༺ There’s Ice Cream At My Friend’s House! (4) ༻
“Oh, holy shh…! There’s a real cat here!”
Naru entered Cecily’s room.
In Cecily’s room, covered in a red carpet, were two cats lying down, their fur white and long.
-Meow (Hi!)
-Meow (What?)
Cecily spoke.
“They’re Ragdoll cats. They’re as well-behaved as dolls. They’re so friendly that they understand when you call their names and follow you around.”
Cecily proudly showed Naru the two cats she raised.
After listening for a while, Naru raised her hand in awe.
“Wow, that’s really amazing! So, can they also breathe fire from their mouths?”
“…Naru, I’m actually more curious about what you think cats are.”
“I don’t know, honestly!”
Purr-
The girls chatted loudly, laughing.
“Should I show you something cool again? These are the pebbles I collected in the garden. They’re not ordinary pebbles, but pebbles with magic in them. They’re my treasures.”
Rattle-
Cecily took out the pebbles from what looked like a jewelry box and showed them to Naru.
It was Cecily’s treasure that she hadn’t shown to anyone, not to the butler or the maids, not even her grandfather and grandmother.
Naru’s eyes widened as she looked at the sparkling pebbles.
“Beautiful…! The pebbles are softly shining…!”
“Right? But they become ordinary pebbles if they’re not in Cecily’s hands. Naru, would you like to touch them?”
“Sure!”
Naru reached out towards the pebbles.
Then, the pebbles emitted a soft light again.
“The pebbles shine even when you hold them. It’s amazing.”
“Are there any other interesting things besides pebbles?”
Naru looked around.
At that moment, Cecily said, “Ah! We could borrow a board game from Anne. Playing with big sister maids is fun! Wait here for a moment!” and ran off somewhere.
Naru was now alone in Cecily’s room.
And the quite knowledgeable Naru was exactly waiting for this moment.
Swoosh-
Naru took out a small pouch from her pocket.
According to Cariote, with this, she would be able to distinguish the “imps” hiding among people.
“……”
And right as she was about to put it under Cecily’s pillow.
Naru paused for a moment and stopped her hand.
“What if Cecily is an imp?”
Naru had to find the imp.
And Cecily was Naru’s close friend.
What if Cecily was actually the imp?
Would Naru no longer be able to attend school with her?
Would they no longer be able to play together?
As those thoughts arose, Naru found it hard to move her hand.
With the help of her sensitive hearing, Naru could sense the footsteps of people walking towards the room from the corridor.
-So, you want to play Marbles with Anne?
-That’s right! It would be better to invite other maid sisters too! It would be nice if there were more people since Naru said she had never played a board game before…
Naru tightly closed her eyes.
Finding the imp.
Naru vaguely remembered that it would help her save her dad.
That’s why she tried her best to go to school.
The time to make a choice was getting nearer.
“Naru doesn’t know…what to do…!”
* * *
“To be frank, Cecily is not our biological granddaughter.”
The old man said, his voice filled with bitterness.
“About four months ago, we found a lost child wandering in the garden and decided to take her in. Cecily only remembered her own name.”
Why would they adopt a child who was wandering in their garden as their granddaughter?
It was not uncommon for elderly nobles to adopt children.
While F-class orphans usually died in the back alleys, lucky A-class orphans were picked up by wealthy individuals and lived a happy life.
It was like with stray cats.
Pretty cats that followed people were picked up and taken care of.
But street cats like me, an F-class, were left to become thieves on the streets.
Cecily was picked up by good people.
As we uncovered the truth that Cecily was an unidentified orphan, she started to seem more suspicious to me.
A child who had lost her memory.
A clover-shaped birthmark.
The puzzle was slowly coming together!
But the old man’s story was not over yet.
“However, we felt a connection with Cecily. We firmly believe that she is our granddaughter. She looks exactly like my daughter.”
He spoke with certainty.
Finally, Cariote, who had remained silent for a while, interjected.
“Are you referring to the girl in the painting from earlier?”
“Yes. My daughter, Leone, went missing 25 years ago. She was our beloved daughter who never caused us any pain. She suddenly disappeared…”
The old man fell silent, struggling to speak.
His wife, Mane, couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.
“I just wish we knew if she is alive or dead. If she is alive, she would be 42 by now. Where is she living? Did she get married…?”
Seeing her, the maids and servants who were handing her handkerchiefs also turned away or teared up.
“Miss Leone was so kind-hearted.”
“She treated us servants well too.”
“Whoever abducted Miss Leone must pay!”
“Despicable thieves! May they receive divine punishment!”
An abduction.
There was always important information hidden in the servants’ murmurs.
I didn’t miss it.
“Was your daughter abducted?”
“It’s just speculation. Someone claimed to have seen a girl resembling my daughter on 61st Street a long time ago. 61st Street is well known for women abductions…”
“Did someone demand a ransom?”
“No, no one did. We would have paid any amount to get my daughter back if that was the case.”
He was right.
If the daughter of the current owner of this mansion, Viscount Regdoll, was indeed kidnapped, he would have paid a hefty sum to get her back.
An abduction without a ransom.
From my experience as a petty thief in the back alleys, there was a high chance it was human trafficking.
I’ve seen a lot of it.
Among thieves and criminals in the back alleys, it was mainly done by the most vicious ones.
The old viscount sighed and continued his explanation.
“We went to 61st Street ourselves to search and gather information, but there was no news to be found. Some said she was already dead…some said she was sold somewhere…”
“Indeed, that’s what happened. I understand what you were hiding, Viscount. Did you want to ask us to find your daughter?”
I asked.
I had been wondering what the viscount was hiding from me.
By now, my mind was becoming clearer.
“…Actually, yes. I know it’s shameful and dishonorable for us to ask such a favor from the people who already saved Cecily, but…if you could find our daughter Leone, we would be grateful.”
Swoosh-
The viscount prostrated himself in front of me, bowing his head to the ground.
This action of his slightly surprised me.
Have you ever seen a tiger lie down and show its belly to a rabbit?
It was even rarer to see a righteous and prideful noble kneeling to a thief.
That’s how desperate he was desperate to see his daughter again.
His daughter who had disappeared 25 years ago.
Did he want to hear any news, even if it’s just a rumor?
“Of course, there’s no such thing as a free favor.”
Normally, I would have rejected such a bothersome proposal without hesitation.
After all, I’m not a volunteer.
If he had offered me a substantial amount of money, I might have pretended to sympathize.
Finding someone who was kidnapped and vanished 25 years ago is as difficult as finding a single ant in a sand dune. I normally would never have accepted it.
But…
A picture flashed before my eyes.
What if Naru was kidnapped by someone and I spent the following 25 years not knowing whether she was dead or alive?
It was something I didn’t want to imagine at all.
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
I readily answered.
Upon hearing my response, Brigitte, who had been watching this conversation from the side, was taken aback.
“Judas, what’s gotten into you? You never agree to help find people. You always say that people will never stop asking if you agree even once and it would be too much of a hassle.”
“It’s just a whim.”
“Is that so?”
Swoosh-
Brigitte opened her narrow eyes.
It seemed as if she could read my mind.
“Oh, oh, oh…!”
The old man struggled to get up.
And then, he bowed his head to me, thanking me multiple times.
I simply nodded lightly in response.
“It’s not necessary to thank me. We haven’t found anything yet. Since she had disappeared 25 years ago, we can’t be sure of anything.”
I subtly hinted at a pessimistic outlook to avoid giving false hope.
However, there was conviction on the old man’s face.
“She’s alive. At least six years ago, she was alive for sure. Cecily is the proof. Cecily is undoubtedly our Leone’s daughter. Leone must have sent Cecily to us.”
“……”
It was a reasonable assumption.
If I didn’t know about Cecily’s clover-shaped birthmark…
If I didn’t know that Naru had traveled to the past from 6 years in the future…
Based on my hypothesis, there was a possibility that Cecily had come from the future with Naru.
Therefore, Cecily couldn’t be considered evidence that Leone, the beloved daughter of the Ragdoll family, was alive until six years ago.
But it was true that Cecily resembled the woman in the picture frame.
What were the odds that I married Leone Ragdoll and had a child with her?
A woman who was kidnapped at 17 and was now 42 years old.
Marriage to a 42-year-old woman…?
Honestly, I couldn’t quite envision it.
Being with someone that much older.
Nothing personal, I just wasn’t really attracted to older women.
No matter how I look at it, I couldn’t imagine being with someone more than two years older than me.
Once, I encountered a witch who appeared to be around 17 years old, despite her actual age being 80. She was beautiful, but even then, it seemed impossible to me.
Anyway.
This is quite troublesome in many ways.
I did agree to look for her, but honestly, how can I find someone who had disappeared 25 years ago and vanished into the chaotic 61st Street?
While I was contemplating that, Cariote unexpectedly appeared.
“Cariote, can you help a little?”
Cariote was a hunter.
She was much better than I when it came to tracking and finding people.
But Cariote shook her head.
“There’s a high chance she’s already dead. I know well what kind of fate awaits women who are snatched away and taken to the back streets. It’s better for them to die early.”
Look at her talking.
So blunt, almost barbaric.
The atmosphere immediately became gloomy with her words.
Just as I was getting anxious, Cariote added more.
“If there’s any chance she’s still alive, she’s probably been sold. It’s common for people to kidnap women and sell them to other countries. If she became someone’s wife in a faraway land, the chances of her being alive are higher.”
Honestly, that sounded too optimistic.
So, before Cariote could say anything unnecessary, I quickly wrapped up the conversation.
“According to the Shadow Council, there’s a woman called 「Night Courtesan」 or something like that, who kidnaps young women. We might find something if we investigate that.”
I was already looking into 61st Street for the sake of Naru’s safe commute.
So I didn’t really consider it as an additional task.
To be honest, I was also genuinely curious about the circumstances of Cecily’s birth.
No matter what, I guess I’ll find out as soon as the sun rises tomorrow.
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