Episode 80
The moment the movements of the two men reaching for Agnes came into view, Lionel’s pace accelerated explosively.
Yes. It was his fault.
His indifference and neglect had caused Agnes to be harmed.
However, it did not matter that Agnes’s expectations of him had crumbled because of it.
She was his wife.
She was his Agnes.
If there were misunderstandings, he could resolve them from now on.
If there was something he had missed, he could fill the void.
The damage Agnes suffered as a result could simply be compensated. More than the loss she had incurred.
Then, expectations would dwell once again in those hollow, pale eyes.
Lionel charged forward, clenching his teeth.
In that instant, the festive light bulbs lined up above his head flickered intermittently.
In addition to that, the decorative lamps connected between buildings, as well as the bulbs wrapped around the street trees, shook unstably at the same time.
And in the very next moment.
*Bang—!*
Fireworks soaring into the sky shook the atmosphere violently.
Simultaneous with the impact, the entire city was plunged into pitch-black darkness in an instant, as if the power lines had been severed.
Surprised by the sudden blackout, the people clamored for a moment, but soon let out exclamations of awe as they watched the fireworks embroidering the night sky.
The colorful fireworks exploding in succession flashed through the darkness, once in red, once in blue, and then in green.
With every burst of light, the figures of the men lifting Agnes from her wheelchair and carrying her away on their shoulders were revealed in flashes.
“……Damn it.”
Lionel spat out and swallowed a curse.
Without delay, he drew his gun from behind his back.
At that exact moment, another firework bloomed in the sky like a flower.
This time it was brighter than before.
For a moment, the surroundings became as bright as midday, clearly revealing the men who kidnapped Agnes running toward the stage where the dance troupe was preparing for their performance.
Lionel chased after them, pushing through the packed crowd.
The buttons of his formal attire were torn off as he was pushed here and there by people, but he did not care.
It was just when the distance between him and the kidnappers had narrowed enough to be within reach.
*Pop—!*
The lights of the city that had been blacked out surged back to life all at once.
At the same time, the bright light of the spotlights installed on the stage came on.
Struck by the white light pouring out in a defenseless state, Lionel frowned and covered his face with his arm.
For a moment, his vision was completely obscured.
On the stage where power had returned, music blared out, and the performance of the Lucian dance troupe began.
Masked dancers descended from the stage and delved into the crowd.
As the dancers handed out festive masks they held in their hands, the people went wild and covered their faces with the masks.
And those who kidnapped Agnes also quickly snatched a mask from a dancer and pulled it over their faces in an instant.
Then, they threw the dull hoods they were wearing onto the street, snatched a festive robe, and draped it over Agnes.
By the time Lionel’s vision returned, the kidnappers already looked perfectly identical to the people pouring onto the streets.
“Agnes!”
He could not distinguish who was a kidnapper and who was a dancer,
Who was a citizen and who was a criminal.
However, even amidst the chaos, Lionel’s eyes quickly moved down to the ground.
Before long, Lionel found military boots covered in mud, which did not suit the festival.
Lionel immediately aimed his gun at the owner of the shoes.
But the moment his hand tried to pull the trigger, a young child in front of him burst into tears in surprise and fell into a dancer’s arms.
Not missing that brief opening, the mud-stained boots vanished into the crowd in an instant.
“Dammit!”
Lionel, lowering his gun, gritted his teeth and pushed through the people again.
However, the traces of Agnes had already been cut off.
The muscles in Lionel’s jaw bulged.
Amidst the massive noise where the fireworks and music of the festival’s eve were mixed, Lionel scanned the surroundings, his breath coming in gasps as if he were dying.
But Agnes’s shadow was nowhere to be found.
***
“Hey, I told you to call Colonel Winterbolt! Huh?”
*Thud! Thud!*
In the middle of the interrogation room, Adrian tapped the steel desk discontentedly.
Adrian, piqued because the investigator acted as if he didn’t even hear him, was about to kick the desk.
Suddenly, the door opened, and something slammed Adrian’s head onto the desk in an instant.
“Gah!”
At the sharp pain that made his eyes fly open, Adrian tried to pull away the hand gripping his hair.
And before long, he realized the owner of that hand was Lionel.
“Du, Duke, why are you here……?”
“Tell me where Rebelt is.”
“You burst in suddenly and tell me to say where Rebelt is.”
Adrian frowned while rubbing his forehead.
“Call Colonel Winterbolt! The authority to investigate me lies with him—”
“Regrettably, that authority was transferred to me a moment ago.”
“What……? What does that—”
“It means Jerome handed over all investigative rights regarding Rebelt to me.”
Lionel, letting go of the hair of the screaming Adrian, removed his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves.
“Chloe, then call Chloe!”
“Well. Even if I called her, I don’t think she would come.”
“……!”
“According to Jerome, Chloe Bardo said she would testify to all the circumstances of your collusion with Rebelt.”
Adrian’s mouth slowly fell open.
“In exchange for taking over the management rights of the merchant company and being proven innocent in this matter.”
“……W-What are you……!”
“Let me put it more simply. It means Chloe Bardo sold you out to save her own skin.”
Adrian’s expression collapsed instantly.
At the shock of being betrayed by his only daughter, his lips trembled and his eyes floundered in the air.
“N-No……! There’s no way my Chloe would do that to me!”
Realizing the situation was turning against him, Adrian’s eyes wavered.
To anyone’s eyes, it was the appearance of someone rolling his head like a rat, looking for a hole to escape through.
At any other time, he might have enjoyed watching that sight, but Lionel did not have the leisure for that now.
Even after the dance drama ended, he had searched the square thoroughly, but Agnes could not be found in the end.
However, the bastards who took her would not have been able to leave the capital yet.
Then, where would Rebelt have hidden?
The one who would best know the places they might go would be Adrian.
Lionel roughly pressed his struggling head back down onto the desk.
*Thud!*
“I will ask again. Where is Rebelt’s base?”
“I don’t know, I said I don’t know!”
“You’d better use your tongue carefully. My patience has reached its limit because those bastards took Agnes.”
Lionel’s voice sank low, with nowhere further to descend.
“So squeeze your brain well. If you can’t tell me Rebelt’s whereabouts, I might just kill you.”
At that threat, Adrian actually burst into a hollow laugh as if it were absurd.
Then he twisted his lips, which were crushed and torn against the desk.
“……Ahahaha! I wondered why you were pestering me like this. It seems that Agnes thing has been kidnapped?”
As Lionel’s body turned rigid, Adrian cackled even more.
It seemed the shock of being stabbed in the back by Chloe was quite significant.
“Did you not dislike my daughter to the point of loathing her, Duke? But have you had a change of heart now?”
Lionel’s fingers trembled minutely.
Feeling that tremor, Adrian’s eyes widened as if he had gained some realization.
“Ah. Perhaps. Did you find out that Agnes has been sending weapons to the Black Iron Knights all this time? If so, I can understand why you are so desperate—, *Ack!*”
Adrian’s head, which had been slammed against the desk, was pulled upward in an instant.
As his neck was jerked back violently as if it would break, his whole body trembled reflexively.
“Kuh…… ugh—!”
Lionel’s hand was gripping Adrian’s jaw roughly.
The tendons stood out on every knuckle, and he squeezed tightly as if he would crush the jawbone.
The face of Adrian, who had been acting as if he were deranged until a moment ago, turned as white as a sheet.
It was because the deep blue eyes of Lionel, which he faced head-on, were emitting a brilliant, fierce light.
“Sending weapons? Who.”
“Kack, who—, *Gasp*. Who else could it be. It’s Agnes. Y-You’re doing this because you know everything, aren’t you?”
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