Chapter 142
Contrary to her tension, the voice heard from beyond the door was unexpectedly familiar.
“Lady Agnes…! Are you here? It’s me. Kain!”
Upon confirming the person outside the door, Agnes’s tightly wound nerves suddenly relaxed.
Soon after, the door opened cautiously.
Sure enough, what appeared beyond the door was curly brown hair.
Kain quickly scanned the surroundings and pushed himself inside.
Closing the door firmly, he inspected the interior and trembled as he noticed Lionel.
“D-Duke?”
Agnes forced her lips to relax, seeing his face as pale as a sheet as if he had seen a ghost, looking as though he might faint at any moment.
“It’s fine, Kain.”
“Bt, why is the Duke here…”
Trailing off, Kain caught sight of the wound on Lionel’s arm, and his complexion turned even paler.
“Are you injured? Is Lady Agnes alright?”
“Yes. As you can see. By the way, how did you get here?”
“Ah. I heard that knights were wandering around the pier, so I came. I remembered you saying you would stop by here today.”
Kain quickly explained how he happened to come to this warehouse.
As soon as he arrived at the pier, he heard a loud noise and ran over, only to see someone holding Agnes in their arms, overpowering a knight and running towards this place.
And taking advantage of a brief moment when their rank became disrupted by the sound of a whistle from another alley, he followed behind them.
“Though I didn’t know the person with Lady Agnes was the Duke.”
Kain glided a glance toward Lionel, worry filling his mild eyes.
“Could those knights be chasing Lady Agnes?”
Kain’s expression grew increasingly serious.
“If so, what should we do? I looked as I came in, but I can’t see any gap to escape. There are even more knights than before.”
While quietly listening to Kain’s words, Agnes’s churning emotions gradually settled down.
Then, the situation became clearer.
As long as he moved with her, not only Lionel, but even Kain could end up in danger.
Thus, Agnes hardened her heart and attempted to ask Kain to support Lionel.
“Kain. I’m sorry, but could you take the Duke and leave? He’s severely injured and needs treatment.”
However, Lionel cut off Agnes’s words.
“Agnes…!”
Unable to even raise his voice, Lionel’s Adam’s apple moved up and down as he called Agnes’s name as if pleading.
How could it make sense to leave you, whom I barely found again, alone in danger and depart?
Lionel had to exert all his strength to swallow the words surging to the tip of his tongue.
If Agnes wanted it, it was only right that he disappear from her sight immediately.
When she said she didn’t want to be involved with him anymore, how could he defy her wishes?
If it weren’t for the Imperial army deployed everywhere, Lionel would have obeyed Agnes’s words a hundred, no, a thousand times right away.
However, as long as the Emperor was moving, he could not do so, at least not for now.
Even if this decision meant being hated by Agnes once again.
Lionel briefly bowed his head to swallow his wild emotions.
And he raised his head again to look at Agnes.
“I will not do such a thing as leaving you behind. It is better to die than to lose you again.”
“…”
“A short distance away from the pier, there is a military vessel belonging to the Black Iron Knights. So we can go there.”
However, at Lionel’s words, Kain, who was fidgeting between the two, cautiously chimed in.
“I am sorry to interrupt… but knights are deployed throughout this area, so it seems it will be difficult to move there without being noticed.”
Hearing those words, Agnes gently pulled out her hand that Lionel was holding.
“Lionel, you just said it. That if I didn’t want to, I didn’t have to return.”
Agnes pushed his hand away once more.
“I don’t want to. Not only the Duke’s estate, but also facing Lionel like this and returning to how things were.”
After taking a brief breath, Agnes continued speaking.
“So please leave. Don’t worry about what happens to me.”
And the final words fell very quietly.
“I don’t… want to be involved with you anymore. In any way.”
At Agnes’s soft, elegant voice descending gently, Lionel felt as if the world before his eyes were turning pitch black.
It was a matter of course.
Even if he were Agnes, he would feel the same way.
However, the pain coming from the disparity between merely guessing it and hearing that fact directly from Agnes’s own mouth was quite vast.
Furthermore, Lionel knew. The reason Agnes was acting like this was not simply because she resented him.
She likely did not want a bystander involved and falling into danger in this situation.
The straightforward light-grey eyes, where concern took precedence over hatred, reflected Agnes’s inner feelings.
That fact, ironically, tormented Lionel even more.
Agnes was still thinking of him.
Even after receiving those numerous wounds, she was foolishly tender-hearted.
So how could he give up on you like this?
Grit.
Lionel’s molars clashed together, making a harsh sound.
Although he had said to go together, Lionel also knew that it was unreasonable.
His fingertips, from which blood kept gushing out, were now growing numb.
It was impossible to push through the knights while holding Agnes like this.
And this small warehouse would also eventually be discovered by them.
The figures of the Imperial army, steadily narrowing their search perimeter, flickered in the distance.
Agnes’s judgment was precise.
It was distant and unlikely for both of them to escape this situation safely.
If so, the person who had to remain here was determined.
Lionel stopped opposing Agnes and walked toward the warehouse door together with Kain, just as she said.
“…If that is your wish, I understand. I shall do so.”
☆☆☆☆
Clack.
The moment the warehouse door closed behind his back, Lionel’s steps stopped.
It was just as Kain was about to turn his head to look at him.
“You go back inside like this and take Agnes to the military vessel. I will draw the attention of the Imperial army.”
“Pardon? But Duke!”
“Or do you really intend to leave Agnes here?”
Flustered, Kain closed his eyes tightly as he tried to refute.
Kain, too, couldn’t bring himself to step away, leaving Agnes behind.
Above all, since Lionel was stronger than anyone else, Kain also thought that even if he lured the Imperial army, he would be able to return safely.
Kain rubbed his face vigorously with both hands and then opened his eyes wide.
“Your Grace will also come to where the ship is, right?”
“Naturally, I must. Do you think I wouldn’t even be able to shake off mere knights?”
“Of course not.”
Faintly smiling, Kain took a short deep breath and answered firmly.
“Understood. Then please leave it to me.”
His gaze turned toward the warehouse door again.
“I will definitely escort the Duchess to the military vessel.”
Tap.
A moment later, the sound of Kain entering the warehouse again was heard.
With that sound as the last, Lionel did not look back any longer.
Instead, he moved his steps deliberately to make his presence noticeable.
Under the sky where the sun was now setting, the gazes of several Imperial soldiers turned sharply toward him.
“Over there! It’s Duke Valheim!”
Meanwhile, Kain was quickly lowering his body while holding Agnes, slipping out of the warehouse.
Catching sight of that scene from the corner of his eye, Lionel began running in the exact opposite direction from Kain.
Although one arm did not move properly, drawing the attention of the Imperial army was not difficult.
At the very moment he made the judgment that if he turned through the alleys like this and shook off the pursuing knights, he would be able to head to the military vessel without being late.
Movement suddenly occurred among the Imperial army.
As if someone’s command had been issued, the knights pursuing him came to a halt, and the formation opened up to both sides.
And through that gap, a figure slowly walked out.
“Look who it is. Duke Valheim, I didn’t expect you to be here already, but you are quite fast?”
Just hearing the voice gave Lionel a feeling as if bugs were crawling all over his body, and his face crumpled.
It was the Emperor.
His steps parting through the knights were surprisingly leisurely.
As if he were taking a peaceful stroll, rather than facing an enemy on a battlefield.
This was outside of Lionel’s expectations. He did not know the Emperor himself would come all the way here.
He had a bad feeling.
The Emperor’s gaze turned toward the two figures moving rapidly away along the path stretching behind Lionel’s back.
In an instant, the Emperor’s eyes narrowed subtly.
His gaze precisely caught the shape of Agnes.
“Oho. So the Duchess of Valheim was truly alive?”
Along with an exclamation that flowed out strangely, the corner of the Emperor’s mouth twisted.
The Emperor flicked his hand toward the Imperial army.
“What are you standing around looking at? Isn’t there a traitor over there who helped Rebelt? Arrest her.”
At the same time the Emperor’s trembling fingertip pointed at Agnes, Lionel pulled a pistol from his waist and aimed it straight at the Emperor.
“Nobody move.”
“What do you think you are doing now, Duke Valheim? Are you seriously planning to shoot me?”
“It is not something I cannot do.”
At the Emperor’s sneer, a deeply sunken low voice flowed from Lionel.
Just aiming the muzzle was no different from treason. Because it was an act committed against none other than the Emperor.
However, Lionel did not hesitate in the slightest.
It didn’t matter what happened to him anyway.
If only Agnes could get out of here safely.
At that moment. The twilight light spreading across the sky reflected off the gun barrel and struck Lionel’s eyes.
Then, the Emperor’s figure split into two before merging back into one.
The gun muzzle also faltered ambiguously between them, wavering subtly.
Furthermore, the hand holding the gun happened to be the injured arm, so it was trembling finely.
It was a very fleeting delay.
However, taking advantage of that brief gap, the Emperor also drew a pistol from his breast pocket.
And he aimed it at Lionel.
No, the Emperor’s gun muzzle, which seemed to aim at Lionel, slowly turned its direction to the side.
And it pointed over Lionel’s shoulder.
In that place, there were two figures that had not yet managed to get far away.
Kain.
And Agnes.
A cruel smile spread like sunset across the corners of the Emperor’s mouth.
“Now, what will you do? Will you still pull that trigger after all?”
