"It wasn't , it was Lady Perth who did it."
He denied it out of habit. But his opponent wasn't the type to be easily fooled.
"You deliberately went to Lady Perth first, didn't you? Anyway, why did you do that? It was uncertain how much Cordelia knew about the incident."
"Lady Cordelia is Mabelwood's heir. She naturally went through things related to the incident herself, so of course she would know well."
The conversation was interrupted as the dance briefly quickened. Her breathing beca slightly labored. Her shoulders wrapped in white fabric heaved. The man's hand that had been resting on them slipped off.
"Of course there are other reasons too. Look carefully. White hair, green dress, brown fan."
At the sa ti as those words, Esperanza's body naturally spun around once. The people outside the dance floor briefly ca into view. White hair, green dress, brown fan. It was very brief. Her view was blocked again by Cider's cravat and solid shoulders. With her face hidden, Esperanza spoke in a voice tinged with laughter.
"He looks like he'd give you grief if you even tried to talk to him?"
"That's exactly why. Baron Mabelwood has been appearing with that kind of face ever since the marriage talks with Dunbarton fell through. Naturally, he doesn't mingle with people either."
It was an understandable reason. Even more so considering the harsh words the Duke of Dunbarton had hurled at Mabelwood. But then approaching him saying you want to investigate the Mabelwood incident? You'd be lucky not to get slapped.
"It was a good choice, wasn't it?"
At the question that seed to demand praise, she briefly didn't want to give him what he wanted, but soon acknowledged it.
"It was a good choice. Excellent."
They stood facing each other and shared the brief smile of accomplices. The dance ended. The party in the fairy-tale-like greenhouse was also over. Esperanza had obtained what she wanted, and the party had ended well, so she decided to forget the few things that had happened in between.
Lady Humphrey's party was excellent. Except for one thing—Lady Humphrey's lawn-mowing automaton had recognized the unconscious attempted rapist's body as an obstacle and broken down after bumping into it all night.
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Annie, a maid at Count Avondale's mansion, was dusting the table. While sadly watching Miss Esperanza, who had recently co to live in the mansion, roughly braid her own hair.
"I could do it much better for you......."
"It's fine, it's nothing special. I'm not going out anyway."
And though putting hair up was pretty, it hurt the scalp. If she kept it up all day, it seed like a lot of hair would fall out the next day.
Her hair was particularly dense and abundant, so suffering for a day or two wouldn't suddenly make it sparse, but at this rate....... When Esperanza was inside the house, she either let her hair down loose or braided it loosely. Letting it loose was for when she was lounging around the mansion, braiding it was for when she went to the shooting range.
"You're pretty even when braided."
Annie said with a flushed face. When Esperanza's violet eyes curved, Annie exhaled rapturously as if she had received a kiss from a peerless beauty.
"......You really do all sorts of things."
Esperanza spat out as if fed up. Annie giggled. What she just did was a bit exaggerated.
"Miss, don't you want to go see Mayton Hall? You've co all the way to Nine Holder."
"Mayton Hall? Ah...... there."
Mayton Hall existed 13 years later too, and honestly, if it was more splendid than 13 years ago, it wouldn't be inferior to what it was now.
"I'm not really interested?"
"You're too frugal, Miss. They say just looking around there is like another world. The entire floor is tiled and the ceiling is made of glass. So when the sun rises, the tiles shine with rainbow colors."
"Mm-hmm."
"They say all the prettiest clothes and ribbons in the world are sold there. Miss, don't you need ribbons? If you put a pink ribbon on that white hat you wore last ti, it would be really pretty."
Pretty things were good. Though it was botherso, Annie's taste was also decent, and since she seed frustrated, going out together briefly seed fine too. It wasn't like anyone was confining her anyway. Today was a bit much, but tomorrow?
"You're really not interested? Or pearl earrings. I think Miss would look so good with pearls, there are so among the Countess's jewels. I could secretly bring them to show you, eek!"
Annie, who had been chattering while glancing at the mirror, suddenly scread.
"Ah, Miss, wh-when did you co over?"
In that brief mont, Esperanza had pulled Annie's wrist toward her. She was definitely sitting at the vanity over there?
"Are you hurt?"
"No!"
Esperanza roughly checked Annie's condition, then sat on the edge of the bed. And she lightly tossed and caught the problematic object that had made Annie scream with a wrist snap. A dice-shaped magical device. Sothing given by the information broker 'Teacher.' What startled Annie was that this thing didn't just emit light.......
Ring-a-ling-a-ling!
It also made sounds.
"Beeper?"
"Yes?"
"It's nothing."
Mayton Hall and everything else—all canceled. She needed to deal with this damn thing and go see the information broker.
"I can't go to Mayton Hall, let's go next ti."
"Yes, yes."
Annie was still half-listening, saying that barbaric chanical sound seed to still be ringing in her ears. Esperanza felt the sa. Her ears were ringing.
"But, how do you turn this off?"
"I don't know."
The two technology-challenged people couldn't find a way to stop the chanical sound that was reverberating through the room, and eventually covered their ears.
"Fortunately, there's soone in this house who would know, right? Let's go ask him."
Esperanza, speaking like a computer-illiterate mother looking for her youngest son, threw the ring-a-ling-chaotic receiver into her inventory as soon as she ca out to the corridor.
Cider's study always had its door closed. Esperanza knocked twice. No answer could be heard, which ant he was in the laboratory. It was generally noisy in there. Then Esperanza entered without caring. Though the master hadn't told her to do so, sohow she had co to freely enter and exit the study.
But she couldn't do that with the laboratory. Not out of respect for his privacy. Knowing what was in there, would she just barge in? If she accidentally stepped on sothing, there was no telling what kind of accident might happen, so she was just being careful on her own. Esperanza knocked on the closed laboratory door.
"Millen?"
"It's Esperanza."
"Ah? Oh, wait a mont."
There was a sound like he had suddenly beco busy. Crash bang. However, when the door opened after a mont, the inside was clean.
Did he clean up? So he wouldn't show ?
Sohow she felt a bit strange. He had shown her things well until now. What was he hiding?
"What's the matter?"
Cider looked fine. His hair was slightly disheveled though. And......
"A monocle?"
"It's not glasses, more like a magnifying glass. I use it when looking at small parts. Want to try it?"
He took off the monocle with a golden chain and held it out. Esperanza received it and put it to her eye.
"Close the other eye."
When she lowered her eyelid with her finger to cover it, Cider laughed quietly. But she didn't have the presence of mind to scold him for that. The view reflected in the lens was completely different.
Esperanza also had several monocle items. They were things with a complete steampunk feel, so they weren't as light and simple in form as this.
Cider's monocle didn't give alerts about increased attack speed or agility like those things. However, as if to show it was thoroughly for research, it provided x-ray vision of the interior of machines that ca into view. The indescribably complex structure made her eyes dizzy.
"I don't want to wear it."
After taking off the glasses, her vision spun. Her eyes were spinning, her ears were ringing—all sorts of things.
"So, what brought you here?"
Realizing anew that it had been a week since she last entered this laboratory, she took out the receiver from her inventory.
The noisy ring-a-ling chanical sound echoed. Being a laboratory enclosed on all sides made it even more maddening. Esperanza put down the receiver and covered her ears.
"How do you turn this off?"
"......You ca because of this?"
"Yes."
"Because you couldn't turn this off?"
"......Yes."
Am I pathetic? I am pathetic too.
Esperanza sighed deeply. If it were a weapon, that would be different, but this receiver was a type Esperanza was using for the first ti. So it was possible she wouldn't know.
While she was grumbling, Cider turned the receiver to turn off the sound. Very simply, intuitively.
"It turned?"
"As you can see."
"It wasn't much?"
"And you're the one who ca all the way here because you couldn't turn off that 'not much.'"
"Ah, how amazing......."
"No, it's nothing much."
It was rare humility, and therefore more irritating. Esperanza pursed her lips and grumbled. How nice would it be if he were modest like his appearance? If his personality were exactly like his clear eye-smile and gentle lips, soft blonde hair and white, straight hands.
Though it would probably be quite difficult to live with such a personality after creating such achievents.
"Don't curse
in your mind."
"Ah, yes."
Cider clicked his tongue.
"Even when I help, I get cursed at first—really, how did it co to this?"
When the flow of conversation seed like it might go unfavorably, Esperanza imdiately got to the point.
"That must be contact from the information broker?"
"Yes, it's a bit crude, but that must have been the best they could do."
"I'll have to go deal with that tomorrow."
"You're going to Alter District again?"
Well, did it seem like they'd send a fax from there to Avondale mansion? If that were possible, wouldn't that be more of a problem?
"......I'll go. Be careful not to get caught."
"Would I get caught?"
Those words should have been more careful.
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"......Miss Hunter? Why are you in such a state, no, appearance in such a place? Of course, you are very beautiful."
A dumbfounded voice. Esperanza bit her lips. Damn.
"It's dangerous for you to wander such places alone. That Avondale fellow, sending a delicate lady to such a place alone......!"
He looked ready to imdiately go to the mansion and confront him. Esperanza glared at Viscount Poulsbury, Kendrick, who was drawing a lot of attention by himself shining conspicuously on the already shabby street.
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