Chapter 60 Spring
Winter had come and gone, and before they knew it, spring was upon them.
It was a social season.
“… Soon, the palace parties will begin.”
Of course, the first party to mark the beginning of the social season was held at the imperial palace.
Only after that would nobles organize their own parties for the year, in keeping with their status and authority.
Normally, she would have preferred to avoid the crowded social scene this year.
However, socializing was essential to gather more information.
And in order to be free, she needed to avoid arousing Ioannes’ suspicions.
It was with this intention that she slipped the words out, and he looked at Delphine with an unexpectedly serious expression.
“I don’t recall you enjoying the party much, My Lady…”
“I did.”
Delphine replied, oblivious to the fact that he had unconsciously mentioned the past.
She’d always been a little uncomfortable with her father’s greedy expectations of her and his pretentious socialite ways.
But there was no need to tell him that now.
Instead, Delphine smiled slightly at him and added, as if she were some sort of chaste present.
“… But, it is my duty as a Marchioness to manage my husband’s and my family’s social reputation.”
Then he smiles back, like any other doting and homely husband.
“It’s a pleasure to know that you are so graciously staying at the manor and attending to the household.”
They turn to each other and exchange masked, perfect smiles, each skillfully concealing their inner thoughts.
After finishing breakfast, he said, “Then have a safe… day.” He kissed her lightly on the cheek and left the manor.
***
Since her last outing had gone unnoticed by Ioannes, she had gotten a little bolder with her mission.
“Are the people we’re meeting this time also survivors?”
Netherfield Street, District 3, on the radio.
She pressed her cloak against her face, and Lynn beside her answered calmly.
“No. She’s a member of our organization who’s been contacted to investigate the recent spate of disappearances.”
Another gang member… She wonders who she is?
Swallowing her curiosity, Delphine walked on and soon reached a ramshackle building tucked away in the red light district.
“Just go to this floor.”
The worn wooden staircase was narrow, and the large Lynn had to turn sideways and walk uncomfortably up it.
The door opened to reveal a small, one-room space.
It was a very drab room, with no furniture.
“…”
Delphine tried not to show her surprise at how shabby the room was.
The gap between her life in District 1 and that of the people of District 3 was always greater than she had realized.
“Ah, Lynn, you’re here!”
The woman in the room greeted him, smiling brightly.
She was very thin, with sunken cheeks.
Lynn introduced her as “Cookie”.
Apparently, in her role, she kept her real name hidden and went by her nickname.
“You must be ‘the’ Lady Delphine, a pleasure to meet you!”
Delphine greeted, nervously opening the hem of her cloak to reveal the gray silk dress she wore underneath.
Fortunately, Cookie didn’t seem too concerned with her attire.
She plopped down on a pile of cloth-covered straw that seemed to serve as a bed.
“I’d ask you to sit down, but I don’t have a chair.”
“That’s okay, I’ll be leaving soon. Besides that, have you heard anything new?”
“Uh, no. It’s been quiet for a while, I wonder if that crazy criminal bastard is trying to save himself.”
Cookie reported in a rather gruff tone at Lynn’s question.
“No new crimes?”
“Of course there’s always crime in this red-light district.”
She replied in a sarcastic tone with a disdainful glint in her eye.
“Even last night, a woman was beaten to death by a customer. But here, no one cares how many people are dying.”
“…”
“There’s a reason that criminal asshole only does his shit around here.”
With that, Cookie glanced at Delphine, who stiffened, before finishing her report.
“I mean, there were no mysterious abductions or disappearances.”
Lynn stroked his chin for a moment, then asked simply.
“Cookie. You know about the Duke of Purcell, right?”
“Of course, I was the one who reported that he’d been here.”
“And you’ve never seen a silver-haired man who looks like him, only younger?”
Delphine guessed as she listened to their conversation.
La Rouge had already posted a report of the duel between the Duke of Purcell and the Marquis de Humphreys.
“A young man? Hmm… He didn’t have the silver hair to look like a nobleman.”
Cookie tapped her foot, thinking.
“No matter how hard they try to cover it up, it’s obvious. They say they’re here to be as modest as possible, but their clothes are fine silk with fine buttons.”
Delphine nervously pulled at the hem of her cloak once more.
“I see.”
Lynn answered simply this time, seemingly lost in thought for a moment, then spoke.
“… I think I’m going to have to take a quick look around.”
He tipped his cloak hat and added in a blunt tone.
“Delphine. Please stay here for a moment.”
He didn’t give her a chance to argue, and quickly walked out the door.
Suddenly alone with Cookie in this small room, Delphine rolled her eyes nervously and searched for something to say to her.
“…”
When visiting someone’s manor for the first time, it was customary to start the conversation with a compliment about the interior.
But this house didn’t even have a chair to sit in.
“It’s handsome, isn’t it?”
It was Cookie who spoke first.
“Huh…?”
“I mean Lynn, I’ve never seen a man so handsome in my life.”
She giggled lightly.
She wonders if this is similar to starting a conversation with a compliment on the interior.
Delphine smiled at the thought.
“… I thought he was handsome when I first saw him, too.”
Once the ice had been broken, Delphine slipped in the question she’d been dying to ask.
“What’s your name, not your real name?”
“No. Everyone goes by a nickname here.”
“And why did you name yourself Cookie?”
“Oh, that’s… I had a cookie once, a long time ago, from a sweet shop in District 2.”
The cookie, with sunken cheeks, replied cheerfully.
“After I cried for days and days about wanting just one, my mom saved up her allowance for the week and bought me a tiny, nameless dessert.”
Cookie smiled in a very sweet and nostalgic way.
“It was so delicious… Even after my mom died, I never forgot it.”
Delphine suddenly remembered her mother.
“Del. Always follow your heart. And remember. Happiness is in the process, not the end.”
How happy she was when her wise and compassionate mother called her Del.
And how lonely she felt when there was no one to call her Del anymore.
“What, you’re not going to pity me, are you?”
Cookie asked, her pride wounded when she noticed the look on Delphine’s face.
Hesitantly, Delphine spoke up.
“I’m sorry. I actually thought it was sad.”
Her face immediately turned wary.
“… Why, because you wanted to see how miserable everyone in District 3 is?”
“No, no. I lost the name.”
Delphine replied calmly, unfazed.
“It was a lonely thing to have no one in the world to call me affectionately.”
“…”
Cookie squirmed awkwardly for a moment at that.
Then she scratched her cool blond hair and muttered.
“… Ouch. I guess I was the one with the prejudice against aristocrats, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Delphine smirked, and Cookie smiled back at her.
Bam.
Just then, the rotting wooden door swung open.
Lynn strode into the room, his usual stern face, and stopped when he saw Delphine’s expression.
“… That short bird, what happened?”
“That…”
“Don’t ask, Lynn. It’s a girl’s secret.”
Cookie replied playfully, and then cocked one eye at Delphine.
For a moment, Delphine was taken aback by the familiarity of the gesture.
Delphine soon relaxed and smiled.
That was the end of the inspection for the day.
As they were about to tidy up and leave the room, Cookie straightened her back and spoke.
“What I want is freedom.”
“Freedom…”
As she muttered the strange, familiar word in a low voice, Cookie added in a determined tone.
“Freedom to drink clean water, to go over that wall to the cookie shop if I want to.”
As she said it, Cookie had the look in her eyes that her mother had told her about, the look of someone who goes where her heart tells her to go.
“We’re going to make it happen.”
Lynn replied in a determined tone.
“We’re almost at the end of the line… Here, thanks to Delphine.”
And then Cookie smiled, her face pallid.
She wonder why.
Even in this shabby, dingy room, they looked dazzling.
They looked more regal and noble than any nobleman ever had.
And strangely enough, beyond them, she recognized Ioannes’ face.
Ioannes, born and raised on this very Netherfield Street.
Dignified and noble.
For no matter how much he was adorned in SS uniforms and medals and impeccably elegant manners, that was what he lacked most.
