The investigation was progressing very smoothly. After bidding farewell to Miss Mary, Shard and the maid with black hair returned to the Three Cats Inn in Hymn Square for lunch. They hadn't eaten earlier, and the Three Cats Inn was considered one of the better restaurants in this area.
While waiting for the food to be served, Miss Servit was examining the scores, and Shard was inspecting a potion in the light.
"Mr. Hamilton, do you really think Miss Mary didn't feel any regret or sorrow over Mr. Bondy's death?"
She suddenly asked, and Shard shifted his gaze from the bottle in his hands:
"Are you still thinking about that?"
He asked inquisitively, yet he provided his opinion:
"Mr. Bondy's relationship with her must have been closer than we thought, otherwise he wouldn't have left so many personal items behind. Especially this bottle—among the relics the Noan Opera Troupe received, there was only one empty bottle, and the landlord found nothing similar—it suggests that Mr. Bondy didn't have much potion left. But even so, he chose to leave half a bottle with Miss Mary. What does that tell us?"
The girl with black hair thought for a mont:
"Great trust, so much so that he was willing to place his hope for continued 'Brightness' in her hands."
"Yes,"
Shard nodded.
"But when you ntioned the musician's death earlier, she didn't show any emotion."
Miss Servit posed the question again, and Shard shook his head:
"She's protecting herself. If we were Mr. Bondy's enemies, do you think we would take our anger out on her? Besides, a woman with such rich social experience, working in a technical job at the lower rungs of society, has certainly been through a lot. It's not that she's heartless; she's just seen too much..."
"So you're saying that it's possible that after we left, she might have cried while holding the musician's coat?"
She asked Shard, her hand supporting her face; black hair brushed past her ear.
Shard shook his head again:
"In my view, she's more likely calculating how much money she can get from those relics. The citizens at the bottom, where do they have any concern for romance and love? Everything just now was our own speculation. It's also possible that she responded to Mr. Bondy's genuine feelings with fake emotions. I don't an to disparage the profession, but those in it can be very good actors."
Miss Maid thought for a mont and nodded:
"Indeed."
"Moreover, this is soone else's story; we're rely witnessing it. What difference does it make between truth and falsehood? More than Miss Mary and Mr. Bondy, I'm more concerned about what this potion actually does."
Shard frowned, holding the potion bottle.
Circle Sorcerers rarely recklessly use a magic potion without knowing its effects, especially one that needs to be dropped into the eyes.
But Mr. Bondy had shown with his own experience that this bright yellow potion, oily in appearance, caused the user to see strange things that led to madness without causing direct harm. What Shard feared the least was psychic damage, for he had seen more terrifying things than most Circle Sorcerers.
And since Mr. Bondy had died from suicide rather than his head exploding outright, it suggested that what he saw wasn't extrely horrifying. Thus, before visiting ophthalmologist Jacob Alfred in the afternoon, Shard decided to experint with using an extrely small amount of the potion on himself.
Miss Servit was, of course, very much against it, but Shard was confident, as "she
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