Chapter 64

When I next awoke, I found myself in the bed of Lord Kevin’s mansion.

Rufus, who had apparently been by my side all along, was holding my hand with a face that looked like he was about to cry.

Since I couldn’t speak properly, Rufus gave me a glass of water and then looked regretful.

"…I’m really sorry for being so late."

Even though I told him there was nothing for him to apologize for, he shook his head slightly.

It seemed that he had also treated my leg injury while I was unconscious, and I was relieved to hear that there would be no lasting damage.

"Why did you know it wasn’t Mabel? Did everyone else notice too?"

"No, only I did."

Then Rufus told me everything that had happened since the day of the birthday party.

—He had gradually started to feel something was off about Mabel, and eventually became certain.

Although he didn’t want to suspect the people around him, he thought it was impossible for the switch to have happened without an accomplice, so he kept it to himself.

He pretended to be fooled to make Mabel let her guard down and searched for the location of the magical artifact.

Even though he believed I was inside Eliza’s body, he couldn’t force his way into the baron’s mansion without knowing if I was safe, so he had been keeping watch every day.

And when the lookout who was following the carriage we were in reported back, he immediately came to my aid.

"…Rufus, thank you."

I was really happy that he had come to my rescue and that he had noticed it wasn’t me.

If Rufus hadn’t noticed, I would have been unable to escape from the pursuers and would have faced Gerald’s wrath, and who knows what might have happened to me.

Gerald, like Tabitha, was being held in the mansion’s underground dungeon, where he had been raging and resisting, demanding, "Give me Sadie back!"

‘Catch her at all costs! Even if she loses her limbs, as long as she’s alive!’

Thinking about what happened at the cathedral made my blood run cold. I hugged myself, and Rufus said, "It’s okay now."

"You did a great job. If Sadie hadn’t run away at that moment, we might not have been able to save you."

"No, really, thank you for saving me."

I gently enveloped Rufus’s right hand with both of mine and looked straight into his obsidian eyes.

I realized again how much I liked Rufus and how glad I was to be reunited with him.

"What should we do now?"

Even if we captured Mabel, I didn’t think she would reveal the location of the magical artifact.

If we pushed her too hard and she took her own life, both Eliza and I would die. Rufus lowered his eyes, knowing that any rash action was out of the question.

We might have no choice but to retrieve the magical artifact and return to our original bodies.

"Since it’s been revealed that Findlay was the traitor, we should probably tell the three of them everything and search for the magical artifact."

"Yeah."

Neil, Eliza, and Norman would be heartbroken to learn that their bodies had been taken and that Gerald had betrayed us.

But they would find out eventually, and we couldn’t leave everything to Rufus.

"Please tell everyone that I’m okay!"

"Alright."

Although I agreed to write letters to everyone, I felt frustrated that I couldn’t do anything here.

But Rufus encouraged me, saying that it was only natural, given what he had been through.

"Rufus, thank you for everything. You’re a victim too."

"Don’t worry about it. I’ll do anything for Sadie, and I want to."

His words made me feel a bit confused and my heart raced, even in this situation.

"…I’m really glad you’re safe. I was so worried until I saw you."

His voice, which sounded as if it might fade away at any moment, conveyed how much I had worried him.

I wrapped my arms around Rufus’s broad back and silently apologized for the plan I had carried out without telling him, and thanked him again for everything.

◇◇◇

Two days later, in the evening, I was quietly spending time at Lord Kevin’s mansion when Rufus came in, his face pale with worry. I had never seen him so agitated before, and my heart started to race.

Without even catching his breath, Rufus began to speak.

"Mabel figured it out."

"Huh?"

"She seems to have realized that we had switched bodies from the fact that communication with Findlay had stopped and from Eliza’s behavior."

"…No way!"

Of course, it would have been impossible for me to act as a friend to Mabel as usual after learning that my body had been taken again and that Gerald had betrayed us.

I should have thought more and been more considerate, but given that we couldn’t release Gerald, it might have been inevitable.

"Mabel, realizing she had been found out, pretended to be fooled and poisoned Norman."

"…No way."

"Norman collapsed, and Mabel demanded that we set her free and provide her with enough money and a way to escape. She said she would prepare the antidote if we did."

Mabel must have decided that it was better to leave this place, having lost her peaceful life as Sadie Arkwright.

But if we complied with her demands, we would never be able to return to our original bodies.

She was being so bold because she knew we wouldn’t abandon our comrades, and because she held the lives of Eliza and me in her hands.

Mabel was still the one with the upper hand.

"Mabel was laughing in a disappointed way, saying, 'I only went along with Findlay’s proposal because it sounded interesting, but he’s really useless and has failed.'"

"……"

"She said she would give us three days to prepare the money and the escape route, and then she came back. I’m really sorry."

"No, Rufus, you don’t need to apologize. I’m really sorry for getting you involved."

The situation was dire, but we couldn’t let Mabel have her way.

Gripping my hands tightly, I looked up at Rufus.

"Take me to the Arkwright mansion."