Chapter 62
Agnes raised her head and looked at the sky. A burning red sunset was staining the clouds orange.
The knight sent to the Duke’s mansion had not yet returned.
Simon had tipped her off before heading out today that Lionel would surely be home before dinner time.
Has he not returned to the mansion yet?
‘If so, Lionel might not be able to come here.’
Agnes pretended to pick up her water glass while quickly scanning the faces opposite her.
Thanks to the round table, the distance from the Castia Merchant Group was so close that their breaths almost brushed against each other.
In addition to the figures who had caught her eye upon entry, several more faces from the portraits Lionel had shown her were sitting there.
And the robes they wore were embroidered with a daisy pattern.
I’ve seen that somewhere before.
Agnes tilted her head at the pattern engraved on the bottom of a drawer, which she couldn’t quite recall.
A sense of déjà vu, as if she had seen it somewhere, tickled the back of her neck before sliding away.
Her hunch was right.
‘As expected, the Castia Merchant Group was connected to Rebelt.’
Since she had obtained the important information for now, this much would be enough for today, even if Lionel failed to raid the scene.
Agnes hid her hands under the table to avoid revealing how they trembled with tension.
To promise a future, she must not arouse suspicion in this place right now.
Therefore, the best Agnes could do for now was to finish the negotiation safely and as calmly as possible.
However, that determination was quickly thwarted.
“What is this? This isn’t Adrian Bardo.”
It was because a voice filled with dissatisfaction erupted from the Castia side.
They had apparently taken it for granted that Adrian would appear.
To make matters worse, the sound of numerous footsteps, along with the clanking of armor colliding, was heard from outside the meeting room.
Agnes’s rounded shoulders stiffened in an instant. Has Lionel arrived?
Sensing an unusual flow in the air, a person from the Castia side pulled back the curtain and checked outside.
Then, with a stiffened face, he strode across the table and urgently whispered to the man standing a short distance away.
“Commander. The Imperial Army has surrounded the building.”
It was a very low whisper, but Agnes heard it clearly. The title “Commander.”
At that moment, someone pointed at Agnes.
“Come to think of it, this woman is the wife of Duke Valheim. I saw her in the newspaper!”
In an instant, the air froze.
Soon, the hoarse voice of the man called Commander echoed through the room.
“It seems that rat-like fellow Adrian sold us out. Or is this the work of our Duchess?”
The voice, which sounded like fingernails scratching glass, was one Agnes had heard before.
As the man threw back the hood he was wearing, an unforgettable face was revealed.
He was the operational commander of the 5th Brigade, which had now disappeared into the flames of war.
At the same time, as the leader heading Rebelt, he also recognized Agnes and twitched his cheekbones.
“Aren’t we old acquaintances? To think you survived falling from that height.”
Before his sharp laughter could even fade, the commander bared his teeth and growled lowly.
“I’m glad to see you again after so long, but we aren’t exactly generous toward traitors.”
He tilted his head.
“Dispose of her.”
A cold murderous intent spread, as if he would cut off Agnes’s breath right this moment.
“It doesn’t matter if it was Adrian Bardo or the Duchess who summoned the Imperial Army. I need someone to vent this foul mood on.”
At that moment, there was a figure who blocked him.
“Nick, calm your excitement. Now is not the time to kill this woman. First, we must escape.”
Only then did she realize the operational commander’s name was Nick.
The person blocking him was a middle-aged man who had been the only one hiding his face until now.
His presence was oddly solid compared to his slight build.
Nick glared fiercely.
“Move, Rael.”
“We are not mass murderers. We move for our convictions; we are not a group that kills innocent people at random.”
“Are you lecturing me again? Being of noble birth really is different, isn’t it?”
“Nick.”
“Alright, I get it. Then it’ll be fine to use her as a hostage instead of killing her, right? We’ll need something to divert their attention if we want to get out of here.”
As soon as Nick’s words fell, someone roughly grabbed Agnes and pulled her up.
“Ah—!”
Right at that moment, a commotion broke out, and Jerome’s forces and Lionel’s troops burst in together.
In an instant, the room turned into a scene of carnage.
The sounds of gunshots, screams, and clashing armor became entangled and covered the interior.
“This way! This path!”
Rael quickly led Nick and their comrades out through the back door.
Agnes, held hostage, was being dragged through the back door among them.
“Stay still if you don’t want to die.”
The tip of a blade that suddenly popped up from behind poked the nape of Agnes’s neck.
As the cold chill of the steel crept along her skin, her breath instinctively became shallow.
Even so, Agnes kept her eyes wide open and calmly scanned her surroundings.
Just before reaching the back door, she saw that the finish of the flooring was misaligned and protruding upward.
If the man behind her tripped there, a brief opening might be created.
Agnes held her breath as much as possible, waiting for the man holding her to get close to the threshold.
And finally, when the man’s heel caught on the ledge, she tried to strike down the knife aimed at her neck.
However, someone pulled Agnes from the opposite side, and a large hand covered her eyes.
And soon after, something lukewarm splashed onto her cheek, and the fishy smell of iron faintly stimulated her sense of smell.
It smelled like blood.
“There’s a limit to being foolish.”
Although her vision was blocked and she could see nothing, Agnes recognized the owner of the hand holding her at once.
It was Lionel.
Lionel looked indifferently at the man in front of him who was clutching his neck and wheezing.
The knife of the man who had been holding Agnes hostage was now in Lionel’s hand.
Watching the man collapse forward, Lionel threw the blood-stained knife away carelessly.
Then, he embraced Agnes fully with both hands.
The strength in his arms was so intense that Agnes’s shoulders felt a numbing ache.
“Duke…? It is you, isn’t it, Duke?”
“Do you have any sense at all, or not? You can’t even walk on your own, yet you enter a place like this without fear?”
“I just thought it might help in capturing Rebelt…”
“Damn it, even if that were the case—!”
Lionel, who was raising his voice, grit his teeth.
His knuckles turned white from the strength he was exerting.
As if Agnes would disappear if he let go of this hand.
Sensing Lionel, who seemed unstable somehow, Agnes reached out fumbling.
“Were you surprised…? I’m sorry.”
When Agnes’s fingers touched his jawline, Lionel’s jaw stiffened even harder.
No. What he wanted to hear from Agnes right now was not this kind of apology.
Rather…
Lionel tilted his head and pressed his face closer to Agnes’s small hand.
As he felt her warm body temperature, his anxiety slowly cleared away, and a strange tranquility began to fill its place.
He was beyond happy that Agnes was safely in his arms.
His emotions were fluctuating wildly.
Peace and anger were entangled without boundaries, making his inside turbulent.
‘To think this is really just simple possessiveness?’
What on earth was it that, whenever he got involved with Agnes, it churned his heart like this?
From head to toe.
The anxiety that had been frozen cold melted away in an instant, and a sense of relief that poured down like a waterfall covered his entire body.
It was an intense sensation, enough to make his head spin and take his breath away.
Lionel’s solid chest heaved up and down roughly.
Lionel lowered his head and leaned his forehead against Agnes’s rounded forehead.
Lionel lowered his head and leaned his forehead against Agnes’s rounded forehead.
His head ached.
His thoughts were buzzing and tangled.
“Damn it… Agnes, what on earth are you?”
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