Candor, Detectors, and a Flying Rock
The family had taken such a shock that they all froze mid-breath, their expressions turned to stone.
Nina, as if she'd expected exactly this, let out a long, heavy sigh.
"I know how gentle and tender-hearted you all are, so I wrestled for a long time over whether I should even bring this up……"
"……Gentle?"
"……Tender-hearted?"
The family murmured among themselves, exchanging bewildered looks. They had never once heard such words—not even in their childhood.
After a deliberate pause, Nina seemed to make up her mind and pressed on.
"They say there should be no secrets between family! That's why I decided it was better to open up about everything."
"Er, w-well, sometimes some things are better left as secrets."
Even at Chaison's answer, Nina shook her head.
"Even so, I don't want to keep secrets from family I've only just met."
Then she turned to look around at them—this family she'd known for so little time and yet already found so dear.
"You've all been so kind to me—Uncle, Auntie, big sister, big brother—and I want to be sincere with you in return. My family truly is precious to me. I'm so grateful for you all."
Her cheeks flushed pink, Nina cupped them in her hands and smiled shyly, her eyes gone dewy and bright.
Nina's precious family sat there in a daze before solemnity washed over them. A conscience they hadn't known they still possessed came prickling back, jabbing at them from the inside.
Is she serious? We're just her cover family—why is she so devoted to us?
Uncomfortable under the weight of it, Natalisha stole a glance at the others' faces, telling herself she couldn't be the only one feeling this way.
But Chaison was clutching his chest with a choked, moved expression, as if genuinely touched.
Exasperated, Natasha drove her heel down hard on his little toe beneath the table, and he shot up out of his chair at the sudden burst of pain.
"Nngh……!"
"U-Uncle?"
"Ah—koff, koff."
Chaison cleared his throat as if nothing had happened and circled back to the original topic.
"I understand how you feel, but the idea that someone is spying on our home is a stretch."
"Right, Nina. How could that possibly be?"
When Natalisha chimed in as well, Nina sighed again with the same knowing look.
"I knew your kind hearts and upright morals would never let you imagine such a thing."
"……"
The four of them, their consciences already stung once, could do nothing now but silently thump their own chests.
"It seems everyone's throats have gone tight? You mustn't just eat bread—do have some water. At this rate, it will be suf. fo. ca. tion. for you all."
Eventually Juger Number 4 came gliding around the table, filling every water glass to the brim.
Utterly indifferent to the chaotic atmosphere, Nina placed something on the table with a flourish.
"Everyone, please look at this."
The moment she did, the family's eyes turned sharp and cold.
What Nina had laid out were two intrusion detectors.
She actually found them. Remarkable.
But why are there two?
One is mine. The other is……
Don't tell me……!
The four of them exchanged glances, each recalling the culprit who had planted the detector that wasn't Exi's.
It has to be the intruder we caught last night.
Like the one Exi had installed, it showed no signs of wear, and the distinctive blue circuitry of a magitech device was pristine—thankfully, it didn't seem to have been placed there earlier.
Natalisha asked her niece in a voice full of concern.
"Nina, have you found any other traces of spying besides these? Any strange feelings, like someone watching?"
"Well, whenever I walk down the hallway, I do get the feeling that someone is watching me or eavesdropping on my conversations…… but that must just be because the house is still unfamiliar to me, right? Once I've settled in here, I'll be able to tell for certain."
With every word out of Nina's mouth, the four of them flinched.
"Is, is that so."
Chaison pointed at the detectors on the table the way one points at something filthy.
"Nina, you're busy and tired enough just adjusting to Soltum. Don't trouble yourself with this."
"We'll take care of problems like this ourselves. You go enjoy the city instead."
When Exi even pulled some pocket money out of his wallet and offered it, Nina's eyes went round.
"Goodness…… I knew you were all innocent, but honestly, you're like newborn baby chicks, every one of you."
"……You don't have a shred of prejudice, do you. If there's a newborn baby chick at this table, it's you."
At Chaison's groan, Natalisha stomped on his foot once more.
"What your uncle means, dear, is that experience is not to be lightly dismissed. Please don't underestimate the years we've spent protecting this townhouse."
"You just relax and make yourself comfortable. Understood?"
Katharina flashed Nina a charming wink and reached for the detectors.
In that instant, blue light burst from the intruder's detector, swelling as though a massive explosion were about to go off at any moment.
"Big sister! Careful!"
Nina yanked Katharina behind her in a flash, spun her knife deftly in her grip, and—evil thing!—sliced clean through the detector's circuitry.
The spreading blue glow, boiling like something about to blow, and the searing heat sank away in an instant.
The device had been designed to detonate if mishandled.
As the family sat frozen in terror, Nina set her knife down neatly and asked, in all seriousness:
"Reaching for dangerous things without a second thought…… Shall I put a label on them all? Something like sharp—handle with care?"
"That won't be necessary—!"
Katharina flared up, barely keeping her voice from rising further, and bit down hard on her handkerchief.
Chaison, the master of explosives who had been dawdling like a fool, was by now having the hair stand on end over what had just happened.
The bomb was alarming enough—but Nina was something else entirely.
He'd had an inkling she was no amateur with a knife, but that just now……
That wasn't the level of someone who was merely *good* with a blade.
How could a person cut the wiring of a bomb about to detonate inches from her face without so much as a tremor in her fingertips?
"Nina, where did you learn knife work like that?"
"I picked it up naturally while working as a maid. I was one of the maids who was a favorite of the Countess, you see."
At Nina's matter-of-fact answer, the family sank into even deeper confusion.
Just what went on inside that estate, that a maid would need to learn such things?
By this point, they had no choice but to ask her directly.
"Nina, what was the Sezac County Estate like? This auntie is curious what kind of place you lived in."
"Hmm. The Count and Countess get along wonderfully, and the young master is clever and cheerful. It was such a warm, harmonious household that watching them made me wish for a loving family of my own."
"Harmonious, and yet it taught you to handle knives?"
"Well, it was important to know how to keep the estate clean and tidy using whatever happened to be at hand, depending on the moment. Things don't always flow in your favor, after all."
Nina answered with a bright, utterly harmless smile.
Katharina narrowed her eyes and muttered to herself.
Suspicious. Three times over, suspicious. I'm going to have to visit the Sezac household myself.
Exi decided the mood of the conversation needed to change.
"We should eat first, anyway. Nina, what's on your schedule today?"
"I'm going to thank Joel for the stun gun."
As she answered, Nina sat down and swept the broken detector into her bag—prompting Natalisha to ask in a panic:
"Why are you taking that with you? You're not planning to show it to Joel, are you?"
"Oh my, Auntie. Even I know that a household's dirty laundry is washed behind closed doors—it's simply how the world works, you know?"
At Nina's guileless smile, Chaison echoed her, puzzled.
"D-dirty laundry?"
"However short this house may be on trained professionals, permitting devices like these to be planted here? As a former maid myself, I can think of no greater disgrace. It's truly a shame……"
Nina worried over the safety of the house with what seemed like genuine distress, while the four trained professional spies had their pride thoroughly wounded.
Disgrace? Diiiisgraaaace??
Back in her room, Nina stepped out onto the balcony and peered curiously over at the balcony across the way.
Even if they're next-door neighbors, showing up uninvited would be rude, wouldn't it?
She wanted to give Joel some kind of heads-up before calling on his house.
But no matter how long she loitered, Joel never came out onto his balcony.
He said he liked sitting out on the balcony and watching the street, though.
After much deliberation, Nina plucked a small pebble from her cactus pot and flung it across.
The moment the pebble landed with a tap inside the opposite railing—
"Grrrrrrrrrr."
—a beast's eyes glittered murderously from the shadows of the balcony, and a pigeon clutching a fruit knife came hurtling out with terrifying ferocity.
It was clearly furious, kicking the pebble clean back over the railing for good measure.
Nina jolted in fright, then clapped her hands at the sight of the familiar pigeon.
"Oh my? Gugu? I thought you were resting for a few days?"
"Coo?!"
Recognizing who had thrown the pebble, Gugu halted mid-charge with a jolt.
"C-coo, gurrrrrr……"
Then, all at once, it flung away the fruit knife, stuck out its tongue, and flopped over dramatically.
"G-Gugu!"
Heart plunging, Nina had no time to think—she grabbed the harpoon gun from her closet and fired it across at the opposite balcony.