Chapter 104

 

***

 

Ronny and Loretta gazed up at the second-floor ceiling.

Whenever they had the chance, they would come out like this to inspect it and poke the ceiling with a long stick, but the hidden space never revealed itself.

“…Loretta, is sleepy.”

Beside him, Loretta yawned long, hugging her fish doll. It seems she’s tired from playing excitedly in the garden today.

“This is something you started.”

“But I’m sleepy… Hug me, brother.”

At Loretta’s whining, Ronny snorted.

Just holding the long stick was already quite a burden, let alone ‘that’ being possible.

“How can I hug you in this situation… Huh, brother?”

As Ronny turned to his sister, he was shocked to see an unexpected figure enter his view, opening his eyes wide in surprise.

Claude emerged from the darkness, lifting Loretta high into his arms.

Behind him, Melody stood hesitantly, silently communicating something to Ronny.

Her hands joined together, pleadingly, it seemed she was apologizing for getting caught by Claude.

“Ronny. Wandering around at dawn doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

Holding Loretta snuggled into his chest, Claude approached Ronny.

“Uh, brother. The thing is…”

Ronny tried to gloss over the situation.

After all, he had been secretly working hard to uncover the secret of the ceiling, hoping to present it to Claude with a flourish.

“And carrying dangerous objects around. Where did you get that?”

Pointing at the long stick, Ronny quickly tried to hide it behind his back.

But unable to handle the long and heavy object skillfully, he accidentally dropped it.

“Oops!”

Ronny stretched out his arms in alarm. If the stick hit the floor, it would make a tremendous noise, and all the adults would wake up.

If that happened, Ronny’s reflection paper would undoubtedly become significantly thicker.

But he couldn’t catch up to the falling speed of the stick.

‘I’m doomed!’

Just as he thought that, the stick stopped in mid-air, right before hitting the ground.

“Uh…?”

And then, from the opposite direction of where Claude appeared, someone was heard approaching.

“It’s too noisy to sleep. Really.”

It was Jeremiah. He seemed to have woken up from deep sleep, wearing his pajamas and a sleep cap pressed down over his head.

Thus, all the children of the mansion ended up gathering.

“It’s interesting that everyone is gathered at this time.”

Claude looked around at his brothers and Melody, smiling as if amused.

“The hallway was too noisy, so I couldn’t possibly sleep. Everyone, please go back to bed.”

Ronny responded in protest to Jeremiah’s words.

“No, the dawn after a banquet is one of the few opportunities to wander around without getting caught by the adults.”

“…So.”

Jeremiah rubbed his half-open eyes.

“You’re using the long stick to search for something in the high ceiling?”

Ronny was astounded by his perfect deduction.

“How did you know?!”

“It’s not particularly difficult to guess the action from the tool. It can’t be helped.”

He moved his fingertips, straightening the stick that was floating in the air.

“Are you going to help with magic?”

When Ronny asked, Jeremiah shook his head.

“I could use a search magic to find it quickly, but that would wake me up. Not adhering to the set sleeping hours would be defying Master’s orders.”

“Then what do you plan to do?”

“The solution is simple.”

With a light flick of his hand, the stick stopped in front of Melody.

“Me?”

As she asked, Jeremiah nodded, indicating for her to take the stick.

“What’s the point of giving it to her?”

Ronny asked in protest, and Jeremiah yawned deeply before responding,

“Because she’s special.”

What did that mean? Regardless, Melody grasped the stick in front of her. It was heavier than she had expected.

To think that Ronny had used this to search the ceiling several times. She couldn’t help but feel a bit of admiration for him.

“So, then.”

Melody managed to lift the stick high.

“You mean tapping the ceiling with the end of the stick?”

“Yes. I’ve tried it so many times already. There’s probably no place on this ceiling I haven’t tapped.”

Ronny sighed as if he was fed up, and Melody, without much thought or expectation, lightly tapped the nearby ceiling.

Creak.

Then, she felt a part of the ceiling lift where the stick’s end had touched, accompanied by the sound of a hinge.

“Huh?”

Surprised, Melody lifted the stick a bit higher. Again, with a creaking sound, part of the ceiling lifted.

“It opens here?”

While everyone else stared at the ceiling in shock, Jeremiah alone murmured as if he had expected it, yawning long,

“Indeed, a human I wanted to test…”

As Melody held the stick, looking intently at the ceiling, Claude approached.

“It’s dangerous, give it here. I’ll bring down the ladder.”

He set down Loretta and told her to stand beside Ronny, patting her head.

“Wouldn’t it be noisy to bring down the ladder right now?”

Melody handed him the stick, expressing her concern.

“It’ll be fine. Jeremiah is here.”

As he finished speaking, a light briefly flared on the hallway floor, seemingly from Jeremiah’s magic.

“Maintaining silence will only be for a short while.”

“That’s enough.”

Claude, having said that, pushed the stick upwards towards one side of the open ceiling.

The latch was released, and a wooden ladder started to descend slowly along the end of the stick.

“It’s a ladder to the sky!”

Loretta exclaimed in delight, and Ronny quickly covered her mouth.

Since Jeremiah’s magic would only last for a moment, it seemed risky to let excitement lead to loud noises.

Finally, the ladder landed on the floor with a thud.

Thanks to Jeremiah’s magic, the sound didn’t spread far.

“This is…”

Ronny murmured in a soft voice. The longer he had searched, the more complicated his feelings became.

“Indeed, this is.”

Claude crossed his arms, gazing up at the ladder.

A dense darkness was visible beyond the space just wide enough for one person to pass through, from which a faint musty smell of paper wafted.

“I have a feeling that this might be more than just stepping slightly over the line.”

He had often obtained information by stepping slightly over the various lines set by the duke.

But all those things were relatively minor and safe, not causing much trouble even if they came into his hands, unlike the secrets he sought to uncover.

“What will you do?”

He then turned to Ronny.

“Me?”

“Since it’s what you’ve been looking for.”

“Well, of course, I have to…”

Ronny started to say ‘go up’ but then hesitated.

The fear of crossing the lines drawn by the adults had surfaced.

He didn’t want to be scolded or hear that they were disappointed in him.

‘…But.’

Ronny had something he wanted to know.

“June.”

His softly murmured word drew the attention of his siblings.

“Five years ago… June.”

That summer day when everyone was young is now a moment that no one in the ducal family speaks of, despite it being a time of great change.

 

Ronny lifted his head with determination.

“I want to know, so I’m going to climb up.”

At his answer, Claude also nodded, indicating he would join.

“What about Jeremiah?”

At Ronny’s question, Jeremiah conjured a small orb of light.

“There’s not much choice, is there?”

He answered as if being dragged along, but in reality, he was quite interested in what happened in June five years ago. Though he had learned a few new facts, he hadn’t heard the whole story.

“Loretta is going too.”

Loretta declared. Now, all eyes of the Baldwin siblings were on Melody, curious about her intentions.

Of course, Melody wanted to explore the secret space in the ceiling with them. Being part of the moment when they share the story of that painful summer, Melody could offer them comfort.

But she couldn’t nod her agreement, for a slightly different reason.

“Um.”

Melody clasped her hands neatly.

As a ‘Higgins’, she had an important message to deliver to the Baldwins present.

“Everyone. Take a deep breath, steel yourselves, and then turn around.”

At her seemingly odd advice, Ronny and Claude looked at each other for a moment but soon turned around, anticipating the answer to her words.

“…!”

…The Duke of Baldwin was staring intently in their direction.

Perhaps because of his piercing gaze, Ronny even screamed in shock.

Fortunately, Jeremiah’s magic was still active, preventing that shriek from spreading throughout the mansion and causing an unfortunate scene.

 

***

 

“Sit down.”

The duke called the children into his room and had them sit side by side on the wide sofa.

The children braced themselves for a scolding. However, the duke didn’t seem particularly angry; instead, he just added some wood to the fireplace near the sofa.

After a few minutes had passed.

Claude cautiously initiated a conversation.

“Did you… see us from the beginning?”

“I’ve been watching from the start.”

The “start” the duke referred to was the moment Ronny and Loretta left their room.

“It didn’t seem dangerous, so I was watching.”

Adventuring through the mansion was something that children from large noble families often did in their youth.

Of course, having gone through such a childhood himself, the duke didn’t really plan to scold them.

“However, climbing that ladder is a different matter.”

After examining the firewood for a while, the duke finally turned around.

“…Is there something so secretive left?”

Claude asked, and the duke nodded.