The Missing Piece of the Portrait

“Returning to the clues…” Seraphina returned to Cardo’s room, resting her chin in her hand as she scrutinized Iqiyah’s portrait.

“Both the mechanisms in your father’s room and the ones here in your room have become inert,” Seraphina mused. “Perhaps Godia, influenced by the True Ancestor, destroyed them?”

“That does seem to be the case,” Cardo replied, also resting her chin in her hand. As she gazed at her sister’s portrait, a persistent sense of unease gnawed at her.

“Yet, if Father truly intended to destroy the mechanisms, he could have simply removed the ink bottle and the portraits entirely, eradicating any trace of their existence.”

“Instead, these mechanisms remain, merely rendered inoperative.”

“Furthermore, for a considerable period before his death, Father was not entirely under the True Ancestor’s control.”

“Are you suggesting Godia didn’t destroy the mechanisms entirely, but merely altered them?”

“Something like that,” Cardo said, glancing towards the door. “Knowing the True Ancestor’s scheme, Father must have left a contingency. He wouldn’t have completely obliterated such a crucial clue.”

“Let’s search,” Cardo said. “We’re bound to find other clues nearby. I’ll check the other areas.”

With that, Cardo exited her room.

As Cardo departed, Seraphina instinctively felt an urge to follow.

Yet, a peculiar intuition held her back, whispering that this room surely harbored a forgotten secret.

Seraphina paused, pondering. ‘If someone wished to conceal a secret, yet also desired to leave guidance for those who followed, where would they place those clues?’

Without much deliberation, Seraphina swiftly realized the answer: the most heavily altered spot.

Her gaze returned to the portrait. According to Cardo, the most significant change was that it had originally depicted Cardo, but was now replaced by one of Iqiyah.

And if there was any place that perfectly aligned with this phenomenon, it had to be the miniature portrait pinned to ‘Iqiyah’s’ chest.

Indeed, just like the one in Cardo’s own room, this portrait was also conspicuously missing Cardo’s figure.

Undoubtedly, a connection lay hidden within.

“Cardo?” Seraphina called out towards the door. “Where were you when the family portrait was taken?”

“Huh? Me?” Cardo’s voice, tinged with a hint of embarrassment, drifted from outside. “It’s a bit shameful to admit, but I was in Iqiyah’s room at the time.”

“Oh? Why didn’t you join them then?”

“…Because back then, photography was quite rudimentary. The subject had to remain perfectly still for ten whole minutes.”

“I found those ten minutes a hassle and didn’t want to bother, so I just hid in Iqiyah’s room.”

In another room, Cardo gazed at the simulated celestial phenomena outside her window, a wave of melancholy washing over her.

She could never have imagined, however, that she would later regret missing her only chance to be photographed with her mother.

‘If only there was another chance…’

Alas, life offered no such do-overs.

Though Seraphina couldn’t see Cardo, the sheer despondency in her voice was enough for Seraphina to imagine the depth of her regret.

Detaching the photo frame from the portrait, Seraphina meticulously examined it, scrutinizing each person depicted within.

‘Hmm… nothing particularly special,’ she thought. ‘Just an old frame, long forgotten, its surface cracked and heavily dusted.’

She turned it over and over, at one moment holding it above her head, the next placing it beneath her, desperately trying to discern any hidden clue.

‘There’s nothing!’ she concluded, then winced. ‘Ouch, so dazzling!’

It was precisely when Seraphina, with her back to the window, lifted the frame that it suddenly refracted three flashes of light, piercing directly into her pupils.

“Ow, ow, ow... that hurts, that hurts!”

Compared to ordinary humans, Seraphina, as a vampire, possessed far more sensitive eyes. Even light conjured by magic could inflict pain upon them.

This particular pain, however, felt unusually intense. ‘Perhaps the sunlight-shielding device is running low on energy?’ she mused.

Though she wasn’t directly in sunlight, Seraphina, adhering to the ‘better safe than sorry’ principle, lowered her head and retrieved a battery from her pouch, intending to replace it.

And just like that, quite serendipitously, Seraphina stumbled upon a long-lost crucial detail.

‘Hmm? When did this note appear on the floor?’

Despite its yellowed, brittle appearance, its clean surface suggested it had only just fallen.

‘Only just fallen… Could it be… that it dropped from that very slot!?’

Unable to contain her elation, Seraphina quickly bent down and picked up the note.

Unfolding it, she found two lines of small text:

“Where something is missing, there it shall be replenished.”

“My child, in my heart, you will never be absent.”

While the first line offered no clue as to its author, the second was unmistakably a message from Cardo’s mother.

‘Think… “Where something is missing, there it shall be replenished”?’

‘And Cardo is missing from this photo… Does that mean… I need to put Cardo into this frame?’

‘No, no, no… both Cardo herself and Cardo’s portrait from Iqiyah’s room next door would be far too large for this small frame. That can’t be it.’

‘Let’s focus on the second line first.’

‘“In my heart, you will never be absent”? Could the clue be in…?’

Her gaze returned to the frame in her hands, and she saw the glinting light once more.

‘Holy hell!’

A chilling realization, like a bolt of lightning striking her very soul, instantly illuminated the meaning of the words.

Those three flashes of light were reflections of sunlight from cracks in the frame’s glass.

And those three cracks… were, without exception, all positioned precisely over the hearts of the three figures in the photograph!

‘Could it be…?’

Driven by instinct, Seraphina pressed on the crack over Cardo’s mother’s heart.

With a faint click of a mechanism, the frame in her hands vibrated slightly.

Then, the frame, along with the photograph nestled within, split entirely into two halves in Seraphina’s grasp, revealing the secret it had concealed.

Inside lay a single photograph of Cardo.

“Cardo…” Seraphina’s voice trembled as she carefully plucked Cardo’s photo from the fragments. She called out to Cardo, who was still outside, “Did you have another photo taken later?”

“Oh, yes, I did. My mother operated the camera herself for that one.”

‘This must be it.’

The second line of the note was now deciphered, leaving only the first.

‘“Where something is missing, there it shall be replenished…”’

‘If the second line was from Cardo’s mother, then this one certainly sounds like something Godia would say.’

‘What is missing? Logically, it should be Cardo from the family portrait.’

‘But now, the family portrait is destroyed, leaving only Cardo’s individual photo.’

‘Typically, solving a puzzle wouldn’t involve destroying a crucial item.’

‘Therefore, the family portrait must no longer be relevant.’

‘Ignoring the family portrait… then… the “missing something” must refer to Cardo herself.’

‘“Where Cardo is missing, there Cardo shall be replenished…”’

‘This “location”… could it be this portrait of Iqiyah?’

Pondering this, Seraphina tiptoed, preparing to insert the photo into the heart area of Iqiyah’s portrait.

However, the moment she saw the slot, Seraphina knew this was utterly incorrect.

The reason was simple: the slot was designed for the entire frame, far too large for Cardo’s individual photo. It couldn’t be here.

‘So… where else? Where could it be?’

Suddenly, Seraphina recalled something Cardo had said not long ago.

‘All these arrangements have a purpose.’

‘If the previous mechanism’s purpose was to place family members within Cardo’s heart…’

‘Following that logic, Cardo’s photo absolutely shouldn’t be placed in Iqiyah’s heart.’

‘As for why… this particular mechanism was clearly set up by Godia later on.’

‘Both Seraphina and Godia knew that Iqiyah always held Cardo in her heart; Cardo’s place was never lost, so there’s no need for additional replenishment.’

‘Then… could it be…?’

Turning her head, Seraphina looked towards the door, towards… Iqiyah’s room.