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((Triple Saturday -- Page 1 of 3))
“Once upon a time, I, too, harbored such thoughts,” Madame Carthrace had told him. “That it was just a chance for my peers to flaunt their wealth and indulge in all manner of debauched excess, but I’ve long since changed my mind about that, and I think you will, too.”

Hector was trying to keep an open mind.

He still wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, though. With as much as he’d been in the news recently, he was a little afraid of how much attention he would be getting--both from the other lords and from the camera crews.

Ugh.

It was gonna be an absolute shit show.

He really would’ve liked to just not go, but that would probably make matters even worse. Plus, he did need to talk to the Queen.

And of course, there was also Lynn to be worried about. Garovel had been trying to get him to call her for some inexplicable reason, and with so much on his plate, Hector had been able to ignore him relatively easily. But not tomorrow. She was almost definitely going to be there. She was the White Sword of Atreya, after all. The Queen’s personal bodyguard.

Hector knew he was being irrational, though. This was such a strange feeling. He was dreading seeing her. Obviously. And yet, just as much as he was dreading it, he was looking forward to it, too.

What sense did that make? What sense did he make?

It would’ve been a lot easier if he was just scared of her. Crazy as that seemed. He could deal with fear. He knew he could. But there was so much more to it.

Wanting to be liked. Not wanting to be humiliated. Or hated. Or pitied.

It reminded him so much of his school days. The endless anxiety.

However, between worrying about all of that again and simply discussing Mr. Lang’s “case” with Garovel, Hector knew which one he wanted to do, right now. He’d already gotten his fill of agonizing over tomorrow night’s dinner and didn’t feel like getting into it again.

‘Why don’t you just save us both some time and tell me what YOU think of the case?’ said Hector.

‘No, no. You first. Like I said, I’ve gotta evaluate your critical thinking progress, my dear boy.’

He thought about arguing, but... oh, whatever. ‘Okay, well, uh... I don’t really know what to make of it yet, I guess.’

‘Stunning. You’ve floored me with your observational brilliance.’

‘Are you telling me you’ve already got it all figured out?’

‘Well. Obviously, no case is too mysterious for my ferociously sharp mind. But y’know. For purely academic reasons, I think you should put a little more thought into it before asking me for help.’

‘Right...’

‘So? C’mon. Put some brain mass into it, Detective Goffe.’

He sighed and tried to think. ‘Alright, uh... I guess... there’s a chance that he just...’ He hesitated, but this was the only thing coming to mind. ‘Er... is it possible that he tried to kill himself?’

‘Mm. Not likely.’

‘Why do you say that?’