"…Dead?"
When Gurewin heard this, he finally took off his mask and leaned forward. Jacqueline nodded sadly.
"Yes, it's too sudden. He didn't expect such a thing to happen, and he was so young.”
"There was an autopsy, right?"
Jacqueline was shocked and quickly shook her head in denial.
"No, I haven't. He was immediately buried."
"Jacqueline, you're still the wife of the police chief. How could he not pay attention to the cause of death when a strange death happened in front of him?”
"That, that, that's because you're a famous police officer. But I'm an outsider, and we completely believe the doctor's words…"
"Oh, so it's all because of your carelessness. Continue. Mmmm."
"I, I know."
Jacqueline continued. The cafe was very quiet, and the luxurious crystal chandelier hanging from the high ceiling was shining. The guests inside were in twos and threes, and they could listen to the piano playing from afar. The waiter silently walked through the passage and continued to serve the guests. Gurewin seemed to recall something and took a sip of the black tea.
" This is what happened after the yellow cupid suddenly died…"
"Yellow?"
"Yes, I am."
"What a strange taste…"
The impatient maid stared at Gurewin's sharp hairstyle.
Looking at the dazzling Mediterranean Sea, Sophia lived a tearful life every day. The vexed Jacqueline sighed as she rocked her hammock.
However, no matter how much she cried, the dead would not come back to life. She had to think of a way to restore Sophia's spirit.
Therefore, ten days later, she helped Sophia change her clothes and put on beautiful makeup before taking her outside. There should be a lot of happy things in the city-there were formal tea parties where nobles gathered, and there were casual parties held by local young people on the beach. Jacqueline was not afraid of strangers and liked to interact with people. Although Sophia was in a low mood, she was also a cheerful and lovely woman, so everyone was happy to make friends with them after they showed up at the party.
At the end of the summer, Sophia finally regained her energy and Jacqueline could finally rest assured. At the tea party, Sophia became interested in the supernatural craze that had recently become popular among noble women. The lady they visited had also found a famous psychic.
"She lost her only son in the World War. It was said that because of this, he had learned many things.”
She wanted Sophia to be more cheerful, so she brought up this topic. However, Jacqueline couldn't help but feel worried. Although he had made many suggestions, it seemed that they were not adopted.
"It's really hard for people to agree with the Spiritfall Society. He had to pay her a lot of money, and it was a lie. Sophia, don't believe that. Let's go out and relax.”
"I don't want to. If the psychic was real, he might be able to hear the voice of the dead Cupid.”
"Cupid's voice? But, but he couldn't hear it at all…?”
"Why are you so sure, Jacqueline?”
"Sophia…"
The so-called Seance was a game that had recently become popular among the nobles. Following the psychic's instructions, they sat around the round table in the room, holding hands. After the lights were extinguished, they waited for the dead to possess the medium. Though Jacqueline didn't believe it at all, she was dragged to the seance by Sophia.
The psychic was an old woman who claimed that the lady's dead son had possessed her, and she kept writing messages from her son with a quill. The content was all,"Mom, take care!"”"The world after death is very peaceful." Wait a minute, anyone could have written it, but Sophia completely believed it. And without caring about Jacqueline's objections, he paid a high price to organize his own Serene Gathering.
After receiving Sophia's money, the psychic began to hold a seance. Perhaps she was impatient with Jacqueline's opposition, but one day, she finally said,""Cupid was murdered. The criminal is among us."
He took out a yellow wine of the same color as Cupid and gave a glass to everyone attending the seance.
"Only the prisoner's cocktail party has become cloudy because of the crime. That's what Cupid told me."
The medium announced in a low, trembling voice, pouring wine into everyone's glasses.
And then…
For some reason, only Jacqueline's glass turned white immediately after the wine was poured into it. Among the frightened crowd, the spirit medium opened her eyes wide and shouted proudly,
"As expected, this woman killed the dog!”
Jacqueline came back to her senses and retorted,
"That's not true. It was because the sandwiches we ate had gone bad because of the summer sun. It could also be because there were onions mixed in it that caused dogs to develop allergic symptoms. Why would I kill my friend's beloved pet? Why don't you tell me the reason why I did this?”
"Only you know the reason. But that's what Cupid told me, that it was killed by this woman.”
The pleased psychic pointed at Jacqueline and even barked a few times. Jacqueline was furious.
"Dogs don't talk. You're lying. You must understand, Sophia…Sophia?”
Looking back at her friends, Sophia, who didn't know what to do, just looked at the psychic and Jacqueline. Jacqueline suddenly felt weak when she saw his uneasy expression.
Although she was worried that Sophia would bring her around this summer, now that she thought about it, it seemed like she was meddling in other people's business. The confident psychic even asked her if there was any other reason why the wine would turn white.
Jacqueline thought hard, but she still couldn't figure it out. She could only shake her head.
The other people at the Seance were muttering under their breath,"The police chief's wife actually poisoned someone else's dog?”"This is unbelievable!" Words like that. At the thought of how this would affect her husband's reputation, her eyes darkened.
Sophia lowered her head in silence, unwilling to meet Jacqueline's gaze.
In the end, Jacqueline and Sophia parted awkwardly and returned to Suvalon dejectedly. The originally pleasant summer memories became bitter because of this…
"That's, that's what happened. Gurewin…Gurewin, are you listening to me?”
There was no response. Jacqueline couldn't help but feel troubled."Seriously, am I talking too much…? Don't tell me he fell asleep?" As he thought of this, he reached out and removed the black mask.
Beneath the mask, Gurewin's expression was dull.
He drank the red tea in one gulp and said in a low voice that was close to a sigh,"
"…Dog?"
"That's right."
"Are you talking about dogs? Cupid is a dog?"
"That's right. Didn't I say it from the beginning?"
"Absolutely not."
"Is that so? In short, it was a very beautiful little yellow dog. Although she was a little shy, she would only call out softly,'Woof! Oh. It's really cute."
"So it's a dog…"
Gurewin, who was muttering to himself, noticed Jacqueline's dejected look and seemed to cheer her up.
"But a dog died. Is there a need to make such a fuss?”
"It's a big deal for the owner. My heart is heavy because my friend misunderstood me. And how could I possibly do something as terrible as poisoning a cute puppy…but even if I think so, it still doesn't explain the incredible phenomenon that happened in that Soulfall…"
"Oh."
Jacqueline's heart sank as she spoke, and her head drooped lower and lower. Gurewin stared at her with a serious expression before whispering,
"No, I still don't know."
"Eh?"
"No, it's fine…Why did the yellow wine turn white? He did not know. Hmm…he was clearly an excellent police officer, but he still didn't know. Hmm…Why? It was unbelievable. What should he do? Ah ~ Sigh, damn it, I have no choice!”
He kept reciting to himself and even shook the golden cannon up and down. Finally, he stood up and walked away. Jacqueline asked in surprise,
"You, where are you going?"
"I'll go around and think about it.”
"Thinking? Thinking about what? Gurewin?"
After a while, Gurewin still didn't come back. Jacqueline couldn't help but worry. Just as she left her seat and looked around, the waiter reported in a low voice,
"The pointy-headed man who was with you is in the telephone room now.”
"The telephone room?"
Jacqueline asked in surprise, then walked to the telephone room in the hotel lobby.
Gurewin was indeed in the small, independent square-shaped room, holding the receiver and arguing with someone.
(What, what are you doing?)
Jacqueline approached quietly to confirm the situation.
A low, frustrated voice could be heard from the telephone room.
"Don't look at your feet!"
(Eh? At my feet…?
He seemed to be angry.
"This demon! He always wants me to do this and that just for fun. You've always been like this. What…? Hey, don't laugh! Woo!"
Jacqueline couldn't help but tilt her head. Gurewin stared at the receiver with a terrifying expression.
"What do you take me for! There was a limit to how much one looked down on others. Stop nagging and tell me quickly. You asked who was the one worrying…Jacqueline. Jacqueline. What was that? Just say yes? Jia? Osmanthus? Lin!"
My name…?
Gurewin lowered his voice, so he couldn't hear what he said next. Though doubtful, Jacqueline returned to her seat and waited for him. The maid also said with an incredulous expression,"Why is that gentleman so slow?”
After a while, Gurewin finally left the phone room. She thought that he would come back here, but for some reason, he walked straight to the dressing room. Jacqueline and the maid looked at each other.
"What happened?"
"Who knows?"
However, his actions also made the maid angry.
"This gentleman left his seat in the middle of his sentence and began to wander around. This is too rude to Madam. Even if they are childhood sweethearts, they shouldn't…"
She complained as she tugged at the hem of her apron.
"He must be very busy. After all, he was a police officer who had solved many difficult cases and was a respected person. I'm the one who disturbed him."
"Even so…"
"It's okay, Marion."
"What an outrageous childhood sweetheart."
"Marion…"
However, Jacqueline was also bored and began to make funny faces to tease the children sitting nearby. The little kid was not willing to admit defeat and returned the favor with a grimace, which made Jacqueline even more enthusiastic.
Finally, he heard the door of the dressing room open. Gurewin, who had left the dressing room, walked closer and closer. Jacqueline, who was making a face, noticed the footsteps and looked up.
Gurewin couldn't take it anymore and looked down.
"What kind of expression is that? Why are you still the same as before? I thought that you would change after becoming the wife of the police chief, but you haven't changed at all. You're still the same as before, a little girl who can do whatever she wants.”
"…Gurewin."
Jacqueline, who had stopped making funny faces, also looked up at him with an expression of disbelief."
"You've changed too much. What was going on? Your…your…head…"
Gurewin's head seemed to have been rearranged in the toilet, and the golden cannon became two. His golden hair was like a ferocious crocodile, opening its mouth ferociously. Jacqueline didn't know what to say, so she just looked up silently. Gurewin turned around and continued,"
"Don't worry. But…"
"How, how can I not care? What's wrong with you? What happened to you in the last few minutes? As a bystander, I really couldn't understand it at all.”
"Wait a minute, I'll make another call. Give me a moment."
"What?!"
Jacqueline stared blankly at the back of the man who was shaking the two cannons and hurrying to the telephone room, then hurried after him. Gurewin held the receiver and was arguing with someone.
"Victoria…I did it.”
It was a deep voice that was truly enraged.
"You little brat, you're really a troublesome fellow. If you want to make it sharp, you can make it sharp. If you want to increase it, you can increase it. You have to believe that this is my way of living as a man…You, you say that I'm useless? Who caused me to become like this? Victoria, my sister…you better remember this. I mean it."
He could only tell that he was arguing with someone. Then Gurewin listened to the other party with a serious expression, sometimes shouting,"Ah!”、Sometimes he nodded, and sometimes he whispered," Really?”
It seemed that she would have to talk for a long time. Jacqueline quietly left the telephone room and went back to the table to ask the waiter for a cup of black tea. However, she saw Gurewin, who seemed to have changed into a different person, walking back dejectedly. Jacqueline, who was worried about him, couldn't help but say,"
"Gurewin, you must be very busy, right? He looked terrible. Something big must have happened, so…"
"You don't have to worry about it."
"Is, is that so…?"
"Do you want to order anything else?"
"Yes, I want another cup of black tea. Does Gurewin want it?"
"I would like to have a drink…Waiter!”
Gurewin sat in his seat and called for the attendant.
"A bottle of absinthe and two glasses, please. Other than that, I want water."
Jacqueline asked in disbelief,"
"It's not even dark yet and you're already drinking? And since when did you know how to drink?”
"Oh…"
Gurewin, who was deep in thought, just held his mask and remained silent.
Through the glass windows of the cafe, the evening sun shone dazzlingly. While they were there, tanned men and women who had just returned from their vacation passed by quickly. It was getting closer and closer to the end of summer.
The waiter finally brought a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a glass of water. Jacqueline, who had been looking at it leisurely, suddenly remembered that she had seen this wine bottle before.
"This bottle of wine…"
"That's right."
Gurewin nodded and said,
"This should be the kind of wine used by psychics, right? Yellow wine of the same color as the dead dog.”
"Yes, I remember this label. Yellow wine only turns white when poured into my glass..."
"I'll pour it into this glass first.”
Gurewin filled his glass with yellow absinthe. Jacqueline's lips trembled as she recalled the scene from that day.
"That's right, this is the wine. It was very close to Cupid's beautiful yellow.”
"Then do this in this glass.”
Gurewin poured a small amount of water into another glass, and then poured in the absinthe.
Jacqueline and the maid couldn't help but exclaim,"Ah!"”He shouted.
Seeing that the yellow wine had turned white, Jacqueline gasped and asked,"
"Is that what happened?"
"That's right."
Gurewin nodded, and the cannon on his head shook up and down.
"I'm afraid that the spirit medium put a little water in your glass from the beginning. This wine has the characteristic of becoming turbid when mixed with water. However, it might be difficult to prove what happened that day, but at least you can explain it to your friend…Sophia. The rest depended on who Sophia was willing to believe.”
"That will depend on my friendship with Sophia. I wonder if she trusts me as a friend.”
"You'll definitely be fine…"
With a hint of sarcasm, he added in a low voice,"
"You're someone who values your friends, right?"
Gurewin drank the wine that had turned white in one gulp, stood up and said,"I should go."
"Eh, you're leaving?"
Jacqueline couldn't help but ask, surprised by his uneasiness.
Gurewin turned around with a sad, child-like expression. The two cannons started shaking again.
"I have a lot of things to do…I didn't expect to meet you at the auction. It's just that the person in front of you happens to be you. It's definitely not because he saw your figure and couldn't help but walk around to approach you. When he came back to his senses, he was already sitting right behind you. Jacqueline, that's definitely not the case."
" Ah…Is, is that so?"
Jacqueline believed him.
After Gurewin left in a hurry, the maid Marion said in an unbearable voice,"
"Looks like he's a person who can't calm down.”
"Is that so?"
Jacqueline replied incredulously.
The evening sun dyed the streets orange. On the other end of the glass, Gurewin could be seen leaving quickly. He walked past the black horse carriage, the car, and the crowd of pedestrians before disappearing behind the red brick building. As if a gust of wind had blown past, the lady's skirt and hat fluttered.
"In that case, he should be very busy.”
"What a weird hairstyle."
Although the maid smiled, Jacqueline didn't laugh too. She just narrowed her eyes nostalgically.
"Marion, he's a very good person. Although they had known each other since they were young, he was so handsome, so dashing, and always very calm. I was always so nervous in front of him that I couldn't say a word.”
"Eh? But now, he was speaking very fluently?”
"Maybe it's a rebound from when I was young? And I don't know when I grew up.”
Jacqueline finally snickered.
"Marion, because you are very beautiful, you might think that I was very stupid back then. At that time, I was very tanned by the sun, and my actions were very casual. I was not a beautiful girl at all, and my reactions were slow. Just looking forward to it from afar was already my limit. He kept the memory of him occasionally talking to Gurewin in his heart. Sometimes, I felt like he was looking at me, but I also felt that it was impossible. I must be thinking too much. I always felt very embarrassed.”
"Eh…"
Marion asked in surprise,"
"If our eyes met, wouldn't it be fine if we looked back?”
"I can't do that. I'm telling you, Marion, girls who don't talk are very shy. Even if she met a good boy, she would feel too dazzled and would not dare to approach him. However, after getting closer to Gurewin, she felt that he was very close to her. Therefore, although she was nervous, she still had many beautiful memories.”
"It wasn't sharp then, was it?"
"Yes, it was indeed not sharp at that time.”
"Then why did it become sharp?"
"I don't understand at all. It seemed to be something that happened after he became an adult. To be honest, I don't know if it's convenient for me to ask…but regardless of whether it's sharp or not, Gurewin is still Gurewin.”
Jacqueline held the glass of yellow absinthe and hesitated for a while before she made up her mind and drank it all in one go.
"He has always been very gentle, and he also lent me a helping hand today. When she was young, she only noticed her beautiful appearance and did not dare to get close to her, so she did not understand. He only truly understood this after he grew up. In that case, after such a long period of time, becoming an adult did not seem to be a bad thing. Although at that time, he only wanted to never grow up and remain a child forever.”
Jacqueline smiled.
It was already dusk outside the window. The two of them slowly left the cafe and walked on the stone path. Climbing into the carriage, Jacqueline, who had been waiting for a long time, stared at the scenery outside the carriage window and muttered,"
"I can still see him…"
Summer was coming to an end, and the dazzling sunlight shone on the streets of Suvalen. The two sharp church spires outside the window were bathed in the setting sun, shining with golden light.
Victoria and the Night Moon, left behind in the dazzling summer of St. Margaret's School, seemed to last until the end of the long summer vacation.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]