Chapter 72
Actually, there was another thing Rette hadn’t said to Crow about the note.
About why she deliberately used cryptic messages.
Of course, the main reason was to prevent others from correctly discerning the content, but there was another reason.
She gave Ravia a choice.
‘There’s no such thing as not getting the code right for Ravia Leontine.’
Anyone who knew the meaning of Cheshire Cat would also get the meaning of the clock image. Rette crossed out the possibility that Ravia failed to decipher the code from the beginning.
However, Ravia might ‘pretend’ to not know.
That might be the case when you find a note that looks dangerous and suspicious at first glance.
Didn’t it seem obvious that someone was asking for trouble?
‘Ravia’s life is not at stake right now. She has no reason to take the risk.’
So if Ravia didn’t leave her residence because of fear, Rette will ditch her plan to tell everything.
But like always, Rette had to accept the result.
Looking at Ravia’s cautious expression, Rette swung her Mary Jane shoes back and forth.
“…..Before I explain everything, I need to make it clear that calling you here today has nothing to do with Herod.”
“How are you going to prove that? Are you going to ask Herod himself to testify?”
“Of course, I can’t bring Herod to testify, but I can bring another Orpheus member.”
“I don’t know what Orpheus has to do with me.”
“It has more to do with you than you imagine. Why do you think people outside barely know about the current Orpheus?”
Ravia was puzzled by Rette’s question.
“Well, of course, to cover up Cosmo….”
“Ah, I should change the question. It’s how, not why.”
How do you think people outside barely know about Orpheus?
The answer was simple.
“You won’t know anything if nobody tells you about it. Herod killed all the Orpheus members who got in his way to succeed the family.”
His father, brother, close relatives, his entire family.
As a member of a family who controlled the underworld, Herod had to shed blood, as one would expect.
“But Herod said it was inevitable. He was very insecure. He didn’t want to leave room for others to take over the family.”
But there was a little disparity in his words. If Herod really ‘killed the entire Orpheus,’ there was something that didn’t add up, and that was Quincy Orpheus.
Rette continued, “There was only one person who survived the purge at the time. He used to run a fairly large information guild, and the information they provided was excellent.”
So Herod wanted to kill him first and take over the information guild, but things didn’t work out.
Since the guild’s main business was selling confidential information, all of their internal affairs were encrypted.
Herod decided that it’d be better to keep that person alive as his right hand than to screw up his head trying to decipher all of the encrypted content.
“Now do you see why I said that bringing an Orpheus member can be proof of my independence?”
“….Because showing him to me can put his life at stake.”
“That’s right.” Rette answered lightly.
Ravia sneered coldly, and since the conversation had reached this point, Ravia seemed to know the identity of ‘the person’ that Rette mentioned.
“….No wonder I thought he was an extraordinary guy.”
He was able to bypass Herod and Tidwell’s surveillance, accomplish dangerous missions in a short time, and even brought out the unreleased information of Orpheus.
“Crow. No, should I call you Quincy now?”
“No, I prefer the name ‘Crow’.”
Crow had been standing behind Ravia and now smiled and took off his mask. As expected, revealed behind the mask was a familiar face.
Quincy’s face that she saw briefly in Velocio Theater, and the poor drawing of Quincy brought by Crow.
In the end, Crow knew everything and helped her behind Herod’s back. Just as Rette said, this fact was enough to ease Ravia’s suspicion.
But there was a part that Rette didn’t intend to convey.
It was Herod’s substitution at the Velocio Theater, and the suspicion about Quincy’s identity. Also the origin of the earring that she had ignored.
“….I guess Herod often uses you as his substitute, right?”
“It’s not that often, but he has used me to some extent. All I did was take missions from you, or act as Herod’s substitute.”
It’s not weird that someone who had a lot of enemies would have one or two people as their substitute. Especially with Herod’s cautious personality.
‘If Crow was Quincy, and he acted as substitute that day,’
She didn’t have to doubt Tidwell anymore. Without realizing it, she heaved a relieved sigh. Ravia laughed like a breeze cutting through the willow leaves.
Rette and Crow also breathed in relief watching Ravia’s gentle reaction. They thought she’d be furious upon finding out Crow’s identity, but she moved on quite easily.
So Rette asked cautiously, “Did we clear your doubt now?”
“Yes, Rette. That was enough. There were parts that I found despicable, but I was able to move forward thanks to Crow’s help.”
Especially when it took such a long explanation just to get to the main topic. So Ravia cut straight to the point.
“So, why did you call me all the way here?”
“It’s a long story, and to put it simply, it’s because you’re the key to our answer.”
“A key? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It may sound a little strange, but Cheshire Cat isn’t exactly a guild to find a messenger or buy information.”
As they investigated ‘a certain phenomenon,’ they naturally developed an information network and did secret work.
“ is where people who remember the missing time gather. Do you really think we ask about the meaning of Cheshire Cat, which is time, for no reason?”
Ravia’s face turned stiff at Rette’s question.
‘Missing time.’
Ravia couldn’t help but think of something as she listened to the very clear clue.
Memories of her past life.
‘Are there more people who are reincarnated like me or people who remember that this world is inside a book?’
A little hope had arisen without her realizing it. However, Rette’s next words shattered Ravia’s hopes.
The part of remembering the past life was the same, but instead, the most important part was different.
“It may be hard to accept, but in this world, time has gone back to the past.”
The world they live in was a world that had gone back to the past, she said.
It was the moment when everything began to crumble.
Ravia simply couldn’t understand Rette. Ravia knew for sure that it was a world inside a book, but going back to the past?
Because it never crossed her mind even once, Ravia tried to reaffirm.
“…I think you got something wrong. That’s impossible.”
“I knew that you wouldn’t believe so easily when I say time has gone back to the past.” Rette said proudly, as if expecting Ravia’s response.
“But there’s a lot of evidence to support the fact that we went back to the past. Unnie, do you know the phrase ‘Deja vu’?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Most people tend to brush it off as nothing but imagination, but it’s actually not true. It’s a symptom that occurs when timelines overlap.”
It’s when the forgotten past and the present overlap. To be exact, when the timelines overlap.
Rette explained that the phenomenon in which past memories briefly assimilated into the present and then disappeared is called Deja Vu.
“But sometimes, it’s not just ‘briefly.’ There are times when memories flood back starting from a certain moment, and those memories are distorted. We call it the ‘Cheshire Phenomenon.’”
Ravia narrowed her brows.
“…Are you saying…the memories are distorted?”
“In fact, it would be more correct to say that it is almost distorted. Most of what I’m saying is based on the common experience of people in . So you don’t need to worry about credibility.”
“I don’t think you can know about the timeline only by deducing those experiences.”
“You’ve got a point. But in the end, you didn’t even deny the most crucial point I brought up.”
The part about remembering the time regression.
Rette laughed with a rather lonely expression.
“You may want to deny it, but you must have known the truth, too. Your memory, your world, is not normal, Unnie.”
And one day, the truth will come back to haunt you.
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