“You won’t catch me just yet, Miss Detective.”
Octavia heard a blood vessel burst somewhere around her temple. “H-How dare you,” she said slowly, “k-kiss me...a second time?!”
Crow floated back into the air, laughing gleefully. “Ha ha ha ha ha!” In his right hand, he held the music box. With his left arm, he was holding the young girl who had been brought here to serve as an impostor for the girl in the photograph.
Forgetting her fury, Octavia cried, “Wait, what are you planning to do with that girl?!”
“She met with this fate while standing in for me. I don’t mind performing the odd act of charity.”
The girl was unable to speak and could only goggle in astonishment. She timidly looked up at the Phantom Thief. Feeling her gaze on him, Crow looked back at her with a surprisingly kind smile on his face.
“It’s not as if you have a home to go back to, right? You might say we’re in the same boat.”
She was silent.
“I’m happy to abduct you, if you wish. It’s your decision to make. Now choose.” The way Crow phrased this would have set anyone’s teeth on edge. But the girl, her eyes as wide as saucers, simply nodded in response.
“That’s settled, then.”
“Wait! Stop! That man is definitely up to no good! He’s tricking you!”
“That’s awfully harsh, Miss Detective.”
“Come down here at once! Before you get the chance to fool that innocent girl, I’ll break both your legs! I swear I will!”
“Is that jealousy I hear?”
“Huh?!”
Tucking the girl under his arm, the Phantom Thief bowed gracefully. “Well, bye for now, everyone. Think you can catch me, Miss Detective?”
The queen’s staff rang out again, shuddering as she slammed it against the floor. As soon as she had done so, however, Crow had vanished, as if by sleight of hand.
Atop Octavia’s head, Hat murmured in astonishment, “What do we do? The way things are going...”
“What did he say just now?”
It was not Hat who answered Octavia’s question, but the queen. “He invited you to catch him if you can—Detective.”
In other words, they were back to square one. Once again, things were just as they had been after that first infuriating kiss. Octavia slammed her fist down on the round table—bang!
Why, that cad... He’s got some nerve!
“Now,” proclaimed the queen suddenly, “I will state my decision regarding the request I made of those gathered here.”
Octavia wasn’t the only one startled by this. Her father—who in the recent commotion had retreated to one of the walls in the room, taking Jessie with him—now gingerly approached the table again.
“F-Forgive my impertinence, Your Majesty, but I really do not think this is the time for that...”
“Th-That’s right, Mother. Uncle is...” Edward, clinging to the round table, used only his eyes to point in Henry’s direction.
Henry still cowered on the floor, trembling and holding his head in his hands. He didn’t appear to have been injured, but however one looked at him, his condition was clearly abnormal. He had only just begun to be dragged to the other side, but Octavia had not brought him back using the correct steps, after all. Most likely his consciousness had been consumed by the other side.
“Leave him. We do not even know if he is in his right mind.”
Hearing the queen dismiss her brother with such indifference, Edward could not help but speak up. “You can’t mean that!”
“He would be facing punishment, in any case. To think that he would dare to try and deceive me, bringing an impostor before me.”
“Th-That’s only according to Octavia! Nothing has been prov—”
“Well, then, Edward, is it true that you produced a fake, just as Henry claims?” asked the queen in an icy tone.
Edward gulped and fell silent.
“Recall what the Phantom Thief said—that the girl was brought here to stand in for him. In other words, can we not say that he did, in fact, acknowledge that the girl in the photograph was him? Detective Octavia. Your deduction—that the girl in the photograph was Crow, the Phantom Thief himself—was correct.”
Though this was indeed the case, Octavia’s feelings on the matter were complex. It was only proven to be true because the Phantom Thief admitted it himself. In other words, did Crow not still have her in the palm of his hand? She didn’t feel pleased in the slightest.
“You, Detective Octavia, have fulfilled my request.”
“P-Please, wait, Your Majesty!” Octavia’s father, reading between the lines, spoke up in a pitiful voice.
Jessie, realizing the same thing, turned deathly pale and clung to Edward. “P-Prince Edward. Do something. You’re a prince, aren’t you?!”
“Be quiet. This is unsightly.”
At the queen’s cold declaration, Jessie shrieked, gulped, and gingerly looked up at the dais where the queen sat, her eyes full of flattery. “M-Mother-in-law, I only—”
“Edward. Take that wretched woman with you and leave this chamber at once.”
“M-Mother... I find your choice of words to be uncalled for...”
The queen declared, “The next Earl of Reine shall be you, Lady Octavia.”
Jessie let out a tiny scream, and her father turned white as a sheet.
“Y-You can’t... I beg you to reconsider, Your Majesty!”
“I suppose you’re right,” Octavia interjected, “but I must respectfully decline.”
“That’s right! This girl is not worthy of leading the House of Reine...” Octavia’s father trailed off, looking at her with a daft expression on his face. “Eh?”
Edward and Jessie were also startled.
“What did you say just now?” Even the queen felt the need to seek confirmation.