Chapter 10: Volume 2 - CH 3

P. 77

P. 88

If she wasn’t pretending to be tough, then she was quite the cousin, thought Lydia. Her cousin was missing, for goodness sakes.

Or, was the truth being hidden from her as well.

“Anyways, my lord, would you mind if I join you on your boat? If you weren’t in the middle of enjoying your time alone with Miss Lydia, then I would be more than thrilled to join you.”

This girl must have feelings for Edgar.

But she sure was a girl who openly displayed her attraction. She even didn’t forget to give a side-ways glance towards Lydia’s direction like she as seeing her rival. 

“Rosalie, that’s impolite,” interrupted her uncle.

“Oh, no, Lord Graham. I don’t mind at all.”

However, there was no way Edgar was going to refuse an invitation from a lady.

“Oh, really? My, I’m so happy. I was brought here by my uncle, but the conversation doesn’t last if you’re not among your youth.”

“I consider myself still youth, you know.”

“Uncle, you really must relinquish that rake name of yours and settle down.”

P. 89

With a sour smile, her uncle looked over towards Edgar.

“If I may accept your kind offer, my lord, would you look after my niece? To tell you the true, I have a business affair after this, and so I was just being scolded by her in saying that I need to leave soon.”

“Yes, of course, it is a pleasure to be able to accompany a beautiful lady.”

I knew he was the kind of person to say the same thing to anybody.         

The ever more defiant looks Rosalie was sending Lydia was making her feel disgusted and she didn’t think she would be able to continue enjoying the fireworks that were still being shot up.

“Then it was good timing, Edgar, I’ll be leaving now.”

“Eh, why?”

“If I’m late, Father would be worried.”

He shook his head a little like he was disappointed, but that was all.

“Alright, then Raven, escort Lydia back home.”

So you’re not going to stop me.

…….Well, I’m fine with that.

The pretty doll-like girl had her boat rested next to the floating pier and gladly changed boats to sit next to Edgar.

If she kept that up, Lydia thought there wasn’t going to be any troubles trying to woo her.

P. 90

Well, it has nothing to do with me, she mumbled, and so Lydia left the lakeside. 

Ladies are more happy to receive a hand-full of flowers from the road-side from the man they adore than a bouquet of fancy flower from a man they don’t care about. 

She remembered those words of Edgar when she happened to see the Margaret flowers sitting in the vase by the windowsill of her room.

Lydia was honestly happy to be treated like a normal woman by Mr. Langley. 

The way Edgar treated as a lady…. Was somehow something she couldn’t honestly be happy about.

She had a seemly frightening feeling about being honestly delighted about that, almost like she shouldn’t.

If she didn’t keep her distance, she felt she might be dragged in and deeply wrapped up and messed around with.

She couldn’t quite grasp what that feeling was called exactly, but Lydia was just simply scared.

On the table she had lit, Lydia closed the book that she couldn’t concentrate on, and pulled out another book and opened its cover.

She picked up a violet flower that she had dried and pressed, and she was about to throw it away, but rethought that the flower had no sin.

The reason she brought back only this flower was just because it was one of her favorite kinds. There was no deep meaning behind it.

P. 91

She just thought that its light coloration was rare; it had nothing to do with the fact that it resembled the same color of his eyes.

Anyways, she must not be misled by what Edgar says. She already knew from the start, Lydia honestly regretted every time she came across the thought that he might just be kind-hearted only to herself.

“He was just a lady’s man in the end.”

It was annoying to have a bad mood because of that, so she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

“Oi, Lydia.”

She slapped the book shut. When she turned around, she saw Nico standing in the doorway. He entered the room and trotted over to her direction.

“What are you panicked about?”

“No-nothing.”

“I followed after that bogey beast. And then I saw it enter the townhouse of that Baron Worpole family.”

“Baron family, you mean the house of Lady Doris who disappeared?”

“Yup. On top of that, the one who was making the bogey do trouble was an orange-haired girl with twirled hair.”

“……Rozalie?”

P. 92

“I don’t know her name. She was saying at the Cremorne Garden that she wished you would disappear from London just like Doris. It looks like she wants to get close to the earl. You should be careful.”

She had already sensed that she had feelings towards Edgar when she met her atop the lake. 

However, it was unexpected news that she was the one who had given the orders to the bogey beast. Did she have the intention of injuring Lydia at that time.

But the thing she couldn’t dismiss the most was the part about ‘like Doris.’

Did that mean she wanted something to happen to her cousin Doris?

“But, Nico, why is the bogey beast doing as she says?”

“No, it was saying something like it had an actual master who wasn’t her. And, it was just pretending to follow her orders for the sake of its master.”

“Who’s its master?”

“I don’t know that, but that young girl didn’t seem to know anything about the master at all.”

Even if one is able to see fairies, it was dangerous to be in contact with them if you didn’t know how to handle them. And because of that, in the past, there were many people who were deceived by fairies and went through a bitter experience, which made them ask for the help of fairy doctors.

Particularly, it was common for the mischievous fairies who played the pranks to purposefully show themselves to humans to talk to them.

P. 93

People in the past knew that even if you saw them, you pretended not, and if you heard them, you pretended not, and by doing that, people were able to evade danger, but now-a-days there aren’t that many people who could teach that to others.

If the young woman named Rosalie, remained unaware of the true master who is pulling the strings of the bogey beast as Nico says, and still in contact with the fairy, then that means she doesn’t have knowledge or understanding about fairies and thinks she has acquired magic powers. 

That would be dangerous for her.

Even if Rosalie wished for Lady Doris to disappear, if there were ulterior motives of the bogey beast behind that, then that means Rosalie is also caught in the trap that the fairy set.

If she wanted to ask her about Lady Doris, she first needed to cut the ties between Rosalie and the bogey beast.

But she wondered if that girl would honestly listen to what Lydia said.

Judging from her attitude today, she thought that was impossible.

It looks like the case regarding Lady Doris was a much more complicated case than she imagined.

As she was mulling that over, on the other hand, Lydia was bothered about the ‘fairy egg’ Edgar brought up and the fogman. The glass ball of the fortune-telling game had nothing to do with the water sealed agate stone. And yet, Edgar thought they were linked.

P. 94

She had the feeling like he was fixated on it more than it being just a simple related word. 

Why? 

It seemed somehow familiar with how Lady Doris was frightened of the fogman who was supposedly unrelated with the fairy egg fortune-telling game.

“……Hm?”

For a split second, Lydia felt like there was nearly something that connected in her thought. But she was unable to grasp what that was, and now was lost. 

But what she vaguely thought was that Edgar was still hiding something from her. 

The Worpole baron family was new to the social circle as aristocrats, but it was a wealthy family. The current master is the sixteen year old Lady Doris. Her parents died in a ship accident ten years ago. On the same ship, her cousin Rosalie’s parents were on. 

The two girls who lost their parents at the same time, had been living with each other ever since. 

Their ward was Lord Graham Purcell who was a distant relative with the baron. 

P. 95

Previously at the baron house, it was well known that Rosalie and Graham were doing as they pleased without regard to the rightful master Doris.

The dull and shy baron daughter and her showy, strong-willed cousin. Naturally, the one who came to grab the spotlight and be the center of the crowd was Rosalie and Doris was always by her side like a servant and did as she was told.

However, Doris had the higher title. She was after all, the current head of the baron family. That’s why her strong-willed cousin wanted to stand out more than Doris. 

Even in front of others, she would periodically act cruelly to Doris and basked in the sense of superiority. 

Rosalie stated to Edgar straightly that she was so glad her cousin is gone, when the two of them were alone together. 

Her cousin was a girl who couldn’t do anything on her own ever since she was a child. She was timid and a coward, and that’s why Rosalie told her that the fogman would come to punish her since she broke the promise that they swore on the fairy egg, and that honestly frightened her and so she left London and is staying away in the countryside. That was also what Rosalie revealed to him.

Either way, she was a girl who really didn’t have a tight lip.

Edgar had only met her a few times in a few social gatherings of the upper class, and she had always served as a handy source of valuable information.

If he would only just hint a sign of interest, she was more than delighted to answer. There was no trouble at all in retrieving the every single bit of inside information of the baron family than he expected.

P. 96

And, now, for the next step. Which paun should he move.

As he thought, Edgar tied his brows deeply together.

It was like a game. Perhaps what he was trying to do was meaningless even if he were to obtain victory. 

He forced that thought out of his head. Even if a game, once he started it, he needed to win. That was all there was to it. 

How many more moves until checkmate?

“Welcome home, my lord.”

To the butler who saw his arrival, he gave his hat and stick and forcibly handed over his coat and then Edgar walked over to Raven who had entered the entrance hall. 

“Raven, how was Lydia? Was she jealous?”

“You wish to know if she showed signs of jealousy?”

Raven tilted his head as if he was confused at the unexpected question.

*

“What? Lydia, would you say that one more time?”

“I said that the bogey beast that appeared yesterday at Cremorne Gardens was apparently following the orders given by Rosalie.”

“No, after that.”

"It looks like the bogey beast may be somehow related to the disappearance of Lady Doris.”

P. 103

“After that.”

“It’s dangerous to be in contact with fairies if you don’t know anything about them, so including that, I wanted you to ask Miss Rosalie and warn her.”

For some strange reason, Edgar made a displeased face. But she thought it wasn’t that difficult a task for him to cajole a young girl and persuade her. 

“You can’t? It seems like she would listen to what you’d say, and I thought she would accept it if you cautioned you, since you would be seeing her again, aren’t you?”

“So you aren’t the least bit jealous.”

“Huh…..?”

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Lydia had just arrived for work at the earl’s house, and was about to enter her office when she was caught by Edgar and made to come along and spend time in the salon with him.

While she was at it, she decided to bring up what she was thinking last night about Rosalie and the bogey beast to him, and hearing what he said she wasn’t able to figure out what was going on inside Edgar’s head.

“Why would I have to be jealous? You’re free to approach anyone you like, and if that means I won’t have to be dragged around to different social settings then I would be grateful.”

Ahh, for some reason, the more I’m with Edgar, the more bitter I become.

“Do you really think that?”

P. 104

Of course I think so. So you’re free to invite lady Rosalie or any other well-to-do family daughter as you please. It’s a waste of your time to hand around with me: was what she really wanted to say, but she didn’t because that only sounded like she was jealous.

In no way am I jealous.

“Now, listen, I’m not here to talk about that. To ward off the bogey beast for the time being, it’s best to keep a cross made of a rowan tree with you at all times. If that doesn’t work, well, then I’ll think of something else.”

“Ahh, if only you would spend have of your heart that you do on fairies and send those feelings towards me.”

She was thankful of the space they were in, sitting across from Edgar with a table in between them in a grand spacious room. 

Last night Lydia made a fresh resolve to herself that she was just going to let Edgar’s sweet words pass over her left and right, and so she glared at him with a heavy barrier in between them in mind.

“Please don’t look at me with such skeptical eyes.”

“There isn’t any more a skeptical person than you.”

I’m definitely going to smack back those smiles or melting eyes of his that’s sure to easily put the guard down of other ladies, she thought and made her body even more tense.

“You really are on your guard more than usual.”

Of course I would be.

P. 105

“My lord, you have a visitor.”

To the butler’s voice who entered the room, Lydia was relieved. Finally, just when she thought she would be released from listening to him speak.

“Edgar! Oh, I’ve missed you so much!”

Probably not able to wait for the butler to lead her in, an orange-colored curly haired body came bounding in. And she went straight to Edgar.

“Good morning, my lady. You’re even more beautiful today than before.”

With an attitude that of a queen, she lifted up her hand and waited for him to greet her with a kiss. Of course, the girl didn’t have Lydia in her sight.

“Oh, Edgar, there’s going to be a solo recital by a pianist from Vienna at the Watts house. Wouldn’t you like to go? It’s only a small gathering of people who are very close with Lady Watts.”

“I wonder if it will be all right if I intrude.”

“Of course. If you would escort me, that is. And besides, everyone wants to get to know you.”

Taking this opportunity, Lydia tried to slowly creep out of the rom.

“Oh, yes, Rosalie, I was told that you apparantely should keep a cross made of rowan with you. According to my fairy doctor, it's to ward off malevolent spirits.”

P. 106

But that made her stop in her tracks. If he said something like that, then she was sure to hear a retaliation. 

And just like she expected, Rosalie’s eyes sank into Lydia’s back.

“Excuse me, Miss fairy doctor. Would you mind not making strange accusations at me?”

Having no choice, Lydia turned around to face her.

“It isn’t an accusation. You’re aware that a bogey beast is hanging around you right? That fairy is dangerous.”

“It’s my slave. It’s protecting me, so don’t speak like you would know.”

“That’s only for show. You know nothing at all about fairies. If that keeps hanging around you, terrible things will happen. It might even be related to the Lady Doris’ illness.”

*

Claiming that she had something she wanted to look up, Lydia left the earl house early. 

Nico sneaked into the office that Lydia wasn’t in, and quietly opened the closet door and took out the box that he had hidden in the back of it carefully not to make a sound.

When he placed his ear to it, he could hear a rough whispering sound coming from the box. The tin can that he placed in the box was speaking something to itself. It hadn’t realized that Nico was listening to what it was saying.

(Rosemary, sage and basil, all the delicious smells of the herbs.)

The voice was hard to hear, but it’s intonation sounded like it was singing, so he could tell what it was saying.

(A bed bareel filled with rosemary, never imagined that there was such a wonderful spot like that in London.)

(Ohh, but I was tricked. A canning factory? I was sleeping on my herb bed and before I knew it I was trapped inside the can.)

“Oh, so you were canned while you were taking a nap.”

Nico couldn’t help but make that remark, and after that, the thing inside it went silent. 

P. 119

P. 120

The thing inside this must have went into a herbed fish cannery factory and fell asleep in a bed of herbs, so it must be a fairy, and it was trapped inside one of the cans.

It must have forgotten the time from the plesant aromas and sleep. What a foolish one, he thought. But since Nico was also a fairy, once he had his attention onto something, it was an everyday occurrence that he wasn’t able to pay attention to anything else. Of course fairies never ever thought of themselves as foolish. 

“But more than that, who was it that tricked you?”

The thing inside the can, shook the can violently from the built up irritation of being trapped inside the can and from the caution towards Nico.

“Hey, now, let’s talk calmly. Who are you? If you answer, I’m saying that I will open this up for you.”

Nico had been asking the same question for the past few times. The thing inside the can wouldn’t open its mouth at first, but once it was put inside the closet and figured out that things were going to progress, it started to speak out in a quiet voice.

But that voice was hard to hear since it was trapped inside a can.

“You want to know who I am first? How could I reveal myself when I don’t know what you are. You want to meet the fairy doctor? I can’t trust you so that’s why I’m checking you out first. Huh? I’m the one who can’t be trusted? This isn’t going anywhere.”

P. 121

It was quite the stubborn one.

Apparently the thing inside wanted out and went berserk here and there, making everyone creped out and hence no one dared to open it. So it figured that it was best to stay quiet, and now a suspicious fairy was nearly going to eat it and now it was taking precautions.

Nico told it that he wouldn’t want to eat something like I, but there being a fairy who would want to eat a awful thing like a can was more unbelievable to it.

A can that only humans could open, and a human that the fairies could trust was only a fairy doctor. That’s why the thing inside the can requested for a fairy doctor to act as arbitrator, but for Nico, since he couldn’t say the thing inside didn’t have any ill intent, it was a problem.

It would be troublesome if it attacked Lydia as soon as it came out, and so after making repeated arguments and counter arguments, they were being persistent.

And in the end, their conversation would end without any answer. Because the thing in the can was sealed in, hence, its powers were sealed, it didn’t have that much energy. It’s active time period was short and because it fell asleep very quickly, it looked like they weren’t going to be able to have a talk for a while. 

However, he could understand how the thing inside would be extremely cautious of Nico. If it was tricked and put in this state, then one’s level of caution would indeed rise. 

He felt pity towards it, but if it turned out to be something bad, and it was sealed because of its wickedness, then there was no way that he would let it out.

P. 122

Since this was a delicate situation, it was hard to decide if he should talk to Lydia about this. What made him hesitate was because she was chronically soft-hearted and she was sure to pity it than sense the danger.

That’s why Nico cautiously put it in a box, so its voice wouldn’t be heard by Lydia, and hide it in the back of the closet.

Just then the door of the room opened without a knock. Nico panicked and threw the can under the table cloth and jumped up to sit in the chair. He pretended like he was drinking tea by casually picking up a teacup, but the one who entered was Edgar.

Oh, darn it, I screwed up. 

I needed to pretend to be a cat. 

After Edgar returned home and opened the door to Lydia’s office, the first thing that came into his sight was a gray-haired cat gracefully sipping tea from a teacup. 

It was sitting on a tower of pillows on top of the chair so it could reach the table. 

Its nose twitched like it was enjoying the steam and aroma, and after it took a quick sip, the cat returned the cup back onto the saucer. 

It took a quick glance towards Edgar, and changed its posture as though nothing had happened. In other words, in a sitting position like that of a cat.

What was now in front of him was just an average, normal cat that made it seemed like the sight of a cat drinking tea just now was a figure of his imagination. 

P. 123

“I thought I heard that Lydia went home, I see that you didn’t go with her.”

“I quite like it here. Since fresh hot tea comes out immediately when you ring a bell.”

Leaning up against the cushion, it narrowed its eyes satisfactorily. 

Its meow somehow sounded like they were meaningful words. Edgar was made to think again that Nico was perhaps not an ordinary feline. 

He went to sit down opposite of Nico on the other side of the table.

“Say, Nico, what do you think Lydia thinks of me?”

“A shady philanderer.”

Was what he thought Nico’s cold stare was saying.

“Oh, well, that can’t be helped.”

“Oi, you’re agreeing?!”

“But for the time being, she doesn’t have a man she fancies, right? I think I still have a chance, you know.”

“Huhhh? Or rather, weren’t you after that curly, orange haired young lady?”

“Oh, Rosalie, we’re just friends. She thinks the same of me.”

“How half-hearted of you, the two of you were so close, that’s hard to believe. And generally speaking, even your attitude towards Lydia looks like you’re just joking around.”

P. 124

Like he was disgusted of him, Nico leaned against the armrest and rested his cheek in his paw.

It was an unrealistic position, but not impossible. 

“I don’t intend to be fooling around, it’s just that I don’t have that much confidence, and I don’t want to be jilted.”

“Liar. A girl like Lydia is just something rare for you. Let me point out that the world Lydia lives in is completely different from yours. Lydia is well aware of that and keeps her distance from you, so don’t mess that around.”

He felt like he was seriously lectured, and Edgar let out a sigh.

What is the reason that’s keeping me from making Lydia stay by my side, he wondered.

He believed that a fairy doctor was needed for the earl family. Not only that, but he did have and interest in her and found her charming, and of course, he was well aware that their worlds were completely different. 

She was filled with unpredictability and mystery, and he found it exciting to talk to her so that made him go after her. It was that sort of sensation, but knowing that their worlds were different and yet if there was no discord, then it was truth that his feelings were shallow. 

“It would be nice if Lydia would just open up to me just a little more. Nico, what should I do? Since you know Lydia so well right?”

Even how he asks a cat was a game-like facetious feeling.

P. 125

Like he was saying, How could I be frank with a gang member, he swished his tail around.

Or is he saying, How could I tell you for nothing?

He thought of something and called for the butler.

Hearing the order of his master, the butler left the room and came back holding a silver tray.

On it rested a silver container with a leg that held sweets that gave off a sweet aroma. After it was set down, Edgar pushed it towards Nico. 

“These are chocolates with liqueur that just arrived from France. I’m sure you won’t be dissatisfied?”

Leaning himself over just a bit, Nico stared quietly at the brown rounded objects.

A cat that had a necktie tied around its neck, picking up a chocolate in a graceful gesture, didn’t appear all that mysterious. 

Putting it in his mouth and rolling it over on his tongue, Nico narrowed his eyes in pure delight. 

“You can have as much as you want.”

“Don’t lie to Lydia.”

Was that his advice?

He thought that that was what Nico said as the cat pulled the silver bowl with his hands, or his two front paws, like he was cradling it.

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