Carlyle’s red eyes went wide.
Even Edgar couldn’t read the kidnappers’ thoughts, could he?
Their minds are too contaminated by black magic.
And yet, actually restoring that damage was supposedly possible…!
Edgar looked over at Carlyle, smirking.
“Understand now, why Miss Rowell needs to be here?”
“…”
“And as long as she’s in this department, I’m your superior, aren’t I? Keep your word, Rupesk.”
Carlyle glared silently at Edgar.
Just wait. The day this revenge was finished, he was going to sucker-punch this man right in the solar plexus…
Reluctantly, he waved toward the glass wall, gesturing her in.
Before long, Leila crept inside, glancing around nervously.
The sight of her made Carlyle’s chest tighten.
I understood how she felt, which is why I brought her here.
[I’d like the chance to spit in the face of whoever kidnapped a member of my family.]
He understood that feeling all too well. Better than almost anyone.
…And he’d also been thoroughly overwhelmed by that borderline-insane sense of duty of hers — “I want to be here for reference, for the report.”
What a remarkable junior, honestly…
That was a mindset every official in the palace ought to model themselves after, not just him.
His chest ached with a mix of guilt and admiration. Carlyle guided her forward and asked.
“Rowell. Do you notice anything unusual about him?”
“Um… I don’t see a core or anything…”
Leila looked the kidnapper square in the face.
Her deep pink eyes simply blinked, doing nothing at all.
But the man suddenly convulsed, thrashing like he was in agony.
“Aaargh! Aaaaahh…!”
“Eek…!”
Startled, Leila stumbled backward.
Her feet tangled beneath her.
“Ah!”
But before she could topple over, Carlyle caught her steadily from behind.
Given the difference in their height, her body fit neatly against him.
“Rowell, are you all right?!”
“Uh— ah, yes. Why— why did he suddenly—”
Leila stammered, startled.
But the kidnapper only writhed harder, in obvious agony, the instant he so much as looked at her.
The one who offered a clear answer, watching quietly all along, was Edgar.
“He’s reacting to divine power.”
“Ah, aaugh, aaah…!”
“It works on the principle that he can’t withstand the opposite of black magic…”
Leila had taken a direct mental assault from black magic herself, and yet she’d recovered almost immediately.
Part of that was down to sheer mental fortitude, but it was likely also thanks to the divine power purging the contamination from her mind.
At those words, Carlyle quietly held out his palm.
What he summoned was the black magic core recovered from Henry.
Carved into that core was the mark of the black crescent moon.
“Who made this.”
“Hiik… ngh…”
“This is your last chance. If you don’t talk—”
“…res, Seres!”
At that question, the kidnapper finally cried out.
“Proud—! The Seres Order, cough, gah, we’re— we’re proud…”
“The Seres Order…”
“That’s right!”
The kidnapper stared back, gasping, his eyes shot through with burst blood vessels.
“We— we’re going to reclaim a proud, ancient past! That’s what any noble with real pride ought to do!”
Carlyle opened his mouth, burning with fury.
The word “pride” had no business anywhere near what this man had done.
Just as he was about to shout that, Leila spoke first, quietly.
“So that’s why you kidnapped children?”
“Rowell…”
“What exactly did you do to them once you had them?!”
Leila stared him down again, and remarkably, the kidnapper clutched his head and began to sob.
“Aaargh…! We— we didn’t hurt them! We just, tried amplifying their hatred, that’s all…!”
“So why would you even do something like that…”
That was when Seamus, who’d been quietly observing the whole time, finally spoke up.
“…Emotional manipulation magic works better on children than adults.”
“Seamus.”
“So they were probably trying to plant a fake hatred strong enough to trigger a black magic surge.”
Black magic only activated when someone’s hatred for another person burned hot enough to feel like it was scorching their own veins.
The kidnapper writhed on the floor, even more pathetic than before.
“Ngh, aah, aaargh, please, get that woman away from me…”
The harder Leila focused on him, the more his contaminated mind seemed to heal.
But his willpower had been weak to begin with, and he couldn’t withstand the healing process, thrashing wildly instead.
Regardless, Carlyle and Edgar exchanged a look.
“Well, that settles it for good, Rupesk.”
“…”
Carlyle nodded, silent.
Whoever had cursed his family.
Whoever had wiped out house Crowe.
And now, whoever was behind this kidnapping case, too.
The mastermind behind all three incidents was one and the same, bound together under the name “the Seres Order.”
And has been, since three hundred years ago.
He’d have liked to dig further, but the man had passed out cold the moment he’d spoken the words “Seres Order.”
Once he woke up, they’d be able to investigate his identity properly.
They’d tear through every genealogical record in the entire empire if that’s what it took to find him!
At the thought of revenge finally drawing closer, Carlyle’s heart pounded, hard.
And with his heart pounding, his hands, without meaning to, tightened their grip.
Which was when he registered something warm and soft against his palms…
Hm?
His hands were warm, not because of thoughts of revenge burning through him?
“Um, excuse me.”
That was when a small voice came from just beneath his chin.
“Senior?”
“…!”
“You can let go now, whenever’s convenient.”
Only then did Carlyle remember catching his junior from falling backward, a moment ago!
Oh no…!
He’d been holding her from behind, practically wrapped around her.
Not an embrace between a man and a woman, of course — just both arms locked firmly around her.
Flustered, frozen in place, he found himself meeting her eyes as she looked up at him.
…Weren’t her eyes supposed to be dead, most of the time?
So why now, of all moments?
For the first time, a spark of light lit up those deep pink eyes. A genuinely brilliant one, at that.
Thud, thud, thud.
Maybe it was simply because his heart had already been racing, thinking about revenge.
But the moment their eyes met, his heart pounded even harder.
Carlyle froze, just for an instant…
Then, doing his best to act unaffected, he helped his junior back onto her feet properly.
“Sorry about that. Did that hurt much?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“Head back up to the office first. Take Finley with you.”
“Yes sir.”
He stood there, dazed, watching his juniors’ backs as they left the interrogation room.
Why did Leila Rowell’s eyes look like they were shining, just now?
In this dim, gloomy underground interrogation room, of all places…?
With a foaming, unconscious kidnapper lying right there, of all things…?
Only once I stepped out of the interrogation room and started up toward the office did I finally let out the breath I’d been holding this whole time.
“Haaaah! My heart nearly exploded…”
That startled Seamus a little, but there was nothing to be done about it.
Watching a person right in front of me writhe and convulse like that!
Ah, I forgot to spit on him, but honestly, even if I’d remembered, I was too shaken to actually pull it off.
I probably couldn’t have done that in front of the male lead and the others anyway.
I’m still a person with some sense of social decency, after all!
But it was worth going through all that.
If I hadn’t been there with them—
The male lead and the mastermind probably would never have mentioned the existence of the “Seres Order” to me at all.
The first incident, the kidnapping case, had more or less been resolved.
But I couldn’t afford to relax yet.
The far more dangerous one was the second incident.
The massive black magic artifact smuggling case, due to break by the end of this year.
Black magic artifacts were dangerous, sure, but they were also far more powerful than ordinary ones.
Banning them accomplished nothing — plenty of people still wanted them regardless.
Which meant they moved through the black market at absolutely outrageous prices…!
And why does that trade have to happen in a hospital, of all places, you rotten bastards!
Even that part, honestly, I could have lived with.
If it had just been a straightforward deal, the male lead, the heroine, or Seamus would have caught it eventually anyway.
The real problem with that incident wasn’t the trade itself.
The Seres Order was the one triggering black magic surges in everyone who bought those artifacts!
To harvest the cores left behind as a byproduct of the surge.
The original story never named that hospital, so I’ll have to find it some other way.
Wait, hold on.
Harvesting black magic cores? That means the Seres Order and the mastermind are after exactly the same thing?
