Seo-ah reached into the lapel of her thick coat.
The staff member watched her closely. From inside the worn coat, a small pouch emerged—strung in place as if attached to the coat itself. Its mouth was cinched tight with a second string, as though made to ensure whatever was inside could never be lost.
That detail, at least, was not suspicious. Only one key was issued to open a vault. Many people turned it into a necklace and wore it day and night.
His gaze, fixed on the pouch, traveled up her pale, slender fingers to her face.
With dark brown hair tied back, her face looked almost translucent in its whiteness. From her complexion alone, she resembled a nun who had lived behind cloister walls and never once seen the sun. A round forehead framed by stray strands, neat brows. The eyes he had met for a brief moment were clearly light brown.
White skin, dark brown hair, light brown eyes.
Common colors. Even her pallor, though extreme, could still be explained as Norfolk. Hair and eyes, too—unremarkable.
And yet, why did they keep catching his attention?
She finally undid the pouch string, took out the key, and placed it on the tray.
Her face, which had been angled down, lifted—like the moon rising from the surface of water. Meeting her full-on at last, the staff member found words for the strange aura he had sensed.
Like a white lily blooming alone among red roses. Like a cold gust threaded into a summer breeze—profoundly alien, unfamiliar.
She was obviously not from Felpe. She did not seem to be from the Norfolk continent either, despite speaking the common tongue without difficulty.
Still staring only at the key, she pushed the tray slightly closer—an urging so small it was almost gentle. The staff member took the tray. Only then did his gaze leave her face.
The key’s shape itself was acceptable.
“Please state the number of the vault you wish to open.”
“Vault number 5555.”
The staff member’s pen paused mid-stroke. He blinked, looked down at what he had written, looked at the key, then raised his head.
“Vault number 5555?”
Seo-ah glanced at him and nodded.
“…Yes.”
In that moment, the suspicion he had been building while studying her appearance receded.
Vault number 5555 worked like an incantation. His demeanor shifted. He asked again and again whether this was truly the key to vault 5555, and Seo-ah answered each time without wavering.
“Yes. It is. …Yes. Number 5555.”
“……”
He fell silent, as if weighing something he could not say aloud.
“Is there a problem?”
When she—who had avoided his eyes until now—finally looked at him as if asking what is it, the staff member could only accept that this stranger was not mistaken about 5555.
“…No.”
He held the velvet tray carefully with both hands and asked, with formal politeness.
“I will go and verify the key. Please wait a moment. Would you like coffee or tea while you wait?”
“Uh… No. I’m fine.”
The staff member bowed slightly, offered a final greeting, and slipped out through a private door.
He crossed the staff-only corridor at once and reached the key verification office in moments. As if unwilling to waste even a minute, he went straight into a storage room installed along one side.
It took four keys just to open the storage room door.
A moment later, he emerged carrying an old document and a small box. With practiced movements, he arranged the key, the document, and the box, then took a thick magnifying glass from a drawer.
He magnified the inscription on the key and compared it against the document.
Opened on April 25, 878. Approximate seal of then-President Mathis von Vite… present.
After confirming the engraving on the front, he shifted to the side, magnifying the tiny print. Then he began matching the unique serial numbers written in the document, one by one.
“AD…5608…87…BX.”
Even the complex serial numbers matched exactly.
He rechecked calmly. There were no errors.
Having confirmed this, he put away the document and placed the box on top. His hand trembled slightly as he set it down.
The palm-sized black box engraved with 5555 had a small hole—precisely a keyhole. It was a device made solely for verification.
Duplicate vault keys were rare, but not impossible. Most forgeries were caught during inscription verification. But in the few that passed, the key would still fail to turn inside the lock. That was how they were discovered.
Felpe had been renowned for vault-making since ancient times. Even now, key artisans were treated with reverence.
There was only one key in the world that could open anything: the vault installed beneath Felpe Bank, and this verification box. If the verification box opened, the underground vault could open as well. It was absolute proof of authenticity.
The staff member inserted the key.
With a grinding sound, it slid in smoothly.
Click.
He felt the grooves align with the internal pins.
Holding his breath like someone threading a needle, he stared at the key’s tip. Then, steadily, he turned it.
Click.
“……!”
Most incidents arrive without warning.
But he had never imagined something like this would happen tonight, of all nights.
The box—unopened for nearly twenty-five years—slowly parted. A musty wooden scent spilled from the narrow gap, strong enough to make one sneeze.
Just then, the head of the verification office approached.
“Which key is it?”
Without waiting for an answer, he checked the number engraved on the box over the staff member’s shoulder. He nodded and turned to leave.
After a few steps, he stopped and turned back abruptly.
“Who brought this?”
“I’m not sure. I haven’t verified identification yet.”
“A man?”
“No. A woman.”
“A woman? What did she look like?”
He rolled his eyes vaguely, searching memory.
“A coat…”
“Coat?”
He nodded.
“Yes. She was wearing a coat.”
“A coat? In this season?”
“Yes.”
“……”He remained silent.
“……”So did the other.
Their gazes met briefly in the air.
Just then, a rumble like distant rainclouds rolling in echoed from somewhere. As if in agreement, both turned their eyes toward the window.
—
When the employee left and the door closed, Seo-ah was left completely alone.
Her gaze, restrained all this time, finally loosened. Tension drained from her shoulders and back for a brief moment.
She leaned against the sofa and rubbed her face, which had felt continuously pricked by the employee’s stare, as if it itched.
「Did you see the youngest lady? She’s peculiar. 」
Eyes do not carry sound.Yet Seo-ah felt as though she had heard it anyway.
The same here.Which meant, once again, she was a strange and peculiar presence to others.
She wished something other than her face were strange.
Then she would not feel so uncomfortable.
Seo-ah rubbed her cheeks until they reddened, then frowned at the heat climbing from her collar.
Should I take it off for a moment?
She looked toward the door the employee had disappeared through. She listened carefully. No footsteps. No approaching presence.
Seo-ah unbuttoned her coat and slipped out of the sleeves. But the dress beneath was just as thick. The heat did not fade. Sweat clung faintly along her skin.
But heat was only one of her problems.
“I should have gone to the inn first.”
She had planned to unpack, wash, and rest at the inn before coming here early tomorrow morning. But the moment she stepped off the train in Felpe, people watching her too intently began to follow.
Trying to lose them, she entered the crowded streets and ended up boarding a carriage.
“Where shall I take you?”
In Felpe—no, in the entire Norfolk continent—there was only one place that could be called a destination.
Without hesitation, Seo-ah spoke the only place she knew.
—