Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 20
What if every suspicious thing he’d witnessed so far was simply the result of incredible coincidence layered upon misunderstanding?
The moment that doubt crossed Chaisson’s mind, Nina’s bright, artless expression faltered.
“Uncle! Watch out!”
……!
Nina’s face hardened abruptly. She snatched a stone from the ground and hurled it toward Chaisson with urgent desperation.
Crack!
Ugh……!
A groan echoed from behind, followed by the sound of something dropping. Chaisson, frozen in shock, spun around with startled eyes.
Through the gaps in the wooden blinds that covered the open window, he glimpsed the receding silhouette of someone fleeing.
‘They must have planted spies scattered about to monitor Nina’s movements. But to land a direct hit through this narrow gap?’
Chaisson rubbed his stinging cheek and swallowed hard. A thin line of blood marked where the stone had grazed him.
“Uncle, I’m sorry. I was trying to handle it without hurting you too badly.”
Nina approached with a pained expression and gently pressed a handkerchief to his cheek.
Chaisson found himself seriously contemplating what an ordinary girl actually was, and spoke carefully.
“Nina. Why did you do that? A stray glance shouldn’t surprise us. Everyone knows your grandmother made a donation to develop this street.”
“Oh, did she? But people can look out of curiosity—they shouldn’t do things like this.”
With a stern expression, Nina pulled something from Chaisson’s shoulder.
At the sight of the small, nail-sized object, his face went cold.
A Listening Device. Someone—from which nation’s Intelligence Agency, he couldn’t be sure—had planted it on his collar.
‘They were monitoring me, not Nina?’
Any spy would recognize that the street they’d just visited, for all its outward peace and leisure, was not what it seemed on closer inspection.
The Alliance of Five Nations had dissolved when the war ended.
Despite official claims of cordial relations, in a place where the spies of each nation gathered, the exchange of intelligence coups was inevitable.
This very moment, fierce games of strategy were likely unfolding in buildings all around them.
There were exceptions, of course.
In the search for Remnant Forces of Defeated Nation and the project to gather intelligence on Likita, everyone had agreed to cooperate.
‘Those cunning Soltem agents sometimes act on their own, but they don’t directly interfere with other spies…….’
Chaisson lifted the blind slightly to get a better look inside the window.
Intelligence Agents who had been hidden were already streaming into the building, conducting their search.
Aside from a glass fragment one of them had picked up with tweezers, they seemed to have found no other trace.
“Uncle. What would you like me to do with this?”
Nina held up the Listening Device and asked.
“I’ll keep it for now.”
“Pardon? You want to keep it? I was asking how you wanted me to dispose of it. Really, how much longer are you going to be this naive…….”
“Let me remind you—you’re the most naive one here.”
Chaisson reached out for the device.
“If that’s what you wish, there’s nothing for it. This should make it harder to listen in.”
Nina tore open a piece of gum foil and wrapped the Listening Device in it. The crumpled foil looked like a tiny, irregular mineral.
Chaisson stared down at it with a complicated expression and asked.
“Did they teach you this at the Count’s Mansion?”
“I only picked it up from observing the young master’s private tutoring over the shoulder.”
Watching Nina smile with her eyes half-closed, Chaisson decided to take back his earlier thought.
‘I need to be careful. I almost made the same mistake again. You really can’t call a maid who carries a Harpoon Gun ordinary.’
That revised assessment only strengthened when they entered the Tea House.
“Nina?”
“Oh my, May!”
Nina spotted a familiar face and lit up with delight.
May, dressed simply in a one-piece dress with a shawl draped over her shoulders, approached with light steps and smiled brightly.
“I heard you were heading to Soltem, but I never expected to run into you here.”
“I know! What brings you here?”
“Just a holiday. Soltem’s a warm free nation, after all. People like us often choose it as a travel destination.”
While Nina, clutching May’s hand in joy, suddenly remembered and turned back to Chaisson with a curious expression.
“We worked together in Ilite. May, this is my uncle.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m May.”
May offered a gentle smile and bowed politely, to which Chaisson responded with a slight nod.
“Chaisson. But…… you worked together?”
“Yes! We were both maids at Sedack Count’s Mansion. It was so much fun with May—running into her like this feels like a dream.”
…….
A chill crept into Chaisson’s chest as he glanced casually out the floor-to-ceiling window.
‘When is Natalisha going to arrive?’
It wasn’t suspicion born merely from her station as a maid at Sedack Count’s Mansion.
‘There’s no powder room here, yet she’s just freshly retouched the makeup around her eyes. Skillfully done, naturally enough—but not skillfully enough to fool a seasoned spy like me.’
He decided he couldn’t simply let this maid named May leave without pressing further, so he offered to have her join them.
“Since we’ve met like this, consider it fate—won’t you sit with us a while? Nina and I will be spending quite a bit of time together from now on, after all.”
“Oh! Thank you so much, Uncle.”
Nina flushed with gratitude and took a seat with May at the round table.
“I’m grateful for the courtesy. I won’t stay long, though.”
May lowered her head bashfully and spoke in a quiet voice.
“She missed you terribly after you left.”
“Really? I miss her too.”
As the two of them exchanged ordinary news, Chaisson pressed the button on his Recording Ring and began recording.
May, who had been conversing in a warm, relaxed manner, rolled her eyes and ventured a casual question to Nina.
“By the way, Nina—did you happen to see Heidi?”
“Mother of mercy. Heidi came to Soltem? I didn’t know that. I didn’t see her.”
As Nina expressed her regret, Chaisson asked with apparent curiosity.
“Is Heidi another colleague of yours?”
“Ah yes—Heidi was a mischievous colleague of mine who used to hide under my bed.”
“Under the bed……”
Chaisson recalled someone he’d discovered beneath Nina’s bed not long ago.
May shook her head with a rueful smile.
“I’m not sure if she came to Soltem, since she took leave as well. I was just checking to see if she might be here.”
“It would be wonderful if we could all meet up here. It would be special to see each other again in this warm place after so many cold days together.”
“Agreed.”
Just then, Nina and May turned their heads toward the same direction simultaneously.
The Intelligence Agents who had been watching them from the building across the street hurriedly ducked out of sight.
A moment later, Natalisha appeared around the corner of that building.
“My, she’s my aunt.”
“She’s truly beautiful and impressive.”
May smiled serenely, murmured something, and—true to her word about not staying long—rose to her feet at once.
“I should be going, Nina. I’d love to greet your aunt, but my appointment time is running out.”
“I didn’t know you had acquaintances in Soltem.”
“I don’t really. But my mistress asked me to convey her regards to the wife of the Lilieh Count, who is staying here in Soltem.”
“Busy even on leave. It was lovely to see you, May.”
May bowed politely and departed the Tea House, and Chaisson fixed his eyes wide and gestured toward Natalisha.
Natalisha, catching the signal through the window pane, caught a glimpse of May as she passed by.
And she turned her own identical Recording Ring, listening to the conversation he had recorded.
“……!”
The moment the playback began, Natalisha’s eyes widened in shock and she glanced back in the direction May had gone.
‘The maid from Sedack Count’s Mansion—the one whose whereabouts have been so mysterious?’
As the conversation unfolded, matters grew increasingly complex.
‘So the Sedack Count’s family and the Lilieh Count’s family truly did have contact. How is this situation developing?’
Still, it occurred to her that if Nina knew anything about the Lilieh Count’s family, they might be able to extract something useful.
“Nina, I’m afraid I’m a bit late.”
Natalisha joined the table naturally.
“Welcome, Aunt. Were the actors at the theater all right?”
“It seems no one was seriously injured. The guards seem to have put out the fire quickly as well.”
“Thank goodness. I’m so relieved.”
As Nina smiled with relief, Natalisha gave Chaisson a subtle kick under the table.
Chaisson took the hint and asked as if curious about gossip.
“Nina, I’m curious whether you know anything about the wife of the Lilieh Count. I hear she’s quite the connoisseur of fine art?”
“Well, I’ve served her as a guest at the mansion before, but she wasn’t my regular charge, so I don’t know much. And besides, I’ve never left Ilite.”
Chaisson was about to murmur inwardly that it was a shame if that was true, when Nina continued.
“She prefers coffee to black tea, and she never wears the same outfit twice. She always orders her jewelry from the same designer, and she’s particular about the material of her gloves. When she’s in a good mood, she wears lavender perfume, and she prefers to watch opera from up close.”
“……Then what do you mean you don’t know anything?”
Natalisha stared at her in bewilderment, and Nina answered humbly.
“What allergies she has, which poisons she’s most vulnerable to, whom she cherishes most, how she reacts when she’s frightened—those truly important things, I know nothing of.”
Both adults, momentarily speechless, sipped their warm tea.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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