Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 3

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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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Chapter 3
‘They all seem so kind and good. What sort of place will this house be, living with them?’
After finishing her first tea time with the family, Nina decided to take a tour of the Townhouse where she would be staying.
The family members had scattered to their respective rooms, claiming they had things to attend to, so Nina had to explore alone.
Kathari had apologized for leaving her by herself already, but Nina felt this would actually be easier for sightseeing.
In the corridor connecting the lobby to the drawing room hung an array of antique, ornate Long Guns and Rapiers on display.
The Count’s Estate where she had worked until recently also had a long sword displayed above the fireplace, but these were far more beautiful and exquisite works of craftsmanship.
Along the stair railing leading to the upper floor, spiders and butterflies had been wrought into the ironwork.
‘Grandmother must have had a taste for ornate things.’
Nina climbed the steps one by one in admiration, then paused at the landing.
There hung an elegant family tree adorning the wall.
Having spent so long viewing the family trees of strangers’ houses, encountering her own felt oddly disorienting.
With trembling heart, Nina traced the family tree from top to bottom.
At the very top, the name of her grandmother, Ricita Josephina Bonz, had been embroidered in silk thread.
On the diagonal line below was the name of her grandmother’s younger sister, Agatha Chris Bonz.
Beneath that were the names of Agatha Bonz’s children and Nina’s uncle and aunt: Cheison and Natalisha.
‘So I did have a great-aunt.’
Ricita Bonz, Nina’s grandmother, had two children: Ian Flame Bonz and Sane Myrtle Bonz.
Below Ian Bonz’s name were the names of Exie and Kathari. Her kind cousin and cousin.
Right beside that.
Sane Myrtle Bonz, Ian Bonz’s younger sister.
Nina rolled the name over and over in her mouth. As if she would never forget it.
‘Sane Myrtle Bonz. Sane Bonz. Sane.’
The name of her mother, learned for the first time at nineteen years old.
During tea time, while the family spoke of her mother, they had not mentioned her father at all, so she had guessed as much—but still, her father’s name was not on the family tree.
The family seemed to know nothing of it either.
Nina wondered whether, after her mother passed away, it had been her father who left her at the Orphanage, or whether she had simply never had a father to begin with.
But her heart felt too uncomfortable to ask such things of the family.
Nina’s name was embroidered at the very bottom of the family tree.
‘Nina Bonz.’
With careful fingers, Nina traced the embroidered letters of her own name.
So tenderly, so preciously had it been maintained—the family tree looked as clean and sturdy as if made just days ago.
As she reached the top of the stairs, a distinctive scent hung in the corridor.
Like dried fruit, or perhaps like wet branches.
Following that fragrance as she walked, Nina opened a door and came face to face with a pair of reddish eyes, causing her to step back instinctively.
Looking more carefully, she realized it was a large portrait of her grandmother, Ricita Bonz.
‘So this was Grandmother’s room.’
Though a slight chill ran through her, Nina could not tear her eyes from the portrait.
Hair turned white with age, a face lined with years, and yet the eyes burned with vivid intensity—the gaze of something wild, untamed and unpredictable.
‘The same rosy eyes, certainly.’
Unlike her own eyes, which people often called spring-like blossoms, Ricita Bonz’s eyes felt to her like a crimson moon.
A red moon—ominous, upon which one dared not carelessly wish.
An inexplicable pressure overwhelmed her.
Suddenly embarrassed, Nina touched her cheek and stepped into the room.
‘How foolish of me. What disrespectful thoughts about Grandmother.’
The family had told her she was free to roam where she pleased, but she had heard the funeral had only recently ended, so she felt cautious.
She resolved not to open storage chests or anything of that sort, only to view what was visible.
The space where Nina stood was a study adjoining the bedroom, and one entire wall was lined with decorative Short Swords hung by type.
‘Did Grandmother have a fondness for blades?’
The decoration was so lavishly excessive that the swords could never have been used, yet their very existence created an atmosphere of danger.
Abstract paintings hung in rows alongside them, amplifying that sense of menace.
‘So all these swords and paintings—they all become mine.’
Suddenly, Nina recalled the lawyer who had visited the Count’s Estate, and her grandmother’s will he had mentioned.
‘Grandmother left the inheritance only to me, her direct granddaughter. The rest of the family must be disappointed.’
During her time working at the Count’s Estate, she had observed countless guests and overheard many of them discuss ancestral inheritances.
Her grandmother’s will was something that anyone could see would cause the family living in this Townhouse to feel slighted.
‘That’s why it was. Until I brought up Grandmother, there was hardly any atmosphere of mourning.’
Nina let out a deep sigh and pressed a hand to her aching chest.
‘And yet they welcomed me so warmly. They truly are good people. I must treat them well too.’
With that resolve, she made her way to a room prepared on the floor above.
“Oh my.”
The moment Nina opened the door, she gasped at the cozy yet immaculate room that stretched before her.
‘This is my room.’
It was the room her uncle Cheison had chosen for her—originally where her mother had slept as a girl.
The soft scent of clean bedding and the smell of arranged solid wood furniture put her mind at ease.
Not the cramped Orphanage where so many of them slept pressed together, nor the four-person servants’ quarters.
A space that was entirely her own.
Nina found herself unable to suppress the laughter bubbling up as she looked around the room.
Well, she’d wanted to, but the space was so spare there wasn’t much to examine.
‘They must have tidied everything, leaving it ready for me to fill.’
There was something appealing about the idea of filling the room with her own things, yet it saddened her that she could find no trace of her mother here.
Not a single photograph in a frame.
‘I hope they didn’t throw away what was already here. I’ll have to ask about that later.’
With that thought, Nina turned back toward the bed—and then froze in surprise.
“Ah!”
Somehow, a pigeon had gotten in and was rummaging through her hastily unpacked luggage.
“You can’t do that!”
In a panic to protect her belongings, Nina pulled out a handkerchief and waved it frantically.
But the pigeon, unbothered, simply marched toward her on two feet with determined steps.
“Oh, don’t come any closer!”
Startled, Nina waved the handkerchief more vigorously.
The pigeon paid no mind to the fluttering fabric and stretched out one foot deliberately.
“Coo-coo. Goo-goo-goo.”
“Hmm…?”
Looking closer, Nina saw that the pigeon was wearing an identification tag on its ankle.
Given how readily it had approached her and how impeccably clean it was, it seemed to be a well-tended bird, one accustomed to human hands.
Nina exhaled in relief at the pigeon’s tamer demeanor.
“Your name is Guugu? Wait—a Carrier Pigeon?”
After reading the identification tag, she tilted her head in puzzlement.
“I haven’t seen a Carrier Pigeon in ages. Don’t people use Telegraphs now?”
At that, Guugu’s wings twitched, and the bird proceeded to shred the tag marked “Carrier Pigeon” with its beak before fastening on a new one.
[Companion Pigeon]
Nina smiled brightly, finally understanding.
“A Companion Pigeon, then. Pleased to meet you, Guugu. I’m Nina.”
“Goo-goo! Goo-goo-ruru!”
Guugu hopped naturally onto Nina’s shoulder and began to coo affectionately.
But the moment Nina let her guard down, the pigeon snatched the handkerchief and flew off to the balcony.
Oh no! Nina rubbed the back of her head where it stung and rushed after Guugu.
“Guugu! Give back my handkerchief!”
“Goo-goo-oo~”
At Guugu’s teasing chirp, Nina dashed onto the balcony and halted in bewilderment.
Guugu had flown all the way to the neighboring balcony and now sat perched on the railing.
And a young man was slowly stroking the pigeon.
Sleek silver hair shimmering softly in the sunlight. Mysterious golden eyes.
A beautiful young man whose age—whether boy or young adult—remained enigmatic.
He was observing her.
“Ah, hello there.”
Nina blurted out a startled greeting, flustered.
“The pigeon took my handkerchief and flew over to you.”
“Do you live here?”
The young man’s voice was soft and gentle, a pleasant tenor.
“No, I—”
Uncertainly waving her hand, Nina suddenly caught herself and corrected her answer.
“Yes. I live here now. Starting today.”
“I see. I haven’t seen you before, so I wondered if there might be a burglar.”
The young man retrieved the handkerchief from Guugu’s beak as he spoke in a measured tone.
“It’s been a while since we’ve had visitors, so forgive me. I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
“It’s fine. I’m Nina Bonz.”
As Nina approached the balcony railing to greet him, the young man returned a slight bow.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Nina. I’m Joel Smiler—the sickly young master of the house next door.”

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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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