Chapter 4

4: 4

“π?”

I leaned in close, and it really was a π.

What did it mean? 3.14?

Was this the last clue Susannah had left me?

What was she trying to say? Pi?

How could there even be a mathematical constant in an age like this?

Afraid grief had blurred my sight, I rubbed my eyes and looked again. It was just a π.

I kept feeling I'd seen the symbol somewhere else too.

Then it hit me. I remembered.

Back in school, on my sixteenth birthday, Susannah had handed me a note exactly like this, with nothing on it but a π.

She'd winked, playing coy. “Rosie~ this is your birthday present. You have to find it yourself~”

That day I turned over nearly everything round in the whole school, right down to the round-mouthed trash cans.

When I truly couldn't find it and begged her, she finally took pity on me. :

“Silly~ isn't a lake round too?”

And sure enough, I found my birthday present in the grass by the lake.

Could this π be her telling me the same thing, to go to the lake?

The moment the thought landed, I didn't hesitate. I bolted straight for the lake.

But I searched every inch of the palace's little lake and found nothing.

Susannah, what are you trying to tell me?

Where are you?

I sank down onto the ground, hollow, and in that moment I cursed myself. If I really couldn't find her, I wouldn't go on living either.

Then I froze where I sat. ……

There was one more lake in this palace, and it was inside her own Queen's Chambers.

I climbed over the wall and set off the guards.

The commotion brought Leigh Rowe and the fake Susannah.

“Rosie?”

“Lady James, why are you scaling the wall of the Queen's Chambers in the dead of night?”

The fake Susannah smiled to smooth it over and pulled me up from the ground. :

“I'm guessing Rosie wanted to come see me. Look at you, insisting on climbing the wall. Startling me is fine, but you mustn't jostle the little prince~”

The next instant I shoved the smiling woman away and dropped to my knees in front of Leigh Rowe. :

“Your Majesty! I suspect …… I suspect the Queen's Chambers are harboring a traitor! Please send men to search at once!”

With that I raised the golden token Leigh Rowe had granted me all those years ago.

He'd once said that whenever he saw this token, whatever I asked, he had to obey.

At the words his face changed sharply, and the fake Susannah only frowned in confusion. :

“Rosie, what nonsense is this? How could there be a traitor in my chambers?”

I was talking nonsense. But only this way could I get a pretext to search the Queen's Chambers.

Susannah was swapped out right here. I've checked every detail, and there's no way even a body could have been carried out.

Which means Susannah is still inside the Queen's Chambers.

Leigh Rowe was shaking with rage. :

“How dare you, Rosamund James. Did I give you that token so you could make a scene? Leave now, and for the Queen's sake I'll let this go unpunished!”

But I raised the token higher and repeated it, grave and firm. :

“For Your Majesty's safety, please search at once. I stake my own head that there is a traitor inside the Queen's Chambers!”

Faced with the token, Leigh Rowe had no move left. He could only send the royal guard to search the Queen's Chambers, inside and out.

“Your Majesty, nothing suspicious in the main hall!”

“Your Majesty, nothing suspicious in the side hall!”

“Nothing suspicious in the bedchamber!”

The guards searched every corner, and there was nothing suspicious anywhere.

The fake Susannah pointed at me, eyes brimming with tears. :

“Rosamund James, you and I are as close as sisters. I never dreamed you'd frame me like this?”

She feigned heartbreak, leaning into Leigh Rowe's arms to wipe her tears.

Leigh Rowe could never bear to see Susannah cry. A single tear cut him deeper than a knife.

I could hardly imagine what he'd do if he ever learned the real Susannah had already been murdered.

Seeing the fake Susannah so wronged, Leigh Rowe threw out his hand and shouted. :

“Guards! Drag Rosamund James out of here for me ……”

Before the words were out, a guard's cry came from the lakeside. :

“Your Majesty! A corpse has been found by the lake. We're pulling it up now!”