Jenkins thought about the gold pounds in his pocket, squinting to make out the price tag. He sucked in a sharp breath, any thought of buying sothing here vanishing completely.
Miss Miller erged from the fitting room shortly after, still wearing her original clothes.
“Perhaps she also found the prices a bit steep.”
The thought crossed his mind, but he imdiately felt foolish. The woman's financial situation was clearly far better than his own.
Seeing Jenkins sitting in the shop, Miss Miller showed no surprise. She exchanged a few quiet words with the middle-aged woman, then walked out with Jenkins.
They hired a carriage and prepared to return to Miss Miller's apartnt.
“That place is more than just a dress shop.”
She offered the explanation before Jenkins could even ask.
“Oh?”
That made sense. While Jenkins had no experience accompanying won his age on shopping trips, the amount of ti she had spent in the fitting room seed excessive.
“For confidentiality reasons, I can't say what it is, but if you're interested, I can take you for a look before I leave Nolan.”
Jenkins imdiately guessed the dress shop was likely an entrance to so secret gathering or a small black market, like so back-alley pub.
After they returned to the apartnt, Jenkins explained what had happened. He relayed Miss Audrey's attitude and opinions, then tentatively asked if she had found the private photographs of the high-ranking Nolan military official she was investigating.
“A ti reversal? So such a thing really exists.”
More than surprise, her expression was one of envy.
“I wish I could experience that mont, to feel ti flow backward. Who knows, I might even gain a ti-related ability from it. That's an incredibly rare opportunity!”
“To be honest, I didn't feel anything other than dizziness.”
At his words, Miss Miller looked at him as if he'd just tossed a gold pound into the furnace for firewood.
Jenkins had already let Chocolate out. After reminding the cat not to touch anything that wasn't his, he let it wander freely around the apartnt.
Miss Miller retrieved so letters from her bedroom and began to update Jenkins on the progress of her search for the photos.
She was quite dissatisfied with her client, as the difficulty of the case far exceeded the agreed-upon fee. Although the price couldn't be changed, industry practice would have called for an increase. Because of this, Miss Miller felt no guilt whatsoever in sharing so private details with Jenkins.
“The last ti I saw you and Audrey at the club, I already suspected the missing photos were connected to those swindlers who follow the Prince of Lies. My initial thought was that it was a simple case of espionage—soone intended to use those photos for blackmail. The one who was... obliterated in the Mysterious Realm... hmm, what was his na... never mind. That man who was torn to pieces was my target. We both know he was a spy for the Cheslan Kingdom.”
“I heard the man he was eting with, the one infected with the Gear Disease, was captured by the Orthodox Church.”
“Yes, I was hoping we could get a lead from him.”
The woman's expression soured. “I also checked what those spies hid next door to Audrey's house. It wasn't the photos I'm looking for, but so private correspondence. It seems so of our country's 'gentlen' in Parliant have foolishly gotten so new ideas, likely because they're unhappy with the Air Protection Act. The contents of those letters are enough to get the parliantarians and their entire families killed by a furious royal family.”
The damning evidence lay right there on the table in front of them. A quick glance was enough to see it was sufficient to convict certain influential figures of treason. Their surnas and nas frequently appeared on the front page of the newspapers; the black-and-white photographs of so were the papers' best advertisents.
“From the letters, it's clear the Cheslan Kingdom's spy network made a deal with the Witch's House. The mbers of the Witch's House were responsible for connecting most of the letter writers. The witches ca to Nolan this ti specifically to retrieve these letters.”
“So that's their objective? But why would they leave behind sothing so incriminating?”
Jenkins asked, puzzled. Miss Miller imdiately gave him a look that said, "I knew you were going to ask that."
“The Witch's House needed to leave themselves an escape route, and these dangerous letters were part of it. In short, the letters were accidentally lost in Nolan due to a series of mishaps, and the mbers of the Witch's House are responsible for getting them back. The man who died in the Mysterious Realm was probably the only mber of the Cheslan spy network who knew about it, but unfortunately, he died before he could inform anyone else.”
“So how do the con artists fit into all this?”
“The con artists have nothing to do with the letters; they're connected to the photos I'm looking for. You must know how brazen that group was during the first half of this month. But when they scamd a young male servant, they never expected that to pay his debts, the servant would steal docunts from his master's study. Yes, the files from Marquis Mikhail's desk.”
Jenkins wasn't sure what expression to make. The so-called "high-ranking naval officer" was really a marquis—sothing he had vaguely figured out before.
“Those files didn't just contain military secrets; tucked inside were several private photographs. Once the con artists got their hands on them, they beca a target for everyone. The Cheslan spies had their eyes on those docunts for a while, and the servant managing to steal them was an unforeseen part of their plan, which is why the spies despise the con artists. The photos themselves were taken by mbers of the Witch's House—the ones who ca to Nolan for the letters. They used them to blackmail the Marquis for a huge sum of money and even spread the scandalous rumors about him around the city. But the photos were lost right after he bought them back. Since the spies and the witches already have connections, the Marquis still thinks the Witch's House is ssing with him, so they're investigating too. Oh, and then there's the Gear Artisans' Association. This originally had nothing to do with them. They ca to Nolan for an ancient artifact in the underground mines. The current Gear Disease is just a smokescreen to confuse everyone; there's no grand conspiracy there. But one of the con artists, while escaping one night, ran into the Twin Demons...”
She looked at Jenkins, who instantly rembered. It was the night he had encountered Magic Miss and the Unfortunate Wishing Tree.
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