At the same time.
Inside the quiet interrogation room, Raul was staring at the map hanging on the wall.
The red marks displayed all over the capital were the expected locations of terrorism that had already detonated or been intercepted.
As if retracing them, Raul drew down along the marks one by one with the pen held in his hand.
Then, he stopped his hand.
“Strange.”
Raul’s gaze was fixed on the center of the map.
The number of bombs in the shelter’s backyard that he had verified himself did not match the number of expected terrorist locations marked on the map.
One was missing.
Raul raised the front of his eyebrows.
What did I miss?
Raul examined the map once again. Nick’s line of movement was steadily rushing toward the outskirts of the capital while dispersing attention through terrorism.
On the surface, it was a perfect flow.
However, there was a variable that had not yet been considered.
“Is he really trying to pass through the gates?”
A deep wrinkle formed between Raul’s brows.
No matter how much attention was dispersed through terrorism, the fact that all the faces of the Rebelt members were known did not change.
That meant, the fact that they could not escape the capital through normal gates likewise did not change.
And there was no way Nick did not know that.
But what if he did not intend to escape through the gates in the southeast of the capital, where on earth was Nick heading?
“Could it be…….”
In the past, he had once casually passed on a story to Nick that there was a passage used in times of emergency at the mansion of the Duke of Guten, which used to be his family home.
The older a noble family was, the more they tended to hide at least one secret passage leading to the outskirts of the capital for the safety of the family.
Because of that, he had brought up the words asking how it would be to try using that passage if escape through normal gates was impossible, but he had not put it into action.
It was because entering the Duke’s mansion located in the very center of the capital was too dangerous an attempt from the beginning.
At least, as long as Lionel was moving perfectly fine, it was also an attempt that could never succeed.
So that plan fizzled out quickly.
Therefore, he had not even considered it. Yet, there was one fact Raul had overlooked. It was Nick’s recklessness.
“If it’s Nick, he would have attempted it and had plenty to spare. How on earth did I forget this……!”
If Nick truly intended to escape through that place, even Raul could not guarantee where the last bomb would detonate.
Since he could not know where he would choose in order to divert the attention of the Black Iron Knights.
However, the certain point was that if it was Nick, it was clear he would try to tie Lionel’s hands and feet to make him unable to pursue them.
The moment he realized that fact, Raul approached the door and shouted toward the knight who was standing guard.
“Hey! Are you there? I must see Colonel Valheim immediately! Immediately!”
And, even before those words could finish, the ground above the ceiling of the interrogation room began to vibrate heavily.
☆☆☆
Meanwhile, at the exact moment when flames were rising near the Knights’ headquarters.
As if pushed by something, Lionel opened his eyes.
As if dragged up by force from a deep sleep, his consciousness floated up dully above the surface of the water.
The thing felt first was an strangely eerie silence.
A bedroom where not even the sound of breathing could be heard. Air in which not a single shred of human warmth remained.
It was a temperature that would absolutely never be felt if Agnes were here.
“Ag…… nes.”
Even when he moved his numb tongue by force to try calling out, far from an answer returning, not even a sign of presence was felt.
An unexplainable anxiety started from his heart and gripped the cells of his entire body.
Lionel tried to hurriedly raise his body.
“Ugh.”
However, his body, where the effect of the sleeping pill still remained, did not follow his will.
The inside of his head throbbed as if it would break, and his vision shook as if submerged in water.
The faint light visible beyond the window was informing him that dawn was breaking dimly before he knew it.
‘Time…… quite a lot has passed.’
Lionel gripped the bed sheet and tried to find his balance by pushing away at anything he could reach.
At that moment, the texture of paper touched his fingertips.
A single note was placed beside the pillow.
Instead of picking up the note right away, Lionel drew a breath a beat slower.
Like a person who already knew that the moment he unfolded this paper, something irreversible would begin.
And that intuition was not wrong.
As he unfolded the paper while forcing down his dry saliva, a short sentence bidding farewell left behind by Agnes came into view.
At that moment, the inside of his head went blank.
“……No.”
The voice that flowed out low was close to denial. Like a child throwing a tantrum, unable to accept a conclusion already handed down.
Lionel stumbled down from the bed.
Without even thinking of putting on shoes, he stepped onto the cold floor with bare feet and opened the door.
He did not even have the mind to perceive that Agnes’s handwriting contained in the note was different from what he usually saw. That it was the same as the handwriting of the letter he had received from the battlefield, which he had cherished so preciously.
“No, not yet. Agnes.”
Lionel rushed out into the hallway, staggering.
His vision kept tilting, and his body bumped against the wall several times.
However, he did not stop.
He threw open the room doors at random, whatever caught his hand, whatever came into sight.
“Where are you…… Agnes.”
Running across the hallway, Lionel constantly called Agnes’s name.
Even while knowing she had already left.
Just in case. Hanging onto that single cowardly hope that really, just in case, she might still remain somewhere.
Lionel began to search inside the Duke’s mansion like a madman.
“Please…… Agnes. Not yet, not yet.”
The hallway. The drawing room.
If it was a space where Agnes might have stayed even for a moment, he opened the door without missing a single one.
However, the thing that returned was only a consistent sight.
It was either empty, or only the servants who were preparing to just start their daily routine were filling the space.
He was not ready to let Agnes go yet. Agnes was nowhere to be found.
Failing to accept that fact in the end, Lionel’s steps left the main building and headed toward the detached building.
However, the detached building was no different. There, too, only a piano was placed lonesomely.
It was a space where not even a little bit of human warmth remained.
Lionel tried to leave the detached building while taking a step back.
It was then.
Kalt rushed into the detached building, gripping a radio while turning pale.
“Colonel, a terrorist attack has occurred. The location is toward the Knights’ building, and a carriage was caught in the explosion-,”
Kalt blurted out the end of his words, rarely unable to decide where to place his gaze.
“The one who was riding in that carriage…….”
“What about the one who was riding. Report properly. Kalt Russel.”
“That is-,”
At Kalt’s appearance of being unable to hide an uncharacteristically complicated expression, an animalistic anxiety rushed in.
Thus, to hide that anxiety, Lionel pressured Kalt even further.
But even against the fierce aura emitted by Lionel, Kalt could not bring himself to connect the following words.
As if to replace him, the radio held in Kalt’s hand cried out, static-.
「A carriage appears to have been caught near the explosion point. The occupant…… is presumed to be the Duchess.」
Thud.
Clearly nothing had fallen, but along with a strong impact sound as if a huge boulder had dropped to the ground, the inside of Lionel’s head went blank.
“What…… did you say?”
Lionel snatched Kalt’s radio.
It was bullshit. It was certain that they had made some mistake.
In order to ask back if they had verified it properly, Lionel pressed the transmission button.
However, no sound came out. The voice that had been coming out just fine until a moment ago was stuck tight again and did not come out.
It was a damn cowardly and convenient escape.
In a situation where he had to give an order. Just one word would do, but it did not work.
Lionel exhaled an increasingly rough breath.
His front became distant.
In the end, he returned the radio to Kalt as if almost throwing it.
And he began to run forward just like that. Toward the Knights’ building.
“Colonel!”
Kalt’s shout erupted from behind, but Lionel did not stop.
The effect of the sleeping pill still remained in his body so his vision shook severely, and his bare feet, which could not even put on shoes, trampled over the snowfield just like that.
Cold snow dug into the soles of his feet and a flesh-cutting sensation rose up, but Lionel rather widened his stride.
In his hand, the note left behind by Agnes was still held, crumpled.
‘Something must have gone wrong.’
Why on earth would Agnes be there.
She was by his side until a few hours ago. Surely they must have deeply mistaken something.
It had to be so.
Absolutely.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
