Chapter 102
Meanwhile, at the same time.
Raul, who had been outside the shelter getting some fresh air, also sensed someone’s presence.
Kain was approaching the shelter.
Unlike usual, he was accompanied by someone who appeared to be an elderly woman.
“Oh dear. I’ve been out for far too long.”
Before he could be noticed, Raul quickly pulled down his hood and turned away.
In the winter wind that pierced to the bone, the ornament hanging from Raul’s waist went *Clink*—letting out a small but distinct metallic sound.
Raul paused for a brief moment, then immediately slipped back inside the shelter.
However, the sound had already reached someone else’s ears.
Leuceviten, who was heading toward the shelter while leaning against Kain’s wheelchair, suddenly raised her head.
Her clouded gaze searched somewhere in the empty air.
As though she were searching for something not with her eyes, but with another sense.
“Grandmother? What’s wrong?”
Even at Kain’s question, Leuceviten continued feeling through the empty air for quite some time.
Yet the only sound reaching her ears was the wind itself.
“…No. I thought I heard a familiar sound. It seems I was mistaken.”
Although she said that, Leuceviten once again turned toward the direction where the sound had come from.
After standing there for a long while with a face full of lingering attachment, Leuceviten gently rubbed her wrist.
Around her aged wrist rested a modest bracelet.
As she repeatedly traced it with her fingers, Leuceviten grabbed Kain’s arm.
She had begun to believe that the sound of the ornament swaying in the wind earlier had not been an auditory hallucination.
“Kain. Would you grant this old woman one favor?”
☆☆☆
By the time Raul returned to the shelter, Nick had already returned to his place.
Having recovered the bomb and hidden it deep inside the shelter once again, Nick was already envisioning the next stage.
A large-scale terrorist attack that would shake the entire city.
However, there was no place for Raul in that plan.
Nor did Nick question Raul about the conversation the knights had been having in front of the notice board.
He merely kept watch over Raul’s every move without missing a single one.
Unaware of Nick’s thoughts, Raul bent down to take his seat.
*Clink.*
At the small movement, a clear metallic sound echoed throughout the shelter.
At that moment, Kain, who had just entered, approached Raul and spoke.
“Excuse me, sir. Could you possibly help me?”
Kain scratched the back of his head.
Then, as though it were nothing important, he asked several others beside Raul for help as well.
“I brought some food, but there’s too much for me to carry alone. Would anyone be willing to help move it?”
When he mentioned that he would reward them with coins, everyone hurriedly rose from their seats.
Raul also silently stood up and blended into the group.
However, just before they headed toward the stacked food crates, Kain stopped walking and pointed toward a small room by the entrance.
“Sir, would you come this way? There’s some luggage here as well.”
Although something felt suspicious, Raul stepped into the room after Kain.
If he asked why only he was being taken somewhere else and his identity was exposed because of it, it would be troublesome.
*Clink.*
As another metallic chime rang out following Kain’s footsteps, the voice of an elderly woman came from inside the room.
“So I hadn’t misheard after all. Young Marquis… is that you?”
Raul, who had just stepped over the threshold, froze.
He, too, had recognized Leuceviten.
Ilena’s close friend.
Although she had aged considerably since the last time he had seen her, Leuceviten still wore the same resolute expression that Ilena had cherished.
And around Leuceviten’s wrist was a bracelet bearing the same ornament that hung from Raul’s waist.
It was a gift Ilena had personally crafted for the two of them.
This ornament.
“Y-You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
Raul immediately turned to leave the room.
“Will you truly leave like this, Young Marquis?”
Raul squeezed his eyes shut.
“…Leuceviten, can you not simply pretend you never recognized me? As you know, I am Rebelt. It will do you no good to be associated with me. I shall leave this place immediately, so I beg you.”
“This old woman knows little about terrorist organizations or politics.”
However, Leuceviten was not someone who could be easily persuaded.
She had no intention of letting Raul leave so easily.
“I simply have something that I absolutely must tell you. It concerns the child of you and Ilena.”
At those words, which he could not possibly ignore, Raul’s eyes widened.
“As rumors began spreading that the Young Marquis was still alive, Ilena’s name naturally began to circulate once more.”
Like Raul, Leuceviten had believed that Ilena had died in the townhouse.
However, among the stories circulating about Raul and Ilena’s relationship, another rumor had quietly slipped in.
That the two had actually had a child.
That child was still alive.
It was easy enough to dismiss it as nonsense, yet for some reason, upon hearing it, Leuceviten had immediately thought of Agnes.
Although she had never seen her face before, the Duchess of Valheim had strangely reminded her of Ilena.
“Young Marquis. Have you perhaps met the Duchess?”
Forgetting even that Leuceviten could not see, Raul hurriedly nodded.
“…I have.”
“Then are you also aware that Adrian Bardo registered an illegitimate child into the family registry immediately after Ilena passed away?”
Leuceviten moved her unfocused eyes as though drawing out an old memory.
After Chloe was born, Adrian had obsessively sought out things that were supposedly beneficial for male vitality.
He had even secretly received medical treatment.
Remembering that, Leuceviten eventually managed to track down the physician who had treated Adrian back then.
After paying an enormous sum, she successfully obtained the medical records from that time.
“I don’t know when it would happen, but carrying these with me in case I ever met you has finally proven worthwhile.”
Leuceviten held out the medical records she had obtained to Raul.
Among the difficult medical terminology, one sentence alone was perfectly clear.
Permanent loss of reproductive function.
Adrian was no longer capable of fathering children.
And yet, two years after receiving that diagnosis, Adrian had suddenly brought Agnes home, claiming she was his daughter.
Even while saying he did not know who her biological mother was.
“It still needs further confirmation, but…”
“…Are you saying that the Duchess is not Adrian’s biological daughter?”
“Yes. You know better than anyone that Adrian Bardo is not the sort of man who would take in a child out of compassion.”
Leuceviten chose her words carefully.
“It seems highly likely that the Duchess is your daughter, Young Marquis.”
“Hah.”
At that moment, a tiny scoff echoed from behind the door.
So quietly that no one noticed.
The owner of that sound was Nick.
Having followed Raul after becoming suspicious, Nick twisted his thin lips into a cruel sneer.
“So what the knights were saying was true after all.”
And here I was wondering why he’d suddenly changed his mind.
So it was because his daughter was alive?
No wonder.
I’d thought his expression had looked strange ever since he talked with that drunkard.
Seeing that his daughter had become the Duchess, I suppose he’s started wanting to play the noble again.
Contempt filled Nick’s eyes.
“This is exactly why you can never trust noble bastards.”
Even Nick knew his logic was a leap.
But to Nick, the important thing was simply that he had found another reason to condemn Raul.
At first, he had tried convincing himself to endure it because Raul was an important asset.
But how could anyone possibly tolerate that infuriating face?
Both of them were terrorists, after all.
Yet he alone always acted as though he were superior.
As though he were noble.
From the very beginning, Nick had disliked him.
He had hated hearing idealistic nonsense come from the mouth of that refined-looking bastard.
The hatred and rage he had never been able to direct at Adrian poured entirely onto Raul instead.
In a way, it was also the release of resentment that had accumulated over many years.
Before Raul noticed anything, Nick returned to his place and gathered the members who followed him.
“Get ready. We’ll be leaving the Empire soon.”
“Are you going to detonate the bomb?”
“Of course. We can’t keep living like beggars forever.”
Nick’s lips curled into a grin.
If Raul intended to save his own life by betraying them, then Nick would simply make the first move.
The name that would be blamed as the mastermind behind this massive terrorist attack would be neither Nick nor the Rebelt organization itself.
Raul Herben Guten.
That was the name that would stand at the forefront of the coming explosion.
☆☆☆
“It’s time to head back inside, Lady Agnes.”
A servant carefully pushed Agnes’s wheelchair as she sat in the garden.
Agnes gazed at the barren tree whose leaves had all fallen.
The snow-covered garden was utterly desolate.
Ever since returning from the observatory, Agnes had never again spoken of wanting to leave the ducal estate.
She merely remained where she had been placed.
Like a doll stripped of all emotion.
She ate the food that was served to her.
She wore the clothes she was dressed in.
Sometimes, like today, she would get some fresh air outside with the servant’s assistance.
During all that time, true to his promise that he would stay out of sight, Lionel never once appeared before Agnes.
However, although he never showed himself, his presence could be felt wherever she went.
Whenever Agnes walked through the corridors, they had already been tidied.
Whenever she went into the garden, a blanket to shield her from the wind had already been prepared.
The vase in her bedroom was constantly filled with flowers that should not have been blooming during winter.
Agnes knew very well that Lionel had prepared all of it.
But she no longer had the will even to question it.
“They say tomorrow will be a little warmer, so you’ll be able to enjoy a longer walk.”
Listening to the servant’s voice drifting away like the stretched-out sound of a gramophone, Agnes simply allowed the wheelchair to move wherever the servant guided it.
Just as they entered the corridor, she unexpectedly came face to face with Lionel, who was walking out from the direction of her bedroom.
Apparently, Lionel had not expected this encounter either, for his steps visibly stiffened.
In Lionel’s hand was a withered flower.
It was the very last flower Agnes had seen before leaving the room.
It seemed he had simply pulled it out of the vase.
‘So it really was Lionel who had been bringing them.’
Agnes indifferently confirmed that her assumption had been correct.
But perhaps because he believed he had not been caught, Lionel smoothly hid the flower behind his back as naturally as flowing water.
“I only stopped by for a moment, so there’s no need to worry. I was just about to leave anyway.”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
