A short while later, the same two men returned, leading a man with graying hair slowly into the room. He limped a bit as he walked, but his bearing as he sat down on the sofa was refined and dignified. Furthermore, his fancy clothing identified him as an aristocrat. The man was sitting facing Ophelia. She could see his gaze roving around the room busily, but he didn’t notice Ophelia and Angelo watching him. The two men who’d led him into the room took up positions on either side of the sofa, as if standing guard.
“Ophelia, you just keep your eyes on that man, got it?”
“O-Okay.”
Angelo twirled a pen absently in his hand as he responded to Ophelia’s whispered answer, “They can’t hear you in here, so you don’t have to keep your voice down.”
“So far, nothing appears to be off,” Angelo observed based on Ophelia’s demeanor and lack of shaking.
“No, not that I can tell…”
Angelo began writing in his notebook. Ophelia took a quick peek and was surprised he had unexpectedly nice penmanship.
The door burst open, and Samael strode into the room with a serious expression. Claudio filed in behind him. Claudio’s eyes flicked over to the man in the chair, who hissed in a breath through his teeth.
“Now then, this is our second meeting, so I’m hoping you’ll feel like talking this time,” Samael said as he sat down on the opposite sofa, but the man merely looked down at the ground silently. He had his tightly folded hands resting in his lap, and the tension in his shoulders was easy to see even from here.
Claudio looked outside through the small window, then, with his hands in his pockets, he crossed the room to sit down on the stool and cross his legs. From there, he stared unflinchingly at the suspect.
“No comment, eh? I suppose you do have the right to remain silent, but as long as you do, we won’t be able to allow you to go home.”
Samael sank back against the back of the sofa, raised his arms, and laced his fingers together behind his head. This shifted his hair just enough that it revealed the tip of one of his ears, where he was wearing a cuff identical to Angelo’s. Ophelia couldn’t see his face since he was sitting with his back to them, but based on the nobleman’s nervous expression, she was willing to bet he wasn’t smiling.
Lord Samael might actually be a very scary person…
Ophelia was staring unconsciously at Samael’s ear cuff when Angelo poked her arm.
“You’re supposed to be looking at the suspect, not at the assistant director.”
“I’m sorry!”
“It’s fine.”
He caught me zoning out! What’s wrong with me, slacking on the one and only task I’ve been given…?!
Ophelia clutched onto the window frame and forced herself to concentrate. She still wanted more than anything to return to the Architectural Institute, but she certainly didn’t want to be sent back in disgrace because she’d been useless.
Ophelia concentrated on the nobleman whose eyes were wandering over the table with his mouth firmly shut, but no part of her body so much as twitched.
Despite the wall separating them, there should be no impediment to Ophelia’s ability at this distance. In the past, her hands had shaken just from walking past a room with something broken inside it. But would the same rule apply to people? Given how doggedly she’d avoided human contact, Ophelia couldn’t say for sure.
Just as she was beginning to worry, Samael spoke again.
“Let’s change the question. Earl, are you plotting something?”
“…”
Ophelia’s left hand twitched. With a glance at Ophelia, Angelo muttered something.
“Have you let foreigners illegally enter the country one after another for some purpose? If you refuse to answer, I will take that as confirmation.”
“…I haven’t done anything…” The nobleman spoke for the first time, and his voice set off tremors in both of Ophelia’s hands. “I brought them here to work in a factory in my province, but they ran off. I planned to take care of their paperwork after they’d all arrived at the factory. That’s all…”
All at once, Ophelia’s knees folded. She reached for the window frame with both hands, but they were shaking too badly to grasp onto it, and she landed hard on her bottom on a conveniently placed pillow.
“Are you okay?!”
Angelo crouched down and peered into Ophelia’s face. However, probably because he needed to observe her condition without interfering, he didn’t offer her his hand. He also couldn’t completely conceal a trace of amusement on his face.
Ophelia nodded in reply and went to stand, but the hand she’d tried to brace herself with slipped out from under her, and this time she plowed face-first into the mat.
Thank goodness I went with pants today!
“Oh, oh my…”
“Ophelia keeps falling over and can’t get back up.”
Cutting a glare at Angelo as he calmly relayed her predicament, Ophelia clutched onto the wall and somehow dragged herself to her feet. She held tightly onto the window frame and peeked through the window, finding the previously antsy nobleman now bristling with anger, beet-red, and glaring furiously at Samael.
“I haven’t done anything wrong!” the nobleman insisted with such conviction that it was hard to reconcile him with the meek man he’d originally presented as.
“…The shaking has stopped.” Angelo’s calm voice rocked Ophelia, who hadn’t even realized that she’d stopped shaking.
He’s right… Which means that man isn’t lying.
“I see. We searched your factory, but it didn’t seem to be so understaffed as to require bringing in foreign laborers.”
The nobleman’s mouth twisted in displeasure at Samael’s calm, probing statement. “Th-That’s… I was planning to have them work on a new venture that I’m starting.”
Again, Ophelia’s legs began shaking. She clung to the window frame in a desperate attempt to stay upright, so when she ultimately fell, her knees hit the hard ground just past the edge of the mat.
“Ow, that had to have hurt.” Angelo’s delighted grin was in stark contrast to his concerned tone.
Did Samael hear Ophelia’s squeal of pain via the ear cuff Angelo was wearing? It seemed likely based on the deep sigh he heaved.
“So that’s how it is, is it? Fine then, you can take advantage of our hospitality for as long as you like.”
“Enough already! Who do you think I am?! How dare you keep me in a dungeon like some petty criminal!”
“You’ve been cooling your heels in style in a luxurious room used exclusively for aristocrats. If you want to see a real dungeon, we’d be happy to relocate you to the underground cells with the other criminals. Those are not nearly so nice, don’t you agree, Director?”
Claudio, who looked the most elegant of them all despite sitting in the simplest chair, glared at the nobleman with narrowed eyes. Immediately, all color left the man’s face.
“You won’t be released from custody until I’m satisfied of your innocence. You’re stuck here until your name is cleared. We’re done for today; take him away.”
The two guards nodded and led the man from the room, framing him on both sides. The moment the door closed behind them, Samael turned to look at the window behind him.
“Very nicely done, Lady Narve! This is really incredible.”
“Good job, Ophelia!” Angelo added.
“Huff…Huff…” Ophelia sank to the floor in relief and hugged one of the pillows to her chest.
Am I going to be this exhausted every day from now on?
“Let’s head back to the Director’s Office for now. Can you stand?”
This time, Angelo lent her his hand, helping Ophelia slowly to her feet. Ophelia winced when a twinge of pain shot through her left knee, probably from where she’d fallen the last time.
“It looks like the mat’s not long enough. I’ll go get another one later.”
“…You seem to be enjoying this,” she grumbled.
“What?! Not at all! I feel terrible that you were injured while helping us!” Angelo became flustered and quickly pasted on a sad face, which only caused Ophelia to tremble again.
“…You really were enjoying it…”
“S-Sorry… I just thought you looked so cute when you were in pain…”
Angelo gave a sheepish laugh, but he wasn’t lying. Now that she’d stopped shaking, Ophelia straightened her posture and ran her hands through her hair, trying to tame it.
“Are there more interrogations scheduled for today?” she asked.
“There are, but whether you will sit in is up to the director and assistant director.”
“Oh?”
Angelo removed the ear cuff, put it into its case, and slipped the whole thing casually into his pocket.
The assistant director praised me, but all I did was shake like a leaf! I doubt it was really all that useful…
And what about the director? What did he think? What will I do if he says they don’t need me after all?
The image of Claudio’s beautiful face in profile as he gazed out the small window was burned into the inside of Ophelia’s eyelids. With anticipation and nervousness warring in her chest, Ophelia exited the room.