Seo-a put her hand between one of the collars of the thick coat.
The employee examined the scene closely. Inside the worn coat, a small pocket with a string attached, seemingly connected to the coat, trembled out. The opening of the pocket was tightly bound with the string again, clearly demonstrating a determination not to lose its contents.
However, that part was not doubtful. The rule was that only one key was issued for the safe, which was the only way to open it. So, there were many who even made them into necklaces and wore them around their necks day and night.
His gaze, fixed on the pocket, traced up the slender, white fingers and landed on the woman's face.
With her dark brown hair tied back, her face was white to the point of being transparent. Judging solely by her complexion, she looked like a nun who had lived only within the temple grounds and never seen sunlight. A round forehead wrapped in wisps of hair like a band, neat eyebrows. The eyes he met for a brief moment were clearly light brown.
White face, dark brown hair, and light brown eyes.
It was an extremely common color. Although it was unusually white, white faces were typical of Norfolk people, and their hair and eyes were also common colors that were nothing out of the ordinary.
Even so, what was the reason it caught my eye?
Just then, the woman, having succeeded in untying the purse strings, took out the key and placed it on the tray. Her face, which had been tilted downward, was revealed like the moon rising from the water's surface. And only then, as the employee faced her face directly, was he able to express in words the strange atmosphere he had felt.
Like a white lily blooming alone among red roses, or like a cold breeze occasionally mixed in with a midsummer wind... it is extremely alien and unfamiliar.
It was obvious that she was not from Felphe, and he didn't seem to be from the Norfolk continent either. This was the case even though she spoke the common language fluently.
Just then, the woman, who had been stubbornly staring at the key, pushed the tray a little further toward the employee. At this seemingly urging movement, the employee retrieved the tray. Only then did the gaze that had been fixed on the woman's face vanish.
The shape of the key was acceptable for now.
"Please tell me the number of the safe you wish to open."
"Number 5555."
5555.
The employee, who had been writing down numbers in a notepad as he heard them, blinked. He looked at the numbers he had written once, then at the key, and then looked up.
"Are you talking about number 5555?"
"... Yes."
Seo-a glanced at the employee and nodded.
At that moment, the suspicion he had nurtured while scrutinizing Seo-a's appearance was pushed into the background.
Safe number 5555 changed the employee's attitude as if it were a magic spell. He checked several times to see if this was the correct key for safe number 5555, and Seo-a answered each time honestly.
"Yes, that's right... Yes, number 5555."
"..."
“What’s the problem?”
It was only when the woman, who had been avoiding eye contact the whole time, stared intently at the employee as if asking why he was acting this way, that the employee had no choice but to believe that the stranger in front of him was not mistaken about the number 5555.
"...No."
The employee carefully lifted the velvet tray with both hands and politely asked for understanding.
"I will go verify the key. Please wait a moment. Would you like some coffee or tea while you wait?"
"Uh... no. It's fine."
The employee bowed slightly in greeting and exited through the private door. Then, he quickly crossed the employee-only corridor and arrived at the key verification station in an instant. As if determined not to waste a single second, he entered the storage room installed on one side as soon as he arrived. Four keys were required just to open the storage room door.
A moment later, he emerged from the storage room holding an old document and a small box. With a skillful demeanor, he neatly arranged the key, document, and box, then took a thick magnifying glass from a drawer. He then used the magnifying glass to enlarge the writing engraved on the key and began to compare it with the information written on the document.
The employee, having checked the information engraved on the front, then zoomed in on the small text engraved on the side. Then, he compared the unique numbers written on the document one by one.
"AD...5608, ...87...ΒΧ."
Surprisingly, even the complex unique number matched exactly. He calmly cross-referenced the information once again, and there were no errors.
Having confirmed that there were no errors, he cleared the documents and placed the box on top. His hand trembled slightly as he set the box down.
A palm-sized black box engraved with '5555' had a small hole drilled in it that looked exactly like a keyhole. The box had been specially made for key verification.
Although rare, there were occasional instances where Delphe Bank safe deposit box keys were duplicated. Most were detected during the verification of the information engraved on the key, but it was not that there were no cases where they passed the verification. However, in all of those few cases, the secret was revealed because the key failed to open the lock.
Felphe has been famous for making safes since the past, and even now, they treat locksmiths with great respect.
The only things that the one and only key in the world could open were the Felphe Bank safe and the key verification box. Opening the verification box meant that the safe could also be opened, which in turn proved that the key was genuine.
The employee pushed the key into the hole. With a rattling sound, the key slid in smoothly. Click- the groove of the key felt as it engaged with the pin inside the lock.
He held his breath and glared at the tip of the key, like someone threading a needle. Finally, he calmly turned the key. And...
Crash.
"...!"
Most incidents happen without warning.
But he never even imagined that something like this would happen today, of all nights.
The box, which had not been opened even once in about 25 years, slowly opened its mouth. A musty, woody smell that would make one sneeze flowed out through the narrow gap.
Just then, the head of the verification office approached.
“What number is the key?”
Then, without giving him a chance to answer, he checked the number engraved on the box over his shoulder, nodded, and returned to his seat. However, after taking a few steps, he suddenly returned and asked abruptly.
"Who brought this?"
"Well, I haven't verified the identification yet."
“Are you a man?”
"No. It was a woman."
"A woman? What's her description?"
He rolled his eyes aimlessly and muttered.
"Coat."
"Coat?"
He nodded.
"Yes, she came wearing a coat."
"A coat? In this season?"
"Yes."
"..."
"..."
The two people's eyes met for a moment in the air.
But then, a rumbling sound like rain-laden clouds approaching was heard from somewhere, and the two people's gazes scattered out the window as if by prearrangement.
***
As the employee left and the door closed, Seo-a was left completely alone. Her gaze, which had been restricted all along, finally felt at ease, and the tension in her shoulders and waist, which had been stiff with tension, relaxed, at least for a moment.
She leaned back against the sofa. Then, feeling ticklish by the face where the employee's gaze had been fixed the whole time, she rubbed it as if scratching.
"Did you see the youngest Princess? They say she's strange."
There is bound to be no sound on a snowy path, yet Seo-a heard exactly that sound. It was the same here, too. Therefore, it ultimately meant that she was a strange, different, and peculiar existence to everyone.
It would have been better if something other than the face was strange.
Then it wouldn't have been this inconvenient.
Seo-a rubbed her face until it turned red, then frowned at the heat rising rapidly through her collar.
Should I take it off for a moment?
She stared at the door where the employee had disappeared. She listened intently for any signs outside, but there was no sense of anyone approaching.
Seo-a unbuttoned her coat and quickly pulled off her sleeves. However, the dress she was wearing underneath was just as thick, so the heat did not subside. Her whole body felt slippery with sweat. Yet, the heat was just one of the many problems she faced.
"I should have gone to the inn first."
She had planned to unpack, wash up, and rest in a secluded place before coming here early tomorrow morning. However, the people who had been watching her closely since the train to Felphe continued to follow her even after she got off. Trying to shake them off, she waded into the crowded throng and ended up boarding a carriage in a daze.
"Where shall I take you?"
In Felphe—no, on the continent of Norfolk—there was only one place that could be called a destination. Without a moment's hesitation, Seo-a mentioned the only place she knew.
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