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I Demand Fifteen Mysteries – Part 02

“Wh-What do you think?” Kazuya cast an uneasy glance at Victorique.

“Hmph!” Victorique responded with a snort.

“You don’t like it? I can swap it for something else… Ow! Kicking my ankle with your boot means you like it, right? That’s good to know. Hurts a lot, though.”

With teary eyes, Kazuya nodded multiple times, clearly satisfied. He looked around, but found no chair nearby, so he knelt down on one knee in front of Victorique.

With the posture of a true attendant, Kazuya looked up at her. “There’s something else…”

“Hmm…”

“It’s uhh…”

Victorique’s emerald eyes sparkled as she started playing with the dollhouse. Kazuya paused and waited patiently for a considerable time, until Victorique suddenly returned to reality, raising her head with a hint of puzzlement.

“What’s the matter? Let me guess: Your silly face says you have another silly business with me.”

“My face aside, my business is far from silly.”

After fidgeting for a moment, Kazuya put his hand into his coat pocket and retrieved a small box adorned with a red ribbon.

“H-Here you go.”

Victorique pulled herself back a little, eyeing the box suspiciously. “What’s that? A bomb?”

Kazuya’s face instantly turned red. “Why on earth would I give you a bomb? Besides, if it were a bomb, it’d blow both of us sky-high when you open it. Instead of messing with me, why don’t you just open it?”

“What’s your problem? You’re acting all bossy so early in the morning.”

“Happy birthday, Victorique!”

Finally losing his temper, Kazuya’s words burst forth with the exuberance of a grade-schooler. He had managed to deliver his message.

Victorique blinked in surprise, her long, golden eyelashes fluttering softly.

Kazuya let out a sigh of relief. “You’re fifteen now, just like me.”

“I’m 115 years old,” Victorique retorted in her customary grouchy tone. “How could I be younger than you?”

“All right, all right. You just can’t accept your gift like a normal person, can you? Anyway, happy 115th birthday!”

“Hm…”

With a robotic movement, Victorique turned to face Kazuya and took the box without a word, the gesture resembling that of an individual who had received something glorious.

Her porcelain complexion bore a clear tinge of red this time. She untied the ribbon with her own fingers, and from within emerged a round, golden pendant.

Victorique’s breath caught.

On the fateful night of this year’s summer solstice.

Victorique journeyed to the Nameless Village hidden deep within the mountains to vindicate the she-wolf Cordelia of a crime she did not commit and confront the true culprit. After the village was razed to the ground, Victorique managed to escape, but as the price for saving her loyal knight and attendant, Kazuya, she lost the precious pendant she received from Cordelia, down the deep ravine.

Would the golden pendant, a symbol of love passed from mother wolf to her cub, slumber eternally below the cliff, into a distant future where all living beings had perished?

Victorique wore a distant look. Then, she forced down the complex emotions swirling inside her—a mix of sadness and profound affection. She studied the knight, and then the golden pendant, similar to the one she had traded for his life.

Victorique lifted her head slowly. “Thank you, Kujou.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You’re awfully stupid.”

“What?”

“Anyway, you’re a good man. I used to think kindness meant forsaking intellect, and held such disdain for you.”

“Hey, if you don’t want it—”

Victorique slapped him in the face.

“Ouch,” he groaned, floundering.

Ignoring Kazuya, Victorique fastened the pendant around her neck. Wrapped in green taffeta and brown lace, she assumed the semblance of a desolate forest, and the gold coin dangling from her neck instantly shone like the sun, casting its rays upon the dreary woods.

“In truth, to maintain kindness demands a particular brand of intellect. For intellect is the fuel that keeps humans humane.”

Kazuya cast her a skeptical sidelong glance. “Where is this coming from?”

“You taught me that,” she added in a hushed tone.

The fire in the hearth crackled.

“Is that a compliment?” Kazuya asked dubiously, his voice barely audible.

“Hmph! Don’t flatter yourself. Do you think I’ve grown so senile as to pay you a compliment? Anyway, Kujou…”

Victorique resumed playing with the dollhouse. A moment later, however, she glanced at Kazuya, who was waiting patiently for her next words.

“As you’ve correctly guessed, I turned fifteen today.”

“Y-Yeah… More like, Ms. Cecile told me about it. So…”

“And much like when I was fourteen, I am dreadfully bored.”

“While I was thinking of buying a Christmas present in Saubreme, Teach said… Wait, did you just say you’re bored? Oh, I almost forgot. I need to write a reply to Ruri’s letter… and I have to study French, German, and Latin. I need to make good use of this winter break… So… Ah, why can’t I ever escape from this trap?”

Kazuya half-rose to his feet, when Victorique grabbed the bottom of his trousers. He gave up.

In a low, raspy voice, Victorique said, “Fifteen mysteries, Kujou.” Her voice held a note of threat.

“Fifteen?! Haha, no way. You’ve got to be pulling my leg, right…?”

“I’m not senile enough to be joking!”

“I don’t think being old has anything to do with it. I really have to go… It’s freezing out there. Besides, there’s no one else in the academy except for us. The principal and chairman went home, leaving only Ms. Cecile and the dorm mother. This whole place is a lawless land, so… Ugh, fine.”

“Hmph, that’ll do, you scoundrel.”

“Why you…”

“One of your bad habits is whining first when you’re going to listen to me anyway.”

“Ugh…”

“Now, scram. Before boredom chokes the life out of me!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Heaving a sigh, Kazuya left the room dejectedly. He walked down the corridor. The sound of a door closing came from the entrance.

Victorique kept her face turned away, showing no interest, but she couldn’t help glancing at Kazuya’s solitary figure strolling toward the flowerbed maze.

Kazuya looked over his shoulder and waved goodbye, and Victorique blushed faintly.

Of course, she didn’t wave back with a smile. Instead, she clutched the pendant on her neck, wearing the same icy expression.

As Kazuya’s slumped silhouette grew distant, eventually disappearing, Victorique settled on the couch by the window, a white porcelain pipe in her mouth. A thin wisp of white smoke curled toward the ceiling.

She peered outside the French window through narrowed, cold green eyes. A chilly silence filled the room once more.

Like a child waiting for her parents to come fetch her, Victorique patiently awaited the return of the attendant she had just dismissed.

“That little… Seriously? Fifteen mysteries?!”

The next day.

St. Marguerite Academy’s campus lay blanketed in white snow.

Contrary to yesterday’s fair weather, the sky had been gray and overcast since morning. Snowflakes fell gently, infusing a wintry chill everywhere.

Kazuya passed through the school’s main gate, walking with utmost seriousness. Wearing his customary bowler hat, coat, and scarf, he carried a black umbrella, treading along the snow-covered village road.

During spring or autumn, horse-drawn carts would often rumble past him, but now, with the snow blanketing the path and fields, hardly any villagers were in sight. The vineyards, too, lay dormant, cloaked in white, patiently awaiting the next season.

“Let’s see, from yesterday morning, how many mysteries have I discovered within the academy?”

As he strolled along, Kazuya meticulously counted them off one by one.

“The first mystery is: why does the goddess statue at the fountain appear to smile at three o’clock on winter afternoons? The answer lies in the angle of light and the personal sentiments of the young architect who placed her there. Then, the second: why does the gardener always don a yellow shirt? Then there’s the mystery of the forgotten apple, bearing two distinct bite marks, found in a classmate’s desk drawer. And, uhh…”

He cocked his head, looking pensive.

“Right. The pocket watch that keeps malfunctioning despite repeated repairs. I think it’s because the watchmaker tampered with it so he could see the customer, a lady, again. And then there’s the flying stuffed animal that children saw. Uh, what else…”

As he mumbled and counted, a sigh eventually escaped his lips.

“Nine is all I’ve managed so far. She’s gonna solve them immediately, then whine again about being bored.”

Recalling Victorique’s reaction, Kazuya suddenly grinned, only to shift to an angry pout in the next moment.

“Since I can’t find any more mysteries within the academy, I’m out here in the village.”

Kazuya, his expression changing as he counted the mysteries, neared the heart of the village.

Rows of antiquated houses, with brown triangular roofs and plastered walls, withered vines dangling from wooden-framed windows, lined both sides of the street. Each window offered a glimpse of villagers enjoying a leisurely day after Christmas. A girl sipping tea, an elderly mother. A young married couple exchanging smiles. Children merrily playing in a room.

Just as he passed a doorway where an elderly couple bid farewell to their grandchild, the little one clung to their legs like a puppy, shouting, “Grandpa, grandma, I love you!”

The old woman looked up, catching sight of Kazuya, and nodded in his direction.

When he first arrived in the village, the locals were wary of the East Asian boy with unfamiliar skin color. But after accompanying Avril on shopping trips to the village and visiting the cinema, the villagers seemed to grow accustomed to his presence. Thus, such greetings had become commonplace.

Smiling, Kazuya returned the gesture with a stiff, robotic nod, eliciting a chuckle from the old lady.

The snowfall intensified. The village road glimmered a radiant white. Cozy scenes unfolded beyond the windows of every home.