Spy Classroom - Volume 6 - Chapter 4.2

Seven hours prior, Lamplight’s adorable silver-haired leader had been hiding in Heron Manor.

“Heya there! It’s your girl Lily, the super-undetectable spy who’s being sneakier than sneaky can be!”

At the moment, she was hiding in a very particular spot and surveying the hall. The party was just about to start, and Lily had successfully sneaked in unseen by getting there before Belias had a chance to put the manor under surveillance. Now she was making sure to remain undetected as she helped herself to the full serving platter of food she’d stolen. As it turned out, the food thief that the staff was panicking over was none other than Lily.

“I gotta hand it to Queneau, that stuff he taught me was pretty clever. You stay hidden until the very last moment, and then bang! You hit ’em with the finisher! It’s a pretty dang stylish move. Heh-heh, I feel more spy-like than ever,” she said, sounding entirely pleased with herself.

The party got underway shortly thereafter, and once the host, David, finished giving his speech, the orchestra starting playing and the waltzing began. Lily could just barely make out Sybilla and Klaus slowly twirling their way around the hall. They started out in perfect sync, but out of nowhere, they tripped over each other. They quickly got up, but from that point on, they started falling more and more out of rhythm, and their footwork got worse and worse.

Klaus and Sybilla were executing their intentionally poor dancing to perfection.

“That’s some good coordination they’ve got going, that’s for sure. Classic Teach. He’s doing a great job matching Sybilla’s timing. I guess I have to give him props for that,” Lily said, nodding in satisfaction. Then she paused. “Actually, didn’t they used to be married or something?” She vaguely remembered there being some big kerfuffle about brides at some point.

Then she quietly got ready.

Out on the dance floor, the duo raged and got in each other’s way as they made their way across the hall. Their path led them straight toward Disintegrator Doll and Lotus Doll, who were searching for Lan as they danced. When the two pairs collided, all four of them went flying, toppled to the ground, and rolled right under the table where Lily was hiding.

“But when it comes to working with Sybilla, I’m the best in the biz!”

Sybilla used the tablecloth as cover as she shoved Lotus Doll over. She looked Lily in the eyes and shot her a silent message. “She’s all yours.”

Lily grinned. “You got it.”

In Lily’s hand, she was clutching a poison needle.

“I’m code name Flower Garden—and it’s time to bloom out of control.”

Klaus crashed into Disintegrator Doll, sent his tiny body flying, and rolled across the floor himself in a way that blocked the boy’s vision. As he did, Lily briskly stabbed her needle right into Lotus Doll’s neck.

With that, their plan came to fruition.

The girls’ scheme spanned the whole of Fend. Thanks to Monika’s creepshots, they determined that Belias agents were the ones who attacked Avian. Thea got taken prisoner, and in doing so managed to get intel on their inner workings. Annette created a fountain pen with a built-in wiretap. Erna let herself get into a traffic accident so Belias would stop their car and give her a chance to plant the pen. Sybilla quickly retrieved the pen and got Disintegrator Doll to confiscate it and give it to Lotus Doll. Once they’d listened to Lotus Doll’s voice over the wiretap, Lily knocked her out at Heron Manor. And Sara used her animals to send out a suspicious message.

The girls devised countless plans, all of them revolving around Sybilla.

For this one, though, the most important player of all was the girl who mimicked the voice she heard over the wiretap and figured out Belias’s inner workings in a heartbeat.

Standing before them was a woman in a habit. She wore a gentle smile as she stood across from Amelie looking down at her. There was something oddly unsettling about her outfit’s jet-black fabric and how completely unsullied it was. She wasn’t saying a thing—just simply standing there like some sort of decorative ornament.

It was Lotus Doll—the Belias aide who had no reason to be there in the mountains at that abandoned construction site.

“Lotus Doll…?” Amelie couldn’t believe her eyes. She’d instructed her aide to go on a different operation, so why was she there? “You need to run! Get out of here as fast as you can!”

Her voice was practically a scream. It didn’t make sense. Why was Lotus Doll being so reckless? The only correct choice for a spy to make there would be fleeing. There was simply no way Lotus Doll was going to be able to defeat Bonfire and save Amelie all on her own.

Lotus Doll just kept on smiling.

“………”

Upon seeing the pity in her expression, Amelie realized something.

At the end of the day, who was it that had made Lamplight’s attack possible? It was the person who’d told her about the bug on Klaus and the mysterious transmissions. The person who’d taken all the agents who should have been on a separate op and led them straight there.

Thinking back, there had been hints. Amelie herself had even picked up on the fact that something was different when Lotus Doll served her that tea.

“This smells delightful. You’ve improved your skills.”

She should have paid more attention to how different the tea she brewed tasted.

“You have my gratitude, Amelie,” the girl who looked like Lotus Doll said in a voice that wasn’t Lotus Doll’s at all. “Thanks to you, I was able to spend some time waltzing with the boss.”

She tore off the mask covering her face.

Amelie hadn’t known.

She hadn’t known that there was one person besides Thea who’d inherited Pharma’s technique of wreaking havoc behind enemy lines. She hadn’t known that there was a girl who’d hidden her gushing affection toward Klaus and taken bold action in hostile territory.

“I’m counting on you.”

With those words from her beloved to fuel her, Grete impersonated an enemy full of love.

Disguises × Forbidden Love = Mask of Fondness.

“I’m code name Daughter Dearest—now, let’s fill this time with laughter and tears.”

When the red-haired girl serenely made her declaration, Amelie realized the big mistake she’d made. The person she most needed to be worried about hadn’t been Klaus or Sybilla at all. No, Lamplight’s real trump card was the girl who’d taken Lotus Doll’s place and masterminded everything from behind the scenes.

Amelie’s strength drained from her, and she sank to her knees.

That there was the moment—the moment where Belias was well and truly annihilated. They hadn’t seen through anything, and they hadn’t been able to put up a fight. Lamplight had simply obliterated them.

However, there was one thing Amelie just couldn’t wrap her head around.

When in the world did they swap Lotus Doll out?

Disintegrator Doll had been constantly by her side, and even when he hadn’t been, Amelie or one of the other Belias personnel had been instead. They’d never given Lamplight a window large enough to pull off a swap that audacious.

The red-haired girl strode past Amelie and walked over to Sybilla.

“Heya,” Sybilla said as she gave her a small wave. “Good shit, Grete. You nailed it, like always.”

“I couldn’t have done any of it without you. Nobody else could have stuffed Lotus Doll under the table while dancing with the boss as brilliantly as you did.”

“Thanks. I gotta say, though, dancing really ain’t my scene.”

“Well, I thought your dance with the boss was quite graceful.”

“It was nothin’ compared to yours. You looked like you were havin’ the time of your life out there.”

“Oh yes. I was able to get my hands all over him.”

“You’re blushin’ up a storm there.”

“Hee-hee. I can never thank you enough for swapping partners the way you did.”

Hearing their conversation was enough to let Amelie fill in the blanks. They’d made the swap at a moment that by all rights should have unthinkable.

It was back at Heron Manor, when Sybilla took Lotus Doll down with her during the dance.

Lamplight had done it in full view of everyone at the party. They’d shoved Lotus Doll under the tablecloth, put her to sleep—they must have had a poisoner hidden there or something—and swapped her out for that Grete girl. Then they hadn’t wasted a moment in having Sybilla trade partners with her so that Klaus could take Grete across the dance hall and keep her away from Disintegrator Doll.

Lamplight was a group of professionals. Fooling a bunch of onlooking civilians would have been child’s play for them, and what’s more, they’d chosen the one moment when Belias took their eyes off Klaus and Sybilla. Amelie herself had described it as such.

“When all eyes in the hall were on you, my people and I checked the audience—but not a single one of them offered any sort of unusual reaction.”

They knew that as soon as they made that scene, Amelie and her agents would have no choice but to search for Lan. Lamplight had stolen Belias’s attention away.

What an unbelievably bold scheme. They’d made the swap right after intentionally gathering all the partygoers’ attention.

“If you’re looking for your aides…” “We just nicked ’em,” Grete and Sybilla declared victoriously.

Belias hadn’t just lost—Lamplight had mopped the floor with them. They hadn’t seen through a single one of Lamplight’s traps, leaving Lamplight free to toy with them as they wished. They’d taken everything Amelie had and left her with nothing but despair.

Her head sank, and her knees dug deeper into the ground.

Eventually, a stream of girls trickled out from behind the building’s cover and moved to surround Amelie. All of them still carried hints of childishness, and their appearances were clearly those of girls rather than women.

We lost to a group of children?

Amelie could feel her heart start to tremble, but she quickly corrected herself.

No, what we saw was just a glimpse. Omens that, someday, these girls could topple nations.

What was it that had driven the girls to improve so quickly, she wondered? Was it Klaus’s teaching? No, it couldn’t have just been him. Her intuition guided her to the answer.

Was it Avian?

She had no idea why the team’s name had just crossed her mind. It was a mystery even to her.

Klaus stood before her. “Puppeteer, you and your people have committed the gravest of sins.” Amelie’s skin prickled from the sheer force of his hostility. “I imagine you had your reasons. However, that doesn’t justify your actions. Assaulting Avian without so much as giving them a chance to explain themselves, killing my friend, and making my subordinates cry are all serious offenses.”

In his hand, he was holding a gun.

“Have you made your peace?”

Amelie knew.

She’d seen more captured spies meet their ends than anyone. They weren’t just killed. They were subjected to unending torture. Eventually, they would lose their minds and cough up whatever intel their captors wanted them to. It wasn’t the kind of thing you could endure with grit and conviction, not when they pumped you so full of drugs that your very personality shattered. All that awaited her was a despair blacker than the deepest darkness.

Amelie pulled a knife out of her pocket—and pointed it at her own throat.

She held its grip in her right hand and steadied its blade with her left. She was scared, but she didn’t waver.

“Good-bye, dear guests.”

She steeled her resolve and pressed the knife in.

The moment before it reached her throat, though, someone grabbed her by the wrist—Sybilla. Her expression was determined, and her grip stopping Amelie from committing suicide was firm.

“Please, just let me die,” Amelie pleaded. “Let me end it here.”

Sybilla’s gaze burned with an uncommon zeal. “No can do. You’ve got intel we need.”

Amelie tried to fight back by pressing the knife in even harder. “………You have a brother and sister, don’t you?”

“What?”

“Our bugs caught your entire conversation in the changing room. They can pick up even the quietest of whispers. You would do well not to underestimate our nation’s technology.” Amelie gave her a triumphant smile. “Well, I have a family, too. Please, let me die. At least grant me that one small mercy. I would rather die with honor than give up information and betray my family, my country, the Crown.”

“………”

“I’m sure that someone like you can appreciate that—someone compassionate enough to donate her entire wages to the orphanage where her brother and sister live.”

Every word Amelie was saying was the pure, unvarnished truth. After listening to Sybilla’s story, Amelie had empathized with her. She’d heard what Sybilla said back in the changing room about her grim past—about the way she’d desperately fought to rescue her siblings from the brutal world of gangs. Amelie could tell how kind Sybilla’s heart was from how much she still cared about them.

Surely, Sybilla of all people would let her kill herself.

However, Sybilla shook her head. “It’s the orphanage where they lived.”

“………?”

“My siblings are dead. They got killed. Thanks to my old man, there were loads of folks who had it in for ’em.”

“________”

Amelie’s eyes went wide.

If that was the case, then her story didn’t line up.

“But you still continued the donations—?”

How must Sybilla have felt, saying those words?

“Sometimes, I like to close my eyes and just picture it. My donations, makin’ sure my brother and sister can eat as much as they want… Them, smilin’ like idiots… Even though I can’t see ’em, that’s enough.”

“It’s pathetic, I know.”

Sybilla’s shoulders slumped. Amelie could do nothing but stare back at her.

“So I’m beggin’ you.”

Sybilla wound her fingers around Amelie’s and skillfully plucked the knife from her hand.

“I’m beggin’ you—please, don’t take anything more from me.”