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The Headless Lady Comes at 3 A.M. – Part 02

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Translator: Kell

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Kazuya left the library dejectedly and walked down the white gravel path.

I still don’t get her at all… Are we getting closer? Did she see me as a friend? I have no clue.

The weather was fine and warm this morning. Laughter and light footsteps from uniformed students echoed throughout the expansive French-style garden, down the neatly-organized white fountains, hedges, and flowerbeds.

“Kujou!”

There was a cheerful voice, followed by the sound of footsteps coming closer. Kazuya turned around to see who it was. A familiar face, Avril Bradley. She was running toward him, clutching something in her hand and waving it around.

“Oh, it’s you.”

Avril giggled. “I finally found it. I’ve been looking for it for so long.”

She sounded ecstatic, which made Kazuya happy in turn.

“Are you feeling fine now?” he asked.

“Yeah! I’m going to class tomorrow. I can’t wait!”

Just the other day, Avril was confined by Ciaran the Second, a master thief. She was calling for help when she was rescued by Kazuya and Inspector Blois, who had rushed to the scene on Victorique’s advice. She looked very weak at the time, but now she seemed to have completely recovered.

When they first met, Avril asked him to be her friend, which overjoyed him. Now that he saw her again, he realized that she was the opposite of shy.

“I was just touring the horror spots in the school,” she said cheerfully. “You can come with me!”

“H-Horror spots?! No way!” Kazuya shrank back.

The moment he arrived, he was immediately designated as a reaper thanks to the horror stories rampant in the academy, and he was still having a hard time dealing with it. Avril, however, was oblivious to his predicament.

“Why not? It’s so much fun!” she said with a smile. “Something amazing happened just now by the way.”

Avril waved around the purple thing she was holding—a necklace, it seemed.

“Do you know the story about the Headless Lady at 3 a.m.?”

“I don’t.”

Avril pointed to one of the wooden benches scattered throughout the garden, and they sat down.

“There’s this place in the school building called the Forbidden Reading Room,” Avril said, fiddling with the purple necklace. “There’s a portrait of a lady inside. A portrait of Countess Ashenden, the dreadful poisoner who terrorized Sauville’s high society in the Middle Ages.”

“Hmm…”

Kazuya suddenly felt drowsy. He was staring vacantly at the necklace, giving vague responses.

“Countess Ashenden always wore a necklace of purple crystal. It was called the Poison Flower. Back then, it was believed that purple crystals reacted to nearby poison and changed color. The devilish countess, who poisoned one woman after another in her quest for the king’s affection, was afraid that she, too, would be poisoned. She had the necklace’s clasp welded so it wouldn’t come off her neck. Only later, when she was charged with poisoning and beheaded, did it fall off the Countess’s neck.”

I think I’ve heard that story before.

A golden drill briefly appeared in Kazuya’s mind.

Who told me about it again?

“Every night since then, the headless ghost of Countess Ashenden, had been spotted walking around in this academy. The Countess wandered out of the portrait in the Forbidden Reading Room and roams about. No one knows why or how long the portrait has been hanging there. It just suddenly appeared on the wall one day. The ghost of the Countess must have come there herself, seeking a safe haven!”

“Hmm…”

“You’re bored, aren’t you? But I’m just getting started! Behold! I found the Countess’s necklace, the Poison Flower!”

Kazuya studied the purple necklace. A look of shock crept on his face.

“Wh-Where did you find it?!”

“There’s this spot on the hallway floor that got dislodged. I found it underneath. The wandering Countess must have accidentally dropped it. She doesn’t have a head, after all.”

“If it was under the floor, then it wasn’t dropped, but hidden. I, uhh, actually saw that necklace among the list of Ciaran’s stolen goods that Inspector Blois showed me.”

“Kujou!” Avril jumped to her feet.

Kazuya stood up as well. “Wh-What is it?”

“Let’s go to the Forbidden Reading Room!”

“The reading room? Forget that. I need to tell the inspector about this.”

“We’re gonna check the portrait of Countess Ashenden. If the wandering ghost dropped the necklace, it would be missing from the portrait. That would be proof that the ghost is wandering outside. Let’s go!”

“Uh, no. I gotta… the inspector… the list… Ciaran…”

Avril hurried to the school building, dragging Kazuya along with her.

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The large black door of the Forbidden Reading Room was open, and an adorable, soft voice was coming from inside.

“L-L-Like I said… Please listen closely. Th-This room…”

Ms. Cecile was standing in the middle of the reading room, her petite body swaying from right to left. Before her were two young men wearing rabbit-skin hunting caps, who as always, were holding hands. Inspector Blois’ men.

“This room has been locked for a long time and no one has been inside. When I came in earlier, the floor was dusty and there were no footprints around. It was a locked room. But then…”

Ms. Cecile pointed to a spot on the wall, tears in her eyes.

Just then, Avril arrived, dragging Kazuya with her.

“Jackpot! It’s open!” Avril exclaimed.

“I wouldn’t call it the Forbidden Reading Room, then,” Kazuya remarked.

Avril burst into the reading room, eyes sparkling, and cheerfully pointed to a spot on the wall.

“Look, Kujou! It’s the portrait hanging over… here… Huh?”

She exchanged glances with Ms. Cecile, who was also pointing at the wall in a similar pose, eyes wide.

“Oh?” Ms. Cecile stared back at Avril with big eyes full of tears.

“Hmm?” Kazuya looked up at the wall.

There hung a portrait… not of the beautiful and wicked Countess.

Deep blue sea and a dazzling sun.

It was a landscape painting, depicting a beautiful island in the South Atlantic.

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Kazuya, Avril, Ms. Cecile, and Inspector Blois’s subordinates were all standing still, staring blankly at each other.

“Where’s the portrait of Countess Ashenden?” Avril finally said, swinging the necklace around.

Ms. Cecile clasped her hands together. “I-It disappeared!”

“Disappeared?”

“I snuck in here early this morning to get a study… No, never mind. Anyway, I came here for something important and found the portrait of Countess Ashenden missing from the wall. Instead there’s this weird painting of the sea. No one should have been here for a long time.”

Kazuya looked up at the weird painting of the sea with his mouth hanging open. It seemed that he was the only one who recognized the image.

“What a weird painting,” one of the inspector’s men said.

“I think a child painted it,” the other added.

Avril suddenly turned serious. “I think this painting looks wonderful.”

Ms. Cecile cradled her head in both hands. “What’s going on here? Who, why, how did they replace the painting? Besides, the portrait of the Countess wasn’t worth anything. No one even knows how long it had been here.”

“It’s a curse!” Avril exclaimed.

“A curse?! Nooo!” Ms. Cecile cried.

“This place is cursed!”

Ms. Cecile started panicking, while Kazuya, astonished as well, hesitantly approached the inspector’s men.

Holding hands, they turned, ready to leave the reading room at any moment. They had assumed that there was no case here.

“Uhm, detectives…?”

Both men turned at Kazuya’s voice, and inclined their heads at the same time.

“What is it?”

“Inspector Blois showed me a list of the items that Ciaran stole.” Kazuya pointed to the painting of the sea hanging on the wall. “And one of them was this painting. It was the last work by a famous artist. I believe it’s called ‘South Atlantic’.”

“What?!”

“I don’t know why it’s here, either. And this necklace she found was also on the list. It’s called the Poison Flower.”

They exchanged looks, then took deep breaths.

“Inspectooor!”

“Pectooor!”

They bolted down the hallway, hand-in-hand.

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