Chapter 11
“There’s nothing particularly new here.”
The second floor had already been turned upside down during the previous search, so items were scattered everywhere.
“Ah, about that woman. She’s completely different from her father. Pure, kind-hearted.”
“Did you two become friends while I wasn’t looking?”
Erich snorted in disbelief. Shevik, accustomed to his superior’s indifferent reaction, didn’t even glance back as he pulled a few books from Yulaina’s shelf.
“She’s got an enormous reading habit. Almost every book is crammed with notes and worn to shreds. I have a feeling her tastes might align surprisingly well with Yours.”
“Hah.”
Erich gave the densely packed bookshelf a cursory scan before slowly turning away.
“Don’t develop baseless affection. She’s Walter’s daughter, after all.”
“She draws well too. Drawings don’t lie. They’re warm.”
Shevik’s finger pointed to the wall, where several drawings, scraps of notes, and letters were plastered densely together.
An old woman knitting in an armchair, children playing, a serene village landscape with goats, unnamed wildflowers, and the like.
“After seeing nothing but seas of blood and piles of ash all the time, it eased my mind for a moment. Of course….”
Shevik rubbed his chin roughly and added curtly.
“For her, this must be hell right now.”
Instead of replying, Erich tore off the attached notes one by one.
‘Yulaina, thanks for the soup!’, ‘Yulaina, try some pie. Thanks for helping with the farm work last time’, ‘Yulaina, thanks to you…’ and so on.
Endless thanks and affectionate greetings fluttered to the floor. A dry conclusion fell over the scattered notes and drawings.
“It kills my appetite.”
Shevik stubbornly defended Yulaina.
“She seems to have had her share of worries. Clashed often with her father too, from the looks of it.”
Whoosh—a small notebook sliced through the air. It was a diary.
-Fought with Father again. Why am I the only one trapped in this village?
-The book I was reading was taken away. He says it’s impure ideology. Yesterday, he burned the newspaper.
-How can I become a doctor if I can’t even leave the village?
-Helen cut me off unilaterally. I don’t know what Father said to her, but she stormed off in a rage. Now I’m truly alone….
“No need for pointless sympathy.”
Erich, scanning the diary with a sullen face, snapped the cover shut and turned away.
“Aren’t you curious why Walter and Marcus fell out? They were solid business partners, and he was like an adopted son.”
“Yeah. What did he do wrong?”
Instead of answering, Erich pulled something from his pocket and held it out to Shevik.
“This was around her neck.”
“Whoa, what is it?”
When he opened his clenched fist, something spilled out and dangled with a jingle. It was a locket necklace on a thin chain.
Their gazes crossed meaningfully. With a click, Erich opened the locket and presented it.
“Huh…?”
Shevik, confirming the portrait inside, looked up at Erich with bewildered eyes.
“Marcus had a daughter. Blonde, green-eyed beauty, he said.”
“No way…!”
“It’s just a hunch for now. Let’s go downstairs and confirm.”
The two returned to the first floor and found a portrait amid the scattered mess on the floor.
The woman’s face in the portrait looked very young, as if painted long ago. Erich muttered while flipping it over.
“There should be initials. If my guess is right, it’ll be someone we know.”
Soon, Shevik exclaimed. Faint but clear: ‘Erin. H’.
“It’s Marcus’s daughter. Erin Hyhrendel, the disappearance that shook the whole country!”
Erich nodded lightly.
“Even though we were just kids back then, the whole empire was in an uproar.”
Both Erich and Shevik remembered the infamous kidnapping case that had rocked the entire empire.
Erin, daughter of the empire’s most powerful man, Marcus Hyhrendel, had vanished like smoke just before her coming-of-age ceremony.
A bitter smile spread across Erich’s face.
“They mobilized even the imperial forces and caused all that chaos… and in the end, they couldn’t find her, but here she was.”
Shevik frowned.
“So Marcus knew and put on a show. Walter was his right-hand man; he couldn’t have been unaware.”
“They even held a funeral without a body. He socially killed off his daughter, but behind the scenes, he must have relentlessly pursued Walter.”
“Good heavens. Wow. No wonder they fled across the border to hide.”
After a long silence, Shevik murmured lowly.
“They ran away for love, right?”
“Well, she wasn’t a child, so she must have had her own will. Just a guess.”
“So, what now?”
Shevik took the locket necklace and examined it again. On the left was Walter’s face, on the right Erin’s.
A smile spread across Erich’s face.
“If it’s a granddaughter who looks just like her mother, wouldn’t that make a gift to tug at the old man’s heartstrings?”
Shevik’s mouth gaped open.
“You’re going to join hands with Marcus? Strategically?”
Erich acknowledged it lightly.
“Unfortunately, this single-page contract we found won’t let us do anything. We need something bigger. Offering up his granddaughter is the way.”
“What if he denies it? Erin’s already a dead person.”
“Since she’s Walter’s daughter too, he might cast her aside.”
Erich tucked the locket into his breast pocket, curling up the corner of his mouth.
“But what if a prince with legitimate succession rights, though lacking political influence, volunteers to become his grandson-in-law?”
“Ah….”
Shevik furrowed his brow. It seemed like a good plan, yet it left an uneasy feeling.
“So, solidify the alliance with marriage, then dig into Marcus’s business and bring it down? Not a bad plan.”
Shevik nodded reluctantly.
“But she doesn’t even seem to know who Marcus is. Will she cooperate willingly?”
Erich said nonchalantly.
“Just present conditions she can’t refuse.”
***
The corner of the blanket draped down to her shoulders felt rough between her fingers. Yulaina, blinking in a daze, jerked upright like a spring.
“Where…!”
She wasn’t tied with ropes and tossed aside like last night. Instead, she was in a cozy, plush bed. But.
“Ugh.”
Yulaina curled up like a crumpled sheet, pulling the blanket over herself with a groan. Every breath sent a stabbing pain through her ribs, making it impossible to sit up properly.
‘What is this place now?’
Enduring the throbbing ache, she scanned the tent with terrified eyes. Soon, she realized who owned this space.
The first thing that caught her eye was the large Norden Empire banner hanging on the wall.
Anxiously surveying here and there, Yulaina noticed the change in her body and froze.
‘…They undressed me?’
Yanking down the blanket revealed an unfamiliar men’s shirt worn like a dress.
Someone had treated her meticulously—bandages were wrapped carefully around her arms and legs—but she had no time to think about that now.
She frantically patted down her body.
“Uh… uh….”
Fortunately, it seemed she hadn’t suffered what she feared.
“Ahh.”
Overwhelmed with relief, tears burst forth as Yulaina buried her face in her hands.
But she couldn’t let her guard down yet. Someone could fling open the tent flap at any moment.
Her heart racing, Yulaina’s gaze darted urgently around the tent. She needed something to protect herself.
“Nngh!”
The instant her feet touched the ground, an overwhelming pain buckled her knees. Wiping the cold sweat beading on her forehead, she barely managed to clutch the large table where a map of Norden was spread out.
At the end of that table lay a long paper knife, the kind for opening envelopes. She paused to catch her breath.
Circling the table would be too risky. If someone lifted the tent flap right then, there’d be nowhere to hide.
In the end, Yulaina draped herself belly-down over the table. Her ribs felt like they were splitting, her breath catching in her throat, but she gritted her teeth and stretched her arm as far as she could.
‘A little more, more….’
Her trembling fingertips brushed the knife’s solid handle. Tap. The knife, barely reached, spun half a turn and landed in her hand.
The blade was dull, but pointed and slender enough to serve as a weapon if needed.
‘If I survived yesterday, I can survive today.’
Unwinding the bandage from her palm, Yulaina gripped the handle bare-handed. The raised pattern on the hilt sent a tearing pain through her skin.
“…sir.”
It was then that voices suddenly came from outside. As Yulaina crammed herself into the scratchy blanket, the tent entrance was flung open, and two men entered.
***
“Did you sleep well?”
It was Erich. Clutching the blanket tightly, Yulaina blinked anxiously, her eyes alone visible. Fortunately, he hadn’t noticed the missing knife. More than that….
Yulaina’s gaze shifted to the pale officer who entered with Erich.
His sharply combed blond hair and round glasses were striking. His impeccably neat appearance, as if he wouldn’t tolerate a speck of dust, and his precise movements felt somehow intimidating.
“Major Helmut Ausgunt, military physician.”
From behind the round lenses, dull olive eyes gazed at her steadily.
