Chapter 130
The distance was too far.
Lionel was not even sure if the person he saw was really Agnes.
Nevertheless, his feet were already moving in one direction.
Forgetting the purpose of coming here, the secret letter, and even the Emperor altogether.
It was just at the moment he was about to throw himself forward and run in the direction of the ship.
The moment his feet left the ground, his vision suddenly twisted.
His field of view tilted and broke in a single moment, and along with the sensation of the ground receding, a dizzying vertigo washed over him, as if he were about to lose his balance.
At the same time, a suffocating pressure tightened around his chest.
His sight gradually narrowed, only to broaden again like incoming waves, repeatedly.
Power seemed to leave his fingertips for no apparent reason, and soon an uncontrollable, subtle trembling rose up.
In his ears, an endless buzzing hovered, making it impossible to tell whether it was the sound of the sea wind or a noise echoing from deep within his head.
Lionel lowered his head and struggled to catch his breath.
The overdose of medication was gradually gnawing away at his body, to the point of finally driving him to his limit.
It was at that moment.
Amidst the noise at the end of the pier, someone’s presence reached behind Lionel.
It was Jerome.
The moment he stopped his steps, he narrowed his eyes.
“……Lieutenant Colonel Valheim?”
Jerome, who muttered without thinking, immediately clamped his mouth shut.
Fortunately, it was a very small voice, so Lionel did not seem to have heard it.
Jerome’s pupils busily scanned Lionel’s back up and down. He had not expected at all to run into Lionel in a place like this.
‘Could it be that he came after finding out about the secret letter?’
A thick guard arose in both of Jerome’s eyes.
If Lionel had also come here in pursuit of the secret letter, he could not simply leave him be.
If he were to lose the secret letter here, he would lose the only weapon capable of putting pressure on the Emperor.
‘That will not do.’
Jerome quickly scanned Lionel’s surroundings.
Around them, there was no sign of any human presence at all, except for Lionel and himself.
‘Should I kill him?’
Jerome’s eyebrow raised crookedly.
Jerome did not like the Emperor’s way of doing things from the very beginning.
Spreading rumors, manipulating public opinion, and covertly gnawing away at Lionel from behind—that petty method.
Gnawing away bit by bit like that, when on earth would he get what he wanted into his hands?
Anyway, the day when the throne would fall into his hands was drawing near, so there was no longer any need to follow the Emperor’s words.
If he was a human destined to be ruined someday, wouldn’t it be much more efficient to just clean him up neatly right now?
Jerome’s chin was raised obliquely.
Yes, let’s kill him here.
That way, there would be no risk of losing the secret letter, nor any need to make troublesome political calculations.
It was enough to eliminate right here on the spot the one possibility that would block his path forward.
For whatever reason, Lionel just happened to look like he was unable to pull himself together.
There was no better opportunity than this.
Jerome quietly slipped his hand inside his coat.
The body of a pistol made of cold metal slowly revealed itself.
Jerome aimed the muzzle toward the head of Lionel, who was struggling to stare at the deck of the ship.
Click.
The sound of the bullet being loaded echoed gloomily through the noise of the pier.
As if,
It were a signal announcing that all these choices had begun rolling in an irreversible direction.
***
“By the way, sir, is it really fine not to inform the Lieutenant Colonel?”
At the question of the knight heading to the ticket booth together, Kalt scowled.
He recalled once more the chaotic scene he had encountered at the entrance of the Duke’s residence before coming here.
It was just as he was hurriedly stepping outside, following Lionel who had departed for the harbor alone. He had discovered a dismissed maid blocking the way in front of the main gate of the Duke’s residence and weeping.
‘I’m sure it’s because I think I saw Lady Agnes…!’
That maid was definitely Jessie, who had been cast out in the past for neglecting her duties in attending to the Duchess.
Wondering what was going on, he held her back and asked for the full story, and Jessie said her younger sister seemed to have seen the Duchess.
However, Kalt had no choice but to shake his head at Jessie’s words.
That child who was her younger sister looked to be four or five years old at most. On top of that, Jessie herself was not entirely sure of her sister’s words either.
It wasn’t even that she saw her clearly, but that she thought she saw her.
Since it seemed clear that she had misseen, Kalt chose to rush over here without digging any further.
The fact that he did not report to Lionel was also for the same reason.
Finishing his recollection, Kalt advised the knight.
“It was a story without credibility. Do not disturb the Lieutenant Colonel’s mind with unnecessary words.”
“Understood.”
However, Kalt’s advice did not last long. Because the loud voice of a ticket inspector struck his ears.
“No, I’m telling you, it really seems to be the Duchess?”
The ticket inspector who had checked Agnes’s ship ticket a moment ago was casually leaning one arm against the ticket booth, flicking a newspaper up and down.
“Look at this, this platinum-blond hair. I’m telling you, it was the exact same as this hair color? What’s more, even her legs looked uncomfortable.”
Stopping dead in his tracks, Kalt’s pupils shook.
If he hadn’t heard Jessie’s words, he might have just passed it by. But this was already the second time that someone claiming to have seen the Duchess had appeared.
Kalt immediately approached the ticket inspector who was raising his voice while spitting.
“Are you certain you saw the Duchess?”
“U-uh? Yes?”
The ticket inspector who had been standing cockily with his legs crossed straightened his posture as if by magic when the black military uniform appeared.
“P-probably—,”
“Where did you see her?”
“I saw her boarding that ship over there.”
The ticket inspector fully extended his index finger and pointed to the ship Agnes had boarded.
Kalt turned his body just like that and ran toward the pier. However, the ship was already weighing anchor and preparing to leave the pier.
“Damn it!”
Grit his teeth, Kalt immediately barked orders to the knights.
“Stop that ship! Delay its departure somehow!”
“Yes!”
Kalt soon changed direction and began heading toward where Lionel was standing. From behind Kalt, the ticket inspector shouted out.
“Hey! Is it really the Duchess? Then isn’t there something like a reward?”
Ignoring that ridiculous talk, Kalt repeatedly berated his own carelessness.
Jessie’s younger sister.
And the ticket inspector.
Both of them said they saw Agnes.
This was no longer a matter to be dismissed as a coincidence or a delusion.
‘I must inform the Lieutenant Colonel.’
For that goal, just as Kalt, who rapidly reached the end of the path where Lionel was standing, was about to call out to Lionel.
The scene of someone stretching out an arm toward Lionel entered his view.
In the unidentified opponent’s hand, a dark, gleaming metallic object was held.
It was a gun.
“Lieutenant Colonel!”
Kalt shouted reflexively.
“Dodge!”
Bang!
But at the same time, a sharp gunshot split through the noise of the harbor.
At that moment, Lionel’s body jerked heavily backward.
As if pushed by an invisible force.
Then, he soon slowly tilted forward.
“Lieutenant Colonel!”
Kalt ran like mad. Toward Lionel’s body, which was collapsing onto the ground where blood was spreading.
***
Memories after the gunshot rang out were severed like fragmented shards.
As if someone had flipped the whole world upside down, Lionel’s body collapsed onto the ground just as it was.
His vision tilted.
The boundary between heaven and earth blurred together, and the scenery of the harbor slid down in a twisted state.
The pain arrived one beat late.
A heavy shock arrived at his head. Soon, something spreading hot flowed down his face.
Lionel tried to inhale, but air did not come in, as if his lungs had forgotten their function.
‘Ah…….’
His lips moved minutely, but no sound came out.
Even so, Lionel raised his head.
No, he tried to raise it.
Dragging his body that no longer listened to him, he forcibly held onto his gaze toward the pier.
Toward the ship that was moving away while cutting through the water current as if sliding, Lionel reached out a trembling hand.
He felt the blood inside his body draining out rapidly.
His eyes kept trying to close.
He couldn’t, he had to go to Agnes. He had to confirm whether the person standing on the deck of the ship a moment ago was truly her.
His blood-soaked hand fumbled through the air.
Lionel struggled to hold onto his increasingly faint consciousness and prayed. Seeking a God he did not even know where He was, nor believed in, was the second time in his life.
If there truly was a God, please let the person he saw be Agnes.
May her death be nothing more than a farce originating from a laughable misunderstanding.
If this was an impossible wish, if an already arranged death could not be reversed. Then please, even by turning back time, grant him a chance just one more time.
If only He would do so, so that Agnes’s legs would not break. So that he would not leave her to cry alone.
Promising that he would absolute never repeat the same mistake.
Without trying to possess her, without hurting her, promising to merely cherish her infinitely, down to the utmost.
To trust Agnes entirely, without a moment of doubt.
Thus, not even daring to hope for the happiness of a thing like himself.
Even if he had to pay the p
rice of this wretched soul falling into an endless hell, it did not matter.
Lionel prayed earnestly and repeatedly, asking to be allowed to see Agnes just one more time.
Until the moment the edges of his vision darkened, and all surrounding noises faded far away.
