🌷 🌷 🌷
THEY went to the Cathedral’s office, but the pope wasn’t there. It seemed he wasn’t the type to stay in one place for long and was even known to quietly disappear with a broom in hand when he had nothing else to do.
“If he loves to clean, then the people who serve God really must be a different type than the rest of us,” Ophelia remarked.
“You’re right about that. The current pope is a rare character. He’s prudent and doesn’t spend extravagantly.”
The two wandered aimlessly around the Cathedral searching for the pope.
In the gardens that didn’t have any established flower beds or gorgeous statues, the small yellow flowers that had somehow pushed their way up between the weeds swayed in a gentle breeze. However, the gardens also didn’t appear to be entirely abandoned. The dead flowers and fallen leaves had all been cleared away, leaving an impression of manmade nature.
They made their way around a large tree, and just as they were turning the corner of the building, Ophelia’s legs wobbled, and she collapsed into a little pile on the ground.
“Oi, are you okay?”
“I just lost my balance, that’s all. I can still walk on my own, so I believe we’re still a good distance from whatever caused this.”
“I don’t see anyone up ahead…”
“Yeah. So I think… Oh! Oh… Um, probably there’s some damage or defect in the building a bit further down.” Ophelia inched her way forward, holding onto the wall for support.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Whatever it is, it’s this way.”
“So it seems, but there’s no need for you to intentionally go toward it, is there?” Claudio tugged on her arm, and Ophelia turned to him with a look of surprise.
“But, but, but! If I don’t go there and fix it, someone might get hurt…”
“But nothing. You’re not a repair woman anymore.”
Ophelia shook her head emphatically from side to side as if hurt by those words, and tears began gathering in her eyes. She decided to ignore Claudio’s incredulity and turned to resume walking one shaky step at a time.
The further she went, the more unstable her legs became, and her hands started shaking where she was gripping desperately onto the wall.
“Oh, ohhh… Uwahh… Eeek…”
“Are you unable to walk without making those strange noises?”
“Pant… Th-They just come ouuut…!”
Claudio put a hand on his forehead and let out an exasperated sigh as he trailed along behind Ophelia, who was hobbling like a bent-backed old granny.
Ophelia fought off the tears still threatening to fall and pushed on.
Claudio reached out to grab her shoulder, but he stopped just short of touching her. Somehow, Claudio got the feeling that he shouldn’t stop Ophelia when she was pushing forward in spite of her fear. Should he have her hold onto his jacket like before? Or should he go on ahead and find the cause of her shaking for her?
In the end, Claudio settled on silently following along one step behind Ophelia.
He didn’t know why, but something told him that it wasn’t the right move to intervene without her asking for his help. This timid girl, who’d hidden frantically behind her brother, was now intentionally heading into a dangerous area with the hazy reasoning that “Someone might get hurt.”
“Wh-Whoa there! Be careful!”
Ophelia was leaning most of her weight on the wall and panting so hard that her shoulders shook from the force of her ragged breaths when the first tear finally spilled over and rolled down her cheek. She reached up to wipe it away with her sleeve, and as if the dam had broken, tears began flowing freely down her face. Even so, she forced her shaking legs to continue moving forward.
“…What are your senses telling you now?” he asked.
It’s obviously so unpleasant that she’s crying, but she keeps going… This isn’t persistence; it’s obsession.
All Claudio could do was stare at Ophelia’s frame from behind, unstable and unreliable, but full of a strong sense of justice that left him with complex feelings that he couldn’t find a name for.
“I’m sure it’s somewhere around here, but… Ugh, if only Bernard were here, he’d find the broken spot. I can’t determine a precise location…” Ophelia muttered, her hand on the wall, forming into a fist.
They passed through a copse of trees behind the building, coming out at a corner where the wall looked particularly weathered. Ophelia looked around, her head whipping around and her expression bewildered. Seeing her only barely managing to stay upright with her upper body plastered against the wall, Claudio concluded that this must be the right area.
Just then, the rustling sound of grass parting and the heavy thump of approaching footsteps reached his ears, causing Claudio to tense in anticipation and turn toward the source of the noise.
“Duke Stolarni? This area is off-limits. What are you doing out here?”
In front of him stood a white-haired man wearing white robes and a suspicious expression.
“Your Holiness. We went to the office, but you weren’t there, so we came looking for you,” Claudio responded.
“I see… I’m sorry for inconveniencing you.”
“No, well, it’s my fault for showing up unannounced like this. We were passing through the area, so I thought I’d stop in and see you. It’s been too long.”
“Goodness me, thank you very much! I was just tidying up the garden a bit…” The long sleeves of the pope’s robe swayed elegantly as he gestured to where a bare tree stood a short distance away, with its leaves and branches stripped away.
“What happened there?” Claudio tilted his head to the side in a perplexed gesture, and the pope strangely covered the lower half of his face with his sleeve.
“I see you’ve noticed, sharp as ever. Every year, around this time, that tree blooms with vibrant red flowers for just a few days. However, something about it draws in insects that eat the new leaves immediately after the flowers have fallen. I don’t often have time to tend to the garden, so after the flowers’ glory passes, it always ends up getting stripped bare like that. Hehe, I do always look forward to gathering the fallen branches and roasting potatoes in the fire when I burn them. You caught me red-handed, secretly gathering sticks just now.”
The pope gave a dignified chuckle, his eyes narrowed with good humor. Then he caught sight of Ophelia leaning hard against the wall, barely staying upright, and he frowned.
“Goodness, whatever is the matter with that lady over there?”
“That’s my employee… She’s not feeling very well at the moment, but she’ll be just fine soon enough, so don’t worry about her.”
The sound of Claudio’s voice helped calm her shaking just a bit, allowing Ophelia to raise her head.
“Oh! Director, th-that’s it! I’m sure of it.”
Claudio looked where Ophelia was pointing and found a cracked section of tile beside one of the windows on the third floor of the three-story building that had pieces chipping off.
“Wh-When one tile falls off, the surrounding tiles will also begin falling off. …Even a small tile could be very dangerous falling from the third floor,” Ophelia explained, gasping for each breath as she did.
The pope cupped his chin with his hand and nodded as he gazed up at the broken section of tile. “I didn’t notice. You’re right, that certainly is dangerous. I’ll put in a request to have it repaired right away.”
Nodding his acknowledgement of the pope’s calm reply, Claudio couldn’t help feeling there was something strange about Ophelia’s condition. Would such a small tile, at such a great distance, really cause her to shake that badly?
“Please wait just a moment.” Claudio’s expression turned suspicious, and he walked quickly over to the spot in front of the first-floor window where the broken tile fragments had fallen. “This is… There are footprints here. And over here too. There are traces indicating someone tried to climb up here.”
“What?!”
Claudio waited while the pope bustled over to stand beside him, then tilted his head back to look up. “What are the rooms directly above this spot?” he asked.
“The second floor is the library, and the third floor is… my, or rather, the pope’s private office.”
Claudio glared at the footprints on the ground, his face fierce. Upon closer inspection, several more tiles had been cracked by feet pressing against them. “It seems that someone was trying to sneak in. You should be careful.”
“Indeed… I believe an inventory of the library and my office is also in order.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
Ophelia finally made her way over to where the two of them were standing. Claudio glanced over and confirmed what he’d suspected—her trembling had stopped. Then he looked back up at the third-floor window.
“…I’ll submit a request to the Ministry of Safety to increase your security personnel here as well.”