Chapter 24
Warm and firm skin brushed past the lips, gently sweeping over that spot.
And then, as if nothing had happened from the beginning, it plainly separated.
Goosebumps rose along the spine at the unfamiliar sensation.
Was it because the scent was different?
Or because the voice was considerably gentle?
This time, it stemmed from an emotion other than fear.
On the lips that had been crushed under the large hand, a burning sensation remained as if scorched by fire.
“So, what do you have to say?”
Agnes, who had been fidgeting with her lips, took a deep breath and difficultly opened her mouth.
“If I……. said that this theater is dangerous so let’s leave here, would you do that for me?”
“It would depend on the reason for saying such a thing.”
It was an unexpected reaction.
She thought he would ridicule it as nonsense or completely ignore it.
Agnes looked at Lionel in surprise.
The elegant lips that always only sneered seemed to be slightly uplifted, even if minimally.
It might be an illusion.
Somehow, today’s Lionel seemed a bit, just a very little bit, more lenient.
Agnes took a deep breath and mustered courage to part her lips.
“There’s…… a bomb inside the theater.”
One of Lionel’s eyebrows rose.
“How do you know that?”
Agnes took out the pamphlet from her bosom, unfolded it, and pointed to the prop box.
“This pattern is the one used by our trading company when managing explosives.”
“……Are you certain?”
“Yes. Because I managed it directly.”
Lionel narrowed his eyes as if trying to grasp Agnes’s true intentions.
“If your words are true, the Bardo could be suspected of involvement in terrorism. Why are you telling this to me?”
Strength entered Agnes’s hand holding the pamphlet.
She couldn’t be certain yet.
Whether the Bardo trading company had extended its hand to terrorism following arms smuggling.
But even if that were true, it didn’t matter.
Even if they were involved in terrorism, she wasn’t shameless enough to pretend not to know while aware of the impending danger.
“Because they might get hurt.”
‘……Lionel, you’.
Swallowing the latter words that had risen to her throat, Agnes added.
“……The people.”
“I didn’t know you had a personality that thinks of others like this.”
At the cynical tone that was like a habit, Lionel gestured to the knight with his hand.
“Search the entire backstage.”
“This time, are you believing my words?”
“…….”
Instead of answering, Lionel looked down at Agnes’s shoes.
Just how hurriedly had she come out.
The one who was nominally the Duchess had shoes that didn’t even match as a pair.
Lionel’s expression momentarily distorted subtly.
A short while later, the report came back that the search was finished.
“Nothing was found. Everything in the box is ordinary props.”
However, contrary to Agnes’s words, nothing came out from the backstage box.
“No. There is definitely a bomb here. Please check once more……!”
“Stop.”
The gesture to move the wheelchair was blocked by Lionel.
“It might have been moved to another place in the meantime. Or I’ll go and check myself-,”
“Even if that’s the case, I’ll handle it myself, so if you’re done talking, return now.”
“……Weren’t you believing me?”
“I don’t know why you think that, but it seems there was a misunderstanding.”
Lionel was right. He hadn’t answered the question.
She had merely interpreted Lionel’s actions as the result of trust on her own.
“The reason I’m spending time on this is because I judged there’s nothing to lose by checking.”
At the voice firmly drawing the line, Agnes’s eyes gradually sank.
“And that check is over.”
Ah. She had another foolish illusion.
The price of illusion was painfully cruel.
Even though she had repeatedly hoped and been disappointed countless times.
Yet, like a fool, she had believed that this time would be different.
Repeated disappointments were bound to crack even the sturdiest heart.
Before she knew it, in Agnes’s heart, one truth was taking root, becoming clearer even as she tried to deny it.
Lionel would never believe whatever she said.
It was a sad and stubborn conclusion.
Without avoiding her gaze, Lionel added.
“Isn’t this much accompanying you enough? I’ll call Simon, so wait here.”
He immediately turned around and walked down the corridor.
As the performance time approached, people began entering the theater one by one.
Agnes struggled to roll the wheelchair aside to avoid the crowding people.
However, the complicated tangled wires on the floor kept getting caught in the wheels.
While trying to move her body to the corner, suddenly, a familiar back figure flashed among the people.
Adrian.
He was disappearing somewhere with a box.
For a moment, the thought came to call Lionel.
But soon, the words got stuck in her throat.
“He wouldn’t believe me this time either, of course.”
Before she knew it, resignation came to mind before expectation.
Agnes inhaled and then exhaled long.
Hope always came with disappointment.
In that case, it was better not to expect from the beginning.
“……Let’s find it even if alone.”
Since when had she hoped for help from others.
A bitter taste lingered in her mouth, but her mind was surprisingly calm.
She had known for a long time that there was no one to lean on.
Yet, upon meeting an old friend, she had unknowingly wanted to lean on him.
Agnes lightly rubbed her heated eyelids with her hand.
Stop it. This wasn’t the time to be leisurely like this.
Patching up her crumbling heart haphazardly, Agnes moved her body.
While bending down to remove the wires wrapped around the wheels.
Someone gently grasped the handle of the wheelchair.
“I thought you wouldn’t come since there was no reply, but you came.”
A familiar voice.
Turning back, Kain was looking at Agnes with his mouth corners refreshingly curled up.
“Nice to meet you again, Miss Agnes.”
***
Meanwhile.
Lionel, who was heading to where Simon was, stopped in the middle of the corridor.
Because the toe shoes placed among the souvenirs on the glass display case caught his eye.
It was a place he had just passed by earlier.
Perhaps because he had seen Agnes looking at the stage affectionately a little while ago, it bothered him.
Suddenly, Agnes’s mismatched shoes came to mind.
Along with, on the first night, the worn-out toe shoes that Agnes had cherished and held.
Lionel spread his palm.
“Was the foot size around this?”
Suddenly. Lionel became curious.
What kind of expression Agnes would make if she received those toe shoes.
If she smiled happily, it wouldn’t be so bad either.
Even if not, it would be better than the teary expression from earlier.
Lionel entered the souvenir shop.
A short while later.
Jingle—.
The bell on the door rang, and Lionel came out of the shop again.
In his hand wearing black leather gloves, a white box was now held.
It was purely an impulse.
Buying the toe shoes.
Lionel couldn’t understand his own actions.
However, his feet moved steadily.
Back the way he came, toward Agnes.
Even in the short moment Agnes the corridor, questions constantly arose in his mind.
What was the reason Agnes came here and brought up the bomb story.
Pure worry and goodwill?
Anyway, whatever the reason. He had to send her back home first.
Although no bomb was found in the place Agnes mentioned, if something happened, this place would be dangerous.
Above all, there would be a lot of radio traffic due to operation instructions.
If Agnes stayed here longer, it was obvious she would have a seizure like last night.
Lionel didn’t want to see Agnes’s limp and drooping appearance again.
“She’s quite a handful.”
Tsk. Clicking his tongue, Lionel widened his stride a bit more.
However.
Upon actually arriving at where Agnes was, Lionel’s steps stopped.
Because from afar, the bushy half-curly brown hair was visible.
The mind that had been raising complicated thoughts one after another calmed in an instant.
The suspicions and worries that had been coming up until a moment ago, the words he wanted to question.
All of it scattered into pieces.
At the single smiling expression of Kain looking at Agnes.
Unknowingly, Lionel clenched the white box in his hand.
The packaging ribbon crumpled, and the thin box distorted crookedly.
“Huh.”
On the expressionless face, a smile that wasn’t quite a smile spread.
Lionel, tightly clenching the toe shoes box, slowly moved his steps.
The long legs stopped in front of the two.
His gaze swept in order over Kain’s hand holding the wheelchair handle, and Agnes’s side profile.
At the end, dry words fell bluntly.
“Now I see. It seems you didn’t come to see me.”
The deep blue gaze was still piercing between the two.
“I didn’t expect you to practice my words to create affection so quickly.”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
