We Meet Once More -- Sucrose x Albedo

Chapter 37

"Evette!"
Klee, Albedo, Sucrose, and Xingqiu shouted together — gasping at the end of their concluded discovery.

"So we all know now?"
Xingqiu asked to confirm.

"Yes. Xingqiu,"
Albedo called.
"Think back on the day Noelle approached you. She was begging you about Sucrose's whereabouts, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Albedo and I were going on a horse ride... oh my Archons!"
Sucrose covered her mouth.
"The day Noelle went missing was when Albedo and I were horse riding! And she wanted to know where I was!"
Sucrose exhaled in horror as her eyes welled up with liquid.

"That was also the day I bumped into Albedo and Princess Sucrose!"
Aether snapped and pointed his finger.

"Wait hold on, hold on!"
Paimon swayed her arms in a cross-motion.
"Paimon's so confused. Paimon needs the context starting from the beginning!"

"Alright."
Sucrose inhaled then began explaining.

Everyone but Aether participated in explaining carefully to Paimon as much as possible so that their words wouldn't get confused. As they were talking, Sucrose suddenly stopped them halfway through finishing their explanation and looked around anxiously.

"Let's talk more in my room. I don't want anyone to eavesdrop."

In her room...

They continued to explain while Klee locked the door and closed Sucrose's balcony door and curtains. It was all dim so Klee turned on the lights. By the time they were done explaining, Paimon still had to process in silence because of the amount of information she had to gather.

"Paimon's brain juice has been sucked dry..."
She groaned lowly, placing a hand on her head.

Aether sighed.
"In short, Evette was the one who tortured Noelle."

"But why? Why would Evette do such a thing?"
Sucrose asked as she took a seat on her bed.

"Xingqiu and I guessed that her motive would've been to punish Noelle."

"Punish her? For what exactly?"

"That, my liege, we do not know. Unfortunately."

They all fell silent to think for a moment.

"Aether,"
Albedo called.
"Are you certain Noelle never said a thing or two regarding her situation and how she ended up like that?"

"She was exhausted, Albedo. Hurt even! There was no way she could've had the energy to tell everything suddenly."

"Great."
Xingqiu clicked his tongue and hit the pillar of Sucrose's bed.
"Stuck with no clues now. There's no way for us to get to the bottom of this not unless Noelle either wakes up and tells everything or we catch Evette to make her spill the reason why she tortured Noelle."
He stated as he listed the two possibilities with his fingers.

"How in the world are we going to catch Evette when she's nowhere to be found these past couple of days? She basically disappeared! We've been on her trail ever since Klee started taking suspicion on her."
Albedo responded.

"To think that a little girl suspected Evette because she 'phased' through a wall and found Noelle's location after is extraordinary..."
Aether mumbled.

"I can order The Knights of Favonius to put up papers about her."
Sucrose suggested.

Then, it hit her.

"Hold on a hot second — why didn't you guys try to ask the knights to put up posters about her? Weren't you guys suspecting her or something?"

"Uhh, yeah, um, about that..."
Albedo rubbed his nape.
"We tried but the knights were no help at all. They said they never saw her in the city in their entire life."