Gosick Episode 11

Synopsis
One night, Grevil receives news that a certain gray wolf has been prowling the fields lately, which alarms the inspector. He pertains to the other person on the line as his father, and explains that he has been trying to protect the honour of the Blois family, and is responsible for the gray wolf.

In response, the person on the other end of the line recites a biblical passage and advises Grevil to take care of his sister before ending the conversation. Grevil soon realizes that despite his power and fame, he is still weak in reality.

The next day, Kazuya receives news from Cecile that the school's library will have a visitor, who will stay and look around while she donates part of her private collection to the library. Cecile takes him to the visitor and there, Kazuya discovers that the visitor is someone familiar: it's Jacqueline from his trip in Saubreme. Kazuya tells the news to Victorique, who is still resting after having just recovered from a cold, and also asks her about what she knows about her relationship with Grevil. Victorique reveals that Jacqueline is Grevil's target of his affections ever since they were young, and Jacqueline does not know of Grevil's feelings for her. Victorique also reveals that Jacqueline is indirectly responsible for Grevil's hairstyle, which is exactly the inspector's payment to Victorique for solving a case that involved Jacqueline.

As Jacqueline and her assistant take a tour around the campus, Kazuya goes to accompany them. Jacqueline soon asks about Grevil to Kazuya. Jacqueline's assistant voices out her opinion on Grevil's attitude, but Jacqueline tells her that things were different when they were much younger, and Kazuya soon finds out that Jacqueline also has no idea as to where Grevil's hairstyle came from.

Jacqueline and Kazuya later arrive at the library tower, where Victorique, now returning to her usual hobby, is slightly interrupted by Jacqueline's excitement. Her assistant, however, reminds her that they would run out of time to visit Grevil. Jacqueline is slightly disappointed, since she wanted to see one of the famous landmarks of Sauville.

According to Jacqueline, upon the founding of the school in the 17th century, the king who reigned at that time constructed a refuge which he uses as a meeting place for him and his lover.

Jacqueline finds the excitement too much to handle, and she rushes to climb the labyrinthine staircases leading to the botanical gardens at the top of the library, with her assistant and Kazuya frantically following her. Despite her assistant's requests to stop, Jacqueline keeps on going; and not even Kazuya's warnings of a "golden monster" on the botanical garden were able to stop her.

Victorique hears Kazuya's voice and is slightly relieved of her presence, however the words "golden monster" irritated her, so she decides to give her visitors a scare... by acting as a doll. It turns out that she was able to scare Jacqueline a bit, but it also gave Victorique a slightly sore back as she was thrown.

Jacqueline's assistant and Kazuya manage to reach her, and there, Jacqueline introduces herself to Victorique. Kazuya, however, is stopped by Victorique before he could introduce her to Jacqueline. Jacqueline's assistant soon explains their reason for going to the library — donating books — but upon opening the box that should contain the books, they are shocked to find out that it only contained cosmetics.

Meanwhile, the same problem is encountered by a merchant of cosmetics, which is now filing a complaint at the local police station. Grevil arrives to investigate on the case, and instantly distinguishes the heraldry on the box (a castle with two crossed swords above a spider). He later contacts none other than Superintendent-General Signore, who owns the family seal.

Signore tells Grevil that her daughter has arrived on Saint Marguerite to donate books, and is surprised that Jacqueline has not yet arrived to visit him.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline calms down after discovering the switch that happened, and decides to reminisce on past memories. Around the time when she finds out that she is engaged to be married, her pet chipmunk named Q-chan died of an illness, and she was suspected to be the perpetrator of a murder, with the victim turning out to be the veterinarian who looked at Q-chan.

The last letter written by the veterinarian before his death is "q", the same letter as the one etched on Q-chan's back, and what's peculiar about the case it that at the time of the veterinarian's funeral, one of the attendants suddenly notices letters spontaneously written on her arm, read as "Jacqueline m'a assassiné!" (French, "Jacqueline killed me!") in reverse. Rumors later spread about the words on the stranger's arm as "words from the dead".

Victorique explains that mirrored writing has always been linked with magic rituals, and this fact led to people thinking that the words that appeared did come from the dead. Jacqueline is amazed at Victorique's knowledge, while Kazuya feels like he is witnessing the event that Jacqueline and Grevil experienced years ago.

Grevil soon heads to Saint Marguerite by carriage and reminisces on his memories with Jacqueline...

One day, Jacqueline and Grevil sit together for lunch. Grevil notices with ease that she is depressed, judging from the silly behavior she displays and how she splurged on impulse buying. He then tells Jacqueline that he heard about the news, and he does not accept how people conclude the case based on useless evidence. Jacqueline appears to have accepted her fate, and is thinking of turning down the proposal as she does not want to cause any trouble, especially being wed to Superintendent-General Signore of the Sauville Police.

As Grevil arrives at Saint Marguerite Academy, he vows to confront Victorique if she divulges anything inappropriate to Jacqueline.

Jacqueline continues her story; ever since the discovery of the mirror writing, she is branded by the people as a criminal. However, it did not take long before the case is closed, with the real suspect admitting to what she did. Afterwards, she becomes Superintendent-General Signore's wife.

Before she could tell who the suspect is, her assistant reminds her of the time, and after promising to finish the story later, she leaves.

Kazuya, knowing that Victorique was able to solve the case back then, asks for the identity of the suspect. Victorique tells him that it was Paula, who is the veterinarian's wife. The suspect planned on framing Jacqueline by using mirrored writing to replicate "words from the dead", which she was able to pull off as a left-handed person. Also, Victorique explained that the letter "q" the police saw at the scene of the crime is actually a "p", for "Paula". Victorique relayed this information to Grevil, who used this to blackmail Paula into surrendering.

Kazuya thought for once that Grevil did what he did for Jacqueline's sake, but Victorique shoots down Kazuya's romantic thoughts and reminds him of the person who really exerted effort into the case.

Later, Grevil arrives with Jacqueline's package and finds out that Jacqueline is not around; at that moment, Jacqueline and her assistant just arrive at the police station, where they saw the merchant who has been missing his cosmetics. Grevil then gives Jacqueline's books to Kazuya and asks him to hand them to the librarian.

Victorique soon talks about Jacqueline, who describes her as a woman who has no idea that someone has been going through hell for her sake and is not acknowledging it. Then Grevil, for the first time ever, asks Kazuya to use the elevator, and decides to talk to Victorique one-on-one. Although cautious, Kazuya leaves the two alone on the botanical garden and uses the elevator to descend.

Soon, Grevil tells Victorique that as a Grey Wolf, she possesses superior intellect, but can be heartless at times. Grevil recollects his pleas for Victorique to help him solve the case to save Jacqueline, and all Victorique said was that "love" is something she has never hear since she was born. He soon reminds Victorique that the hairstyle he is wearing right now is nothing compared to what he has done for Jacqueline.

Before Grevil leaves, he leaves a message for his sister: "You should have demanded to me not to love Jacqueline if you really want me to suffer."

Victorique maintains a straight face as Grevil turns his back away from her, but as she hears the elevator descend, tears begin to fall from her eyes and she says that she is no longer the heartless person Grevil met in the dungeons of the Blois mansion.

Grevil soon leaves the library and tells a worried Kazuya to head back to Victorique.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline is a bit disappointed that she is not able to see Grevil and is now forced to head back to Saubreme. However, she takes the time to reminisce on Grevil's gentler side. According to her, Grevil has always been kind to her, despite not looking the best woman in the world, and she has once wished for staying a child forever just to keep those memories alive. However, she realizes that it's not bad becoming an adult as long as she keeps those memories.

She sent a letter to Grevil, thanking him for being able to send her books to the library, and telling him that she can always count on an old friend.

Despite all the trouble and bad memories he remembered, he smiles, knowing there are still those good memories with the girl he has loved.

Characters
(In order of appearance)
 * Grévil de Blois
 * Jacqueline
 * Kazuya Kujō
 * Cécile Lafitte
 * Victorique de Blois
 * Superintendent-General Signore

New Characters

 * Marion
 * Paula

Trivia

 * This is the first episode where Victorique is referred to as Grevil's sister.

Cultural References

 * The quote spoken by the person Grevil talks to on the phone is derived from Matthew 5:13.

Quotes

 * (by unknown person) "Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?"
 * (by Grevil) "At the end of the day, I guess all I am is a paper tiger with a good reputation."
 * (by Victorique) "Who is that noisy, starving ostrich of a woman?!"
 * (by Victorique) "What a naïve woman. This is a good example of how good intentions going hand-in-hand with obliviousness pave the road to Hell."
 * (by Grevil) ""Stop loving Jacqueline." If you really want me to suffer, you should've exacted a demand like that."