95. Those Hands Aren't Exactly Clean / 96. Is She Coming After Me?

Welt felt things probably would not get that bad, but Caelus mentioning the corporation's Cornerstones still served as a reminder.

After going a little farther, Caelus and Welt arrived at the meeting hall where the family heads usually gathered. Morning Dew Mansion did not belong to any particular Family; it was maintained jointly by all of them. Just as Sunday was the head of the Oak Family, the other Families kept one another in check. Whenever they had nothing better to do, they would come to the meeting room and trade insults to relieve some pressure.

"There's still no one here."

Welt said disappointedly. They could not find anyone even in the meeting hall, much less elsewhere. Still, that might have been a good thing for them.

"Aventurine and the others should have come here, right? It would be great if we could recreate the scene."

Caelus looked around as he spoke. He wanted to find out where his wife's Cornerstone, the Topaz Stone, was. It would be nice if he could bring it back to Topaz, but that would require someone's help.

Caelus took out a tarot card from the Dream Manual. It was the gift Black Swan had given him. Only the Garden of Recollection possessed the technology to recreate scenes from dreams, or so Aventurine had said.

"Black Swan, come on, come on."

Caelus clasped the tarot card between his hands as though praying to a deity, but after waiting for a while, he realized Black Swan was ignoring him.

So Caelus came up with a bad idea and placed the tarot card in Acheron's hand.

"You say it."

"?"

A question mark seemed to appear above Acheron's head, but she did not refuse Caelus's request. Summoning Black Swan was proving rather difficult, so Caelus leaned close to Acheron's ear and whispered a few words to her.

"Black Swan, black and white. Pluck off her feathers, and she becomes a white swan."

Acheron calmly spoke while holding the tarot card. A flash of white light appeared before them, and Black Swan's upper body materialized in the dreamscape, her expression slightly terrified.

"I was doing perfectly fine outside, so why were you calling for my life? You nearly scared me into having a heart attack!"

Black Swan sounded displeased. She had been outside communicating with memories when she suddenly heard what sounded like a death threat. She had immediately dropped everything and rushed over. The psychological trauma ran too deep; she was afraid Acheron had really come to pluck her feathers.

"Am I that scary?"

Acheron put down the tarot card and asked in confusion. She had a fairly good impression of Black Swan, so she had not expected the other woman to fear her so much.

"Uh, not exactly. I mean, I'm quite happy to be able to help you."

Black Swan smiled at the amnesiac Acheron. She had no desire for Acheron to remember what she had done to her. Better to let it all drift away with the wind; she never wanted to recall it again.

"Black Swan, please help us recreate what happened here, especially the part involving Aventurine."

Caelus said this with the mindset of making full use of available resources. Since Black Swan was idle anyway, she might as well help out.

"I gave you that tarot card, and this is what you use it for? You heartless thing. After how well I treated you, too."

Black Swan glared at Caelus indignantly. She had never expected him to use her tarot card like this. He really was a genius. Still, that made them even.

"I'll compensate you later."

Caelus said with a smile. Black Swan gave him an incredibly charming eye roll, and Firefly immediately felt something was wrong. Why were those two exchanging looks? Caelus was her boyfriend.

Firefly immediately wrapped herself around Caelus's arm and glared at Black Swan. From her perspective, Black Swan was no good person. After Caelus returned from death, Black Swan had taken him away, depriving Firefly of the chance to explain herself.

"Little girl, no one's stealing him from you."

Black Swan said with a soft laugh. She had seen more memories than Firefly had watched movies, so naturally she knew Firefly was afraid she would take Caelus away. Of course she would not take him—at most, she might borrow him once in a while. As long as she was not facing Acheron, she was full of a composed older sister's poise.

"Please, Miss Black Swan."

Welt said to Black Swan. He had noticed that bringing Caelus along always led to strange developments, but overall, they helped the investigation. That was Caelus's talent.

"Fine."

As Black Swan spoke, she began recreating the previous images and conversations within the meeting hall. Such a thing was possible for a Memokeeper, but it consumed considerable energy. She would only help because she had finalized a partnership with the Star Rail Express.

Caelus soon saw the game between Aventurine and Sunday. Simply put, Aventurine had wanted to retrieve his Cornerstone through a sleight-of-hand trick. From the beginning, he had carried two Cornerstones. The Family believed he only possessed the Aventurine Stone, but the one inside the Cornerstone case was actually the Topaz Stone. The Aventurine Stone had been hidden among Aventurine's luggage, passed off as an ordinary piece of jewelry.

Sunday had not expected such an important Cornerstone to be tossed into a suitcase without any protective measures. He admitted that Aventurine had played him, but in the end, Sunday had been one step ahead. Not only did he refuse to return the Cornerstone to Aventurine, he used the power of Harmony to place a curse on him, forcing Aventurine to find the culprit within seventeen hours. Otherwise, he would become a believer who could only praise Harmony.

Aventurine had no choice but to leave Morning Dew Mansion dejectedly to search for the culprit. Sunday left afterward as well, and no one had come here until Caelus and the others arrived.

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Little Hands Were Not Very Clean

"It seems Aventurine suffered quite a setback here."

Welt adjusted his glasses. Everyone had seen Aventurine's outcome, and Welt could not imagine what means he had left to turn things around.

"I think Aventurine must have left himself a backup plan."

Caelus offered his thoughts. Topaz had said Aventurine was deeply calculating. The situation before them might not have been anything other than the result of his calculations.

"Why?" Welt asked curiously.

"Because he's someone Topaz could trust with her life. He wouldn't lose so completely."

Caelus's reasoning was entirely built on Topaz's trust. As long as Topaz's judgment had not been wrong, Aventurine would definitely get his Cornerstone back.

"What kind of reason is that? And who is Topaz?"

Firefly grumbled from the side. Hearing that name and seeing Caelus's expression, she knew Topaz had to be a woman.

"A girl I'm currently pursuing," Caelus answered honestly.

"How many girls are you pursuing at the same time?"

Firefly was speechless. She had thought Caelus had come to Penacony to develop their relationship; Kafka had said the same. Yet she was only one among many. It would be nice if this man could change his habit of falling for every girl he met.

"Since no one is here anyway, let's search around."

Welt spoke up. Since they were already here, they could not simply leave because no one was around. If that were the case, they should not have entered in the first place. Leading by example, he began searching through the bookshelves behind the conference table.

Caelus and the others split up to look for clues. On what appeared to be Sunday's bookshelf, Caelus found a handwritten letter from Robin. The contents were roughly what Caelus already knew: Robin had discovered that something was wrong with her voice and begun investigating. The letter had been written before something happened to her. She suspected there was a traitor within the Family, and she also mentioned the Memory Zone Meme representing death. Caelus knew what happened afterward, but Sunday did not.

Caelus shared the letter with Welt, who stroked his chin in thought before looking at Caelus.

"So-called Death is that monster you encountered in the Dream Hotel?"

"Yes."

Caelus did not share his own experience of dying. Too much had happened before, and he had never gotten the chance to explain. Everyone else believed he had merely been sent back to the real world.

Caelus had not intended to hide it from Uncle Yang. He had only promised Robin to keep it secret for the time being, so he could only gloss over it now.

"If so, it is very likely the murderer who killed Robin. But how do we prove it? Sunday's way of thinking seems to have shifted the culprit toward an internal traitor in the Family. The task he gave Aventurine was the same."

Welt frowned. Robin had investigated the truth behind Death and been targeted by Death, which was a perfectly reasonable guess. Perhaps someone had deliberately pinned the truth of the murder on the monster, or perhaps an internal Family traitor had raised the monster. In any case, there were far too many suspicious points.

"Let's keep looking."

Welt said. Caelus continued searching the bookshelf and found a Light Cone in a hidden corner. A Light Cone preserved its owner's memories, allowing them to be viewed at any time like photographs, so its owner would not forget those important memories.

This Light Cone recorded Sunday and Robin as children. Caelus's eyes immediately lit up when he saw the little bird. Robin truly deserved to be called a great beauty; even as a child, she had been stunning enough to make hearts flutter. The greatest difference between a Light Cone and a photograph was that it allowed one to view the people inside from every angle. At that moment, little Robin was wearing a beautiful dress and standing on the bed in a singing pose, while Sunday stood below the bed, applauding his younger sister onstage like an audience member at a concert.

Because little Robin was so adorable, Caelus's not-so-clean little hand secretly tried to tuck the Light Cone into his clothes.

"Take out what you're holding."

A cold voice sounded. Guilty as a thief, Caelus put the Light Cone back onto the bookshelf, then looked awkwardly at Sunday, who had walked in.

"Uh, Brother Sunday, I just saw that the Light Cone was dirty, so I was going to wipe it with my clothes."

Caelus found a perfectly legitimate explanation for his actions, but Sunday did not even look at him. There were outsiders here, so he had to maintain his image.

"Entering restricted grounds without permission is hardly the conduct of a guest, is it, Mr. Welt?"

Sunday said. Welt was indeed in the wrong in this matter. No matter what Sunday said, he could only accept it, though they had no choice but to do what they did.

"My apologies, Mr. Sunday. We found no one to notify, so we entered your residence without permission. Please forgive us."

Welt's apology seemed very sincere. Sunday had only returned not long ago and did not know exactly what Welt's group had done.

"Even if no one was present to receive you, should you not have sat quietly and waited for the master to arrive?"

Sunday gestured at Welt. What he had seen upon entering was not a group of guests sitting quietly, but a group of people with unclean hands. His sister's precious Light Cone had been pawed by a pig. He would find a chance to get revenge later.

"We came precisely to learn about the case from Mr. Sunday, so that there would be no mishaps in the investigation."

Welt's way of dealing with people involved not only sincerity but also a thick skin. He had no intention of responding to Sunday's remark and instead entered cooperation mode.

"Very well. Since you have come with goodwill, I have no reason to ask you to leave."

Seeing Welt act this way, Sunday did not press the matter. They were partners for now, after all. He could not throw them out over such a small matter.

"Don't worry. He didn't find out that we looked through those documents."

Acheron spoke beside Welt. She instinctively believed she was still concealing her presence, so she said it as though it were party chat. But she had forgotten that the head of the Harmony Family was extremely sensitive to sounds.

"I didn't see it, but I heard it."

Sunday's expression was somewhat helpless and somewhat angry. Welt, Caelus, and Firefly all raised their hands to cover their foreheads. They felt that even if no one could hear their party chat, there was still no need to say that. Yet they had still been defeated by Acheron's blankness.

Acheron also realized she had misspoken and could only fall silent, pretending to be a wooden doll.

"Though the truth has not yet come to light, I am not far from it. I promise you all that the traitor will soon pay the price."

Sunday also pretended not to have heard anything and continued speaking. Things had reached this point, and the sunk cost was rather high. If he had known, he should have told them to get out the moment Caelus tried to steal the Light Cone.

"May justice soon be brought to light. However, I have one personal question for Mr. Sunday: how exactly did the Family determine that the culprit was hiding within?"

Welt smoothly cooperated with Sunday in letting the earlier awkwardness pass and shifted into serious conversation.

Coming for Me?

"To be frank, someone attempting to cause chaos on the eve of the Grand Gala would indeed suit the corporation's interests... The Family has reason to suspect that the corporation is meddling behind the scenes."

Welt said.

"The other family heads have raised concerns identical to yours. But in my view, the true culprit would never flaunt himself about like that envoy... Besides, I have personally placed shackles upon him already."

Sunday appeared extremely confident. Everyone present knew what shackles he meant. Someone already restrained did not need much concern.

"However, I should instead bring Mr. Welt's concerns to your attention. In my view, it is you who should be more wary of Aventurine... Evil men may be unable to shake high walls, but they can drive a blade into a righteous man's heart."

"He is a businessman, not a philanthropist. Yet he is currently scattering money throughout the streets and has gone alone in the direction of Klauek Film Park. Who knows what he is plotting... You should all be careful."

Sunday's tone was very confident. Aventurine could no longer threaten him. The only people who might be stabbed in the back were those from the Star Rail Express, and he already knew that the Star Rail Express had reached a partnership with Aventurine.

Welt said nothing more and led the group away. The Star Rail Express's practice of playing both sides was indeed somewhat unfair, but it also meant they remained neutral. They did not favor either side merely because one side's arguments sounded more reasonable. They simply insisted on finding the answers they sought. These methods were only part of the process, not the result.

As they left Morning Dew Mansion, Caelus received a message from Himeko on his phone. Himeko asked them to meet at Klauek Film Park and share their respective intelligence.

Thus, the two groups headed for the same place. Aventurine happened to be there as well. The mystery had not been solved, but they were getting closer.

After Himeko and Welt met, they nodded to each other and explained what they had each discovered. Himeko's group had found Gallagher and learned his true identity.

"To make a long story short, Gallagher once belonged to Mikhail, and Mikhail was the Clock Keeper."

Himeko explained the situation briefly. They had found the Clock Keeper, but unfortunately all they had was a name and a story that did not sound much like a comedy.

"Firefly, doesn't that name sound familiar?"

Caelus tugged on Firefly's hand. The two of them should have been the first to learn that name, though they had never expected it to be the Clock Keeper's name.

"Yes. When we were in the Dream Hotel, someone kept calling that name."

Firefly nodded. She had always remembered those experiences, so she had remembered the name.

"That is what we were about to say. Mikhail is already dead, but someone borrowed his identity as the Clock Keeper and sent invitations to many people. Gallagher meant that someone inherited Mikhail's will and has continued fighting against the Family."

Himeko explained.

"So they weren't on the same side? But I heard the Clock Keeper had a good relationship with the Family."

Firefly asked in surprise. As a stowaway, her sources of information were not much different from those of ordinary people, though she knew slightly more. If Gallagher had not revealed such secrets, no one would have known.

"Yes, what you heard was the public praise. Internally, the Family has secretly nailed the Clock Keeper to the pillar of shame. Father of the Sweet Dream—what an ironic title."

Himeko nodded. They had previously believed the Clock Keeper was allied with the Family. Mikhail had clearly been treated unfairly. Firefly had seen plenty of injustices in her life, so she was not so fragile.

Caelus noticed the change in Firefly's expression and held her hand while smiling at her. Caelus's smile helped Firefly pull herself together. She still had plenty of strength to face what came next.

Ladies and gentlemen!

An abrupt broadcast interrupted Himeko's explanation. She looked up at the loudspeaker beside the road. The voice was coming from it, and they were all very familiar with its owner.

Penacony's most astonishing and grandest performance in history is about to begin! The Interastral Peace Corporation cordially invites you all to attend at Klauek Film Park!

Aventurine's voice sounded extremely pleased with himself, as if he had arranged the stage and was about to begin his performance. Though the broadcast could be heard throughout the entire dreamscape, the only people actually invited were the group from the Star Rail Express. Everyone else had already been seized by the Family's Bloodhounds and taken away from Klauek Film Park to shelter.

Yet when the Family's Bloodhounds acted, they ignored the people from the Star Rail Express. It was obvious they had received some orders suggesting that Caelus and the others could proceed and confront Aventurine.

"Sunday really called it. He told Aventurine to find the culprit, so why is he causing trouble here?"

Caelus was thoroughly confused about what Aventurine wanted to do, but there was nothing left to ponder. The group could only walk deeper into the film park, and it was once again time for Miss Guide to make an appearance.

"There's a large stage at the very back, with several huge screens. Advance films from many famous directors are shown there, so it usually gets a lot of visitors."