Majesty while aiming for me. Also, her Majesty is a sword master. Beyond all of that, it is a rebellion to aim for her Empress.”

“Yes.”

The crown prince, who was sitting there like a statue, answered. I continued to point to the explanation.

“But The Sun Reversed can mean so many things. ‘Inner child,’ ‘negative disposition,’ ‘overly optimistic,’ ‘depression’……”

“The range is quite vast.”

“Yeah. I have no idea what to make of it. Also, it is concerning that there is blood over here.”

I grabbed the corner of the card.

There was a faint blood stain on the yellowish card.

“It is extremely faint.”

Sir Johann silently approached and picked up the card to sniff it.

“Yes. If she was trying to send a message through the blood, she would have put it at a more visible spot and made sure it was very visible. It feels as if it was accidentally smeared onto it. Maybe it was a mistake.”

“Does the suspect have any history of murder or violence?”

The crown prince asked in a sharp voice. I immediately shook my head.

“No, your Royal Highness. The troupe is mainly made up of orphans with no family name. You know that they would receive a severe sentence without trial if they committed a crime like that.”

“What about any disease?”

“I did ask Serge the Clever about it, your Royal Highness. However.”

Rustle rustle. I found the page I took notes on during his interrogation and placed it on top.

The crown prince squinted after reading through it.

“……The deceased old lady.”

“Yes your Royal Highness. Old lady Pomme was the one who suffered from tuberculosis. Serge and the other members all testified to it. The old lady frequently coughed up blood but did not listen whenever the others talked to her about retiring. She apparently shared her wishes to be on stage until her last moments. In the end, she passed away because of a carriage accident. Her granddaughter, Henriette, is said to sleep a lot. They said that she sometimes even slept eighteen hours a day. That was why they often took turns performing. Other than that, there was nothing else that stuck out.”

“……”

The crown prince became scarily silent.

I cautiously observed his face but could not read anything.

He would hide like a hermit crab if I asked about it, so I decided to do some deductions on my own.

“Mm.”

Personally, the thing that weighed on me the most was the Empress’s attitude toward all of this.

Why had she not shared everything she knew with us?

Was it to test us? But why?

Was it really because she thought it was terrible for us to waste our days in the Imperial Palace?

Or maybe it had to be us? Because I was the one who was almost abducted?’

The Empress would not answer my questions even if I barged into the Empress Palace and asked.

It could have just been our Monarch being capricious, but for some reason, that kept weighing on me.

Just why……

Suddenly, the magazine Ganael left for me caught my attention.

< Biweekly Riester > December 1 Edition.

It was the new one I had not had a chance to read yet because things were so hectic. I inadvertently turned the page.

The issue with the notice during the parade on the last day of the Harvest Festival was not there.

It was possible that the Imperial family pressured them not to, but it was probably not easy to add an article the day before release.

– Flap, flap……

“Ah, there’s a story about your territory as well, your highness.”

Christelle walked over and pointed at a spot.

We put our heads together to read Lady Sarah Belliard’s article.

「Prince Jesse, the Marquis de Sérénité’s territory, greeted this writer with a completely different scenery from one year ago. Would you believe me if I said that everything above ground had been reborn? Everywhere you can see, and of course, even the locations with little to no traffic, are full of vibrant paintings both large and small. The residents plucked wildflowers to decorate the fences and the blacksmiths pounding away at the harvesting tools seemed as happy as sculptors that have found their muse. The colored leaves of fall are saying their goodbyes but the trail of tourists coming in their carriages show no end.

However, this is not all. The person his highness personally pardoned and hired as the territory’s painter for life, Joanne de Haas (our readers may know her better has Haade. O. Jansen)’s new work, ‘The Portrait of the Moon’ is set to be revealed at the beginning of December. The genius artist’s new piece is oil on canvas and will be placed at the entrance of the temple in the Sérénité March……」

Jolt! A possibility strongly struck my mind.

“Eek.”

I quickly raised my head. Christelle’s blue-gray eyes were opened wide.

“Your highness, didn’t Miss Haas say that she was going to draw you?”

“That’s right. Ganael has the rough sketch. It came with the letter from Chantal……”

She said that Joanne has drawn my face and will place it in the small temple at the entrance of the territory.

‘I’m going to come to steal the moon of the Holy Kingdom.

– Madame Victoire.’

< The Portrait of the Moon >

I took a deep breath. The crown prince immediately stood up.

“It’s not Andresy. Vice Captain Élisabeth, please prepare some guards to go with us to the Sérénité March. Please call Benjamin and David as well!”

“Yes, your highness!”

She instantly rushed out of our agency.

Sir Johann handed me the tarot card at that moment.

The way he hid his tongue made me think that he tasted the blood. ‘My goodness.’

“The blood is not old, your highness. I think it must have gotten on there the day she left the card.”

His eyes then curled up gently. I looked stunned as I received the card.

Percy trotted over afterward and then fluttered over to sit on the tarot card explanation.

He tilted his head before stabbing at a word with his beak.

The four pairs of eyes naturally headed toward the word.

Another meaning of The Sun Reversed…

‘Sadness.’

The breathing mocha bread’s hint was intense.

A Count’s house that throws away their children, a deceased grandmother, the granddaughter’s disappearance, the Portrait of the Moon, blood stain, sadness.

The puzzle was quickly being solved in my mind.

—

Translator’s Comments

*Insert Inside Out’s Sadness here*