I slowly opened my eyes and the stench of decay assaulted my nostrils; I looked around and was taken aback by what I saw. All manner of torture devices were on display: an electric chair, a cupboard full of spikes and various other implements I didn't even know the names of.
"Red! Are you all right?!" It was a voice I recognised. I turned to my right and saw him—his hands and feet were also bound.
"I've experienced worse, mate" I replied, letting out a long sigh. I never imagined I'd find myself in this situation now.
"That bastard… He injected me with a sleeping pill," Robin growled in frustration—So he passed out not because of the overwhelming fear I'd felt earlier?
Speaking of the devil, the door to this large room swung open, and from behind it emerged the man with the blue beard we'd been searching for all this time. "You're awake? What a shame—I was actually planning to wake you up with a whip," he laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world.
He walked closer, tilting his head back as we were bound high up. Even if we managed to free ourselves, we'd fall to the ground and end up injured, making it a struggle for us to run away later.
"You must know who I am, but what sort of host would I be if I didn't introduce myself?" He chuckled again, "My name is Gilles Moreau The Death, leader of the group The False Epilogue!"
He laughed again, full of arrogance, as if he thought of us as mere ants, easily crushed underfoot. The name of the group he mentioned caught my attention; I had never heard of it in my life.
"Don't get so big for your boots; I haven't even heard of that group—" before I could taunt him, I noticed Robin's pale skin and terrified expression. "...Robin?"
"Oh? Perhaps you don't know, but your friend certainly does," Gilles smirked arrogantly before placing both hands on his hips. "Are you scared, lad? Of course you should be—it's only natural to be terrified of me!"
He laughed again. Perhaps there was a feather in his shoe that was constantly tickling the sole of his foot, because that was the only sensible explanation for why he kept laughing like that.
"Right then, I just need to catch two more people and then I can have some fun torturing you all at once!" He turned and walked back towards the exit, "That blue-eyed girl is absolutely beautiful, it would be a shame to have to torture her"
His feet stopped moving, "Oh yes, I'd completely forgotten" he turned and raised both his hands, still with that terrifying smile of his. "Welcome to France!"
"FRANCE?!" shouted a girl who was inside a house in London; she banged on the table, causing some of the tea and coffee on it to spill.
"Oui, no mistake about it, I once went on vacation to France—it's a memory I'll never forget," she said, her finger then pointing to the window near us in the photo. "I still remember this location, and judging by its position... it's in the mansion belonging to one of the richest people in France."
"So? Do we have to go to France?" Alice asked, panicking so much she could barely think rationally.
"Yes."
"Why on earth did you say yes?!"
"Mr. Moreau couldn't possibly have opened the door right in front of his mansion, could he?"
"You must remember that Red has excellent reflexes and physical abilities; and with Mr Loxley in the mix, they will be far too difficult to catch, even for Mr Moreau."
"I suspect that if we go through that door, our bodies will immediately weaken, reducing our physical abilities."
"Or perhaps there is someone else working with Mr. Moreau, because from what I gathered from Miss Morgan..."
"Mr. Moreau is simply a rich man who is nothing without his family's wealth. He's only slightly more intelligent than average, and with his ordinary physical abilities, it makes no sense that he could capture Red and Mr. Loxley on his own"
"Without his wealth and Everafter, he's nothing more than a big man who likes to brag"
Hearing Holmes's explanation made her feel more rational; she slumped down onto the sofa and stared at the wooden floor. "Bloody hell..." She was reminded of the moment I'd said I could tell it was Rudolf just from that overwhelming fear.
She covered her mouth with her hand, "Perhaps that's what made her vulnerable," she mumbled, visualising the scene in her mind, "She was too afraid to fight back..."
"Alice?"
The girl who had been called stood up and sighed deeply, "What do I need to bring?" Hearing this, Holmes was surprised that she'd agree, "Yes, let's go to France"
It only took an hour and a half to get from here to France, rather than wasting time chasing someone who was difficult to track down. "Don't worry about the money... Mother will definitely cover it."