A Farewell Draws Near

In one stroke, Gloria gave up the plan she’d been savoring, of breezing through the luxury boutique and gleefully scooping up all of this month’s new arrivals.

Honestly — who in the world is out there scribbling rot like this?

The hand gripping the newspaper shook violently. When she flung that same hand out, paper and all, to hail a carriage in her haste, the delivery boy sprawled on the ground mumbled up at her.

“Um, my lady. About the payment for that paper…”
“Ugh, just my rotten luck. Will you clear off this instant?”
“B-but if the count of the papers and the money don’t match up, my boss’ll give me a right proper thrashing…”

Just then an empty carriage happened to draw up in front of her, and she clambered aboard, stamping her feet thump-thump as she went.

“To the Drake manor, and be quick about it.”
“M-my lady. Please, don’t be this way — the money for the papers, I beg you…”
“Oh, honestly!”

Gloria flung a few coins into the face of the boy, whose small, soft hands were still clamped fast around the carriage door, then rounded on the driver, who sat there stalled like a fool, and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

“What do you think you’re doing! Get us moving, at once!”
“Ah — yes. I’ll have you there in no time.”

Before long the carriage lurched into motion. As it rattled along, Gloria pored over the tabloid, slow and deliberate.

Reports indicate that the rumors of discord between Duke and Duchess Ernst are wholly without foundation. Of late the two have jointly led the railway enterprise, proving to all how firmly their marriage stands.

According to a Mr. A, one of the parties involved in the railway enterprise, “The Duke keeps the Duchess at his side even on the most important occasions,” and, he added, “the Duchess appears to be especially deeply engaged in this particular venture. It would seem the Duke holds her opinions in no small regard.”

Concerns linger, however, as to whether the Duchess’s involvement will carry the enterprise to a favorable result. Another party, a Mr. B, disclosed: “The Duke seems greatly swayed by whatever the Duchess says. His taking his wife about with him on matters of public business does not strike one as altogether becoming.”

Meanwhile, the ducal couple were also spotted enjoying a leisurely stroll through Berynew Park yesterday afternoon.

Gloria’s blazing eyes dropped to the photograph the paper had run alongside it.

It’s real, then.

A fresh surge of fury clenched her hand into a fist, heedless of the newspaper crumpling in her grip.

How in the world could Herman and Marienne be getting along? Isn’t it more likely Marienne bribed some reporter on purpose, just to screw me over?

There was simply no other way for it. A woman branded so man-crazed she’d covet her own twin’s husband, a woman whose name in society had sunk clean through the floor, did not simply become the subject of rumors that she was beloved.

In the photograph, Herman Ernst wore a soft smile. The sight of it turned her stomach so badly she thought she might bring up everything she’d just eaten.

And not once did he ever smile at me like that.

How on earth had it come to this? Gloria stroked her fingers over the Marienne in the photograph and murmured.

“This place should have been mine.”
“Yes, my lady?”

The driver asked it back, as if he hadn’t quite caught the words. Gloria snorted, her whole face incredulous.

“Sharp ears, for someone nobody was talking to. I wasn’t speaking to you, so just get moving.”

Gloria flung her tantrum in a voice brimming with temper. And yet her eyes never once strayed from the article.

I want it back. This place.

Swapping out a wife who had already been swapped once, doing it all a second time, was next to impossible. She would need some other way, then.

In that very instant, a splendid idea darted across her mind.

What if I were to try seducing Herman Ernst myself?

It wasn’t as though she couldn’t pull it off. This was Herman Ernst, after all, a man who’d fallen this hard even for a madwoman of a duchess like ‘Gloria Ernst.’ A man like that could hardly fail to want a ‘Marienne Drake’ who wore the very same face and carried a far better name.

Besides, I’ve already got the experience of winning away Cedric — Marienne’s very own husband.

That, in its way, made her something of a seasoned hand. A little more care applied to the method she’d used before, and she felt certain she could pry these two apart easily enough.

All right. What have I got to lose — I’ll give it a go.

The moment the thought settled, the stifling weight on her chest melted away like snow. Even her pulse, which had been thudding so unpleasantly, began to steady.

I ought to invite them round to the manor sometime soon.

Gloria let out a satisfied sigh and sank back heavily against the carriage seat. Out the window, the tabloid she’d tossed away rolled feebly along the main street.

Detective Richter knew every last corner of the capital as though it were his own home, and he would send word of our meeting place through a general-goods-shop clerk he’d won over beforehand. To keep clear of prying eyes, he met me in out-of-the-way spots: a shut-down platform at Baltaheim Station, or the shadows beneath a bridge’s piers.

Each time, I had to feed Herman some suitable excuse before I could set out. He no longer objected much to my going out these days, though he did insist on one condition: that a lady’s maid come along with me.

So every time, just before I met Detective Richter, I had to shake off my maid, Elli.

The day I met Robin on the disused platform, I told Elli I’d come to the station to meet an old friend. Then, remarking that the train seemed to be running late after all, I sent her off to ask when it was due. The moment she hurried away toward the stationmaster to check, I seized my chance, slipped into the crowd of passengers, and made for the meeting place.

It was the same the day I met Robin beneath the bridge. As I crossed it I let my hat drop on purpose, and while Elli chased after the one the wind had supposedly carried off, I met with Robin.

Today’s meeting was set for a small bookshop near the Imperial Museum. This spot was several times more ordinary than any he’d sent me to before, so I’d won leave to go out on the pretext of picking up the new release in a series I was fond of.

While I busied myself with the books, I’d asked Elli to fetch a crème brûlée from a dessert shop near the museum. That shop was popular enough that its queue ran clear back to the museum’s rear gate, which meant the chances of Elli returning to the bookshop any time soon were next to nil.

“Have you been keeping well of late, madam?”

Robin appeared at my side out of nowhere, just as I was feigning interest in the new releases while watching the room over the top of a book. For some reason, he had on a hat exactly like the shop clerk’s.

“…You truly do come and go without so much as a sound or a whisper.”

I did my level best not to let my eyes drift toward him.

“That you should be so pleased with my abilities. Why, I can’t think of a thing that would gladden me more.”
“I’ve a touch more leisure today than usual, though not so much that I’m at loose ends.”
“I’m well aware of it. Let me come straight to the point, then.”

Then, all at once, Robin exclaimed, “Ah, madam! That book — I know exactly where it’s shelved,” and brought a volume over to set down in front of me.

“It seems a housemaid was let go from the Drake county house a few days back. And right on cue, one of the kitchen hands doing the rough work seems to have taken a bad injury as well.”

Robin spoke softly, an even murmur.

“So I had the letters of recommendation you spoke of drawn up, and I’ve sent two people along to the Drake manor. So long as no one catches on that the documents are forged, I’d say we’ve a good chance of slipping them in.”

Robin was brimming with confidence, which likely meant everything had been prepared just that thoroughly. I lowered my voice and hid my face behind the book in my hands.

“And how can you be certain the people we’ve hired won’t turn on us?”
“You needn’t trouble yourself over that, madam. We’ve a firm grip on their weak points, our side. The relevant material is tucked inside page eighty-six of the book I handed you.”

I reached out, casual as anything, and opened the book he’d brought. Just as he’d said, the material sat tucked inside page eighty-six.

“The woman’s household is saddled with a great debt. So, in exchange for settling it, we’ve got her younger brother in our keeping just now.”
“Then this man is…”
“As you’ll see from the material, he’s a foreigner residing in the Empire unlawfully. He volunteered for this job because he was in need of money, so he’s in no position to cause any real trouble.”

I pored over the material Richter had prepared, turning over in my mind the worst that could come of this. The woman might flee in the dead of night while the office still held her younger brother; or the man might grow greedy for more money and hand our plan off to someone else. In the end, those seemed to be about the only two.

“It would be best to cut off all contact between the woman and her brother entirely until we put the plan into motion. It’s a matter of a few weeks at most, so there’s no reason we shouldn’t forbid it on our end.”
“Yes. I’ll see to it.”
“The man, too. Since there’s a danger he’ll grow greedy for more and sell the information elsewhere, I’ll set the condition that a further payment comes only once the plan succeeds.”
“Is there anything else you’d have me hear?”
“There is one thing. I’d like to meet the two of them in person.”
“I’ll arrange an occasion for it.”

I slipped the papers back in among the pages of the book he’d brought and closed it.

Now it truly comes down to nothing but watching for my chance to get near the Drake manor.

Knowing the day I’d return to my rightful place was no longer far off left me lighter inside and, at the very same time, strangely sorry.

If this plan truly does come off…

It would mean bidding farewell, all at once, to life as Gloria. The affairs I’d been managing would be left unfinished, and the time I’d spent here would have to be buried away forever.

Why does that keep snagging at my heart?

I shook the thought hastily from my head. There was barely time enough as it was to make certain the plan went off without a hitch, and I couldn’t fathom why I kept fretting over things so wholly beside the point.

Now was the time to be turning over one thing and one thing only: how I would get myself inside the Drake manor.