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The Dead’s Statement – Part 04

“In her dying breath, the Orphan said: ‘The Ministry of the Occult must not have Jupiter Roget’s memento box.’ Jupiter is a leading figure in the Academy of Science, and the Orphan worked for them. From here, the whole picture of the dreadful conflict begins to emerge. The memento box taken from the Nameless Village, home to the Gray Wolves, belongs to Jupiter Roget. It’s the most conclusive proof that the leading figure of the Academy of Science, who rejects the occult more than anyone else, and wants to usher in the age of machines and science, is in fact, a Gray Wolf himself.”

Astounded, Kazuya glanced between Victorique and Gideon. As usual, Victorique was cool and expressionless, but Gideon’s eyes glinted sharply as he stared fixedly at Victorique. His face still displayed the same friendly expression.

“What does this mean? So you’re saying that a key figure of the Academy of Science, a Gray Wolf like you, creatures talked about in legends, has been hiding his true identity? That the memento box was the Academy’s weak point, so the Ministry of the Occult was searching for it, and Cordelia and Brian, for their own safety, kept the memento box hidden as a political trump card?”

“That is correct. All they knew was that the memento box was hidden somewhere in the monastery during the Great War. That is why my father, Marquis de Blois, lured my mother Cordelia to find the box. He imprisoned me, made me suffer, and waited for my mother to come to my rescue.”

“But… But the box was empty.”

“And I said, Gideon stole the contents in the middle of the chaos. He didn’t need the box. Only what was inside.”

“But we checked his stuff.”

“Now, then. Let us reconstruct the fragments of Jupiter Roget’s life using my Wellspring of Wisdom. It should help stave off my boredom. It goes without saying that his life is not over yet. His memento box represents an incomplete history, containing only items up to the time of his departure from the Nameless Village.”

Victorique reached for Gideon’s suitcase. He did not stop her. With sharp eyes, he continued watching the little Gray Wolf, not missing a single word or movement from her.

Victorique opened the suitcase. Her tiny, chubby hands rummaged through Gideon’s luggage. She tossed out the clothes and textbooks. Kazuya picked them up and placed them neatly on the table. She found a dead insect, which Gideon said he used to scare his sister, and grabbed it.

“He’s born!” she exclaimed.

Kazuya stared blankly at the dried, worm-like thing. “What are you on about?”

“You thick-headed buffoon!” Victorique stamped her feet. Her cheeks bulged a little. “I’m saying a baby Jupiter Roget is born. This is the first and most memorable item in his memento box.”

“What? I’m not sure I follow.”

“Use your eyes.”

“You mean this dead insect?”

“You idiot. Fool. Pumpkinhead. Look closely.”

Kazuya studied the thing in Victorique’s hand intently. Victorique’s tiny, pretty face was twitching, begging him no notice.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yes. This is not a dead insect. It’s an umbilical cord.”

Kazuya yelped. “Really? Huh…”

“Moving on. Jupiter Roget is already born.”

Victorique tossed the umbilical cord onto the table. Kazuya quickly picked it up and placed it neatly on the table.

“He’s all grown up. Here’s a portrait of him as a child.”

She tossed the portrait of a small boy standing in the forest. Kazuya caught it in the air and laid it down properly.

“Ah, right,” Kazuya said. “That village is practically still in the Middle Ages, and no one seemed to have a camera. Which explains why a portrait, not a photograph.”

“Good!”

“Jupiter’s all grown up here.”

“He fell in love!”

“What?” Kazuya blushed a little.

“Here.” Victorique tossed a bottle of perfume, and Kazuya quickly caught it. A tiny perfume for women.

Kazuya stared at the pretty, delicate bottle. “I see. So this belonged to a lady he fell in love with. A memento of love. What kind of woman was she?”

“It’s not a super fancy item. But sophisticated, nonetheless. The owner must have been the same.”

Kazuya gently placed the perfume bottle on the table. His touch was soft, as though silently paying his respects to an unfamiliar young man’s love.

“He suffered a setback!” Victorique said, finding a scrap of paper. The words “Never look back” were written on it.

Kazuya wondered what the short phrase meant. Was it related to love or his career? Or perhaps his family? Kazuya thought back to his own past. At the small setback he had back in his home country. He thought he would never look back, but he did, and eventually he left his home behind, and now here he was, alone with a friend from a foreign country. He was reminded of his family’s—his mother’s and sister’s—gentle smiles. He quickly shook his head to stop the tears from falling.

Victorique watched him warily. “Jupiter left. His memento box ends here. In short, this is an unfinished box, and unfinished life. We can easily guess what Jupiter did next. I wonder, how can you condense so much of one’s life into a tiny box?”

On the table lay small items that held completely different substance from when they first saw them. At first glance, they appeared to be nothing more than a worthless pile of trifling junk. But when stuffed into the red memento box, they quickly became a miniature representation of someone’s invaluable life. A man’s birth, his growth, love and failure, seemed to exist right there in the damp air.

It was almost as if they could hear someone’s voice crying out.

I was born!

I lived!

I loved!

I fought!

And I left!

The secret past of Jupiter Roget, when he was but a lonely young man, revealed only to a twenty-something youth and two kids.

Victorique and Kazuya regarded the table. They stared silently at the emergence of a young man, his birth, his growth, his failures.

And then the young man left the village of his birth alone, Kazuya thought.

He crossed that drawbridge. Left the village surrounded by greenery, a village that had stayed the same for centuries. An ominous, walled village full of Gray Wolves. Did he know that he would never return? Why did he climb up the ranks of the Academy of Science, a new force that denied the mysterious old power symbolized by the Gray Wolf? He was a man who had no idea what his destiny was at the moment. But this would not happen until long into the future. He had no idea what fate had in store for him. He simply looked back, and left his homeland behind. He descended the deep mountain, alone, hungry by day and frightened by the presence of beasts by night. Still he continued down. He had to.

Something that happened a long time ago.

He was now a grown man.

How was his life in the city after that? He found work, he studied, and over the years he worked his way up from the bottom of society. What did he think of the Great War that eventually broke out, of a world tossed about by a raging storm, of the shadow cast by the deaths of countless young men?

A memento box of the unfinished life of Jupiter Roget, a leading figure in the Academy of Science, its secrets revealed, yet still holding a deep mystery.

---

Inspector Blois’ voice came from the corridor.

“What’s all the fuss about?” Kazuya muttered as he stood up. He looked out the door to see what was going on in the corridor.

Victorique was silently puffing on her pipe.

A thin wisp of white smoke drifted toward the ceiling.

Gideon was staring at Victorique. His eyes were gleaming from either hatred, anger, frustration. Or perhaps resignation. The fierce side that he had kept hidden, maintaining a carefree attitude, crept onto his face.

Victorique ignored him for a while. Eventually she raised her head and smiled thinly. She was as cool and expressionless as always. Her lips, glossy as cherries, parted.

“Gideon,” she said. “You barely lied when you gave your statement.”

“I swore an oath, after all. I wouldn’t lie.”

Gideon’s voice was low and cold, like he was a different person.

“Hmm. You certainly did not. You simply omitted a lot of things.”

“I didn’t think I needed to voice my thoughts.”

Victorique and Gideon glared at each other. A wisp of white smoke rose from the pipe towards the ceiling.

Victorique slowly opened her mouth. “You used ice, didn’t you?”

Gideon’s eyes glinted. “Hah. Hahahaha. That’s right. The poison was inside the ice. I thought I didn’t need to say more than necessary. And I would’ve gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you. How ironic is it that Marquis de Blois’ daughter herself boarded the Old Masquerade and solve the truth behind the murder. Did you know? That the man behind this, the trump card known as the king of the underworld, was none other than Marquis Albert de Blois?”

Victorique did not answer. Her green eyes gleamed as she stared at Gideon.

“I thought I heard your thoughts,” she said. “While you were giving your statement.”

“I see. You saw through everything. That’s incredible.”

Gideon snorted. He gazed at Victorique’s petite figure, wrapped in a luxurious dress. Victorique held his gaze. Moments later, Gideon cast his eyes downward, wearing a vacant, contemplative look.

As though casting his mind back to his cheerful testimony.

As though repeating in his own mind each of the answers he gave earlier in this room, and the hidden thoughts that accompanied them.