Several braziers were placed in the corner of the museum. Taking advantage of Curator Terence going out on business, Mori Tsukisa, Evelyn, and her brother huddled together, three pairs of eyes staring curiously at the box placed on the stone sarcophagus.
"Key."
Ancient Egyptian.
"Alright, key." Evelyn rolled her eyes, switched to English, and pushed away her brother who was leaning in. "This is a key."
The box was octagonal, with scriptures clearly carved around its body—three thousand years of burial had made the writing on it blurry.
"I'd believe you if you said it was modern-made." Jonathan raised an eyebrow, casually took it, and held it above his head. "How did those primitive people three thousand years ago make such exquisite craftsmanship?"
"They were quite impressive!" Evelyn nudged him irritably, snatched the box back into her palm, and leveled her eyes with it. "I don't know... it should be openable..."
"Death is only..."
Her fingertips gently stroked the surface of the box. Lines of engravings seemed to intersect on the top of the box according to some rhythm. From Mori Tsukisa's perspective, it looked a bit like an uneven stone door.
Evelyn struggled to identify a sentence: "Is only... the beginning?"
"Ah... here..."
Click.
Having triggered some mechanism, the octagonal ancient box suddenly opened from the inside out. The rotating leaves at the seal, when turned, resembled a black stone flower.
Jonathan let out a whistle.
"Hey, it's really beautiful."
"This is a key, and...?"
Inside the blossomed box lay a piece of scorched yellow paper. When unfolded, it was clearly an imprecise map.
"It's written! It's written here! This is a map of Hamunaptra! Oh! I... I can't believe it!" Evelyn held the box, cradling it carefully as if a sudden movement would break this answer she had been searching for so long, yet her legs couldn't stop moving back and forth on the floor.
"You only act like a girl at times like this," Jonathan glanced at Mori Tsukisa suspiciously. "Where did you get this thing?"
This question also alerted Evelyn.
"You..." She frowned and looked at Mori Tsukisa. "Little Forest, don't tell me—"
"Of course not." Mori Tsukisa had a local specialty candy in her mouth, the corner of her mouth twitching and moving the tail of the snake-shaped candy. "I picked it up."
"Are you kidding me?"
Mori Tsukisa was wearing a peacock blue long-sleeved silk dress today, with a frost-colored gauze tied diagonally at the waist. While the two were discussing, the girl had long since taken off her high heels and had been wandering around barefoot on the floor for a while.
Her snow-white feet peeked out from under the hem of her skirt because the person wearing the skirt was quite restless, hopping around and spinning twice on her toes.
An extremely ill-timed little ballet.
"Put on your shoes!" Although the scene was indeed pleasing to the eye. "Where on earth did you get this?"
Mori Tsukisa teased with slightly lowered eyes. "From... hey, should I return it?"
Evelyn cradled the treasure in her palm, protectively surrounding the box like an animal guarding its young, her whole body half-turned away.
"Of course return it—" Jonathan saw Mori Tsukisa's intention and followed her lead. "Return it, that's the wrong thing to do."
Evelyn interrupted anxiously: "Of course we can't!"
This was awkward.
"Oh..." Jonathan turned around to hide his smile, which Mori Tsukisa saw clearly. "Oh... my little sister has grown up..."
"Welcome to the adult World, Miss Evelyn."
Evelyn stared with wide eyes, looking at the suppressed smile on Mori Tsukisa and then at her brother who had finished laughing. She was choked up for a long time without uttering a single word.
"I, I just..."
Jonathan pinched his fingers and tightened his throat to mimic his sister's voice. "I, I just like this little box too much..."
"It's much more interesting than my makeup box. Look, there are some words left from three thousand years ago on it. That way, when I'm putting on makeup, it will constantly remind me that a group of mummies who have been dead for over three thousand years have turned into ghosts and are surrounding me."
"When I want a new eye makeup style, maybe a Queen can even teach me hand-in-hand."
"Jo! na! than!"
"Haha, if you like it, keep it. How can you return something that's already in your hands?" Shrugging, Jonathan turned his head and started winking at Mori Tsukisa.
"Stop imitating Evelyn," the girl sat down, swaying her skirt, and propped her chin with one hand. "Actually, it's a gift."
—Even though the man had tried his best to mimic female expressions and movements, Mori Tsukisa couldn't help but think he looked like a eunuch.
"What is a eunuch?"
"A type of perfect human from the ancient Far East."
Jonathan raised his eyebrows and tugged at his clean little white suit. "Then I'm practically more of a eunuch than a eunuch."
Mori Tsukisa:..."Gift?"
Evelyn's focus was different. She knew this girl, who couldn't even sit still while eating, much better than her brother did. If it was a gift... wouldn't that be even more troublesome?
For a moment, as an older sister figure, she began to worry if the young girl was being scammed.
"Sen. Get. Su. Sa." Evelyn rarely used the girl's full name. "If... I mean if this box."
She very reluctantly brought out the box she had hidden behind her back, looking at the box and then at Mori Tsukisa. "If it's some 'gift' given to you by a man, or an invitation to go somewhere..."
Evelyn gritted her teeth and, while turning her head away, extended her palms. "Then you can't accept it. This box is very valuable; at least, I'm at least certain it should be genuine."
"So..."
Like a deflated balloon, this young lady who had pursued Hamunaptra for many years visibly pouted. She was both dejected and disappointed. However, she still firmly pushed the box in her palm toward Mori Tsukisa.
She wouldn't allow her little sister to be targeted by those bearded British blokes.
Moreover, it could even be a local.
How old was Mori Tsukisa?
These men.
"Give it back to him. No matter who the other party is, his goal is obvious."
Jonathan scratched his head, "What's obvious—"
The man's gaze swept across Mori Tsukisa's chest, tracing the massive curves up and down, before lingering on the young girl's vibrant face for a moment before he suddenly realized: "Hey, right, I just noticed..."
"If I look at you as a woman... you really are—"
"Jonathan." Evelyn glared coldly at her brother: "You don't want me to book you a boat ticket home right now, do you?"
Jonathan pinched the corner of his mouth and apologetically pulled it to the right.
In Mori Tsukisa's eyes, Evelyn, who had always claimed to be her'sister', really did treat her like one, physically trying to protect her like a mother hen.
It was a bit cute.
"Don't worry, Eve." Mori Tsukisa cupped her face: "Miss Tyah gave it to me."
"Oh, it was Tyah, then that's—"
"Tyah?!"
Jonathan turned pale with fright, instinctively shrinking his neck. He leaned down over the coffin lid, looking around for a long time, his voice dropped to a whisper: "You're crazy! You dare take something from that cursed woman!"
Cursed?
Evelyn rolled her eyes: "Just some recent rumors. You know my brother loves that superstitious stuff."
"Shh...! Keep it down! Haven't you heard? Since that woman committed suicide, her husband has also met with misfortune!"
"His eyeballs, both of them... Hey! Don't pull my sleeve, Evelyn. I know Little Forest is still young, alright, alright, his... his'seeing places', how about that? His seeing places were... yanked out like this, and even plated with a layer of gold."
Jonathan spoke with lingering fear, pointing his split fingers at his own eyes before tapping the coffin lid: "It was just placed on the table like that. Every day until now, Tyah's husband, that wealthy man Mr. Sheikh—every day, every single day! Another nail appears in his body!"
"The Police have already applied for special protection for him, but what's the use? Every day, every single day, there's another one!"
"They say it's the curse of the Sun God. Because he actually dared to trample a carpet woven with the Sun God under his feet."
Mori Tsukisa looked at Evelyn, and Evelyn looked at Mori Tsukisa.
—Pickpockets believe in this too?
—My brother believes in too many things.
Mori Tsukisa certainly knew what was going on. According to Arrietty, the Little Sprite she arranged was a former master hunter. Hiding in Sheikh's hair or clothes and sticking a nail in every day was a simple matter.
She called it 'Fairy's Punishment'.
'What about me?' Mori Tsukisa asked crossly at the time. 'I was the one who sent you, wasn't I?'
'Why didn't you mention my name? You bad sprite!'
Finally, because the rumors were spreading further and further, the two patients, one big and one small, decided to rename the operation: Ah! Sun God Ra's Nail of Punishment!
Abbreviated as 'Operation A-Ra-Din'.
Well... as long as the two of them were happy.
"Eve." Mori Tsukisa picked up the octagonal box and rolled it twice in her palm.
"Hmm?"
"Let's go find Hamunaptra."
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