Chapter 108
Katya looked down at her arm with a startled expression.
A red bruise had appeared where Timmy had grabbed her earlier.
She had rolled up her sleeve out of habit, and Nina had noticed it.
“I feel like it was like this when we first met, too.”
The same thought flashed through both girls’ minds.
“Who did this?”
Nina spoke to the frozen Katya, her pale blue eyes flickering with concern.
Instead of asking what had happened, she asked immediately who had done it, instinctively sensing it might be the same person from before.
“Who did this?”
“…….”
“Was it someone you saw during the fireworks?”
Katya, silently lowering her sleeve, flinched and bit her lower lip.
Her freckled face turned red.
It’s nothing serious… or it’s not something you need to worry about.
She wanted to brush it off like that, but no words came out, as if her tongue had frozen.
Perhaps it was because what was trivial to her wasn’t trivial for Nina.
But was it really trivial?
“Katya, are you okay?”
Nina gently took Katya’s hand and tilted her head to the side as she asked.
The movement revealed a small neck, and a necklace hanging there sparkled.
It was a vivid emerald, the color of absinthe—an actual emerald.
“……No.”
Katya’s voice, barely squeezed out, was tight and strained.
Nina’s eyes widened.
“Katya……?”
The next moment, Katya grabbed Nina’s hand tightly with both of hers.
“Please… help me.”
After the festival, the gangs were even busier.
Messi finally showed herself in the late afternoon, having completed her indispensable duties as Merci.
At that time, Nina and Katya were sitting in a quiet living room, drinking tea from a child-sized tea set.
“Nina, you were looking for me, right? Sorry, I had some things to take care of with my brother, so I just stepped out for a bit.”
Messi appeared, pulling along a small, child-sized bicycle.
The gleaming red new bike looked rather appealing.
Nina was momentarily speechless, while Katya got up from the couch and exclaimed in admiration.
“Wow, what’s this bike? Isn’t that expensive?”
“Ravian left it downstairs just a moment ago. Didn’t you say you wanted to ride a bike, Nina?”
Nina nodded, still a bit dazed.
“Well, I said that, but I didn’t tell Ravian myself……”
“Katya told me, so I told Ravian, and I guess he remembered.”
Messi explained concisely and clearly, then smiled.
“Ah, so that’s how it happened. Want to try it now? We could practice inside.”
Katya, even more excited than Nina, examined the bike and suggested it.
Nina hurriedly closed her gaping mouth.
“Wait a minute—didn’t you say you had something to tell Messi first?”
“Oh, right.”
Katya sat back down, looking a bit guilty. Messi parked the bike to one side and came to sit next to Nina.
“What do you suddenly want to talk about?”
“……I haven’t heard it yet either. Katya says she needs help.”
A little later.
“……Of course, I don’t believe it’s real. The problem is, if it’s not real and just a clumsy scam, that’s an even bigger problem.”
Katya sighed as she recounted everything about meeting Timmy.
Nina sat, half-mouthed open, her pale blue eyes completely blank.
In front of the dazed Nina, Katya subtly waved her palm.
“Nina? Were you scared?”
“……A little.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of that kind of story, isn’t it? Ugh, I feel embarrassed just saying it. My brother says that girl is staying at our house……”
Messi interrupted Katya’s rambling.
“Whoa, wait a second. At your house? The plot’s moving fast, huh?”
“Is it? Anyway, I can’t tell the guards or anyone else. Even if it really was Hamelin, our family would obviously be suspected.”
While Messi and Katya exchanged words, Nina held her head, trying to organize her chaotic thoughts.
As far as she remembered, Hamelin had never appeared in the western region.
Hamelin’s children, alive or dead, had never been found in this area.
Moreover, the location where Timmy claimed the girl was found was odd.
Hamelin was known for leaving victims in highly populated areas, where authorities would quickly discover them.
Not long ago, the place where Count Doubt was found had been a central square in the capital.
So why is it a slum junkyard this time?
Only poor children scavenging for trash frequent the place.
If it was just saving someone who was meant to die or acting earlier than usual, that could be chalked up to Hamelin’s whim. But at this point, it’s no longer a whim—seriously, it could be a copycat.
“Maybe it’s not Hamelin… it could be a sloppy scam, like Katya said.”
Even so, Nina couldn’t shake her suspicions, likely because of the voice she had heard that night.
“-Now you should grant my wish, as promised.”
The whisper had intruded on the happiest moment of that night.
Nina unconsciously touched the necklace around her neck like a talisman.
It had become a habit since the night of the fireworks.
“I have no idea what that means. A wish, a promise… I don’t understand any of it.”
She didn’t even know why that youthful, boyish voice immediately reminded her of Hamelin.
In Nina’s memory, Hamelin’s voice was that of a mature young man.
“-I said I would find it again.”
“-I found it.”
Her pale blue eyes flickered in confusion.
“I don’t understand any of this. And Messi…”
“Okay, so what exactly do you want us to help with?”
Nina looked up at Messi’s voice. Katya glanced at them hesitantly.
“……I think I need to go and see for myself whether my brother’s story is true. The problem is, if I go home, the guys will immediately find out.”
“Why?”
“I have to bring an organization member every time I go home. And our family is somewhat well-known, right? If anyone sees a strange noble kid in our house, they’ll definitely be suspicious.”
“So, you’re asking us to help you sneak into your house?”
Katya nodded. Messi gave a wry smile, looking somewhat annoyed.
“Why not just ask Ravian?”
“That’s not an option! Are you an idiot? What have you been listening to all this time?”
“Well, what do you think, Nina?”
Avoiding Messi’s gaze, Nina spoke.
“The kid who’s supposedly at Katya’s house could be the one Hamelin kidnapped—or maybe not. And her brother might not have kidnapped anyone. If someone’s imitating Hamelin, how would we know?”
Katya fell silent for a moment. She hadn’t considered the possibility of a copycat.
Then Messi suddenly suggested,
“Then why don’t we all secretly go and check?”
“No!”
Katya shouted so loudly it made her flinch, then cleared her throat and whispered.
“You saw it last time, Nina. That’s not a place for you.”
“Hmm? Then Messi, you’re fine?”
“No, that’s not what I mean……”
“-Don’t ever bring Nina near your neighborhood again.”
Katya recalled Ravian’s warning from before and swallowed hard.
“If we get caught going there together this time….”
Along with worry, she felt a strange curiosity about how he would react—a childish stubbornness rather than simple curiosity.
“Yeah, bringing Nina along wouldn’t be good.”
“What do you mean by that……?”
