Everyone but Me Is a Spy - Chapter 55

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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 55
As Nina finished an unusually quiet breakfast and was about to slip out of the dining room,
Juggernaut Number 4, who had gone to the Lobby, came clicking and clacking back with arms spread wide.
“Did you enjoy your meal? We have a visitor again today!”
“Huh? Who is it?”
When Nina went down to the Lobby to greet the guest, she found…
“Good morning. I’m Ryan, the one who introduced myself yesterday.”
It was Ryan, Joel’s physician, arriving once again with an armful of flowers.
Nina accepted the Flower Bouquet with a bewildered expression.
The delicate fragrance rising from her arms soothed her spirits, drawing a smile to her lips.
Seeing that Ryan brought flowers both yesterday and today, he seemed like an exceptionally romantic person.
“Oh my. Thank you so much, Ryan. The flowers are truly beautiful today as well. But Joel hasn’t arrived here yet today. Have you checked next door?”
At Nina’s puzzled question, Ryan answered with a slightly embarrassed smile.
“Actually, I’ve come to see Miss Nina today, not to see Joel.”
“Me? Whatever for?”
Nina’s eyes widened with curious wonder, and Ryan’s smile softened further.
“I heard that Joel has been using a Rope to travel to and from this place. Would it be possible to see that Rope directly?”
“A rope? Well, you could surely see it from Joel’s Balcony, couldn’t you?”
“I’ve already looked from there, but I’d feel more assured inspecting the whole setup. Since the young master uses it to travel, I’d like to verify its safety myself.”
“Oh, I see!”
Nina nodded vigorously, understanding at last.
“Of course! If it’s for Joel’s safety, then naturally we should. Come this way.”
“Thank you for receiving me on such short notice. I appreciate your kindness.”
Ryan followed Nina with composed courtesy.
But instead of heading upstairs to Nina’s Balcony, they were moving deeper into the Lobby.
“A guest approved by the Townhouse’s owner, welcome. I shall extend to you a most w-a-r-m w-e-l-c-o-m-e.”
“…!”
At Juggernaut Number 4’s sudden appearance, Ryan’s shoulders jolted.
“Th-thank you. Good morning to you as well.”
Coming to his senses, he realized he had reached the dining room where the fake family of Spy Organization operatives sat gathered.
The fake family looked taken aback, but Nina paid them no mind and introduced Ryan.
“Uncle, Aunt, older sister, older brother—we have a guest who’s come to introduce himself. This is Ryan, Joel’s physician. You saw him yesterday, didn’t you?”
“Ah, w-welcome.”
“W-well, nice to meet you.”
As Chayson and Natalisha greeted him awkwardly, Ryan returned their courtesy with equal stiffness.
“Ah, yes… It’s a pleasure to meet you all again. I’m Ryan.”
No one seemed particularly pleased to see him.
The fake family, dissatisfied with Soltem’s Honeytrap scheme, did not regard Ryan kindly.
Natalisha, watching Nina hand the fresh Flower Bouquet to Juggernaut Number 4, spoke pointedly.
“You’ve collected another bouquet.”
“That’s right. Ryan was kind enough to give me flowers. These are my first and second Flower Bouquets, both from Ryan.”
“How fortunate.”
True to his cunning Soltem origins, Ryan’s subtly smug expression irritated the operatives.
“Nina. When were you planning to watch the next film?”
“Oh! Au-Aunt! That is, I have something to do today. I’ll head up to my room. Ryan has something he wants to check.”
Nina fumbled with her hands, mumbled an excuse, and hurriedly left the dining room with Ryan in tow.
Kathari, who had been staring silently at Ryan, ground her teeth.
“Another fox has latched onto Nina. Are we really just going to let this slide?”
“All the Masters agreed to it. It’s unpleasant, but it seems it will help with this operation.”
At Excy’s words, Natalisha also clicked her tongue in assent.
“We’re living under the same roof, and yet there’s so much we don’t know about Nina. She doesn’t even pull out the Assassination Tools hidden in her closet—what on earth is she keeping them for with such care…?”
“What do you mean we don’t know much? We all know at least that Nina has suffered a terrible shock and is in distress, don’t we?”
Chayson slammed the table as he retorted, and Natalisha shot back sharply.
“There you go again. Enough, Chayson. Headquarters tolerates your behavior because they’re concerned Nina will disappear. But if you keep being uncooperative, your neck could be on the line at any moment.”
“So we’re supposed to just watch while they trap Nina with a Honeytrap at a time when her heart is fragile?”
“Likitta tried to kill Nina. More precisely, she judged that Nina should be killed if certain conditions were met.”
Excy interjected at Kathari’s challenging question.
The three turned their eyes toward him, but Excy was unbowed and continued.
“Even Nina’s own grandmother, Likitta herself, suspected Nina up until her dying breath. We don’t yet know what she was suspecting. But Likitta was a Spy Organization operative working for the Winning Alliance. Count Sejak, for whom Nina worked as a maid, has been revealed to have connections with Count Lirye, who is suspected of being part of the Defeated Nation Remnants.”
He laid out the facts without hesitation and delivered his firm conclusion.
“Of course. We’ll use whatever leverage we need to extract what we’re after.”
“You’ve got a gift for talking when it matters, don’t you?”
Kathari had nothing to say. She scraped her fork across the tablecloth instead, deliberately and without purpose.
The Soltem honeytrap didn’t sit well with her, but everyone agreed the current mission was stalling. For now, there was nothing to do but wait and see where it led.
* * *
With each step up the stairs beside Ryan, Nina felt something like relief building inside her.
In a situation where nothing lay within sight, she would have preferred scrubbing floors as a maid.
She’d been turning over in her mind whether she should clean the grounds around the Townhouse if her mood didn’t lift, when Ryan appeared at just that moment.
‘I needed something to focus on. This worked out.’
Ryan moved with evident fascination, his gaze busy taking in the ornaments scattered throughout the Townhouse.
“The railings, the wallpaper—there are quite a few spider motifs, aren’t there?”
“There are. I suppose they were the taste of the lady who owned it before.”
“It’s interesting, really. Everything is so immaculate that you’d think there wasn’t a real spider’s web anywhere.”
“That’s true. Since I came here, I haven’t seen a single actual web. The servants must keep the place very well maintained.”
Nina answered with a faint smile, then faltered as her gaze caught the carpet beneath her feet.
A crimson rug, embroidered with the pattern of a spider’s web.
Nina stood motionless in the center of the web, where nothing was caught.
‘A spider’s web…’
Though it was only a pattern, not a real web as Ryan had said, an inexplicable chill ran through her.
Nina’s eyes lifted, tracing across the Townhouse around her.
The house she’d thought she’d only just begun to grow familiar with now felt alien again. As if she’d never truly grown familiar with it at all.
The entire Townhouse seemed like one vast, interwoven web.
“—Miss. Nina? Are you all right? Nina. Nina!”
“…!”
At the grip on her shoulder, Nina started violently, her eyes wide as she looked up at Ryan.
He was staring back at her with alarm in his face.
“Are you well? If I’ve come at an inopportune time—”
“No, no! I’m fine. I think I was just a little tired. Let’s go up, shall we?”
Nina’s cheeks flushed as she hurried through an awkward excuse to cover her confusion.
Blaming fatigue after a foolish mistake—it was something only the most incompetent maid would do.
‘We have a guest. I need to focus on Ryan.’
Fortunately, Ryan didn’t press her about her sudden lapse.
“This is my room. The rope is connected to the balcony.”
“Thank you for so graciously obliging such a troublesome request.”
He stepped into the room as Nina guided him, then moved toward the balcony.
“Nina?”
Just then, Joel’s voice came from across the way.

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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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