章 78: Scary, innit?
"Lyney, why did you call me here?" Lynette, wearing the same poker face and monotone voice, spoke to her brother.
Currently, both of them were atop a rooftop, stealthily avoiding the attention of anyone.
Lyney, on the other hand, was holding a binocular as he looked in the distance. With their current position, they had a good elevated view of their surroundings.
As he continued to look in a certain direction, he responded to his sister's question. "Father entered Mister Isaac's cafe."
"Isaac..." Hearing this name, Lynette's ears twitched as she recalled Isaac's face. Having remembered him, she continued, "What does Father want with him?"
"I don't know... But given that he had already been within Father's sights for a while now, I guess Father had seen something in him." Lyney gave his thoughts and speculation over the situation, though he was still unsure of the details.
"Father knew of him?" Lynette, the first time hearing of this, inquired further. She then walked over beside him and looked at the cafe not far away.
Lyney nodded his head as he continued his observation. "That's right. At first, it was a report about his identity, but as time went on, Father started requesting his habits."
"Habits... That means..." Upon realizing what their Father was planning, a thought blossomed in Lynette's mind.
Lyney, on the other hand, merely nodded his head as he let out a soft sigh while keeping a look out on the cafe.
"I just hope... Mister Isaac would get on Father's good side."
---
"It's truly a beautiful morning, isn't it, Monsieur Isaac?"
Arlecchino, who was sitting right beside Wriothesley, spoke to Isaac with a gentle yet heavy tone. She had yet to order anything and was thus just sitting down.
"It truly is, innit?" Isaac, on the other hand, remained calm and collected on the surface despite having inner turmoil.
'Why is she here?' Behind Isaac's calm façade, a question had repeatedly resurfaced in his mind while looking at the Knave. 'I haven't done anything to provoke the Fatui, right?'
'No— surely not.' He reassured himself with a false sense of hope. Still, he remained optimistic. 'For now, let's try to be as calm as possible and avoid any unnecessary trouble.'
With an amiable smile, Isaac spoke with the same gentle tone. "What would you like to have, my good customer?"
"Green tea. No additives." She answered, maintaining direct eye contact with Isaac.
"No additives... Got it."
Taking her order, Isaac went and grabbed his kettle in the kitchen which was still very hot.
He then started brewing her tea in front of her to let her see the process in person.
After a few minutes, the tea was ready and he placed it on top of a porcelain coaster along with a silver teaspoon before giving it to the Knave.
"Here you go. Freshly brewed." Isaac said as he slid the teacup to her carefully.
"Green tea with nothing else in it, huh? I'm guessing you like the natural flavors of tea?" Wriothesley, who was quietly enjoying his tea for a while now, looked at the Knave.
The Knave turned her head and nodded at Wriothesley's words. She then opened her mouth and spoke, "Indeed. I dislike overly flavorful things and prefer simpler and pristine flavors such as these."
"Hear that, Isaac?" Upon hearing this, Wriothesley smiled smugly before turning over to Isaac. "I told you she knows her stuff."
"It seems she does." Isaac nodded his head and agreed with Wriothesley. He had to admit, she knows her stuff.
"Very few appreciate the raw taste of tea without any additional contents like sugars, so it's refreshing to see someone who sticks by the classics," Isaac explained. Although he was scared, he couldn't help but praise the Knave as a tea enthusiast himself.
"It's just my preference, that is all." The Knave responded to Isaac while observing him closely.
However, she then turned her head to the person next to her— Wriothesley— and spoke.
"Moreover, I didn't know that Your Grace was also an enthusiast of tea. This is the first I've heard of this." She said as her crossed red eyes locked on to the Warden of Meropide.
"My hobbies... aren't widely known to the public, as you may know." Wriothesley, beside her, replied with a light smile. His languid sharp eyes then looked at her from the side. "As do you."
'...are they pretending to not know each other's identities?' Sensing an invisible tension between the two, the nervous Isaac decided to intervene.
"Ahem, from the looks of it, you two are already well-acquainted?" Isaac cleared his throat and said with a curious tone, indicating his lack of knowledge over the matter to them.
Isaac was well aware that Arlecchino was relatively less known than the rest of the Harbingers, as her line of work mainly tackles information gathering.
However, even then, The Duke of the Fortress of Meropide still has eyes and ears on the surface, despite it being under the waves.
The Knave was actively trying to infiltrate the fortress, while the Duke was capturing and interrogating her spies.
Naturally, the two know each other. What they did not know, however, is that Isaac, too, was aware of both of their identities.
'This feels like that one Spiderman meme with the three Spideys pointing at each other...' Isaac thought humorously amidst the tension. During such a tense moment, he couldn't help but lighten up the mood, at least for himself.
Wriothesley first looked at the Knave before looking back at Isaac. He then curled up a soft smile before speaking. "Not really. I've just known her from... some colleagues, that's all."
"I believe everyone in Fontaine who has read the newspaper has heard of the Duke of Meropide." The Knave answered as she also took her eyes off Wriothesley.
"Ah, I see. That makes more sense now." Isaac nodded his head in understanding, acting as if everything had just clicked in his mind.
"Well, that's enough from me." Just then, Wriothesley finished drinking from his cup and stood up. "I should be heading off soon."
He then took out some Mora and placed it stacked on the counter, right in front of Isaac.
"Once more, the brew was rich." Wriothesley complimented Isaac as he paid for his drink. "If I find myself some free time again, I'll drop by once more."
"Of course. Great minds who think alike are always welcomed in my humble cafe." Isaac smiled softly at him as he took the stack of Mora. He then bid him farewell. "Have a good day, dear customer."
"Thanks." Wriothesley nodded as he turned around. But not before looking at the Knave one last time from the corner of his eyes.
With a light smirk, he spoke to her with a concealed sarcasm hidden in his tone. "It was nice chatting with you. I hope to have another wonderful time next time we meet."
"I could say the same, Your Grace." In response, the Knave didn't turn her head and merely replied with a cold tone. "May we meet again in the future."
Lightly scoffing at her response, Wriothesley didn't say anything further and turned around before walking away.
Ding~
And just like that, the Duke of the Fortress of Meropide had departed, leaving only Isaac and the dangerous Harbinger in the cafe.
'...why is she here again?' After seeing Wriothesley leave, Isaac turned his eyes to the Knave and warily looked at her. 'She's not here to... hurt me, is she? Heavens, I hope not.'
Just then, while Isaac was in the middle of his thoughts, the Knave, who was stirring her green tea, spoke. "You and my children have been working on the same movie, have you not?"
'Why's she asking that?' Curious to her question, Isaac reciprocated and answered her question. "That's right. Lyney and Lynette have been good actors so far. They're great at it "
"They also said the same to you." The Knave said as she closed her eyes for a moment. "They told me about your excellent acting skill, almost as if you were experiencing your character's every bit of sensation— projecting it to the audience."
Isaac thought he was praising her, but a moment later, her tone became cold and heavy, immediately forcing a tense atmosphere between them. "Truly a great performance, Monsieur Isaac. Or should I call you..."
She then opened her eyes, revealing her crimson-red crossed eyes, looking directly at Isaac with nothing but a menacing glare. Her lips parted, uttering another name: "Gehrman?"
"..." Isaac, upon hearing this, almost jumped out of fright. But he restrained himself and kept a composed composition.
Lifting his head, his warm amber eyes locked in with her and he spoke as calmly as possible. "Gehrman? I don't get what you mean. Have you confused me with someone else?"
The Knave, upon hearing this, scoffed coldly. She then lifted her green tea and took a sip before speaking. "You know, I'm not an avid believer of coincidences. But when they stack up too high, you can't help but see a common pattern among them."
"The establishment of your cafe, the grand thievery, the controversial gift, and the abduction of the Archon..." She recounted every major operation Isaac had done in order while speaking calmly. "All appear to be disconnected, yet share one common denominator."
"A lead actor was present in all of them, pushing the plot of the performance forward." She said as she put down her teacup before looking up at Isaac. "In just a short amount of time, they had caused quite the stir in Fontaine."
"Isn't that right, Monsieur Isaac?"
"...Is that so?" Isaac, who was originally frightened of the Knave since earlier, was now, on the contrary, calm both internally and externally.
Staring at the Knave eye-to-eye, his warm amber eyes locked in with her red crossed eyes, and a moment of silence enveloped the two.
"Hah..."
Then, a soft sigh escaped Isaac's mouth. He then put his hands behind his back and looked at the Knave before smiling softly. "So what's your purpose here, I wonder?"
"To determine if you are an obstacle to be eliminated." The Knave didn't sugarcoat her words and went straight to the point. "You are a strange variable. And determining your worth is how I'd deal with you."
"My worth, eh? Haha..." Upon hearing this, Isaac first smiled before bursting into a laugh. "I see."
'I didn't think it would come to this so easily...' He thought as his warm amber eyes squinted.
"Then, are you interested in what I have to offer?" He asked with a calm façade. "To show my worth."
"It depends if it will be in my best interest. If not, well..." She said to him but didn't continue her sentence, knowing he knew what she meant.
Upon hearing her answer, Isaac nodded lightly before opening his mouth and uttering his offer.
"Are you interested in a collaboration?"
"And by collaboration, you mean?" The Knave asked him while maintaining her cold tone.
"Well, you are aware of the current situation of Fontaine, yes?" He said as he looked outside the cafe, and onto the streets. "I believe you, too, know that the prophecy is slowly coming true."
After saying this, Isaac turned his head back to her and continued speaking. "What I want to do is simple. It's to find a way to minimize that catastrophe's casualties as minimal as possible."
"Minimize... You aren't trying to stop it?" The Knave asked as her eyes squinted and looked at him solemnly as she spoke with a heavy tone.
"Prophecies cannot be stopped, and can only be prepared for." Isaac lifted his hand as he tapped his temples while smiling at the Knave. "Arlecchino, I want to offer you a collaboration that would benefit the Hearth, Fontaine, and... Heh, me."
Upon hearing Isaac's offer, the Knave became silent for a moment, and took the moment to listen to him, seemingly interested in his offer. Still, her menacing and solemn look was present on her face. "I'm listening."
Isaac, with his hands behind his back, softly smiled at her before speaking.
"Are you interested in crowning a king?"
"A... Nameless King."
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