Chapter 87
It was immediately after Lionel abruptly raised his hand that the sound of combat boots, which had cut through the silence of the sewer, stopped all at once.
“……Wait.”
It was a short, brief word, but the searching knights all stopped moving in their tracks as if frozen.
The torchlight flickered along the damp walls, swaying long like a living shadow.
Within that view, something entirely unsuited for a sewer caught Lionel’s eyes.
A softly fluttering piece of fabric.
The fabric hanging at the entrance of the narrow, continuous inner passageway was a dress ribbon.
And Lionel recognized it at a single glance.
That it was the decoration of the dress Agnes had been wearing on the eve of the festival.
Though it was soiled with dirt and filth, its delicate pattern and the feel of the cloth had not changed.
In particular, it was impossible not to recognize this light sky-blue color.
Because this was something he had chosen himself. For the reason that it seemed to suit Agnes well.
Lionel’s gaze turned fierce in an instant.
“……Agnes.”
Her name spilled out from between his rough, dry lips.
Lionel threw himself forward, leaping deep into the passageway. He did not even hold a torch.
Surprised by Lionel’s sudden action, the order members behind him hurriedly began to chase after him.
“Colonel! It is dangerous!”
“The path is slippery! We will take the lead!”
But Lionel did not even take a single breath to compose himself and ran swiftly until the end of the passage came into view.
Mud splashed up to his ankles, and the ground was slippery, but his footsteps did not waver even once.
And so, he reached the end of the path.
In a space resembling a small room, the makeshift lantern left behind by Raul as he finally departed was swaying.
Beneath the faint orange light, a small body curled up tightly on the stone floor could be seen.
It was Agnes.
Above her deathly pale face, as if all the blood had drained out, a black cloth was covering her eyes,
And ropes were wound around her thin wrists, which were less than a handful.
The moment he saw that sight, Lionel was seized by a cold sensation, as if all the blood in his entire body was draining out at once.
Who.
Who on earth had made his wife look like this.
How dare they.
His breath twisted roughly.
And finally, a sound tore through his throat as if it would rip it apart.
“……Agnes!”
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‘What is……?’
Agnes, who had lost consciousness for a moment due to her boiling body temperature, opened her eyes to the commotion.
Of course, the black cloth covering her eyes was still all she could see.
However, if there was anything different, it was that countless orange light-like things were flickering beyond the cloth.
“……!”
Startled, Agnes hastily tried to raise her body. But because her hands were tied behind her back, it was not easy.
Colliding with the floor several times, Agnes barely raised her upper body and hurriedly looked around.
Because of the fever, she could not grasp the situation quickly.
Even amidst that, she could at least tell that they were not Rebelt.
The members of Rebelt always turned the radio up loud in the damp darkness, and they used to possess a characteristic smell of gunpowder and rough speech.
They had never lit up the place so brightly.
Something was strange.
“Colonel! You must come with us!”
At that moment. Someone’s shout pierced her hazy consciousness.
If it was a colonel, could it be the Imperial Army?
However, Agnes did not think that they would be Lionel’s unit.
There was no way he would come all the way here.
He, who had doubted her, pushed her away, and even ignored her at the very end. There was no way he would come to find her in such a filthy place.
Therefore, the person who came to mind as someone likely to use the title of colonel was Jerome. Not Lionel.
‘Why……? Could it be that my being here is harmful to Lionel?’
As the voice of Jerome, who had said she would hold Lionel back and drag him down, came to mind, Agnes’s body froze.
Could it be that they were trying to make it an issue simply because she was in the same space as Rebelt?
No matter how one looked at this situation, Agnes was in the position of a victim, not an accomplice. But the truth could always be overturned.
Had she not already experienced it countless times?
Therefore, Agnes was suddenly struck with fear.
‘No……. I cannot be caught.’
She did not want to be a burden to Lionel any longer.
She felt that if she received any more hatred than this, she would not be able to endure it.
Agnes hastily pushed her body backward along with a suffocating sensation.
Because her hands were tied, she could not properly control her body, but she still stumbled, trying to crawl into the darkest corner to hide.
Beneath the black cloth, her large eyes moved anxiously back and forth.
Seeing Agnes like that, Lionel’s Adam’s apple moved slowly up and down as if paralyzed.
“Agnes, why…….”
Why are you avoiding me?
The question that could not come out of his mouth twisted deep inside his throat.
Swallowing those words, Lionel hastily approached Agnes.
He felt a chilly sensation pulling up the back of his neck.
Since he had found Agnes, it would be normal to feel relieved by now, but on the contrary, he was suffocating.
With every step Lionel took, Agnes, hearing those footsteps, pressed her body closer and closer to the wall.
Agnes’s thin shoulders were trembling severely, not from the cold, but from fear.
Because that trembling felt as if she were rejecting him, Lionel’s steps became anxiously hurried.
It was then.
*Crackle—.*
The metallic sound characteristic of a walkie-talkie suddenly spread through the narrow and highly resonant sewer space.
“Gasp……!”
At the same time, air burst out from Agnes’s mouth as if tearing apart.
Because he knew what that signified, a shout burst from Lionel’s mouth.
“Turn off the walkie-talkie right now!”
“Ah, yes! Yes, Colonel!”
The order member following behind fumbled and dropped the walkie-talkie while trying to turn it off.
“I-I am sorry!”
Though he turned off the walkie-talkie belatedly, Agnes’s breathing had long since lost its regularity.
Her fragile body shook violently as if swayed by terror.
Wheezing breaths, which were suffocating just to hear, followed one after another.
Moreover, even though the walkie-talkie was clearly turned off, static noises continued to flow out from somewhere.
His piercing, light blue irises hurriedly scanned the surroundings.
Only then did Lionel realize why Agnes could not calm down even though the walkie-talkie was turned off.
Not far from Agnes, a radio was rolling around.
In an instant, his face contorted.
Lionel stepped down and crushed the old radio just as it was.
*Crash—!*
The radio broke down completely, scattering dismantled parts, and the static noise stopped entirely.
In the meantime, Kalt was carefully reaching out his hand toward Agnes.
“Duchess, come this way.”
However, Agnes only curled her body even more. Because oxygen was not circulating properly, her small lips were already turning blue.
“No, gasp…… I do not want to…….”
Sorrowful syllables flowed out between her breaths, which were broken as if shattering.
It was a desperate voice, as if begging, as if crying out.
“To Brother Rael…… sob…… I do not want to be…… a burden…….”
For a moment, Lionel felt as if someone had pushed him down a cliff, his footing giving way into a vast abyss.
That she did not want to be a burden.
‘Could it be because of Jerome’s words—,’
Had she heard even that talk about how she could become a burden? So, is that why, is that why she allowed herself to be dragged away obediently?
It felt as though a giant hand was completely blocking both her mouth and nose. His breath caught.
But for now, calming Agnes down was the priority.
Ignoring his suffocating breath, Lionel knelt with one knee on the ground.
“Agnes.”
As he called her name slowly enough for the panicked Agnes to understand, Agnes’s movements stopped for a moment.
Lionel slowly untied the cloth covering Agnes’s eyes.
“It is alright. Everything is alright now, so calm down.”
However, contrary to his expectations.
He felt Agnes’s body stiffen rigidly at the sudden downpour of torchlight.
Into Agnes’s vastly dilated pupils, dozens of torches and the shadows of black military uniforms came pouring in.
“……!”
Agnes’s eyes widened greatly.
Her pupils shook with terror and lost focus.
“Agnes?”
Sensing that something was amiss, Lionel tried to calm Agnes down, but it did not go as he wished.
As his hand was about to touch her, Agnes recoiled her body as if she had encountered a red-hot iron.
“I do…… not want to……!”
A voice splitting like broken glass.
Lionel felt his entire body turn cold at that single phrase.
Immediately after, an uncontainable cough burst out repeatedly from the mouth of Agnes, whose breathing had grown rapid.
Lionel, alarmed by the sight of her coughing until her pale face turned bright red, tried to support her, but a red dot splattered onto the back of his hand.
……It was blood.
Although it was as small as a grain of rice, it was clearly blood.
But before he could even perceive it, Agnes’s body collapsed forward.
Instinctively catching that body in his arms, Lionel’s face turned pale in an instant.
Agnes’s body was a ball of fire.
Lionel’s hand touched Agnes’s cheek. His long, extended fingers were trembling miserably.
“……Agnes……?”
Lionel shook Agnes’s cheek gently, as if cradling a child who had just fallen asleep.
However, Agnes’s body only went more and more limp.
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