Chapter 93: CASE 6. The Eduard Scandal (6)

I stood up abruptly, trying to grasp the situation.

‘Is this Janus’s doing?’

“Lure, Ms. Christine…!”

But the smoke was spreading too fast.

The billows of white smoke filled the living room in an instant, and the moment I saw that opaque curtain filling my vision, my surroundings distorted strangely.

Strength drained from my body, and I felt so dizzy that I could barely stand.

‘What is this… poison?’

The back of my neck felt hot, as if it were burning. A fever rose throughout my entire body.

No, it felt as if everything around me was on fire.

— *Tick, tick, tick.*

From somewhere, the sound of a clock’s second hand echoed.

Slowly, I realized.

‘This… isn’t poison.’

It was a flashback.

The end of a long party, where white smoke had risen just like this.

“…sir! …sir! …wake up!”

I couldn’t hear the sounds well.

It felt as if my ears were muffled from an explosion.

My vision was blurred, and I found it difficult to steady myself.

“…are you okay? …quickly…!”

Was someone calling me? Were they asking for help?

Through the pure white smoke, I saw blood-soaked pieces of red amber.

Madame Moss’s pale hand pushing me away and Daisy’s distorted face screaming in the flames overlapped with the smoke.

Without realizing it, I desperately reached out into the empty air.

Even I didn’t know what I was trying to grab.

Was it Madame Moss’s hand that had cast me aside? Was it Daisy, shedding tears of blood with a shard embedded in her eye?

Or was it the people I wanted to protect, those who were desperately calling my name?

Whatever I tried to grasp, it was useless.

The only thing my fingertips caught was smoke.

A terrible sense of helplessness washed over me.

I failed to save them.
Back then, and even now.

My breathing gradually became ragged.

It wasn’t because of a lack of oxygen.

It felt as if something was tightening around my throat.

“…Ha, gasp…!”

Just when I felt like I was about to lose my mind.

“—Teacher!”

Someone grabbed my hand.

It was Lure.

Lure Poiren was looking at me with a look of extreme concern.

“Teacher! *Cough, cough!* Are you okay? Please, pull yourself together!”

Lure couldn’t stop coughing, likely from shouting for me so much in this smoke.

Looking back, both Lure and Christine were staring at me with worried faces.

“…I’m fine. Sorry.”

I clenched my fists tight, trying to hide my hands, which were still trembling.

‘To think I would be this shaken…’

I grit my teeth and tried to stay calm.

Now was not the time for this.

I surveyed the surroundings with the coldest gaze possible.

“Fire! Fire!”

From outside, the noisy shouting about a fire still rang out, but something was off.

“The smoke spread unnaturally fast. Moreover… it’s not even hot.”

Until a moment ago, it felt like the back of my neck was burning.

But that was just a tactile hallucination.

Once I regained my senses, I realized the smoke wasn’t hot at all.

On the contrary, the cold sweat soaking my back and the broken window made me shiver from the chill.

I strode toward the source of the smoke.

“This is…”

Something was spewing smoke like crazy from a long, cylindrical object that was a striking pink color.

“It’s a plumber’s smoke bomb.”

Lure recognized the object in my hand.

“It’s something used to check for leaks in pipes. It produces a lot of smoke, but it’s not harmful to the body.”

It was a ridiculous prank.

Grinding my teeth, I threw the smoke bomb back through the gap in the window it had broken.

Only then did the smoke slowly begin to clear.

“Whew…”

I could finally catch my breath.

It wasn’t poison, nor was it a fire; it was just a trick.

‘What was Janus trying to achieve with this?’

“Teacher, do you know?”

Lure spoke in a serious tone.

“I learned at school that if a fire breaks out, people are bound to grab the items most precious to them.”

“…!”

Lure’s words made sense.

If a fire occurred, someone living alone would grab their most valuable possessions first. If they had a precious spouse, they would take them; if they had a baby, they would take the baby.

And in Christine’s case…

“He wanted to see if she would go to get the photo.”

*Whish!*

Lure and I looked at Christine at the same time.

“I—I didn’t move from here at all!”

Christine stammered.

“At first, I tried to go get the photo, but Mr. Hayes suddenly collapsed. It’s only natural to take care of Mr. Hayes first out of moral obligation!”

‘This might actually be a stroke of good luck.’

The fact that I showed symptoms of trauma might turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

“Ms. Christine. Is the photo in the living room?”

“Pardon?”

“This is an important question. I know you don’t want to reveal the specific location of the photo, but you must answer this clearly.”

Inside the living room, which was still hazy with smoke.

Since Janus wasn’t inside the living room with us, he wouldn’t know the situation in here either.

When the smoke went off, he must have been trying to see where Ms. Christine moved to from the living room.

“Ms. Christine did not move an inch from the living room. Therefore, the culprit will assume that the photo is inside this room.”

If the photo is outside the living room, we can get ahead of Janus in this game.

If the photo is inside the living room, then Janus will have accidentally hit the right answer through flawed reasoning.

“Please tell me. Is the photo in the living room?”

“…Inside this living room,”

Finally, Christine opened her mouth.

“There is no photo.”

“Phew!”

A sigh of relief escaped me involuntarily.

“Great, then!”

“Wait! Where are you going, Mr. Hayes!”

“To catch Janus!”

I gave it some thought.

When the smoke bomb went off in the living room, where would one have to be to accurately observe where Christine went?

The most ideal location would be a place where the entire house could be overlooked.

However, since buildings blocked the view, no such ideal place existed.

‘This house has an enclosed structure.’

A structure where one can go from the living room through a door into a hallway, and then from that hallway to various rooms.

To check where Christine moved, he had to be able to see this hallway head-on.

Coincidentally, there was only one window in the hallway.

‘There’s no guarantee he’s still there, but…!’

There was also no guarantee he wasn’t.

— *Tap, tap, tap!*

I burst out of the entrance and ran as if I were sliding.

Toward the vacant lot where the hallway was visible—the spot I had deduced.

The moment I turned the corner toward my target.

“Ugh!”

I collided with someone, and they spilled a bucket.

“Argh!”

The person who spilled the bucket staggered before barely managing to steady themselves.

“A—Are you okay? I’m so sorry! Oh my goodness! You’re completely soaked because of me!”

Ah, yes.

I was soaked from head to toe.

“I am truly sorry! I heard there was a fire, so I was rushing with some water…! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”

“…No, it’s fine. Thanks to you, I’ve snapped out of it.”

Feeling the water droplets dripping down from my hair, I smiled.

“You don’t need to apologize. Mr. Janus.”

I finally caught him.

The black shadow holding the bucket stopped moving.

The fussy acting ceased instantly.

And then, shortly after.

“…I suppose I was caught after all?”

A completely different voice came out.

Even the manner of speaking and tone were entirely different from before.

It felt as if he had become a different person in an instant.

“As expected of Mr. Hayes. You recognized me quite well.”

‘…?’

“As expected” was a strange thing to say.

Doesn’t that sound like… he knows me?

“If the smoke was pointless, I’ll ask you point-blank, Mr. Hayes.”

The black shadow—Janus—said.

“The photo. Won’t you hand it over to me?”

— *Sshhh.*

At those words, which were as good as a confession, the shadows cleared.

A young man with bushy red hair and a face full of acne was looking at me with a gentle smile.

His trousers fit his body perfectly, but the hems were baggy with pleats, and his white shirt, which was highlighted by ruffled decorations, had very wide and long sleeves that didn’t expose even a single fingertip.

‘…He’s too different.’

Not a single characteristic matched the coachman I had heard about from Christine.

The surly-looking, drunken coachman was gone, and a fresh-faced youth who looked like he had just moved to the capital from the countryside stood there.

‘But those eyes, that gaze that seems to dissect a person while wearing a smile on his lips… I’ve definitely seen it somewhere…’

At that moment, the identity of the opponent struck me like a bolt of lightning.

Intuition came first.

The evidence to support it followed immediately after.

‘The coachman’s baggy clothes, and the white shirt with very long sleeves.’

I knew someone who had to wear that kind of clothing. Someone trying to hide their body.

‘He said it was a left-handed coachman.’

That person had a severe injury on his right hand.

He couldn’t use his strength properly with that gaunt wrist.

‘Janus, who was disguised as a coachman, saw through Lure when he was pretending to be Christine.’

That wasn’t because he knew Christine well.

It was possible because he had recognized Lure.

‘Janus had an assistant. The one called the pretty and kind sister, yet the person who instructed a child to steal a photo.’

I knew a woman who was beautiful but cruel enough to use people in such a way.

He was likely traveling with her.

‘And finally… the connection with the East.’

I hadn’t heard that he operated out of the East.

But I did know that he had a deep connection with the Eastern Front.

Synthesizing all that information, I spoke the name that came to mind.

“…Mr. Walter Bell?”

“Yes, Mr. Hayes.”

He didn’t show a hint of surprise. The Janus of the East, Walter Bell, calmly admitted his identity.

“No, why are you even here?”

I asked while pointing a finger at him.

“Weren’t you on your way to crush the Herbert Clan?”

“Of course, that is my objective. However…”

Walter let out a long sigh.

“I simply couldn’t refuse this request. Given the nature of the matter.”

“To think Mr. Walter was Janus…”

“Gah!”

Suddenly, Walter raised his left hand to cover his face.

Even through the disguise, his face turned bright red.

“Mr. Hayes, you know my real name! Could you please not call me Janus? Please!”

I couldn’t help but feel a bit mischievous.

“Mr. Janus is indeed Janus, so why shouldn’t I call you Janus, Mr. Janus?”

“Ack! Argh! No!”

Walter flailed around like a live fish for a while before letting out a deep sigh as if he had given up.

“Just you wait. If Mr. Hayes ever gets an embarrassing alias, I will definitely get my revenge.”

“There’s no way such an alias will be attached to me.”

“That’s not true. If you’re a detective who has gained fame, it’s an ordeal you have to go through at least once. And if it’s you, Mr. Hayes, you’ll surely receive an alias in the not-too-distant future. Perhaps you’ll even become a Great Detective.”

It was an absurdly high evaluation.

“Mr. Hayes, you even saw through my disguises at a glance, didn’t you? The coachman disguise, the elderly priest disguise, and even this innocent country youth disguise. These were fields I was quite confident in, so being seen through like this is almost embarrassing.”

No, wait. That was all Walter?

Even that old man?

‘Well, come to think of it, a priest’s robe also belongs to the category of clothing with ample sleeve width.’

It wouldn’t have been difficult for Walter to disguise himself as one.

Even so, it was impressive that he could play the part of an old man so perfectly.

‘If it hadn’t been for the black shadow, I never would have known.’

I was surprised by Walter’s skill, but Walter, conversely, seemed impressed by my perceptiveness.

Then again, from the perspective of someone who didn’t know I was using a cheat, he must have wondered how I recognized him every single time.

“I evaluate your potential very highly, Mr. Hayes. It’s only a matter of time; eventually, you will surpass me. So, in truth, I’m not very pleased to be facing off against you right now.”

Walter looked at me with a serious face.

“So, Mr. Hayes, could you back down just this once?”

I replied immediately.

“I refuse.”

“Failing one request won’t tarnish your reputation, Mr. Hayes.”

“Even so, I refuse.”

“Even if the peace of the East, and by extension, the entire Empire, is at stake in this matter?”

“……”

“Mr. Hayes, you know. You were on that front line too. It was hell.”

Walter’s eyes clouded over as if he were having a nightmare.

“That hell must never be repeated. For that sake, I will give my absolute best even to a task as ridiculous as this.”

Walter was serious.

He said to me, “Mr. Hayes. The greater good is on my side. For the sake of this country, hand that photo over to me.”