The Springtime Chime of Marielle Clarac [Parts 1 to 6] by Haruka Momo

Author:Haruka Momo
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter Six

Leaving the lord’s room with nothing to show for it, we temporarily split into separate parties, with noon fast approaching. I watched His Highness return to his room, then joined Julianne in hers. We asked Joanna and Caron to join in on the discussion, thus assembling a girls-only meeting.

“What kind of trick would allow someone to ring a bell inside a locked room?” I wondered aloud, resting my elbow on my knee and my chin in my hand.

“Could the servants all be conspiring together?” Julianne replied. “I’m sure I’ve seen that in a mystery novel. What if the butler and the housemaids are all accomplices and only pretending to be so shaken?”

I responded with a drawn-out “Hmm.” If they’d all arranged it beforehand, there would be no need for such an elaborate show. In fact, there would be no locked room in the first place. That would explain the entire puzzle, but I have a feeling it can’t be that simple.

As I mused over this, Joanna interjected, “If you don’t mind me saying so, while there is some sense to Lady Julianne’s suggestion, it is hard to believe that all of them are behind it.”

We looked at her. Because we’d wanted everyone to be able to sit, including our lady’s maids, Julianne and I had set ourselves down on the bed and granted the chairs to Joanna and Caron. Unlike Joanna, who was sitting upright with her back straight, Caron was clutching a cushion and had curled around it. She’d been trembling with fear ever since the ghost story had come to light.

“Please,” she mewled, “enough is enough. Can’t we just say they all did it together and draw a line under it? Either way, the culprit is human. It has to be!”

“I don’t deny that someone must be behind it,” Joanna replied sensibly, “but I don’t believe it could be a grand conspiracy. You’ve seen the servants just as I have. Do they strike you as capable of crafting an elaborate fiction and keeping it straight among all of them?”

This left Caron silent for a moment. “Joanna,” I interrupted, “could I ask you for more details about that?”

Joanna turned to look at me again. “As I mentioned this morning, there was an awful fuss going on when I went down to fetch your breakfast. That one maid in particular certainly did not look like she was acting. Even if we assume she’s simply very skilled at putting on a realistic performance, the others’ reactions still felt out of place.”

Joanna explained that she hadn’t entered right away, instead peering in from outside to keep from inserting herself in the middle of the commotion. At the time, no one had been present other than servants, and they had been gathered in various spots, whispering among themselves. Joanna’s arrival had made them immediately cease their furtive conversations and get back to work. It was hard to imagine they’d intentionally staged all that so others would see.

“It’s tough to put into words,” she added, “but that just wasn’t the impression I got.

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