Mystery: Lucky One

Alice withdrew her gaze silently.

She didn't care much about the subsequent developments of the matter. The worst that could happen was that the "Mechanical Heart" discovered that the note was left by her - so what?

That was not as exciting as when Mr. Fool discovered that she had continued writing Roselle's diary.

Anyway, the few clues available were not enough to reveal the secret of "Cassandra". After thinking for a while, Alice chose to eat an ice cream and go to sleep.

The Tarot Club arrived as scheduled on Monday afternoon. After Audrey, the Justice, completed her routine greetings, Alger, the Hanged Man, raised his hand for the first time in a long time:
"Mr. Fool, I collected two pages of Roselle's diary."

Alice swallowed the words she had prepared for the moment. As she watched the two pages of the diary being passed to Klein, she suddenly had a bad feeling in her heart.

…Why do I feel like I should run away now?
Alice lowered her head in deep thought. Mr. Fool, who was sitting at the head of the bronze table, knocked on the table twice and said in an indistinguishable tone:
"Destiny, come and see."

Two pages of the diary appeared in front of Alice. The Tarot Club members with different thoughts suddenly felt that the atmosphere became oppressive. Alice was of course also keenly aware of the change in Mr. Fool's pressure. She reached out blankly and picked up the diary.

"April 4th, the Iron-Blooded Knight tastes really good."

...?
Alice felt like she understood a little bit why Klein was in a bad mood. She glanced at Klein cautiously, then gritted her teeth and cursed in her heart.

Damn "Joker".

——Her muscle control that was so precise that it could even give her micro-expressions made her lose the ability to analyze Klein's emotions based on her experience.

Of course, Alice could still make some judgments. She was sure that Klein was not in a good mood, because if it was not necessary, Klein would not act in front of her.

Alice closed her eyes as if facing a judgement, took a deep breath, then opened them again and looked at the next page of the diary.

"March 4th, the Faceless Man tastes really good."

"Fuck!" She cursed on the spot.

Now, Alice deeply realized what a wrong decision it was to continue writing in the diary. She didn't dare to look at Klein's expression. She just turned her head and showed Alger a look full of resentment.

The calm expression disappeared from Alger's face. Alice saw his body tremble, and then he asked cautiously:
"Miss Fate, are there any problems with these two pages of the diary?"

Frankly speaking, Alice felt at one point that this was all Alger's fault - he was the one who saw these two pages of the diary and presented them to Klein, so of course it was his fault!
But the pressure of Klein's gaze followed her everywhere, and Alice had to start self-reflection.

I didn't think it through at the time. It would be too easy for Klein to find out. I must be more careful next time...

Alice warned herself, then she sighed deeply and explained to Alger:
“No problem at all.

"There is no problem except that these two pages of the diary were written by me."

……Who wrote it?

Alger was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood the reason for Alice's strange expression.

No wonder... Alger was not the only one who suddenly realized something because of this sentence. Apparently, all the members of the Tarot Club understood the origin of today's farce, and then looked at Alger with sympathy.

According to common sense, Miss Fate would probably think that this was Mr. Hanged Man's fault... Such thoughts flashed through the minds of Audrey "Justice" and Cattleya "Hermit", and they were surprised to find that it seemed not to be the case. "Logically speaking, the loss of buying fake goods should be borne by you..." Alice was muttering.

It took Alger some time to figure out why this sentence appeared. He realized that Alice didn't care about the wrong diary, but was just emphasizing that the money should not be paid by her.

Such a change in personality... is it because of Mr. Fool? Alger looked at Alice, then looked at Klein in the gray fog, lowered his head and said to Alice cautiously:

"Of course, I misidentified the diary, so I should bear the loss."

Alice glanced at him, then looked down at the diary in her hand and muttered softly:
"Actually, it's normal that you bought it by mistake..."

——The diary Alger presented was not the original one written by Alice, but a transcribed version that had been passed through who knows how many hands.

Such a diary is impossible to recognize unless many pages are placed together and perhaps examined carefully, or unless one knows Chinese.

This really couldn't be said to be Alger's fault. After all, if Alice hadn't continued writing her diary, today's incident wouldn't have happened, so... She swallowed back more words, raised her head and puffed out her chest, and said:
"That's what you said!
"You bought this diary because you didn't have good eyesight and you were unlucky!"

——It has nothing to do with me.

Klein saw Alice's solution to the problem. He frowned and thought for a moment, then chose to let it go.

She seems to have realized her mistake, so there is no point in scolding her. Besides, I really shouldn't be the one to bear this loss...

Mr. Fool was very happy to have escaped a reward. He chuckled and said:

"It won't happen again."

Alice, who was still relaxed in the last second, shrank her neck and lowered her head in the next second.

After thinking for a while, she stole a glance at Alger, who was taking the blame. Alger seemed to be very skilled in this business and he didn't seem to have any complaints about it.

But Mr. Hanged Man would lose money this way... Alice looked at Alger thoughtfully and made a suggestion:

"Regarding the money you spent on the diary... you can pray to me when you get back, and then go to the casino to play a few rounds."

This was not what Alice would say in the past. Alger raised his head in surprise for a moment, but when he met Alice's gaze, he lowered his head again.

——He would not change his code of conduct just because of Alice's small change, but Alice's changed attitude and the sense of security brought by Mr. Fool made Alger decide to follow Alice's advice.

"Thank you for your concern, Miss Fortune," he said. "I will try it when I get back."

He decided to try praying for Alice first.

His courage comes from many aspects. Alice's changed attitude is one, the sense of security brought by Mr. Fool is the second, and there is actually a third point that is unknown to the public.

——He heard a very strange rumor in Bayam, saying that the crazy adventurer German Sparrow was the lover of the blonde girl.

Oh, yes, after Alice lost her temper, the order of priority in this rumor was changed. (End of this chapter)