Yu Xing wore an appropriately puzzled and concerned expression. "Something unfortunate? Grandma, could you tell me more?"
Grandma Pearl sighed. Since he was a professional investigator and had ties to the Harvest Church, she agreed.
Her gaze turned toward the window, as if she'd fallen into a distant memory. After a long while, she said, "Teacher Riel... He was a clever, gentle young man, well-educated and always polite."
"His family really did live in that white house with the little garden at the end of Rose Avenue. His wife was a good, capable woman, and their son had only just learned to run... They were such a lovely family."
Regret filled Grandma Pearl's voice. "But later... I don't know what happened. I heard that Teacher Riel became obsessed with something especially arcane and dangerous. He went completely out of his mind. He quit his job at the university and shut himself away at home all day, refusing to see anyone. He was always muttering things no one could understand... about stars and eyes and such."
"That's what his wife told me when we used to chat. We were on good terms back then."
Grandma Pearl lowered her voice further, speaking with the carefulness of someone recounting a forbidden memory. "Naturally, the way he was behaving drew the Church's attention. Around that time, people in Church robes were often seen hanging around his house. Sometimes they'd come into the shop to buy bread, too. My mother was still running the place back then, and I helped her, so I knew a little about it."
"I overheard those Church people chatting. They said that even though Teacher Riel had become eccentric and spent all day muttering about stars and the universe, acting like a madman, he hadn't actually done anything to hurt