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The Headless Lady Comes at 3 A.M. – Part 03

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Translator: Kell

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The three people left in the reading room stood dazed for a while.

It was Avril that broke the silence. “So this is a painting of the South Atlantic Ocean,” she muttered despondently.

A faint shadow flashed across her lively, blue eyes.

Avril left the reading room and started walking down the hallway. Kazuya turned and noticed that she looked despondent. A little worried, he followed after her hesitantly.

Avril left the school building and wandered through the gardens on the campus, eventually sitting down on the edge of a fountain. When she saw Kazuya, she smiled.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Well…” Avril thumbed the fountain’s edge. “That postcard you returned to me the other day was the last letter I received from Sir Bradley, my grandfather. He was a famous adventurer.”

“I know. I saw his name on the papers back home.”

“Really?”

Kazuya nodded.

Avril’s grandfather, Sir Bradley, was a famous adventurer. She was targeted by the master thief Ciaran because of the legacy her grandfather left for her.

Avril’s face lit up. “Grandpa was always full of energy, always looking for new adventures. All the boys in the world loved to hear about his adventures. But he was treated as an oddball in the family. My father, on the contrary, was born sickly and weak. He was very happy when I was born. He said I was just like grandpa. He told me that I was going to be a cool adventurer like him when I grew up, while my grandma beat me half to death. She wanted me to become a lovely lady.”

“Hmm…”

“My dad agreed to let me study at Sauville. He said I’m going to see the world.”

Avril seemed to be getting to the heart of the matter, so Kazuya leaned forward a bit, nodding with a serious face. This was, after all, the first time he had heard anything other than horror stories from Avril. And for some reason, he felt that if he missed this opportunity, he would never hear such a story again.

At that moment, they heard footsteps approaching. They looked up and saw two men wearing rabbit-skin hunting caps running toward them, holding hands.

“Huh?”

They let go of each other’s hands and grabbed Kazuya’s right and left hands, respectively. It seemed like all three of them were joining hands.

Kazuya’s feet rose from the ground.

“Wh-What are you doing?” he asked.

“Inspector Blois wants to see you.”

“He wanted us to bring you right away.”

“Wh-Where?”

“The library.”

Flanked from both sides, Kazuya was dragged away like a criminal.

“I’ll talk to you later, Avril!” he shouted. “I won’t be long!”

Avril laughed. “I doubt it.”

Kazuya, looking over his shoulder several times, was taken to the library.

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St. Marguerite’s Grand Library.

A centuries-old temple of knowledge and serenity, made of gray stone walls.

Kicking open the leather swinging door, two men—Inspector Blois’ subordinates—tossed Kazuya inside the library.

Kazuya turned. “I’m climbing these stairs again?!” he wailed. “Once a day is my limit. Hey, are you even listening to me?”

“Hahaha!”

“Go on. Climb the stairs!”

Kazuya sighed. Steeling himself, he glanced up.

All the walls were covered by huge bookshelves, crammed with leather-bound books. Kazuya thought he sensed them groaning again at his arrival.

A narrow wooden staircase led all the way up to a ceiling adorned with majestic religious paintings. The intricate maze looked like the bones of a giant dinosaur.

Kazuya took a step up.

And then another step, and another.

Fine… I’m sure Victorique is up there too, not just the inspector.

The thought of Victorique hastened his steps gradually.

I gotta say, Victorique is a strange, moody, mean, little, weird girl. She’s a jerk, and she treats me like…

Kazuya’s pace sped up until eventually he was running up to the top of the stairs.

The top of the labyrinthine staircase.

In the conservatory, overgrown with tropical trees, bathing in the light shining through the skylight, Kazuya was greeted by another man with a golden, drill-shaped hair sticking out of his head. Inspector Grevil de Blois was waiting impatiently, pulling on leaves and whatnot, but when he noticed Kazuya, he struck a pose.

“Kujou!” he called. “I heard the mediocre portrait of Countess Ashenden disappeared from the Forbidden Reading Room and had somehow been replaced by the famous painting, the South Atlantic!”

“Y-Yeah…. I know, I was there.”

“And the Countess’s necklace, the Poison Flower, was found under the floor! What does this mean?”

Kazuya frowned. Inspector Blois was shouting so loudly, he thought his ears might explode.

He slid past the inspector and went inside the conservatory garden, and found the tiny girl—Victorique.

She was still crouched down, hunched over, playing with dirt.

“Victorique,” Kazuya called. “Oh, no. You’re covered in dirt again! Why are you like this? You’re ruining your pretty dress.”

Kazuya fetched another bucket of water, grabbed Victorique’s small hands, pulled them away from the soil, and started washing them. Victorique gave a peevish frown, but quietly let Kazuya wash her hands.

“K-Kujou. You’re not going to listen to what I have to say?” Inspector Blois huffed.

“Hmm? You got anything to share?”

Kazuya and Victorique shifted their gaze from the bucket to the inspector at the same time.

The golden drill shone amidst vivid tropical flowers.

Victorique, gaping at the inspector, slowly opened her small, cherry lips, and said only one word.

“Unicorn.”

“Huh? Oh, I see,” Kazuya said. “Now that you mention it, he does look like he has a horn. Quite keen of you. Inspector Blois, why is your face turning red? Are you… angry?”

Inspector Blois glared at Victorique, his lips quivering and his face crimson. Kazuya studied them both, wondering why he was that furious.

“You don’t get to say that,” the inspector grumbled. “You’re the one who came up with this style!”

“Did you say something?” Kazuya asked.

“N-Nothing!”

While the inspector had Kazuya’s attention, Victorique returned to playing in the dirt, soiling her clean hands once again. Before Kazuya could say something, Victorique interrupted him.

“Kujou, don’t you have to write a reply?” she said in a low, husky voice.

Kazuya shut his mouth and stared at Victorique blankly. “A reply?” He slammed his fist onto his hand. “Ah, right. I received a letter from my brother yesterday. But how do you know about that?”

Victorique yawned boredly. Her red chiffon dress shifted and rustled as she moved. Bringing her small, dirty hand near her mouth caused dirt to stick to her rosy cheeks, so Kazuya quickly got out a handkerchief and wiped her face. Victorique swatted away the handkerchief as though it were an annoying fly.

“Elementary,” she said. “I don’t even need to use the Wellspring of Wisdom. The letter is peeking out of your breast pocket.”

Kazuya glanced at his breast pocket. He did put it in there when he left his room this morning.

“The fact that you’re carrying the letter with you means either you still haven’t read it, or you’re wondering what to write as a reply. Thus the fragments of chaos are reconstructed. In other words, the letter is giving you trouble.”

“Wow,” Kazuya uttered. “You’re weird, but you sure are smart!”

Victorique grunted.

“You’re right. This letter is actually giving me trouble. I got it last night, and it’s been bugging me…”

“Quit babbling and show it to me.”

As Kazuya took the letter from his breast pocket and opened it, a golden drill peeked out from behind a palm leaf.

“Hey, me first! This is not fair!”

“The unicorn’s mad,” Kazuya said.

“Leave him be. Now, show it to me quick.”

“O-Okay…”

Kazuya opened the letter and handed it to Victorique. She started reading it, murmuring to herself.

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