Chapter 30: The Mystery of the Stone — Part 1
Brian-sama offered Mother a chaise lounge.
“This is an emergency, so please do not concern yourself with formalities.
I know it pains me to question you while you are shaken, but this is extremely important.”
Treated with such courtesy, Mother seemed to regain a little composure.
Then my brother began asking questions.
“Mother, forgive me for troubling you while you are tired, but I must ask.
You mentioned that Grandmother’s fan has a cat’s eye set in its pivot.
Have you seen it yourself?”
“Yes, once, long ago.
When the fan broke, she consulted me about repairs.
I mentioned I knew a skilled craftsman, and she asked for an introduction.
That was when I saw it.”
Though puzzled, Mother spoke calmly.
When I handed her the fan, she rubbed the bud-shaped pivot.
“It is buried inside here.
I told her it was a waste to hide such beautiful gold like this, since it cannot be seen properly.
But she said that was precisely why she liked it.”
A golden cat’s eye gemstone.
Truly like a feline’s eye.
Why had she hidden it so carefully?
“Did she ever say anything else about this stone?”
“Hmm… I believe she said she received it from an acquaintance when she was young.
That is all I know.”
Brother glanced at me.
“Then we will have to extract whatever we can from that man.”
Mother turned to him.
“Is that man truly just a thief?
Does he have some connection to this stone?”
“We do not know.
That is why we must ask him.
He is the one who killed Merry.”
Mother’s face paled.
I felt she needed to understand the gravity of this.
“I believe he also killed Jason-sama.
So it was fortunate that you and the servants were not harmed.
Until we understand the full situation, please do not speak of this to anyone.
We do not yet know whether he acted alone or has accomplices.”
“Jason was killed!?”
Brother exclaimed.
I had not told him.
There had been no time.
“It seems so.
A Royal Guard reported it to Brian-sama.”
“Mother, please rest.
And say nothing to anyone.”
Mother stared at me, her face white with fear.
The three of us walked in silence.
Once inside Brother’s private study, he turned to me.
“Maria.
May I tell Brian-dono your secret?
At this point, we cannot conceal it.
And we need someone who knows the circumstances and can help us.”
I looked steadily at Brian-sama.
His eyes met mine—
no longer the cool gaze from our first meeting, but warm and steady.
“I will tell him.
Myself.”
“Understood.
Then perhaps we should prepare something fortifying.
This will be the second time for me, yet I still feel it will be shocking.”
Brother rang the bell and ordered whiskey and wine, along with nuts, dried fruits, and cheese.
“I am hungry.
Bring plenty of bread and ham as well, so we do not drink on an empty stomach.”
After the servant left, we passed the fan around in turn, examining it.
To think that several people had been killed over such a small stone was terrifying.
I myself had been one of them.
When the food and drink arrived, we ate first.
I nibbled raisins and dried apples while sipping white wine.
Brother and Brian-sama devoured bread and ham at remarkable speed.
Perhaps meals in the Royal Guard were always like this.
Both still carried the rough edge of recent battle, a faint wildness about them.
Perhaps we should have ordered sweets as well, I thought belatedly.
“Vice-Captain, you have not yet been told anything, correct?”
“No.
Only that the man is a murderer and that he targeted Maria-jou’s belongings.
I do not know how she knew this.”
“Then let us fortify ourselves first.”
Brother filled Brian-sama’s glass to the brim with whiskey and handed it to him, then poured generously into his own.
Both of them looked at me intently.
Now that the moment had come, the story seemed too strange to voice.
I was unsure how to explain it.
“I do not know where to begin.”
Brother looked at me as I said this.
Brian-sama spoke instead.
“Then allow me to ask questions.
You may answer them.”
“Please.”
“Very well.
First, tell me what you know about that man.”
“I saw him in dreams.
After the wedding, he appeared several times, little by little.”
“In dreams?”
He sounded genuinely surprised.
Of course he would be.
I waited, expecting disbelief or anger.
“What kind of dreams were they?”
Thankfully, he prompted gently.
“At first, I saw him meeting Merry in an alley with a bird sign.”
“There is a tavern called The Rooster in that alley.
It is near the shed where Merry’s body was found.
Maria told me where Merry would die, and I took Jason there,” Brother added.
“That was the last dream.
I only saw her lying dead inside the shed.”
“You did not see him kill her?”
“Not the second time.
In the first life, after I was killed, I saw him strangle Merry after taking Grandmother’s accessories from her.”
Brian-sama’s arm trembled.
The whiskey in his glass rippled.
He swallowed it down before asking quietly,
“You were killed in the first life?”
“Yes.
I died once.
Then I returned to two months before the wedding.
I tried to break off the marriage, but nothing changed, and I reached the wedding day regardless.
After that… the events you already know.”
Brother drank deeply.
“It is impossible to believe.
But she predicted the lost puppy and the location precisely.
There was no choice but to believe.”
He rubbed his face.
“To have truly experienced that… it is cruel.”
I forced myself to speak brightly.
“It is over now.
And this time, the course is entirely different.
I was given a chance to start over.
As I was dying, I clutched this fan and wished to redo everything—
I did not want to remain the person I was.
So I believe this fan—or rather the stone—turned back time.”
Brian-sama lowered his gaze and silently enclosed my hand in both of his.
He remained that way without speaking.
My heart leapt at the sudden contact.
I did not know what to do with my hand.