The woman reached out to snatch the letter caught between Richard’s fingers, but Richard didn’t allow it. Richard, who raised his hand slightly behind him, put exactly that much force into his eyes too. Something he used to do when scolding thirteen-year-old Iris. Around the time Richard was about to swallow a sigh, the woman’s hand that had been reaching up wrapped around Richard’s neck.

“What are you doing right now?”

“I don’t have time to waste.”

“What?”

“If you’re not going to kiss me here, give that back and go on your way.”

Richard felt like he knew for the first time what it meant to be speechless. He was certain that the hazy and dazed expression Iris often showed was now layered over his own face as well.

“Hmm. Those lips seem too precious to waste on nagging.”

“Miss Bennett.”

“What a shame. It would have been quite nice if you had been the one to accept my proposal.”

A scrutinizing gaze flowed slowly from his head down to his chest. A voice that seemed barely squeezed out leaked from Richard, who stood with a blank face.

“Why on earth are you going to such lengths?”

“……Because I need to know. What kind of feeling it is, what kind of experience.”

“Couldn’t you do it through more normal methods?”

“Women should also be able to directly choose men who suit them.”

“Even so, what can you possibly learn from this?”

The woman wrapped her other hand around Richard’s neck as well. Richard’s Adam’s apple visibly wavered.

“I already learned that the meddler interfering with my plan is an unnecessarily handsome and splendid man, and that this man has broad shoulders and a wonderful chest. If I hold out longer, I might learn other things too. Will you still only say no?”

The woman’s smile sparkled unnecessarily. Richard had already noticed the subtle favor contained in her curious eyes, but he couldn’t move at all. Good heavens, Iris. I thought I’d live more comfortably after sending you off. Was that small hope such greed?

“……May I touch?”

The woman’s eyes were directed toward Richard’s chest. May she touch. It seemed like she was already half doing so, but Richard didn’t question it. Around that time, Richard felt like he vaguely understood why this woman had caused this outrageous affair.

It was because faces sparkling with persistent curiosity and eyes wavering with a half-mixture of inquisitiveness and desire were sickeningly familiar. So all of this was ultimately—

“……Why? Are you going to write about that in a book too?”

Richard didn’t miss the woman’s blue gaze wavering faintly. It felt like a sigh was about to burst out.

“……Well, if it’s worth writing.”

Huh.

Along with the sigh that finally burst out, Richard ended up having the note he was holding snatched away. It happened while he was briefly lost in thought.

“If you hate it, stop here.”

“Look here.”

“I’m not your younger sister. So if you’re going to give useless nagging, go back. I never wanted a guardian or anything like that.”

The woman turned around and left the alley. That was the first meeting between Vivian Bennett, the self-proclaimed slightly insane woman, and Richard Dalton.

***

“Haah—”

What burst from Richard’s mouth as he closed the book was a sigh. So he thought he roughly understood why she had committed such a reckless act. Of course, that didn’t mean he agreed with that ridiculous plan.

The end of his unplanned reading was more futile than expected. The only conclusion Richard gained from closing the last page of the book was that he couldn’t even guess with an ordinary person’s thinking how thoughts could extend that far.

The first thing Richard did when he returned home from Little Fortune was to find books under Vivian Bennett’s name among his younger sister’s collection. That action, born from concern about his sister reading the works of an author with such dangerous thoughts and determination to find out what kind of substance this woman had—ended with him reading through two of that woman’s previous works in one sitting.

The protagonists in the books, which were clearly not detective novels from any angle, no, were actually romance novels themselves to a degree that couldn’t be ignored, were all women who seemed to be direct copies of the author. They ended up with wonderful men after all kinds of hardships, and the way these women won love was as bold and audacious as the author’s method.

Throughout his reading, the faces and voices of Vivian Bennett overlapped with the protagonists’ faces, which wasn’t due to some absurd setting like falling in love with her at first sight, but because he knew about the author’s appearance and her hidden aspects—something Richard couldn’t help.

Richard, who had been examining the publication dates printed inside the two books he had laid face down, soon rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. There was a slight gap between the two books, and the later book boasted even more troublesome character traits than the earlier one. He didn’t know how many other books there were besides these two, but according to Mr. Hoover at Little Fortune, Vivian Bennett’s latest work—the book that had caused him to receive that problematic message—would surely be worse, not better, than these.

Another thing Richard couldn’t understand in his bewilderment was the fact that his younger sister was reading books of such genres. He wouldn’t have expected Iris Dalton, who had been busy running away every social season, to have such hobbies—well. Even her current fiancé probably wouldn’t expect it.

That girl…… it would be better if she never knew about it in the future, if possible. If she already knew, that would be a problem in its own way, but for now, he didn’t have the capacity to worry about future problems that hadn’t yet arrived.

He felt like he had learned an unwanted secret about his younger sister, whom he thought was living quietly writing somewhat peculiar but reasonably selling detective novels. And that pain was much greater than expected.

There were many things he wanted to ask but couldn’t bring himself to ask, and the realization dawned on him that it was somewhat late to hold onto his sister, who would leave his care the day after tomorrow, and lecture her about the modesty a woman should have. It seemed like she hadn’t particularly intended to hide it, considering she had asked him to borrow such books in the first place, but now he didn’t want to know her inner thoughts about letting him know such things, so his mouth tasted bitter.

So—was it okay to leave the woman called Vivian Bennett as she was?

Richard, who had returned to square one again, ran his hand through his hair and stood up. He stared at the desk where visitors who hardly suited his study had come, then took out the note he had kept in his chest. Not the one the woman had snatched from him, but the note she had tried to leave newly at Little Fortune that day.

───────── ౨ৎ ─────────

If this book captured your heart even a little, would you please meet with me? I have a proposal to make. Perhaps one that could very likely appeal to you as well. Though the approach might seem like that of a criminal, it’s certainly not illegal. There are my own reasons for choosing this method.

I’ll discuss the details when we meet. This is a very important matter to me. Please understand that I can’t reveal everything from the start to avoid unwelcome guests or mishaps. But I’m really not a strange person. If you leave your contact information through Mr. Hoover, I’ll arrange a meeting place and time. Let’s finish the rest of our conversation then.

—O. J.

───────── ౨ৎ ─────────

No, Vivian Bennett. You are a strange person. Very much so.

The answer was clear. That woman couldn’t be left as she was. Someday she would surely cause the kind of incident that would turn London, no, this entire country upside down. When that day finally came, the only person who would regret ‘if only I had acted sooner, this outcome could have been prevented’—seemed to be himself for now, so Richard felt a heavy sense of responsibility.

Like with Iris, it was the same in that it was the kind of responsibility he had never particularly wanted, but there was a big difference in that he didn’t share a single drop of blood with this woman. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how he could stop this ridiculous plan, and furthermore, this hopeless woman.

Richard, who had finally decided to do the only thing he could do now, picked up his coat. His destination was that place again, Little Fortune.

***

“What did you say?”

Olivia’s voice rose an octave. Feeling the gazes around her gathering, Olivia moved closer and pulled Mr. Hoover slightly. The silver-haired gentleman Mr. Hoover stood with an impassive expression, taking the brunt of Olivia’s misdirected anger.

“Just as I said. That gentleman bought all of Vivian Bennett’s books and told me not to stock any more for the time being.”

“By what right?”

“By the right of paying a considerable sum. Even if I do stock the books later, he also said not to fulfill requests like delivering letters. He seems to have made arrangements with other bookstores in the area too.”

Olivia couldn’t even think to close her gaping mouth. From Mr. Hoover’s expression, it was clear that it hadn’t been just a considerable amount. Just what kind of amazing person was he.