Chapter 13
Kite wore a peculiar expression as he watched Evelyne answer with total composure.
“Please wait a moment.”
“I happen to dislike waiting.”
“It’s not as if there is anything you can do right now anyway, is there?”
Ah, a slip of the tongue. She had meant to suppress her emotions, but the words had slipped out before she could stop them.
“Then please, just rest up.”
With that, Evelyne turned and stepped out of the room. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she left the basement and headed upstairs to prepare a meal.
She deeply regretted bringing Kite here, but it was already far too late for second thoughts.
“So, I have to keep him alive.”
After going to such extremes, she couldn’t just let him die.
“Just hold on a little longer,” she muttered to herself.
Evelyne pulled out the groceries she had bought in advance. This time, she had spent a bit extra to get high-quality meat, keeping Kite’s likely refined palate in mind.
If only there were a forest nearby.
Then she could have hunted for meat herself. A young doe, a rabbit, or even a wild boar would have done nicely. Game meat had a distinct, wild flavor, but if dressed properly, it could be incredibly delicious.
Evelyne’s hands moved with practiced swiftness as she peeled potatoes and carrots with a small knife. Prepping the vegetables to accompany the meat didn’t take long. Now, all that was left was to sear the meat.
“What should I do about the soup?”
Though she had learned how to cook, her repertoire consisted entirely of survival meals made during hunts. In truth, how often did a noble lady ever need to step into a kitchen at home? Furthermore, Evelyne had never harbored much interest in cooking, save for when she was out in the wilderness.
Had she been a commoner, she would have had to cook every single day, but she was, at the end of the day, a noblewoman. If she didn’t want to cook, she didn’t have to. For that very reason, Evelyne found herself staring blankly at a pot of boiling water.
Usually, when eating outdoors, a stew was made simply by tossing ground grains and wheat flour into a pot along with roughly torn pieces of jerky.
“Well, it should be close enough.”
Rummaging through the kitchen drawers, she managed to find a cookbook. Evelyne had skimmed through it, but she couldn’t understand all of it. There were unfamiliar spices listed, so she simply substituted them with things she knew.
Chefs truly are remarkable people.
By the time she finished preparing the meal Kite wanted, she was completely exhausted. She felt it would have been easier to take a rifle and track down a wild beast instead.
One day out of ten had passed; now she only had to hold out for nine more. Outside, the city was bustling with preparations for the Emperor’s upcoming birthday. In the midst of the commotion, the number of patrolling guards had visibly increased.
They were likely taking precautions for the influx of foreign guests. Or, perhaps, they had already noticed the Grand Duke’s disappearance.
It’s fine. I erased my tracks thoroughly.
Evelyne had been properly taught how to hunt by her grandfather. Thanks to her rigorous training, she was fully capable of hunting alone deep in the woods.
The most crucial skill for a solitary hunter was concealing their tracks, and she possessed an exceptional talent for exactly that.
Though beasts and humans might be different, she had definitely concealed all traces of the kidnapping. Therefore, the probability of anyone tracking her to this house was infinitesimally low. Still, just to be safe, she needed to act as normally as possible.
Normally.
Thud!
Evelyne brought the knife down hard onto the cutting board.
A day had passed, and those Seren had asked for help had returned to their respective posts. Although Emperor Leonhart had promised his cooperation in the search for Kite, the available manpower had dwindled drastically given the circumstances.
Lucen spoke in a disheartened voice. “In the end, we have to find His Grace using only our own men.”
“But there are no witnesses, and we haven’t found a single trace.” Alex’s state of mind wasn’t much better.
“Are you absolutely certain Lord Kite didn’t say anything about going somewhere?”
Unlike Seren, the two of them doubted whether Kite had actually been kidnapped. It wasn’t uncommon for Kite to slip away without a word from time to time.
“He left nothing.”
“Vice Commander, your intuition is usually sharp. What does your gut tell you?”
Though Seren was weaker compared to Kite, there were times when his intuition was uncannily accurate. It wasn’t particularly surprising; back in the age of magic, all sorts of extraordinary people and races existed, and those traits often cascaded down through the bloodlines.
“My gut feeling isn’t bad, actually.”
“Then doesn’t that mean he’s really fine?”
“No, it’s unwise to rely solely on intuition. Besides, I have this strange, lingering unease.”
Sighing, Seren shook his head. A bad feeling and a good feeling coexisted, and the contradiction was clouding his judgment.
“Regardless, we move.”
To Seren, Kite was a lord he could absolutely never afford to lose. He would do whatever it took to save him.
“Let’s rough up the information brokers one more time.”
“They’re going to have a fit.”
“Let them.”
With that, they systematically scoured every information network within the capital. Among those targeted was a man with narrow eyes and a bulbous nose—the very broker Evelyne had first encountered.
“Argh! I—I don’t know anything!”
The moment the man laid eyes on Seren, he panicked, instinctively throwing his arms up to shield his head.
“You don’t know what, exactly?”
They hadn’t even laid a finger on him yet, but seeing him tremble in sheer terror, it was clear he would spill everything.
“A-Anything! I don’t know anything!”
Smack! Alex struck the man hard across the back of his head.
“Snap out of it. Has anyone tried to buy information on the Grand Duke recently? If so, tell us everything.”
“No—”
“You’d better think carefully before you speak. If you rush and make a clumsy mistake, it’s going to upset me. Understand?”
As Alex slowly drew a fraction of his sword from its sheath, the broker’s eyes shook with pure panic.
“It’s… it’s not entirely non-existent.”
“So someone did?”
“Y-Yes! It was a while ago, though. A woman came by a while back. She came and asked for information regarding the Grand Duke.”
Seren’s expression hardened at the man’s words. Sensing the shift in tension, the broker cowered and scrambled to excuse himself.
“I-I didn’t tell her anything! I kicked her out!”
“Do you remember what she looked like?”
“W-Well, she was wearing a deep hood, so I couldn’t see her face. I heard she went to other brokers afterward, but they probably didn’t give her anything either! I swear, it’s the truth!”
Ever since Kite had thoroughly thrashed them in the past, the information brokers had become as docile as sheep. They would never dare do anything to cross him.
“I suppose we can count this as a lead.”
The accounts from the other brokers were no different. A woman had come looking, but no one had helped her. That was the extent of it. Just to be absolutely certain, they had roughed up a few more of them, but it resulted in nothing more than a pathetic display of tears and snot.
“It seems they’re telling the truth.”
“Considering they’re still denying it after a beating like that, they aren’t lying,” Lucen and Alex reported.
Seren let out a habitual sigh. He had no idea where to even begin to uncover Kite’s whereabouts.
“Just who on earth is this woman?”
One of the current era’s Sword Masters was indeed a woman, but she had been spotted in her own hometown during that exact timeframe. Therefore, she couldn’t possibly be the culprit.
“Lord Kite must have followed her willingly.”
“Who could possibly take him by force?”
“Perhaps a hidden Sword Master?”
At Seren’s suggestion, Alex spoke up, sounding completely exasperated.
“Becoming a Sword Master isn’t something that happens so easily. Besides, the intelligence department tracks every potential candidate. None of them made a move in the imperial capital that day.”
True enough, they had already checked with the intelligence department.
“I believe he’ll return soon. He dotes on his nephew, the Emperor, after all. And it’s not like he hasn’t vanished like this in the past.”
The two of them paired up perfectly at times like this. Lucen and Alex took turns offering plausible theories. No, it wasn’t just a plausible theory—it might very well be the truth.
“I certainly hope so,” Seren murmured.
But he couldn’t help but shake his head in doubt.
