Chapter 77
Something cold fell softly onto the cheek of Agnes as she emerged from the Knights’ building.
Agnes flinched at the sensation that gently touched her fingertips.
She thought it might be a tear, but what had quietly melted in her palm was a snowflake.
Snowflakes light as cherry blossom petals were fluttering in the air.
The white-blooming snowflakes settled warmly atop the ornaments she had painstakingly fixed, upon her intricately styled hair, and between the pleats of her light blue dress.
The sight was truly beautiful.
And that was exactly what made Agnes feel more miserable.
For several days, Lionel Edmund Valheim had not shown his face even once.
Nevertheless, she had foolishly looked forward to meeting him, nursing her own expectations.
She had struggled with ornaments that didn’t suit her, worrying about what would make her look lovelier.
The finished appearance she possessed now felt hideously pathetic.
How much would Lionel Edmund Valheim have mocked her if he saw her like this?
Agnes let out a trembling breath and raised her head.
The music of the Eve festival drifted faintly from afar.
The sound of bells ringing from towers draped in golden decorations.
Glistening ornaments on every roadside tree.
The laughter of children and the drumbeats of the performance troupes.
The city was entirely stained with the heat of the festival.
Yet, amidst all those warm and lively sounds, Agnes felt as if she alone were isolated in a different world.
The world was filled with light and warmth, but beneath her feet, only a darkness that seemed to descend endlessly stretched out.
Agnes slowly placed her hands on the wheels of her wheelchair.
She didn’t know where to go.
However, she felt she could not keep her word about waiting here.
Right now, she utterly lacked the confidence to face Lionel Edmund Valheim while pretending as if nothing were wrong.
Upon the thin snow just beginning to pile on the ground, the long tracks of a wheelchair that had lost its destination remained.
***
Lionel Edmund Valheim exhaled a long, annoyed breath.
If it weren’t for Jerome, he would have gone to see Agnes long ago.
The fact that he was wasting time with such meaningless bickering was extremely bothersome.
Just then, a very faint sign of presence brushed from behind the door.
A sound that made it impossible to distinguish if it were a hem of clothes or a footstep.
However, Lionel Edmund Valheim’s keen ears responded to it immediately.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Setting down his glass, Lionel Edmund Valheim opened the door.
There, Kalt, who had been standing in the hallway, revealed himself.
The face of the adjutant, who was always upright and unwavering, looked unusually troubled.
Lionel Edmund Valheim’s eyes narrowed very minutely.
“Did someone come?”
“It is…… Lady Agnes was here.”
“Why would Agnes come here? I should have told her to wait at the Duke’s residence.”
“It seems there was a mistake during the delivery of today’s schedule. The message to wait at the Duke’s residence seems not to have been properly conveyed.”
Lionel Edmund Valheim’s breathing turned shallow instantly.
As if anticipating Kalt’s following words, Lionel Edmund Valheim’s hand tightened.
“And it seems she heard the conversation the Colonel had with Lord Jerome.”
“……What?”
Thick veins rose vividly over Lionel Edmund Valheim’s forehead.
His mind went blank for a moment.
What had he babbled?
“The daughter of a lowly merchant or some such—. She has served her use anyway—.”
Yes, it seemed he had spouted such things.
‘And Agnes heard that.’
His entire spine turned cold.
“Where is Agnes?”
“She said she would wait at the entrance of the Knights…… but she has disappeared.”
“Disappeared?”
After a moment of silence, Lionel Edmund Valheim snatched his jacket and left the room almost like a reflex.
“Colonel Valheim?”
Jerome’s voice, laced with mockery, flowed from behind.
However, Lionel Edmund Valheim didn’t even pretend to hear.
He knew very well how foolish an act he was committing right now.
He knew plainly that he was personally negating the indifferent attitude he had worked so hard to paint over until a moment ago.
And he also knew that the things he would have to endure as a result would by no means be light.
Therefore, logically, it was correct to sit back down in front of Jerome with a bored expression and tilt his glass once more.
However, all such calculations evaporated from his mind in an instant.
Only one thought dominated Lionel Edmund Valheim.
He had to find Agnes. And—.
‘And what.’
The jacket was crumpled haphazardly in his hand.
Did he want to offer an explanation?
That it was a misunderstanding? That he didn’t mean it that way? That it was to protect her in front of Jerome?
There was no reason to lay out such long-winded excuses.
The choice he made a moment ago was right.
He had no regrets regarding the words he spat out because of it.
Even if that situation occurred again, he would say the same thing.
Agnes only needed to stay within the fence he had built.
He had neither the reason nor the obligation to explain every single one of his actions to her.
Despite that, Lionel Edmund Valheim’s pace grew faster and faster.
He hadn’t organized what he would say when he caught Agnes, but for now, he felt he had to see her.
To see what kind of expression she was making now.
To see if she might be making a face that looked like she was about to cry, like when she was suffering and pleading for him not to abandon her.
He had to check that.
And at the very least,
He had to tell her that the words about discarding her were not sincere.
“Tsk, tsk. To think he cannot hide his heart like that.”
Jerome sat in the chair in a slumped posture, watching the direction where Lionel Edmund Valheim’s back disappeared.
“With a face like that, he says he’ll discard his wife?”
A fishy smile lingered around the mouth of Jerome as he gulped down the liquor.
It was like the smile of a hunter who had obtained a very high-quality bait.
“As if he could.”
***
Meanwhile.
The Rebelt base that Jerome had swept through was a mess, like a forest after a storm had passed.
Broken wooden crates, floors stained with blood, and swords and firearms dropped while fleeing were rolling around everywhere.
“That rat-like man Adrian Bardo finally sold us out.”
In the middle of that ashen mess, Nick stood with his teeth clenched.
“Otherwise, how could the Imperial Army find this place so accurately! Do you know how much money we’ve poured into that bastard!”
*Thump!*
As Nick’s fist struck the wall, dust fell in heaps from the surface.
Rael stood beside him with a hardened face.
“Nick. This is not the time. For now, we must escape the capital.”
“Damn it, don’t you think I know that? The problem is we can’t do that right now!”
To prevent chaos and potential crimes during the Eve festival, the gates of the capital were being strictly controlled.
They could not escape with the temporary passes they had been using.
No, even if they found a way, Nick had no intention of fleeing quietly.
“It’s so unfair that I can’t just leave peacefully. We can’t just leave that guy who betrayed us alone, can we?”
“Adrian Bardo is currently under the protection of the Imperial guards. It is not a situation where we can touch him.”
“Who said anything about touching that bastard Adrian?”
A fire-like rage writhed in Nick’s eyes.
There were countless ways to punish a traitor without directly retaliating against the person himself.
“That bastard had a daughter, I believe. They say he dotes on her dearly.”
What would it be like if such a precious daughter met with disaster because of him?
“If you mean Adrian Bardo’s daughter, which one are you referring to?”
“Well—,”
Nick’s sharply arched eyebrows twitched.
“Preferably the one with the more expensive ransom. Did they say the second daughter is the wife of Colonel Valheim?”
Nick recalled the mild-looking beauty he had seen at the negotiation site.
Agnes.
If that woman met with disaster, it would cause great loss not only to Adrian but also to that bastard Lionel Edmund Valheim, who had inflicted countless feelings of defeat during the war.
Was she not, quite literally, the perfect target for revenge?
“It’s perfect timing.”
All high-ranking nobles were expected to attend the Eve festival, and today was that very festival.
The city would be excited with festival heat, and the streets would be insanely crowded with people.
On a night where thousands of footsteps are tangled and vision is blurred by fireworks and music, no one would notice if one person disappeared.
Rael’s voice became urgent, having guessed what Nick was trying to do.
“No, Nick. That is too dangerous. Above all, that woman is innocent, is she not?”
“Then what sin did we commit to roll through battlefields like chess pieces, and now end up as wanderers who have lost our country?”
However, despite Rael’s rebuttal, Nick’s anger did not subside in the least.
“Don’t stop me, Rael.”
Nick growled lowly, baring his teeth.
At that moment.
Fireworks announcing the start of the Eve festival stained the sky red.
Watching that, Nick whispered ominously to the members of Rebelt who had returned from burying the bodies of their comrades killed by Jerome.
“Tonight, we bring Agnes Bardo.”
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