Contract of the All-Seer

Old Whateley heard the noise, so he came to check?

Without the Wooden Amulet, the transparent monster returned again?

Or did Wilbur and Lavinia happen to come back at this time?

Hope frowned. He carefully hid Elizabeth's Pocket Watch under the rose bushes, closed his eyes again, and changed the target location to under his own bed.

If it was the second scenario, he still wouldn't be able to teleport, but if it was those three family members, there might still be a chance to explain.

He hadn't brought the pocket watch because, though small, it would still bulge in his pocket. Leaving it here meant he could retrieve it anytime.

His figure vanished from the Rose Garden.

The next moment, he appeared under the bed. Because the bedsheet had been deliberately pulled down, it was pitch black here. Still, the bedsheet was a blessing, blocking outside sight and giving Hope a chance to teleport back.

It shouldn't be that monster—a single bedsheet couldn't block its vision.

Hope didn't immediately crawl out from under the bed. Instead, he listened to the sounds outside to gauge what had happened while he was gone.

But... it was eerily quiet. No one called his name, nor was there the expected furious shouting from Wilbur. If anything, there was a faint rustling sound.

Hope slowly lifted the bedsheet a tiny crack. To his surprise, the room door was shut tight, and there was no one inside at all.

How... had they already left?

He let the bedsheet fall and closed his eyes again, using "Uncertainty" to target a spot inside the room.

He didn't crawl out directly. Comparatively, using "Uncertainty" was a more covert way to confirm if anyone was still watching outside.

"Uncertainty" failed again.

Hope briefly returned to the Rose Garden, then immediately came back under the bed to confirm no one had noticed him.

Someone was still watching the room, but they weren't inside it. Maybe they were peeping from outside through some gap he hadn't noticed.

But what was the purpose?

Hmm, maybe they'd already guessed he had some kind of teleportation ability and suspected he hadn't run away but had only left briefly and would return soon. So they hid in the shadows, waiting to verify their guess...

"Uncertainty" must be used on "a place no one is watching." This restriction actually helped me, keeping me from being discovered...

The rustling grew louder.

What exactly is this sound...

Hope suddenly realized he might be overthinking. He gently touched the bedboard above him and found it slightly bowed in the center—a sign that someone was lying on the bed, putting weight on it.

Maybe the "peeper" was just lying on the bed.

That's why Hope couldn't see anyone when he looked out from under it.

He hesitated, then lightly knocked on the bedboard while closing his eyes, ready to teleport himself to the rooftop at any moment—he didn't choose the Rose Garden because the distance would increase the teleportation time, while reaching the rooftop took only an instant.

From the bed came a startled human voice and the rustling of someone shifting their body. The voice clearly belonged to a woman, muffled, as if her mouth was full of something.

Hope knew who it was. He crawled out from under the bed: "Lavinia!"

Lavinia was curled up on Hope's bed, huddled in a corner. Beside her were some things she'd apparently dropped in her panic.

Hope leaned in to look. It was a tin can that looked like a can of food and a paper bag. The bag was open, revealing yellow rings inside.

Hope picked one up, but it had already been bitten into, so he grabbed another. He put it in his mouth—a bit greasy, but crispy, sweet, with a special aroma.

Fried Onion Rings.

The situation was obvious: Lavinia had come to deliver food but found Hope wasn't in his room. As he could imagine, she had little sense of responsibility. Seeing Hope had fled, she didn't tell anyone but instead lazed around on the bed, snacking on his lunch.

Lavinia squinted at Hope, staring until Hope wondered if her "King of Kings' Blessing" wasn't working. Finally, she recognized him: "Hope?"

"It's me."

"I thought you ran away!"

"No, I didn't." Hope gave the excuse he'd prepared, putting on a frightened look:

"A weirdo named Robert came here, but he seemed to anger a... a monster. The monster ate Robert. I was terrified and hid under the bed."

Lavinia didn't seem to suspect Hope of lying at all. As she listened, she grew frightened too: "You mean something transparent, like water?"

"Yeah, that's about right."

"It came from there?" She pointed at the wall outside the door.

"Yeah, right there." Hope followed her lead.

In his mind, he added to his understanding of the Whateley family:

Lavinia clearly knew about that monster's existence. That meant the monster wasn't some secret within the Whateley household—not something Old Whateley or Wilbur kept privately.

"I have to tell Dad!" Lavinia said. She got off the bed—she hadn't even taken off her shoes, so she could step straight onto the floor—and grabbed a handful of onion rings from the paper bag before leaving.

She hurried out, not even bothering to close the door.

Hope breathed a sigh of relief. That took care of Lavinia.

He wasn't worried that Lavinia would forget about "Robert" in her shock, because Wilbur would come again sooner or later anyway.

Hope sat on the bed, only then noticing that his handcuffs and chains were lying beside the bed.

He bit his nails. At least it was Lavinia—if it had been Wilbur, he would definitely have noticed.

He used Uncertainty to fasten the handcuffs back on himself, and while waiting for Wilbur to come find him, picked up his lunch.

A can, a bag of onion rings, and a cup of hot coffee on the nightstand.

Lavinia had already eaten a fair number of the onion rings, but thankfully there were still plenty left—Wilbur had probably anticipated she'd sneak some.

The can had been heated; its wrapper was yellow and black, and the metal lid was already open, revealing the contents inside.

Full of yellowish-green peas. No spoon.

Hope quickly realized that a spoon had originally been placed on the nightstand.

He searched for the object that Robert had unknowingly knocked somewhere, and finally found it under the nightstand.

Lying alongside it were two other things: a silver fountain pen, and a yellowed cotton paper.

This was... Robert's Contract of the All-Seer?

Robert had never had a chance to take them back, and after turning into a Fishman, his intelligence seemed to have suffered, so he simply left.

Hope didn't pull out the contract paper or the pen, pretending not to see them, and only retrieved the spoon—Wilbur could burst in at any moment, and he couldn't afford to do anything out of the ordinary now.