Chapter 164 - <7>
“Try to remember, starting from last night. Let’s see… How about you start by thinking about the layout of the room?”
“The layout of the room?”
“Yeah. What kind of room it was…”
“The room, huh…”
Ritz crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and fell deep into thought. He was probably trying to recall the woman’s room. Since there was no point in just staring at him, Anna casually glanced around their cell.
After lunch, they had chatted idly about things unrelated to the case for a while, but they had finally settled down and started thinking about the incident again. However, just like before, it couldn’t be said that they were making smooth progress. If anything, they hadn’t advanced at all since the morning.
“What a nice day…”
Anna murmured absently, looking up at the high window. The room was stark and empty, but even a simple window made a world of difference in its brightness.
Some time after lunch, the sun had begun to shine in again. The light that had poured in when they first arrived in the morning had dwindled as the sun rose higher. But once the afternoon began, light started to filter back into the prison, this time from the opposite direction. At this rate, the cell would probably be at its brightest in the evening. Lost in these thoughts, Anna casually asked Ritz a question.
“Was her room bright?”
Ritz opened his eyes, his face showing he didn’t understand the sudden question, and furrowed his brow suspiciously. Worried that she had interrupted his train of thought, Anna quickly elaborated.
“Um, this place is bright because of the window, right? So I was just wondering what her room was like.”
“I went there at night, you know?”
“Oh, right. Of course.”
“There’s no way the outside of the window would be bright… A window?”
Saying that, Ritz pressed his hands to his forehead.
“The scenery outside the window… I feel like it was the same…”
“Where?”
“The window at that woman’s house and the one where I was framed. I mean, it was through frosted glass, so I couldn’t see it clearly. But it’s weird. The two places are at completely different heights, so there’s no way they could have the same view.”
“What kind of scenery was it?”
“I could see the Twin Towers.”
“The Twin Towers?”
That meant the holy site of this city.
“Below them were three triangular roofs in a row. But the view from the woman’s house was a night scene, so I don’t know if it was really the same…”
“So, if we can’t find the woman’s house, we should look for that view from the window?”
“That’s what it comes down to.”
“I see! Is there anything else?”
“Anything else… anything else… I don’t think there’s anything more about the woman’s house.”
Ritz fell silent again, lost in thought. This time, Anna waited patiently for him.
“At the crime scene, something… yeah, something felt off. Something was strange…”
Ritz muttered to himself. Anna tried to think of how to help him remember. Then she recalled a habit she often used when she lost something.
“Maybe you’ll think of something if you try to reenact the scene?”
“The scene?”
Ritz looked up, confused, not understanding what she meant.
“Yeah. See, when I lose something, I try to retrace my steps right before I lost it. It’s surprisingly effective for remembering where I put it.”
“…I see. I do that sometimes, too.”
“Right? It’s better than just standing still in the room. So, try to remember what felt strange and say it out loud. Two heads are better than one for figuring out what’s off, I’m sure of it.”
“…You have a point.”
“Why don’t you pretend this cell is the room you were in and move around?”
Having no other ideas, Ritz nodded and reluctantly got to his feet.
“Ashok, the man who was killed, was in the bed. He was on his back with a sheet over him, but one hand was hanging down from under it.”
As he spoke, Ritz walked over to the cell’s bed.
“And I was sleeping on the floor, away from him. My hands were covered in blood, and I was clutching a dagger.”
Ritz stood there silently, desperately trying to recall the situation. Anna didn’t rush him, but gently prompted him to continue.
“What did you do then?”
“I looked out the window to see if I could escape, but I knew it was impossible. It was pretty high up. That’s when I noticed the Twin Towers and the three roofs. I realized I’d seen them before.”
“You realized it was the same as the window at the woman’s house?”
“Not to that extent. I might have been more shaken up than I thought. I have no memory of it.”
“I guess so. You were alone with a dead body, after all.”
“If this were a battlefield, or if I remembered killing him, I wouldn’t have flinched.”
“…Oh, I see.”
Anna still didn’t know what kind of life Ritz had led as a soldier and mercenary. So, even though Ritz said it so casually, she realized his life must have been quite harsh. If she or Franz were in the same situation, they would probably panic.
“Right after that, the Autonomous Guard burst in.”
“Right after?”
“Yeah. The timing was so good, I was honestly surprised. It was as if they’d been watching and waiting for me to wake up.”
“Really? What a coincidence.”
As she nodded in admiration, Ritz furrowed his brow as if the thought had just occurred to him, then tilted his head with a difficult expression.
“…Now that you mention it, a coincidence like that couldn’t happen so easily.”
“Yeah. It’s almost as if they really were watching, or…”
“Or they knew when the drug would wear off and I’d wake up… something like that.”
“Yeah. In that case, does that mean the woman Ritz was with knows something?”
“It would seem so… Dammit, I was careless.”
But to prove that, they had no choice but to find the woman who likely drugged him. Edward and the others were working on that now, so there was nothing the two of them could do here at the moment.
“Okay, let’s set that aside for now and try to remember the rest, okay?”
“Right. Well, I don’t think anything felt too out of place up to that point.”
With that, Ritz crossed his arms and stared at the bed, deep in thought. Anna waited silently, not wanting to disturb him.
“Right after the Autonomous Guard stormed in, a woman named Kamala rushed in. She’s the victim’s daughter, the one who requested a search for her father.”
“Is that Anil-san’s older sister?”
“Apparently. Kamala ran to the bed and threw off the sheet…”
Ritz’s words trailed off. Anna looked up to see his eyes wide open. He had apparently remembered something.
“What is it?”
“The sheet. That sheet was pure white.”
“What do you mean?”
As Anna tilted her head in confusion, Ritz turned to face her.
“My hands were covered in blood. Ashok was covered in blood, too. And yet, the sheet alone was pure white, completely unstained. Doesn’t that mean someone else was there besides me and Ashok, and they put the sheet on after the blood had dried?!”
As she pictured it, Anna finally understood what Ritz was getting at. If they were both covered in blood, it was impossible for the sheet covering them to have no traces of it.
“You’re right!”
“See?!”
“So, where did the person who put it there go?”
“Well… maybe out the window?”
“Then how do you think you were carried there, Ritz?”
“I have no idea…”
“But-but it’s definitely a clue! I’ll write it down and let Ed-san know!”
Anna cheerfully headed for the writing desk. A pen and a large stack of paper had been left there. If she didn’t take notes before she forgot, she wouldn’t be able to report things accurately. She dragged a chair over to the desk and began diligently writing down everything she had just heard from Ritz.
“Let’s see, first the view from the window… maybe I should draw a picture?”
“A picture?”
“Yeah. Tell me the details again.”
“I don’t know about ‘details’…”
Though perplexed, Ritz began to describe the scene, and Anna drew the view from the window according to his words. After having him check the finished drawing several times, she finally managed to put the scenery Ritz had seen down on paper.
“And then the story about the sheet…”
Even if Anna didn’t understand it, it could be an important hint to someone who did. She wrote down every precious detail, knowing that accumulating these things was all she could do right now.
With that in mind, she decided to write down Ritz’s testimony from the very beginning, carefully, so as not to leave anything out.
“Let’s see, when Ritz woke up, Ashok-san’s body was on the bed, and his hands were covered in blood… got it.”
She carefully wrote down the events of that morning, making sure not to mix up the order. She was engrossed in the task for some time, and by the time she finished writing “And then Ritz was taken from that room by the members of the Autonomous Guard. The end,” a considerable amount of time had passed.
Back in Vishnu, she used to keep a sort of diary that also served as an observation log for the orphanage children, but since setting out on her journey, she had completely forgotten about it. It had been a long time since she had written so much. It might have been the first time since she wrote letters to Lira and Dill from Faldina back in Ciedena.
Reading it over, the writing seemed a bit of a mess, but it was written in a way that was easy enough to understand. Edward would surely be able to make sense of it.
“I’m done.”
She said, holding out the papers she had been writing on.
“Oh, thanks.”
Ritz, who had been lying on the bed, sat up and came to take them. She handed them over, and he sat down on the chair that had been left right by the bars and began to read. As she watched Ritz flip through the documents, she felt like a student having her work graded. Maybe this was what it felt like to go to school and study.
Before she knew it, the light shining on Ritz’s serious profile as he turned the pages was tinged with a faint red. She looked toward the window and saw that the sky visible through the small opening was tinged with crimson, and clouds of gray, crimson, and orange drifted by. The sun was setting.
“Looks like someone will be here to pick me up soon.”
As Anna murmured while looking up at the window, Ritz raised his head and nodded with a slight smile.
“Yeah, looks like it.”
“When I go back, you’ll be all alone, Ritz.”
“Yeah.”
“Won’t you be lonely?”
When she thought about being locked up here all by herself, the thought of leaving was heart-wrenching. But Ritz, knowing how she felt, smiled for her.
“Until just a little while ago, I was traveling all by myself. I’ll be fine, I’m used to it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Until I met you in Vishnu and we started traveling together, my journeys were always alone. Even in a place like this, it’s safer and I’m more grateful than sleeping alone in the middle of a road.”
He sounded cheerful, but was it just her imagination that there was a hint of loneliness in his voice? Or was it Anna who couldn’t bear the loneliness of returning to the inn?
In Sears, Ritz had been an absent figure. Anna and Joe were always together, to the point that they looked forward to the days when Ritz and Franz would return and they could all eat dinner together.
But on the road, Ritz was always by her side.
Just a short while ago, Ritz’s absence was normal, and she never felt lonely or anxious. Was there something wrong with her for feeling so anxious about leaving his side now? When on earth did she start wanting to be near him so much?
“Alright, it’s perfect. It’s written so well it’s as if you were in that room yourself.”
Ritz said as he handed back the bundle of papers Anna had written.
“Okay. I’m glad.”
She took the papers he offered and put them in her bag. Even though she was being praised, she didn’t feel happy at all. Usually, she would be thrilled, but today, the feeling of loneliness was stronger.
“What’s wrong? You’re looking down. You’re the one who’s lonely, aren’t you?”
Ritz probably meant it as a joke, but since it hit the mark, she just stared back at him. As if understanding her anxiety, Ritz’s cheerful expression softened into a gentle one, and he smiled softly.
“Don’t look at me like that. You’ll make me feel lonely for real.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right, Ritz is fine, so I shouldn’t look like this.”
“You don’t have to apologize. To be honest, a year ago, I would have been completely fine, but now it’s definitely tough when you and the others aren’t around. I was used to being alone, but I never thought I’d change this much in just one year.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. But being alone means I’d be in danger if I couldn’t escape this situation on my own. Now, I can relax a bit, trusting that you guys will come to help me.”
“Yeah.”
“So I feel more relieved than lonely. I can count on you, so I’m really okay. See?”
“Yeah.”
Ritz might be fine, but I'm not. I would hate it if something happened. I want to be near you always.
She thought it, but for some reason, she couldn’t say it out loud. She felt pathetic for having such a childish thought. Unlike Ritz, she would be able to report on the day’s findings with her two companions and have dinner with them, so it was wrong for her to feel lonely. She knew that, and yet, she was so very lonely.
So, at least, couldn't he just hold me in his arms like he always does?
Surprised by her own thought, she found herself staring at Ritz. As if her feelings had gotten through to him, Ritz scratched his head, looking troubled.
“Don’t look at me like that. I won’t want to let you go.”
“…But.”
“That said, this is a prison cell, and it’s a single. So…”
Cutting his words short, Ritz stood up and beckoned with a smile. As she hesitantly approached, he wrapped his arms around her through the iron bars.
“For now, you’ll have to make do with this. Okay?”
Though she could feel the cold iron bars, a sigh of relief escaped her at the familiar warmth of his arms. She was such a baby, even though she was the one who said she wanted Ritz to rely on her. She had never been this coddled, not even by her adoptive father, Anton. To want to be held at her age, to want to be given warmth—she had never even considered such a thing.
And yet, why did she want to be held by Ritz like this, more than by Anton, who should have been the most important person to her? And it was in these arms that she felt the most at ease.
Before she knew it, Anna was hugging Ritz tightly with both hands. She could vaguely feel the chilly iron bars warming slightly from their body heat.
Before, she and Ritz had promised that if either of them found someone important, they would give up cleanly. Ritz had asked what she would do if he became attached to her, but for some reason, Anna felt like she was the one who was becoming attached to him.
If Ritz found a lover and they had to go their separate ways, she worried a little about whether she would be able to become independent from him—or rather, whether she could wean herself off Ritz. She suspected Ritz might be the one to leave the childish Anna behind without a second thought.
It was still a long way off, but what would she do if that happened? She had never even considered it before, but now, for the first time, she did. What did Ritz think of her? How much value did the position of ‘partner’ hold for him?
“I’ll be right here, you know.”
The low, gentle words, whispered so close she could feel his breath, made her heart ache with a pang of sadness. She was happy, but also embarrassed, and she didn’t know what to do. Even her breathing became difficult. It was a feeling she had never experienced before.
Something had been strange lately. Sometimes, Ritz’s words would fluster her immensely. But even though she was confused, she didn’t want to let go, and her arms clung even tighter to his body. She absolutely, absolutely did not want to lose these hands, these arms. How could they stay like this, together, forever?
Did Ritz notice this recent confusion of hers? For some reason, she felt like she didn’t want him to know, so Anna took a small breath to calm herself. Whether he knew what she was thinking or not, Ritz murmured in his usual light tone.
“These iron bars are in the way, though.”
The words, slightly out of sync with her current emotional state, made her burst out laughing. It was true, the iron bars between them were nothing but an obstacle.
“You’re right.”
“See? So damn annoying.”
“Well, this is a prison.”
“That it is.”
Once she started laughing, the heart-wrenching ache she had felt for Ritz began to ease. The pain of leaving was still there, but it was okay, she felt she could leave him now. Gazing at Anna’s smiling face, Ritz removed his arms from her, bent down slightly, and gave her a light kiss on the forehead through the bars.
“I’m a pitiful prisoner. Come rescue me soon, my princess.”
“Usually, it’s the prince who comes to the rescue, you know?”
“Can’t a princess rescue a prince once in a while?”
“Ritz, a prince?! That doesn’t suit you at all!”
“Oh, you said it now.”
As they were teasing each other as usual, a calm voice called out from behind them.
“I may be neither a princess nor a prince, but if a former king will do, shall we return together? Anna.”
Standing there with a smile was, of course, Edward.
“Ed-san!”
Come to think of it, Edward was once a prince, and until recently, a king. In the world of fairy tales, he was the classic hero of justice.
“I’ve come to get you, Anna. Franz is waiting downstairs as well.”
“Okay!”
She nodded cheerfully and turned back to Ritz. Perhaps because Edward’s arrival had made him relax, Ritz sat down on the chair with a disappointed look and looked up at her. Seeing his eyes, she realized that it wasn’t just her imagination; Ritz was lonely.
She impulsively reached her hands through the bars again and pulled Ritz’s face, who was sitting on the chair, to her chest. She held him tightly. He flailed about, seemingly flustered, and when she let go, she kissed his forehead just as he had done to her.
“See you tomorrow!”
With that, she stepped away from the bars with a light step and ran to Edward.
“Uh, yeah. See you tomorrow.”
With a strained smile, Ritz gave a clumsy wave. He looked troubled, but his face was no longer sad.
“Ed-san, let’s go!”
“Yes, let’s. Well then, Ritz.”
With a strange smile, Edward gave Ritz a small wave. She didn’t know what it meant, but he was probably being teased about something.
They left a bewildered Ritz behind and exited through the door, where a different young man from the Autonomous Guard stood, one she hadn't seen that morning. It seemed that the guards watching this prison were mostly young men.
“How did it go?”
When she asked cheerfully, Edward looked at Anna with a faint, peculiar smile. The atmosphere didn’t suggest a favorable reply was forthcoming. As expected, Edward gently placed a hand on Anna’s head and said with a tired smile.
“Yes… let’s talk when we get back.”
“Okay.”
After meeting up with Franz at the Autonomous Guard’s station, the three of them walked back to the inn, mostly in silence. At this rate, solving the case seemed difficult. If only Altman and Kenny were here, the investigation might have progressed more easily. But there were only the three of them.
Anna looked back at the Autonomous Guard building. But, even so, I’ll definitely do my best and get you out soon, so just wait, Ritz, Anna swore anew in her heart.