“Is this the opera house?”
Lure spoke as he looked around the surroundings in wonder.
“It’s incredible. I’ve often seen plays performed on the street, but this is my first time visiting an actual opera house.”
“Likewise.”
We approached the opera house, hesitating like a couple of country bumpkins.
As we drew closer, I noticed the main entrance was divided into two doors.
One was a large, magnificent door with a red carpet rolled out.
The other was smaller and connected directly to a staircase.
“They say the price is double if you enter through that door. In exchange, the seats are wider and you get a better view of the stage.”
“If they discriminate starting right at the entrance, the sense of deprivation must be no joke.”
The claim that twenty-first century capitalism is the most terrifying thing is truly a blatant lie.
“Which door are we going through, Master?”
“Neither.”
We passed both main entrances and circled around the building.
Before long, we found the entrance for staff and personnel on the side.
However, this place was also blocked by guards.
“You cannot enter. If you wish to greet the singers, please wait in front of the back gate, not here.”
But the guard’s face looked somewhat familiar.
“Have we met somewhere before?”
“I’m not sure. I wouldn’t know.”
The guard replied, instinctively clutching his right arm.
Seeing that movement made me remember clearly.
“Ah! You’re the guard who tried to stop me from going up on stage!”
“…”
“Oh man, I’m truly sorry for pushing you aside with my cane back then. I was just in such a hurry…”
I offered a friendly apology, but the guard remained stoic.
To be fair, if I were in his shoes — doing my job well only to have some person barge in and demand to go on stage — I’d probably still be annoyed even if they apologized later.
That is, unless one specific condition was met.
“I’m truly sorry. Did you get hurt badly then? You weren’t caught in the explosion, were you? Well, I suppose if you had been badly injured, you wouldn’t be working as a guard right now. I’m glad you seem to have evacuated in time after hearing my warning.”
‘You know I saved everyone at the venue that day, right?’
‘Don’t you owe me your life?’
“So, may I go in?”
“No.”
Not a chance.
The guard blocked my path with a blunt voice.
“Even if you are the famous detective, rules are rules. No outsiders are permitted through this door unless they are staff.”
He was like a regular Zhang Fei at Changban Bridge.
‘He certainly chose the right profession.’
I pondered for a moment before speaking.
“What if I actually am an involved party?”
“If you’re thinking of passing through this door with wordplay —”
“Miss Christine.”
The moment I uttered that name, the guard stopped mid-sentence.
‘Bingo.’
Triumphant on the inside, I lowered my voice and put on a serious expression.
“She’s gone missing, hasn’t she?”
“How do you…”
“Have you forgotten? I am a detective.”
The guard’s eyes began to waver.
“I am currently investigating the sudden disappearance of Miss Christine. You are well aware of my capabilities. For Miss Christine’s sake, won’t you open the way for me?”
“…Go on in.”
“Thank you.”
I gave a curt nod as if it were the natural outcome and walked proudly through the staff entrance.
Lure quickly followed close behind me.
Once we were a fair distance away from the guard, Lure whispered to me.
“Miss Christine… do you think she left without saying a word to the troupe before she went to Oswan?”
“Who knows.”
She might have, or she might not have.
“What’s certain is that the troupe would never have wanted to let Miss Christine go.”
Christine was currently the biggest star.
If she had mentioned leaving, it was obvious the troupe would have tried everything to keep her there.
And of course, they would have strictly controlled the information so the other employees wouldn’t get agitated.
“Whether Miss Christine said something or not, the news wouldn’t have reached the low-level staff. Though, of course, they wouldn’t have been able to hide the fact that she hasn’t shown up for work in several days.”
We wandered through the narrow, complicated hallways for quite some time.
We encountered guards three or four more times, but each time, I was able to pass by using the same excuse as before.
‘The inside of this opera house must have been much safer than Miss Christine’s home. For starters, it’s hard for an outsider to even think about entering.’
It seemed their precautions against obsessive fans were quite thorough.
“Ah! That must be Miss Christine’s dressing room!”
We finally found her room.
The moment we opened the door and entered, the thick scent of flowers overwhelmed us.
The fragrance was almost suffocating.
The cause was immediately apparent.
“Good grief, how many flower baskets are there?”
“I don’t know. It looks like every flower basket in the Imperial Capital is gathered here.”
Literally, without any exaggeration, flower baskets were stacked from the floor to the ceiling.
What was even more surprising was that every single flower looked vibrant and fresh.
It meant these flowers had been delivered within the last day or two.
This was despite the fact that Christine hadn’t even performed on stage recently.
“I’d really like to show this sight to Mr. Walter.”
If he had seen this, he wouldn’t have spewed nonsense about Miss Christine only gaining popularity because of the Grand Duke.
How could anyone explain this level of feverish devotion with such a claim?
“Master? So, what should we be looking for now?”
I snapped back to reality at Lure’s voice and scanned the room.
Before long, the object I was looking for caught my eye.
“Over there. Let’s look through those fan letters.”
“Heh. There are way too many.”
“No need to read the contents. Just check the backs.”
Lure and I took the piles of fan letters from the table and began quickly flipping them over.
Blank white spaces.
Letters with cramped writing covering even the back.
Letters with giant hearts drawn on them.
Oh, is this a portrait of Miss Christine? It’s well-drawn.
After flipping through letter after letter for a while, I found it.
A fan letter with a scribble in one corner of the blank back that looked like a cursive “V.”
“Found it.”
This was the treasure we were looking for.
“What is this, Master?”
Lure asked as he turned the fan letter in my hand back and forth.
“Doesn’t it just look like a normal fan letter?”
“Does it? Does it look normal to you?”
“If you’re asking me that, there’s definitely something more to it…”
Lure narrowed his eyes and examined the letter.
“I really can’t tell. The paper feels a bit stiffer than the other letters, and it looks a bit worn as if it’s old. When I touch it, the back feels slightly bumpy, like something was smeared on it. But other than that, it looks the same as the others.”
“Is that so? Then what about the mark on the back?”
“This… isn’t it just a scribble?”
Lure grumbled, seemingly tired of the continuous riddles.
“Come on. Can’t you just tell me straight?”
Right. Since we’ve come this far, there’s no harm in telling him.
“Do you remember, Lure? Miss Christine said that the photo she took with Grand Duke Wilhelm had his personal signature on it.”
“If you’re mentioning that now…”
Realizing the situation, Lure’s eyes grew as wide as saucers.
“N-No way! Are you saying this is Grand Duke Wilhelm’s signature?!”
“Shh! Keep your voice down!”
We’re still inside the theater!
“Ah, sorry. But really?”
Lure asked quietly, unable to hide his excitement.
“Didn’t she say she destroyed that photo five years ago?”
“Oh, that? She said it was a lie.”
I recalled the whisper Miss Christine gave me yesterday with a hollow laugh.
[‘Did you know, Mr. Hayes? I am the finest opera singer in the Imperial Capital. And for an opera singer, the most important part of the profession is the power of persuasion in one’s voice.’]
[‘When I was questioned about the photo, I covered my face. I hid all emotional expression so I could deceive my opponent with only my voice.’]
In other words, this clever young lady had completely fooled a detective who knew how to distinguish truth from lies the moment he saw a person’s face.
She did it with a voice so persuasive it could reach the heavens.
‘Walter was right about at least one thing.’
That there wasn’t a man who wouldn’t be enchanted by her voice.
Even Walter himself had been completely bewitched by it.
“Then, was it intentional that she didn’t tell you the truth either?”
Lure asked with sparkling eyes.
“I thought something was strange! To deceive the enemy, you have to deceive your allies, so she hid the truth until the very end! That’s why Mr. Walter believed the photo was fake after seeing your reaction, right? So —”
“Ah, she said that wasn’t it.”
I hated to break Lure’s innocent assumption, but facts were facts.
“She said she had asked a friend to find the photo and make it public if she died or successfully escaped. She wanted to get revenge on that bastard Wilhelm. But she said she changed her mind at the last moment.”
It seemed the fact that I didn’t abandon her even after the whole truth was revealed had moved her heart.
“So, if we had solved it Walter’s way, it might have truly brought ruin to the East.”
“Miss Christine. She’s a terrifying person…”
“I think so too.”
In a way, perhaps one needs that kind of grit to earn and maintain the title of the best in the Imperial Capital.
“Ah, but Master.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry to ruin the mood, but… how is this a photo?”
Lure said as he flipped the paper back and forth awkwardly.
“No matter how much I look at it, all I see are white paper and black ink. Is this one of those photos that can only be seen by good people?”
“Oh, that.”
I smirked and said.
“Miss Christine explained it at the villa before. Didn’t you hear?”
“What? When?”
“You know, when she talked about the magic shows they sometimes do before the opera.”
“Ah, then. I was half-asleep and just nodding along then. So I don’t remember at all. What is it? Is the photo hidden by magic?”
I carefully tucked the photo away and stood up.
“If you’re curious, let’s go check for ourselves. It’ll probably be interesting.”
***
After leaving the opera house, we searched for a photo studio.
Since not just any studio would do, we wandered through several places before finally finding a studio in the suburbs run by an old man.
“What? You here to take a picture?”
The old man, who spoke in a gruff voice, was wearing thick monocle glasses, as if his eyesight wasn’t very good.
‘Perfect.’
“I’m not here to take a photo. I’d like to develop a photo that was taken previously. Could you develop this for me?”
I handed the old man the blank side with only the scribble-like signature, keeping the fan letter side facing away.
“Hmm? It’s photographic paper. Quite old, too.”
He seemed to be an experienced photographer, as he identified the paper just by its texture.
“That’ll be 1 silver coin.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The old man went into the darkroom without another word.
“What’s happening?”
Lure asked curiously.
“Wasn’t that photo already developed?”
“Right. It’s a photo that was already developed and then bleached.”
This was a black-and-white photo, specifically a silver halide print.
It meant that black silver particles were attached to the photographic paper at different concentrations to form an image.
That was the reason Lure had described the back as feeling bumpy when he touched it.
However, if you submerge this paper in a special solution, the silver particles that were black become bleached white.
“But if you put it in developing fluid, it supposedly returns to its original color immediately.”
I heard they use it in magic shows where a white piece of paper is dipped into what looks like ordinary water, and a portrait appears.
“Well, now. This is a strange one.”
Just then, the old man came out of the darkroom grumbling.
“Look at this. I don’t know if my eyes are failing me or if there’s something wrong with this photo, but it’s already developed. It would usually take at least 2 hours for a normal photo, but this is quite bizarre.”
“There is nothing wrong with your eyesight, sir.”
I quickly handed him the silver coin and took the photo back.
Fortunately, the old man only found the rapid development strange and didn’t seem particularly interested in the person in the photo.
Lure and I checked the photo together.
“Miss Christine. She looks even younger than me.”
In the photo, a younger, fresher Christine with short hair was smiling awkwardly at the camera.
Standing across from her was a handsome man who, unlike Miss Christine, had a natural smile as if he were accustomed to taking such photos.
‘So this is Grand Duke Wilhelm…’
A photo containing the fatal weakness of Grand Duchess Catherine.
I had finally obtained the material to take one step closer to Taylor John.
Aren’t some chapters missing? 96 and 97 specifically