North x Northwest

“Lil…”

“Hmm…”

“Lil!”

“Uhmm?”

“The sun is already high in the sky!”

“..!”

Lil, who had her face pressed against the desk, raised her upper body. As she sat up, she saw Levi standing near her with her arms crossed. But before she could fully wake up, Lil found herself being dragged to her bed and had no choice but to trudge helplessly after the doctor before sitting down. 

The moment the window opposite the bed opened wide, the gloomy room brightened and the fresh dewy air of the morning blew in.

“Are the two of you planning a trip together or something? What’s with the map?”

Lil, hesitant to give an honest answer, looked at the map of Roahn on which she had fallen asleep.

“Ah, yes… just…”

“Oh then, did you fight about the trip? Edgar looked like he was in a really bad mood today.”

Lil was reminded of last night. The night she avoided answering Ed’s question about whether he was truly nothing. Ed eventually left, saying he didn’t expect anything from her, but at the same time, he actually seemed to be expecting something.

‘What was I feeling when he said that?’

Lil thought, rubbing her sullen eyes. 

‘…Why didn’t Ed’s longing words sound burdensome to me?’

“I guess, Lil is in a bad mood too.”

“No.”

Lil managed to create something resembling a smile. However, as Levi kept her attention towards Lil’s arm, she didn’t see it.

Levi shook her head with a sigh.

“He can’t even make my patient feel good, what the heck? I should just put a ban on Edgar.”

“That… will make things difficult…”

“Oh my.”

Lil meant that it would be difficult because it would create a setback in their jailbreak plan, but Levi covered her mouth to hide her faint smile, probably misinterpreting it. As expected, a faint murmur was heard.

“…The love feud is as trivial as cutting water with a knife*…” 

Lil suddenly decided that when the time came, she should set a date to correct Levi’s inscrutable delusions.

After a brief treatment, Levi ended the medical examination with an injection.

“Very healthy. Excellent.”

“All thanks to you, Levi.”

“It’s fine to do more intense exercises now. Of course, as long as you don’t overdo it.”

Lil’s fists clenched for no apparent reason. Her grip was firm, and her muscles were much bigger than when she first awoke. Obviously, she wasn’t as strong as before, but it was fortunate that she was able to recover this much before the prison break. 

Feeling motivated, Lil looked up at Levi.

“Ed, no, Edgar… where is he now?”

“I guess he’s still in his room? You can go there.”

“You mean into his bedroom?”

“Well, that’s okay. It’s more like a lab in an office but then one with a bed.”

Lil changed her clothes and headed for the third floor. 

‘Even though we worked closely together for the past week and we have to for the coming week, I can’t help but still feel awkward…’

Lil ascended the stairs while pondering on what to say to Ed.

She pushed open the door to the room Elodie had directed her to and peered inside. Surprisingly, it was so cluttered that she had trouble telling whether it was a bedroom or a lab. Five or six desks were scattered around the space and on one side were sculptures and prints of unknown subjects. 

Lil stepped inside, completely oblivious that she was about to enter the bedroom of someone of the opposite sex. 

“Hey…”

It was quiet as if no one was there.

“Where are you?”

Lil walked further into the room. She did so because even though she couldn’t see anyone from the outside, that didn’t mean there couldn’t be someone buried somewhere behind a stack of books. 

While waiting for Ed, Lil finally came to a halt in front of the cold fireplace.

“Ed?”

Looking around, she discovered a familiar map on one of the smaller desks. However, unlike the map she studied with Ed last night, this one included detailed descriptions of various buildings, making it most likely serve another purpose. 

“…Villas, inns, and hotels…” 

Not thinking much about it, Lil raised her head. 

‘He doesn’t appear to be in here…!’ 

The moment she decided to go to the library, something flashed into the corner of her eye. A fragment of an obscured figure lay beneath the map. It was too similar to the oil paintings Lil had seen to be ignored.

Lil slowly lifted the map…

It was a portrait the size of a book.

A woman in a white satin gown was surrounded by colourful flowers. Her face was bright and cheerful, but Lil knew the woman had never laughed. It was the painter himself who added the illusion of joy. Lil remembered vividly the day this painting was made. She, of course, remembered the where and how as well. In addition, she knew where the original portrait hung and who owned it… This frame was merely a miniature replica.

Lil asked the most obvious question.

“…Why is this here?…”

Overcome with a foreboding feeling, she hastily flipped the frame, which was still lying on the desk, pretending she never saw it. At the same time, her head began to spin and she had to prop herself against the desk’s corner. Her fingers tingled as she pressed her palm firmly against the corner. With a heartbeat that matched the pounding of her neck and temples, her gaze wandered around aimlessly, but always returned to the frame, hoping it had magically disappeared.

Unfortunately for her, the frame was still right there. She had flipped it over to avoid seeing the picture, but she instead discovered some writing in the corner. Even at first glance she already recognized whose handwriting it was and she couldn’t bring herself to read it. 

The eyes that read the sentence were hot and bloodshot.

[ I’m glad you’re interested in Liloa. I hope you catch her and bring her to me soon. ]

The line below was the author’s signature. Lil couldn’t take her gaze away from the familiar but revolting handwriting.

[ Your faithful friend, Rene Mireille. ]

Lil slowly raised her head as another door to the bedroom opened. Ed, who seemed to have just finished washing up, appeared somewhat embarrassed as he moved closer. It was understandable. After all, he and Lil usually met in the library or her boudoir.

“Why are you…”

Ed’s gaze fell on the desk.

“…here?”

Lil turned over the picture frame Ed was looking at. As its golden edge rattled, he met the eyes of a woman wearing a bright smile. He didn’t want to look at it, but Ed had no choice but to stare at the face of the woman surrounded by flowers.

“What… is this?”

“…”

Lil stood dumbfounded as she looked at the speechless Ed, realising that she hadn’t misunderstood the situation. Her chin started to tremble. She squeezed her jaw tightly, knowing she couldn’t get any words out at this rate. Only after a while did she manage to squeeze her voice out.

“This woman, do you know who she is?”

The towel Ed was using to dry his hair dropped in silence. His face hardened without showing a single layer of denial. Despite the miserable affirmation, Lil couldn’t accept the situation at all. 

‘How can I even connect the Duke from the darkest parts of my past with this man in front of me?’ 

Lil turned the frame over again.

[ I’m glad you’re interested in Liloa. I hope you catch her and bring her to me soon. ]

‘Mireille asked Ed to find me. Ed accepted it, out of ‘interest’ in me. What the hell… Why? For what purpose?’

“I can explain it… I can explain everything.”

“…”

“…If you listen… no, it’s not what you… Damn it…”

“…”

Ed muttered a few nonsense words at first but then shut his mouth again. His servile voice faded as he rubbed his face with his fingers. Lil couldn’t believe hearing his lowering tone, clearly crushed by all the mistakes he made.

‘Ed knows very well what he has been doing…’

“Please, listen to me for a second…”

‘…Knowing very well how he spent all those days with me… Laughing, playing pranks, and building intimacy…’

Ed, who seemed to be frozen, moved his feet after coming to his senses. His pace became odiously cautious when Lil locked her gaze on him. 

As letters formed words, and words formed sentences, the distant and vague form of the Duke of Mireille completed itself. 

The dictator of Mireille. 

Lil vividly remembered the days of her endless naivety, crawling on all fours under his reign. Mireille, towering over her head again, was still menacing. Her position now was also far different from when she mocked him by attacking the Garni merchant ships. Here, Lil was once again a mere possession. One owned by Mireille.

‘If the Duke and Marquess of this Empire traded between themselves, what would the price be?’ 

The dirty pacts that were exchanged, the secret conversations that took place, and other various imaginations pulled Lil down like a swamp. Her thoughts continued to sink into the bottomless pit…