Chapter 96
“…….”
Upon the face of Lionel, who was sitting gracefully with his legs crossed on the small fabric sofa of the Belair townhouse, there was no expression whatsoever.
That expressionlessness made Kain’s hands even busier instead.
Kain was quite flustered by Lionel’s sudden visit, but he brewed the tea as calmly as possible.
*Trickle.*
The clear tea water drew a parabola and fell into the teacup.
“You said you have something to ask me.”
Lionel stared at the filling teacup, then raised his head.
Instead of turning his words around uselessly, he brought out the main point straightforwardly.
“Previously, you mentioned the accident of my wife. That the accident occurred while she was heading to the North.”
The hand of Kain, who was pouring the tea, slipped.
The tea water overflowed the edge of the cup and spilled onto the table.
“……Did you hear everything at that time?”
“It turned out that way, as chance would have it.”
While Kain hastily took out a handkerchief from his inner pocket, Lionel looked down at the water droplets pooled on the table.
Above the clear water, his own distorted form was being reflected.
Lionel stared at that shape for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“By any chance, Agnes’s accident was—,”
The end of his words blurred.
Lionel narrowed the space between his brows and loosened his tie. Not even the leeway to maintain neatness remained to him.
Lionel, who had come to have a disheveled appearance, forcefully opened his vocal cords and dragged out his voice.
“Is it related to the fact that the dikes leading to the Lieck Base were blown up?”
Kain could not readily make either an affirmation or a negation. Because he had a suspicion, but it was merely that.
“I have not heard how the accident happened. Therefore, it does not seem to be a matter for me to speak on…….”
“You do not say it is not.”
Lionel swallowed a bitter smile.
“If so, I wish you would tell me the shelter where the knight who spoke regarding the accident is.”
“So, you mean the location of the shelter I take care of?”
“Right.”
Kain’s lips clamped shut tightly.
When he recalled the firm attitude of Agnes, who had not wished to make the full story of the accident known, a judgment did not form on whether it was alright to disclose the location of the shelter.
However, the action of Lionel that followed next made it impossible for Kain to maintain his silence.
Because the head of Lionel, who was sitting on the chair, dropped downward.
“It is a request, so please tell me.”
The pupils of the startled Kain became as large as lanterns.
That Lionel bowed his head.
Merely to find out the location of a shelter.
Even making a request.
The lofty man who could lightly grasp what he desired with a single gesture.
Kain found this scene itself, where a nobleman bows his head to a commoner, too unfamiliar, so he stood up half-heartedly from the sofa.
In an ambiguous posture where he could neither sit nor stand, Kain tried to dissuade Lionel.
“A request, you say. How can you bow your head to someone like me. Your Grace the Duke.”
“What is so great about bowing one’s head once.”
But Lionel stubbornly did not raise his face.
He could do things even beyond this.
Whatever kind of emotion Kain harbored toward Agnes. Whether he shared a world he himself did not know with Agnes. Now, those kinds of things did not matter either way.
The important thing to the current Lionel was the truth regarding Agnes’s accident. And not turning away from the fact that he was standing at the end of that truth.
If it were for that, he could willingly kneel down as well.
Social status, pride. Those kinds of things no longer had meaning.
“If my behavior in the meantime was rude, I apologize. So could you help me a little. No, even for the sake of Agnes, not me. I request it.”
—
In the end, Kain, who could not refuse Lionel’s plea, set out on the road right then.
The carriage carrying the two people departed the Belair townhouse and ran straight toward the shelter.
As the carriage stamped with the seal of the Valheim family revealed its appearance from afar, the Rebelt crew members who were hiding inside the shelter lowered their bodies all at once.
And then, slipping out through the side door, they squeezed their bodies into a gap beside the building that would be difficult to even notice if one did not look carefully.
“Why did Valheim’s carriage come here?”
Nick mumbled lowly.
“Could it be they noticed we are here?”
At that single word, the crew members killed their presence all at once.
However, contrary to their concern, Lionel, who got down from the carriage, did not spend time scanning the surroundings.
He headed inside the shelter without hesitation.
Kain was following behind him with rapid steps.
The inside of the shelter was no different from yesterday.
The body odor intermingled with the damp air, up to the lowly continuing groaning sounds were all just as they were.
However, only the appearance of the one person who should be inside could not be seen.
“Elder.”
Kain approached an old man sitting nearby and asked.
“Where is Lord Hunts?”
The old man shook his head as if fed up.
“He’s probably hanging around some gambling house again. He obtained a few coins yesterday, you see.”
A troubled air flashed upon Kain’s face.
“What shall we do, Your Grace the Duke. You made the walk all the way here, but it seems it will be difficult to meet Lord Hunts for the time being. Because originally, if money comes into his hands, he doesn’t come back for days at a time.”
“Is the name of that knight by any chance Hunts Lockwood.”
“That is correct. Is he someone you know?”
Know him, indeed.
A pitch-black darkness settled upon Lionel’s irises.
He was that fellow who had shamelessly testified in his office that Agnes boarded the train bound for the South.
Looking at the turning situation, it was obvious.
Since it is said he is addicted to drugs, they must have handed over drugs or a few coins of money and demanded perjury. Whether it was Adrian or Chloe. Someone among them.
*Grit.*
Lionel’s molars clashed against each other, making a brutal sound.
“Do you know the locations of the gambling houses Hunts Lockwood is likely to go to?”
Kain thought for a moment, then nodded his head.
“I know a few places. But it is difficult to guarantee he is there. Because there are also many times when he is collapsed elsewhere from being drunk. Or else going around to procure drugs……”
“It does not matter. First, I will search the gambling house side, so could you give me contact if he appears at the shelter?”
“It is not a difficult matter either. I shall do so.”
“……Thank you.”
Kain could not judge for a split second whether what he heard was correct.
In the meantime, Lionel was already a few steps ahead.
It was a neat stride without hesitation.
Kain, looking at that back figure of his, suddenly realized.
That he had become distinctly different from the Duke of Valheim of the past.
The current Lionel did not establish authority, nor did he try to keep a distance.
If necessary, it was an appearance where he did not hesitate to bow his head or proffer an apology.
Perhaps it was because of that. The fact that Kain called Lionel once again.
Because it felt as though, if it were the current Lionel, he would not cast away the proposal he was making.
“Your Grace the Duke.”
“……?”
Lionel, who stopped his steps for a moment, turned his head halfway and looked back at Kain.
“Grandmother plans to organize a new theater troupe before long.”
“The reason you speak that to me is?”
“Grandmother wishes for the Duchess to be together in that work. She intends to create a new dance troupe. Saying that even if one does not necessarily leap around the stage, there are many arts that can be expressed with fingertips.”
Kain, after inhaling a cold wind, *puff*, slowly chose his words.
“And she wishes for the Duchess to mount the new stage that you will create.”
The meaning of those words, Lionel grasped at once.
If it were the same as before, it was a story he would have cut down with a single stroke.
However, this time was different.
Because he now knew how much Agnes had longed for the stage. How that heart had been trampled upon.
What kind of meaning that proposal would be to Agnes, what kind of consolation it could become as well.
Lionel was silent for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“I shall deliver the words to my wife.”
He resolved to return everything Agnes rightfully ought to receive. And within that resolution, the stage she had lost was also included.
Hoping that this news to be told to Agnes could make her a little happy, Lionel hastened his steps.
As he stepped out of the door without having obtained any particular harvest, the winter air struck his face.
His cold breath became white mist and flowed out long. Exactly like cigarette smoke.
On the way returning to the carriage.
Lionel’s gaze suddenly stayed on the roadside.
In this season, a few early red camellia flowers were swaying in the wind.
At the color that was vivid to an awkward extent that did not match the desolate landscape, Lionel could not leave from beneath the camellia tree for a long time.
Because Agnes, who was said to like flowers, came to mind.
Because of that.
☆☆☆
Meanwhile, Agnes, who woke up from sleep, was swallowing a sigh.
The servants of the mansion were kind to an extent incomparable to before. And they tried to genuinely follow and escort her like a master.
However, that degree was excessive.
Even if she turned her head just a little, before she knew it, the servants were approaching her side.
Rather than asking what was uncomfortable, it was an attitude to remove the possibility of becoming uncomfortable first.
Even just now, it was so.
When she tried to open the window due to the stuffiness, the new dedicated maid ran in front of the window first.
“Lady Agnes. I will open the window a little for you.”
Soon after, the other maids also moved busily.
Lest cold air enter, they brought a shawl and wrapped it around her, and threw firewood busily into the fireplace.
Thanks to that, the flames grew and the air inside the room was heated up in an instant.
Agnes watched all that sight without saying any word.
Soon after, as it became meal time, a tray entered inside the room.
Without even the need to go to the table, a shelf was placed upon the bed and the meal was set.
All the food was softly prepared, and was cut into bite-sized pieces.
The dishes the chef exerted his skill on were quite excellent objectively as well.
Perhaps if it were not for the trailing gazes, she might have felt it was a little delicious.
*Clatter.*
As Agnes raised her spoon, multiple pairs of pupils headed toward her hand and mouth all at once.
Every single action of chewing and swallowing the food, the servants observed without missing a single one.
It was not enforcement, nor was it contempt.
In that gaze, only concern and worry were contained.
Therefore, it was more difficult to endure.
She felt as if her every single move was placed under the name of protection.
She felt as if she had become a spectacle exhibited inside a transparent glass box.
Not a single thing was free.
All this kindness was not what Agnes wanted.
It was a feeling of having forcefully put on clothes that did not fit.
A thing she could neither take off nor become comfortable with.
In a way different from the time she was drying up amidst indifference, her breath was choked.
Agnes bowed her head and pushed the food crammingly into her mouth.
She had to recover quickly.
Because only then would she be able to leave this place even a little faster.
‘I want to go out quickly.’
At that time, the sound of a knock was heard from the doorway.
As she turned her head, Lionel was standing. With a small bouquet weaving a few red camellia flowers held in his hand.
“May I enter for a moment.”
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
