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Eternity – Part 04

The vast campus of St. Marguerite Academy had gone completely dark, and the bright, pale moonlight began to shine on the roof of the candy house.

Lying on the emerald-colored couch, Victorique slowly rose and let out a small yawn. Her glossy cherry lips parted a little.

“Mr. Marsh and his daughter never made it to Switzerland. Am I right?” she said wearily.

“Y-Yeah.” Kazuya nodded. He closed the book and rested his elbow on the window sill. “How did you know? Have you read this book?” he asked, poking Victorique’s cheek.

“No.” Victorique turned her head away grumpily. Her golden hair stirred. “Don’t touch me,” she grumbled softly.

“Hmm? Oh, sorry. I couldn’t help myself. Your cheek’s so chubby.”

Victorique turned her gaze back to Kazuya, bothered by his remark. Her eyes were wide open.

“The father and daughter probably alighted on the way to Switzerland and met up with Harry Harris,” she said in a low voice.

“Harry?” Kazuya muttered. “Wasn’t he dead? His ship got caught in a storm on his way back from the East.”

“He never set sail.” Her voice was husky. “He only pretended to set sail and returned under the cover of night. Then he escaped. The rest was up to Mr. Marsh and his daughter.”

“What do you mean?”

“What, you didn’t realize it? Argh, fine. I’ll explain it to you from the beginning. Now stand there and apologize.”

“I’m sorry… Wait, your threatening aura actually made me apologize for no reason. Anyway, I thought Harry and the Marsh father-and-daughter were strangers.”

“They were a trio of swindlers, and they were in cahoots all along. The people of the city should have known.”

Victorique inclined her head quizzically and shook it. Her golden hair cascaded to the floor with a pleasant whisper.

The pale moonlight grew brighter. Victorique’s lips parted.

“The father and daughter—no, the family…”

“Family?”

“Mr. Marsh, the older sister Bluett, and the younger brother Harry. They were probably using aliases anyway. We’ll just have to use the same names for convenience.”

“Mr. Marsh and Harry are father and son? Really? So Bluett and Harry were related? I thought they were lovers.”

“Of course not. Recall the journal of the owner of the Golden Grape. He mentioned that both had similar, exotic features. They were simply brother and sister. The author also said that they had fun talking to each other, but it wasn’t exactly sweet banter, was it? It was just siblings’ quarrel. While everything was just an act to attract the attention of simpletons, their real feelings probably surfaced from time to time.”

“But why?”

“It was a scam that took advantage of the tulip mania. Listen closely. The Marsh family first garnered fame in Amsterdam using the sister, a beautiful woman. She pretended to be in love with her brother, who came to the city at the same time and started working, creating an uproar. When their father declared that he would not give his daughter to a penniless man, he made sure the whole city could hear it. The brother left for the East, and six months later, Mr. Marsh saw that Harry had found the mythical tulip.”

Kazuya gasped. Victorique’s golden hair shook. She was laughing.

“The East is huge. The chances of Mr. Marsh’s party and Harry bumping into each other were slim. They probably arranged their meeting beforehand. Harry led them to the crude ship, and only Mr. Marsh entered the cabin. Mr. Marsh, the man who hated Harry the most, shouted, ‘It’s Viceroy tulips!’”

“Yeah…”

“The merchants believed him. They fought with Mr. Marsh to buy the fabled, purple tulips.”

“But the journal said that the merchants saw Mr. Marsh standing among the purple tulips.”

“A simple trick,” Victorique snorted. “Harry probably bought just a few tulips. To make it look like there were a lot of them, he brought a bunch of mirrors into the cabin where he put the flowers. The tulips reflected on one mirror were reflected on another mirror, and so on, until what few flowers filled the whole cabin. The journal said that the tulips cast shadows from left to right. The light coming in from the door should have cast shadows in one direction only. The reason it looked like they were cast everywhere was because the shadows too were reflected by the mirrors. The tulips themselves were probably just white flowers reflected on mirrors that were painted purple. That’s why the air itself seemed purple. But…”

“Yeah?”

“While the merchants peering inside the cabin were deceived, Mr. Marsh would have realized the truth. Therefore, we can conclude that he was in league with Harry. Do you understand?”

Kazuya nodded. “So you’re saying that Harry and his family got the merchants to buy non-existent purple tulips, haggled over the price, and then the three of them ran off with the money?”

“Yes.” Victorique nodded languidly. “The tulip mania in Europe revolving around a flower from the East was very short-lived. Mr. Marsh, a man familiar with the East, was well aware of this, and so were Harry and Bluett, themselves like exotic flowers. They sold illusions just before the ball burst, made a huge profit, and fled.”

“I see…”

“In het ootje, the Dutch term used by the common folk to refer to trading using slates, actually has another meaning—‘to deceive’. Ah, the irony.”

Kazuya stared at the book, wearing a perplexed expression. He was thinking.

“If Harry didn’t drown at sea, and if Mr. Marsh and his daughter didn’t go to Switzerland to recuperate, where did they go after obtaining so much money, then? How did they spend their lives?”

“Who knows? I doubt they ever appeared on the center stage of history again. The common folk appear momentarily, and then disappear back into the shadows of history.”

Victorique leaned forward and rested her tiny pale chin on the window sill. They were staring at each other up close. Her face was as impassive as ever, yet somewhat melancholic. Kazuya’s gaze was fixed on his mysterious friend’s cool, doll-like features. He wanted to catch even the slightest change of expression on the face of the enigmatic girl.

“After acquiring enormous wealth, they either went west or east. Maybe the money made them happy. Maybe it didn’t change anything. Maybe it even made them unhappy. Either way, people have always sought wealth. Like the beautiful lady Bluett, who, when asked whether she wanted love or money, laughed and said both. As a matter of fact, purple tulips signify royalty, in other words, wealth.”

Kazuya thought Victorique’s face brightened a little. Perhaps he just imagined it.

“A madness fit to go on for eternity,” she continued. “The dreams of those who seek riches are boundless. And it will repeat itself as long as mankind exists.”

“Yeah…” Kazuya closed his eyes.

The pale moonlight disappeared from view.

Suddenly, Kazuya’s mind was filled with images of a young man and woman with exotic features, holding hands and laughing as they ran off. A close sister and brother with dark skin, black eyes, and golden hair. An older man who looked like their father was with them.

“We did well, didn’t we?”

“Yeah!”

“Ah, the look on their faces when they lost all their money.”

“What are we gonna do next, sis?”

“There’s a lot of things I want to buy.”

“Me too.”

“What about you, dad?”

“Me? Well.”

Well?

What was it?

No.

It was all an illusion.

Kazuya slowly opened his eyes.

Victorique was watching him curiously. Her face was so close that his breath seized in his throat. He then smiled at his beautiful little friend. Victorique’s cheeks lifted slightly… a smile, most likely. Or perhaps it was just his imagination.

Pale, glistening moonlight fell on the flowerbeds, shining on the colorful petals.