If I had known that, I obviously wouldn't have acted so suspiciously in front of Yeniel from the very beginning.
I quickly reviewed my actions in my head, but I still couldn't figure out what exactly had seemed so suspicious.
'Get it together.'
Being suspected any further would be a problem. Trying too hard to clear my name could easily make me seem even more suspicious, so I had to act exactly like April.
The others hurried through the open doorway.
“Lock it! Make sure they can't get in!”
Yeniel shouted.
After letting the Crown Prince enter first, Max slipped inside last and hastily slammed the door shut.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Something outside pounded on the door like a madman, but for now, we were safe.
“Fortunately... they can't get inside. But we don't know when the door might break, so stay alert.”
Even Sian looked slightly fed up with the demon worshippers by now.
Room 203 looked like exactly the sort of room one would expect inside a noble mansion.
A carpet covered the floor, and there were sofas and various pieces of furniture.
The only unusual thing was the empty coffin sitting in the center of the room.
Its eerie appearance clashed completely with the elegant surroundings.
“Why the hell is there a coffin where a bed should be? What bad luck.”
Max glared at it uneasily.
I walked over and stared intently into the coffin.
“L-Lady April? Why are you looking at that?”
“Maybe there's treasure inside! Hmm... but I don't see anything.”
The truth was, I wasn't entirely sure.
Most of the second-floor section had been played by my brother, so my memory was fuzzy.
'There was definitely something here. Some doll, and a key hidden somewhere...'
The Crown Prince turned to Yeniel.
“Lady Yeniel. That ancient text you read earlier while looking at the ceiling—what exactly did it say?”
“‘A key lies among the rooms. Find the key.’ That's what it said, Your Highness.”
“Perhaps that's where we should start. Among the rooms, hm? Do you think it's a metaphor? To me, it sounds quite literal.”
Yeniel considered it briefly before replying.
“I interpreted it literally as well. However, its precise meaning remains unclear. For now, I think we should continue searching Room 203.”
Yeniel, Sian, Max, and I searched the room.
The Crown Prince rested nearby.
The wound on his neck from the spider bite had turned almost halfway purple, and he looked terrible.
Yet despite thoroughly checking the furniture and the room itself, we found nothing resembling a key or a clue.
I grew increasingly anxious.
For a moment, I even considered telling everyone about the Master Key and suggesting we search for it together.
Naturally, that would not be something April would do.
Calm down.
I took a deep breath and steeled myself.
'I need to act properly. I absolutely cannot let them realize I'm not April. Right now only Yeniel is suspicious of me.'
And Yeniel could influence the others.
If that happened, my Suspicion Meter would shoot up to fifty percent in no time, and I'd become a potential execution target.
“Lady April, is there something you'd like to say?”
Apparently I'd been staring at Yeniel without realizing it.
“Nope! I just keep looking because Lady Yeniel is so smart and cool!”
I deliberately laughed cheerfully.
At least now I knew staring alone didn't increase Suspicion.
[Yeniel's Affection has increased.]
Who develops affection toward someone they suspect?
I truly couldn't understand what was going on inside Yeniel's head.
Rustle... Scratch...
That was when we heard it.
A sound like paper brushing against cloth.
It lasted only a few seconds.
And it had definitely come from somewhere inside the room.
“D-Didn't anyone just hear something strange?”
Max, who lacked courage almost as much as he lacked character, jumped and looked around nervously.
“A sound?”
Yeniel's expression stiffened slightly.
“Where did it come from? Inside the room? Or outside?”
“Well... I think it came from inside...? Does that really matter?”
Max didn't seem to understand why Yeniel suddenly looked so serious.
But it mattered.
If the sound came from inside the room, it meant demon worshippers were waiting outside the door while a monster lurked inside.
A perfect trap.
THUD! THUD!
The demon worshippers continued slamming against the door outside.
As though they had no intention of giving up.
The once-solid door had begun to shake slightly.
It was a dead end either way.
Even Sian and the Crown Prince looked tense.
Fortunately, however, the sound wasn't made by a monster.
“April knows.”
I raised a hand with a bright smile.
Part of me worried my Suspicion Meter might increase.
The reasons for suspicion were endless.
Reading the flow of a conversation.
Understanding hidden intentions.
Trying to help the group.
Any of those could raise it.
But I was the only one who recognized the sound, so I had no choice.
“That was paper.”
I chirped innocently.
“When April takes music lessons, she always wears velvet dresses. They make her look graceful, like a swan. Whenever I put paper on my lap, it makes exactly that sound.”
It had sounded just like sheet music rubbing against fine velvet fabric.
Something I'd occasionally heard when tagging along to the violin academy my brother attended as a child.
“So you're saying it was the sound of paper rubbing against velvet?”
Sian summarized my explanation.
Yeniel has partially eased her suspicions.
Suspicion decreased by 2%!
Total Suspicion: 10%
I had no idea why Yeniel had relaxed her suspicions this time.
'At least it went down.'
Though compared to the fifteen percent it had risen earlier, a measly two percent felt stingy.
“What kind of childish nonsense is that? Paper on a velvet dress?”
Max frowned.
Then he suddenly muttered:
“Velvet...? Come to think of it, wasn't the inside of that creepy coffin lined with velvet?”
His eyes widened.
He immediately approached the coffin and looked inside.
“Your Highness! There's a note inside the coffin!”
For the first time, Max had actually contributed something useful.
“Well done, Max.”
The Crown Prince accepted the aged piece of paper Max offered with both hands.
“Everyone, can you see it?”
The note contained only a single sentence.
<Grant Eternal Rest.>
Nothing else.
“Lady Yeniel. Would you recite the message from outside once more? Let's compare the two clues.”
The group pieced together the clues they'd gathered.
“‘A key lies among the rooms. Find the key.’ Since it appeared in front of the large door outside, there's a high probability it's related to opening that door.”
Sian picked up where Yeniel left off.
“The large door had no keyhole. It was completely sealed. Therefore, it probably doesn't require an actual key. Instead, the key may be a condition necessary to open it.”
He looked at the note.
“If we combine them...”
“‘Grant eternal rest, and the door at the end of the hallway will open.’”
Click.
As if the world itself had acknowledged Sian's conclusion, a sound echoed from somewhere.
The distinct noise of a mechanism unlocking.
'I always thought the second floor of the temple felt like an escape room.'
You had to painstakingly search every corner of the map.
Every lock required solving some kind of puzzle.
The most annoying quests were the ones where you had to inspect absolutely everything before a new option appeared.
[Yeniel: (It seems there's no other way. Should we give up? ...No, let's check the <Memory Collection> one last time.)]
[Yeniel: ...! (If we use the reagent we found, we might be able to melt the door and create a hole large enough for a person to pass through.)]
[Yeniel: There's no way to open a door without a key. So let's melt it instead.]
[Max: There's nothing here no matter where we look! Damn it!]
[Yeniel: (Max kicks the wall in frustration.) ...!]
[Yeniel: (It must have been a weak spot. The wall cracked.) There's a gap here. If we strike it again, we might be able to widen it.]
We had probably fulfilled some hidden condition ourselves.
That was why the note had suddenly appeared inside the coffin.
And the source of the recent click seemed to have come from somewhere beneath it.
I carefully examined the coffin's interior.
The velvet lining at the bottom looked slightly unnatural.
'There's something there.'
I reached out and lifted the velvet fabric.
At the same moment, Max—who had been peering into the coffin beside me—suddenly stretched out his hand in excitement.
“Your Highness! There's something else inside!”
Something glittered beneath the lining.
A ring of keys.
'Well, would you look at that?'
Max reached for it, clearly intending to claim the credit.
I snatched up the keyring first and immediately handed it to the Crown Prince.
“Your Highness, it's a gift! April found something shiny. Since we're friends, I wanted to give it to you.”
I smiled sweetly.
Then I looked innocently at Max, who had been a split second too slow.
“Oh my, Sir Max. Why are you just standing there?”
I tilted my head.
“Are you looking for shiny things too?”
Trying to steal my credit, were you?