After Raine’s birthday, Irideis began showing up more frequently around the house.

After the duo would return from their day’s worth of searching, they would often spot Irideis lounging on the sofa, or cooking something in the kitchen.

When Raine asked them about their sudden reappearance, all they had to say was the following:

“I was busy organising a play. You know, it’s hard to get all the actors in line. You can’t just tell them what to do, you have to remove all other possible options. But now, everything is in place, so I have time to hang out with you guys~”

Somehow, Raine got the impression that they weren’t organising a play at all.

Regardless of whatever Irideis did with their time, both Raine and Nikolay had their own objective: Find out how to get the docks reopened. Unfortunately, they had made virtually zero progress. As their leads stagnated and information dried up, their time steadily continued to tick down.

On returning after another one of their unsuccessful trips, their morale was at an all-time low. Every day for the past two weeks had ended up in either being kicked out of local areas for asking too much, or being yelled at by some random civilian for being too suspicious.

Raine trudged through the hallway, rolling his aching shoulders. “I say this every night, but I swear I’m going to go insane if this keeps up.”

“You’re not the only one,” Nikolay sighed, trailing behind him. “I think I’ll go straight to sleep tonight. I’m too tired to do anything else.”

“Oh, really?” a mischievous voice called out. “You won’t want to miss out on dinner on today of all days.”

They looked up as they entered the dining room. Just as they’d expected, Irideis was the owner of the voice. They sat in one of the chairs, leaning back at a dangerous angle.

Placed on the table were three plates of steaming meat and vegetables, fresh out of the pot. Irideis had never cooked a meal for them before, so it was an odd sight to look at.

“What’s the occasion?” Nikolay shot them an unamused look. “Don’t tell me it’s your birthday today — or something equally absurd.”

Irideis laughed. “Of course not. I would never cook on my birthday. You two just seem so miserable after a whole day of investigating, so I decided to cheer you up a little.”

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“This better be one hell of a meal if you think it’ll make me feel better,” Nikolay muttered as he sat down.

Ever the polite one, Raine bowed before joining them at the table. “Thank you, Irideis. Even if Nikolay won’t say it.”

“I’m sure Irideis doesn’t need words to tell when somebody’s thankful.”

“It’s nice to say it anyway,” Raine shot back.

“Alright, boys. You’re squabbling because you’re hungry. We can talk more once everybody’s less tight-strung.”

The rest of their dinner progressed in silence. Although Raine wanted to fill in the time with some idle chatter, he knew close to nothing about Irideis. Not to mention, having a conversation with them felt more like a complex battle than a casual chat. Nikolay wasn’t one to initiate small talk, so that was out of the question, too.

Eventually, they reached the point where everyone had finished with their food. Just as Raine was about to stand up and put his plate away, Irideis held up a hand.

“Before you two leave, I have something to share with you.”

They pulled out a slip of waxed paper, decorated with lace and written in expensive looking ink. Raine and Nikolay peered closer at the paper slip, realising that it was an invitation to a party.

“There’s a masquerade ball soon. The problem is, I don’t want to go alone. So, I asked the organiser if I could bring two ‘plus ones’ to the event, and they graciously agreed. You’re not planning anything that night, are you? It’d be a shame to waste the extra tickets after all that effort,” Irideis sighed dramatically. “Of course, you don’t have to. I’ll just go by myself…”

Nikolay crossed his arms. “And why would we want to go if we don’t know anyone there? It sounds like a boring social gathering that we’ll end up leaving anyway.”

“Quite a few important people will be there,” Irideis nudged. “You would have better luck with your investigation by talking with them.”

After Irideis, of all people, vouched for the potential of gaining information, they had no choice but to agree. It wasn’t as if they would achieve anything better by repeating what they’d been doing previously.

“Let’s say you have me convinced. I assume the tickets will have the time and place of the ball?”

“That’s right,” they coolly said, sliding over two copies of the ticket. “Because it’s a masquerade, you’ll have to show up in masks and suitable outfits. I know a tailor who is willing to organise those. Don’t worry about the fee — I’ve already covered it for you.”

Irideis having everything pre-organised just went to show their confidence in their power of persuasion.

“Oh, and make sure to go pick your outfits separately. It ruins the mystery if all of us know each other, doesn’t it? Then, I’ll be off. I have a show to catch,” Irideis winked, sliding out of their chair.

Before either of the two could react, the white-haired fox had already shut the front door behind them.

Nikolay gave the plate at Irideis’s table a pointed stare. Despite the small portions to begin with, almost a quarter of the food still remained untouched.

“I suppose they left a mess, knowing we’d have to clean it up for them,” he dryly said.

“Well… it is your turn to do the washing up tonight…”

“No need for the reminder, Raine.”