She Died, It Was Suicide

Iver knocked on the door at least five times, but no one answered.

It was already 1:30 pm, which is roughly the time when most people take their afternoon nap.

However, according to the passerby elf, Iver's sister Freya should have Netherworld Schedule of waking up at noon.

... She wouldn't go back to sleep immediately after finishing breakfast, would she?

For a moment, a sense of unease arose in Iver's heart—

The main reason was that he immediately recalled the novel experience of opening his own closet and finding a corpse inside.

As a famous detective, does Sherlock really have some kind of "Incident Constitution... and perhaps he's cursed my half-sister, whom I've never met, to death from afar?

They waited at the door for a long time, but no one came to open it. Iver then mentioned his worries to Sherlock.

Just as they were about to break down the door, they heard Yanis's voice from behind them:

"Iver?"

Turning around, I saw Yanis walking over with a handbag in her hand.

She reached for the door, and a doorknob immediately appeared. She opened the door and went inside.

"Freya hasn't opened the door yet..."

Iver immediately recounted everything he had seen and heard to Yanis, expressing his concern. "I hope nothing bad has happened to her."

"Oh, it's nothing."

Yanis replied, "She must be busy... let's not worry about that for now."

As they walked inside, Yanis walked up to Iver.

She reached out and pressed down on the back of Iver's head, gritting her teeth as she said, "You brat, weren't you going to say a word for me before?"

"To be fair, Master Agnes, I also think that being missing for two hundred years is a bit too much."

Iver said seriously, "If we don't explain things properly, we might lose a good friend—that would be such a shame. It's precisely because we have a good relationship that I hope the misunderstanding can be completely cleared up."

"So, what exactly happened?"

"... Actually, it wasn't even two hundred years at the beginning."

Upon hearing this, Yanis's expression became somewhat unnatural. "Initially, we agreed that I would travel for twenty years and then come back. But the world is bigger than I thought. The original plan was to travel the world in twenty years, but it has ended up taking more than eighty years."

"I went back to the Theocracy to retrieve some of my teacher's belongings. I thought she had long forgotten me; after all, eighty years is a long time for elves. But she really did wait for me for eighty years..."

Upon hearing this, Iver understood.

Things were much simpler than Iver had imagined.

Yanis must have realized that he was sixty years too late when he first came back, so he didn't dare to come back to see her.

Elves have a sense of time that is about five to seven times greater than that of humans.

Even by the most extreme assumption, this would mean they've been out of contact for at least a decade.

For humans, it's entirely possible to forget a childhood friend after losing contact for over a decade, or at least the bond will fade considerably. Promises and vows from back then naturally become meaningless.

Yanis never imagined that after eighty years, Grey would still be waiting for her—it wasn't even like being separated from a friend for more than a decade. It was more like running away from home for more than a decade, and her parents were still looking for her.

This overwhelming emotion scared Yanis away. What followed was a vicious cycle... the longer it dragged on, the less she dared to come back.

"... How should I put it?"

Iver hissed as well.

He thought for a moment and said, "I think you should formally apologize to Miss Grey."

"But I'm no longer suited to stay in the Theocracy."

Yanis said with a wry smile, "It's fine to come back occasionally, but if I stay too long, I'm worried I'll just freeze into an amber. Two hundred years have passed, and I've gotten used to living with Short-lived Races... Oh, I'm not insulting you. I'm just describing those races with shorter lifespans than elves."

"Can you imagine, Iver? In the Theocracy, it's normal for something to drag on for three or four months. I know a writer who, for some personal reasons, doesn't have much work to do. In other words, she's essentially a full-time writer on the human side."

"After she finished writing a book, she said she needed to take a break before starting a new book... and that break lasted for eighteen years."

"I thought something had happened to her. I happened to Theocracy recently, so I went to see her. In fact, many of her readers also thought she had died or passed away without them realizing it... because her novels and poems are full of the atmosphere of death."

Upon hearing this, Iver suddenly thought of Gloria Blue Rose.

Could it be that the friend Yanis was talking about is her? But then Yanis's words dispelled Iver's doubts. "I came back to check on her recently and asked her about it. I found out that she's just generally unmotivated. Although her health is still not good, she doesn't seem to have any suicidal thoughts."

"And it's not that she hasn't written anything all these years; she's written a whole cabinet full of essays. But none of them have an ending."

"She told me that although she wasn't in good health, she shouldn't be in any serious trouble anytime soon... You should know about elves' illnesses, right?"

"Treeification and amber... right?" Iver answered softly.

"That's right. She has Amberization Disease, but she actively seeks treatment and doesn't want to just die. She feels bored every day and wants to do something."

"So she specially taught herself jewelry. She even joked with me that if one of her arms or legs were completely solidified into amber, she would cut it off and make it into jewelry for us, all by hand. I told her that if I ever had that opportunity, I would personally design it for her."

"During this period, she developed a slight interest in starting a new book and began reading newspapers from various countries for material. She also saw news about you Iver. She talked to me about you, saying that she thought you were very handsome and that the protagonist of her new book might be based on you. She also asked me a lot of questions about your deeds."

At this point, Yanis chuckled and patted Iver on the shoulder, "But I still think you're better suited to be the villain. So I suggested to her that you be the villain and Sherlock, as a detective, be the protagonist... I don't know if she accepted it."

"It doesn't matter to me whether I play a villain or not."

Iver chuckled, "Rather than saying, I think the villains are cooler."

In his mind, he pictured a little girl who was always smiling.

Despite suffering from a terminal illness, she remained positive and full of life. Just listening to Yanis's words, Iver seemed to see those sparkling eyes.

Although both are writers suffering from Amberization Disease, she is clearly different from Gloria.

After all, the prevalence of Amberization Disease in the Theocracy is quite high. It is said that the probability of Treeification Disease was higher a thousand years ago, but in recent years the bloodline of the elves has become diluted and deteriorated, and the probability of Treeification Disease has decreased significantly; however, the proportion of Amberization Disease has actually increased.

When everyone lived a slow-paced life, there weren't many cases of Amberization Disease. But as the pace of life for Short-lived Races gradually quickened, and various forms of entertainment and production became more abundant, even the elves, who were clearly unrelated to them, seemed to be infected with this restlessness.

Therefore, there are a few extremists among the elves who believe that they need to be completely isolated from the Short-lived Races.

Iver smiled and turned to Sherlock: "Hey, I said you wanted to be the main character."

"Whatever."

Sherlock, who was walking at the back, scoffed and said, "I just hope she doesn't sacrifice the rigor of detective work for the sake of dramatic effect. I can hardly expect her to understand logic, and newspaper reports aren't always objective and fair. She just imagines and writes based on the newspaper; she's too likely to lack real-life experience."

"Don't underestimate her."

Yanis defended her friend, saying, "Gloria is Hall of Fame Level writer, a world-renowned literary giant. She wouldn't make such a simple mistake. You're really going to be famous this time, Sherlock —if she accepts my suggestion."

"—Wait a minute."

Sherlock became serious. "What did you say her name was? Her full name?"

"Gloria. Gloria Blue Rose ... Elf names sometimes come from their parents and sometimes from their teachers. She's one of those who came from her teachers."

"Yanis was just something I said casually."

She quickly realized something. "What's wrong with her?"

"She is dead."

Sherlock answered succinctly, "It was suicide."

Yanis's pupils suddenly contracted.