Edward took the music box from one of the sheriffs. With Raven’s cold eyes trained on him, he raised the corners of his mouth in a smile. “I already told you, didn’t I? A contrivance to catch the criminal.”
“Hey, wait just a minute. With that excuse, and that trap, this almost feels like child’s play. I must confess, I am shocked,” said Hat.
“There were already rumors that this scoundrel had sold someone a Demonic Heirloom. And now this. I’m sure we’ll find other skeletons in his closet. You shouldn’t have gotten involved with Octavia. You can regret that choice in jail for the next month or so.” Edward, sheathing his rapier, looked at Octavia with a triumphant expression. “Now you have no more fools willing to work with you.”
Octavia, who had been standing there, stunned, came back to her senses. Could it be that this is my fault? Edward had simply wanted to prevent Raven from helping Octavia look for the girl in the photograph. For that reason alone, he intended to throw Raven in jail.
To be sure, Octavia did suspect that Raven might be Crow, the Phantom Thief. Even so, Edward’s motivations and methods were unjust.
“To think that an almighty angel would resort to such underhanded tactics.”
Edward laughed in Ashton’s face. “I’ll choose to take your insolence as sour grapes and ignore it on this occasion.” He turned on his heel, then. The black-suited sheriffs who followed him dragged Raven along with them.
He can’t be caught by them, for this. And not by me.
She didn’t know what to do. “Raven!” She could only call his name.
Raven managed to turn his head and look back at her. “I’ll be fine. This should be fun.”
“Again with that—”
“Farewell.”
Octavia knew not what he meant by that. But Raven simply turned to look ahead once more, took a step forward by himself, and did not turn back again.
It was early in the morning that the fountain pen returned. Octavia, who had been lying on her bed, unable to fall asleep, sensed the pen arrive. She leapt up from her bed. Still in her pajamas, she turned to face the pen as it floated into her bedroom.
“Thank you, fountain pen. Did you manage to meet with Eliza? Did she send a message?”
The fountain pen performed a little twirl, then began to write glowing letters in the air.
Lord Raven is unharmed. Treating a marquis too tyrannically would attract criticism, and so they have decided to treat him as a witness. I suppose their objective is ultimately to prevent him from making contact with you, Lady Octavia. He is being kept under confinement, but I have no doubt that, once this is all resolved, he will be released.
“Thank goodness,” she sighed. The shameless way in which Raven had been arrested had left Octavia troubled.
Hat slid off the bed, then crawled along the floor before finally sluggishly pulling himself upright. “What’s all this? Has Eliza already sent a reply?”
“Go back to sleep, Hat.”
“I can’t very well do that, can I? Fountain pen, continue.”
In answer to Hat’s dozy command, the fountain pen began to smoothly write in the air once more.
There is a more pressing problem, however: the whereabouts of the young girl. Edward has requested another audience with the queen. It would seem that he wishes to report that he has found the girl, as she requested. An audience very like the one we had recently will likely be held shortly. As early as tomorrow.
“Tomorrow?!”
Just as you requested, I looked into the tools we saw in the photograph, but I only found the music box in the Royal Museum of Art. I could find no record of others in the inventory of the royal family of Angelus, and thus no record suggesting that we might be storing them. However, I have learned that when my uncle reported his discovery of the music box to my mother, she sealed its powers and donated it to the Royal Museum of Art. It seems that she will have it returned to the museum as early as tomorrow. I must apologize profusely for having no information of use to you. Although we have little time left, I will inform you the moment that I learn anything further.
The message seemed to end there. The magical letters in the air disappeared, and Octavia took the fountain pen and stood it up in the jar she kept on her desk. This was the fountain pen’s favorite spot.
“Thanks, You can rest now. You were a great help.”
Octavia sat down on the side of her bed. Eliza’s message had been reassuring. Still, she sighed.
“So the deadline is tomorrow. No matter what I do, there just isn’t enough time.”
“In fact, today is all we have left. But that’s fine, isn’t it? All we’ll have to do is move out of this mansion. If you ask Eliza, I’m sure she’ll find you a new place to live in no time.”
“But will Edward and Father really stop at that? Besides, it’ll be very difficult to take all the tools with us when we move.”
“Well,” Hat conceded, “yes, I suppose it would be.”
“Moreover, I have a bad feeling about all this,” muttered Octavia, before flopping down on her bed and looking up at the ceiling. Though the room was still dim, no light coming in from outside, she covered her eyes with one arm.
What did he mean by that, saying “farewell” so suddenly? Raven had not been arrested as Crow, the Phantom Thief. He had only been detained to spite Octavia. He would eventually be released. Even Raven should have been able to predict that much. He would have at least been considering what efforts he could make to see that he was released. He wasn’t the sort of person to take such abuse lying down.
“Why did he say ‘farewell,’ I wonder,” sighed Octavia.
“You’ll have to ask him. Not like he’d really answer you, though.” Hat came to sit beside Octavia. “I wonder if there was something else to it. Some threat that his identity might be exposed, perhaps?”
“In that childish booby trap, you mean? All Edward did was manipulate the music box so it would hit Raven and knock him down once the lights went out. To say he was caught in the act just based on that is strange.”
“Then perhaps he just didn’t want to get involved with the royal family in the same way as us. How about that?”
“But then he wouldn’t have attended the audience in the first place. And knowing him, he would run away if he were cau—” Tugging at her bangs as she thought, Octavia froze. That’s right. Raven can escape.