STALE
“WHAT DOES this mean?!”
About an hour after Gilbert arrived with that batch of documents, Cedric gripped his hair and let out that shout.
Struggling to keep my composure, I groped for the right words. “It seems that there were two fewer people in attendance than there should have been, according to your memory.”
I’d made him count from memory without telling him the official attendance number, waiting patiently to see what number Cedric would come up with. It turned out there were two fewer guests than I had any record of. I made Cedric repeat the process to be sure, but the result was the same.
We’d temporarily sealed off all the doors and windows after Pride collapsed. I’d pressed the guards in charge of keeping the perimeter safe, and they’d assured me no one had left the ballroom during that time, not even to use the restroom. No one had returned from outside the ballroom either. But somehow, two people were missing from Cedric’s count.
Cedric had scanned the crowd as he ran to Pride’s side. From up on the stage, he could see everyone. That made me wonder if two people could have fainted from shock or fallen to the floor in fear, but neither Uncle Vest nor Father had heard of anything like that.
That brought me to a grim conclusion: Two guests had taken advantage of the chaos to hide for some reason. There was one additional possibility, but I clenched my jaw and pushed up my glasses when it occurred to me. I gripped the guest list, racking my brain to figure out who those two suspects could be.
This information made it much more likely that Pride’s collapse had been triggered on purpose. If Cedric’s memory was correct, the ballroom perimeter had been secure, and the final head count of guests was accurate, we had little else to point to. Some of the overnight guests were still here, but the culprit could have fled the night before. Maybe they were on the run right now. If that was the case, we had to narrow down a suspect quickly so we could get them on the wanted list.
I fought down my rising panic and focused on Cedric, my last hope for solving this. “Prince Cedric, I’m sorry to ask, but is there any way you can identify those two people?”
As I tried to keep my emotions in check, Cedric shook his head. Defeated as I felt, I couldn’t blame him. Of course he couldn’t do something like that. Memorizing the number of guests was practically magic on its own. If he could single out who was missing, he would be like a god.
“There were a lot of people our country had never met before!” Cedric burst out. “Maybe I’d recognize them if we’d been introduced before, but I can’t match the strangers’ faces to their names alone… Forgive me!”
Cedric burned with shame, but Uncle Vest and I perked up at that. Could it be…? We exchanged glances.
This time, he was the one to question the prince. “Pardon me, Prince Cedric, but does that mean you remember all their faces and appearances, even if you don’t know their names?”
“I do. If I had any talent for art, I could give you perfectly accurate drawings. Not that I’ve ever tried before.”
My heart threatened to leap out of my chest. That can’t be! My mouth fell open as I grappled with what to do. We could summon a skilled artist, but it would take too much time to sketch every last guest from such a massive party. Uncle Vest and I knew the names and faces of everyone we’d met at least once—just not the extra details, like what they were wearing. I’d also met many people for the very first time that night, as Pride had. Though I had said hello to most of them, there were some people I hadn’t spoken to at all.
There was one such person, however—someone who attended every ceremony, exchanged greetings with every guest, and memorized all of their unique traits and changes.
Uncle Vest and I shouted for the guards outside the room simultaneously.
“Summon Prime Minister Gilbert!”
“Bring Gilbert here at once!”