IBWCD 45

Chapter 45

Flinching as if under fire at the Grand Duke’s question, Reah replied in a hesitant voice.

“That’s what the lady asked me to do, to tie a strong string to a piece of tough leather and place it over the infected’s mouth. I thought it was simply to prevent infection, but it wasn’t.”

Kalian finished reading the letter with a stern face.

Most of the infected had been quarantined, but there were others in private homes who had developed symptoms of infection later.

They were suffering from extreme thirst, and before they could attack their families, the leather masks were a protective shield, minimizing the damage and preventing the carnage of torn flesh.

‘You can see this coming,’ He thought.

It wasn’t the only strange thing.

According to the information Benjamin had gleaned from his travels around the estate, Count Bernard had been instrumental in allowing the Knights of Blackwood to enter the castle.

“He said it was to repay them for saving his sister’s life.”

Kalian wiped a thin line of blood from his forehead and thought.

Was it foresight that saved the Count’s sister from certain death?

“…How much do you know?”

Reah’s shoulders slumped in horror at the question he asked.

“What? What, what…?”

He didn’t understand. Come to think of it, the events of her dream were all meant for him.

The gate that opened in the Twilight Forest.

The plague and the gate in the town of Litchev.

And the debt she had incurred to Count Bernard by saving the girl in front of her.

‘She solved a case that nearly wiped out an entire manor, and in the end, she got nothing in return…’

It’s hardly a reward for breaking the curse.

‘What are you, and what is it you want?’

Kalian arched an eyebrow, remembering how he’d acted like he’d give his life for anything.

He glanced at Reah, who was staring at him with frightened eyes, and demanded.

“Tell me something. Anything you know about Evelyn.”

“Um… ah! I heard a story once that she brought a dead cat back to life.”

Reah replied briskly.

She knew from previous experience that Kalian was not a very patient man.

Leaning against the window, he gestured for her to continue, and Reah’s eyes fluttered slightly.

“So, the Countess gathered the nobles in her salon to showcase the young lady…”

“Showcased?”

His voice sank darkly.

Reah nodded, her shoulders slumping as if she’d just swallowed her fear.

“Yes, well, I’m not sure why, but I’m not sure if they didn’t take broken and wounded animals and have them heal in front of the nobles…”

He had heard of secret parties being held in the Countess’s salon before.

Of course, it was no ordinary party.

That’s why a lunatic like Viscount Fairfield would be dropping in and out, trying to buy women with his money.

Evelyn would have been nothing more than a mere amusement in the midst of all that sleaze.

In that sense, Louise, she was a vice that deserved to die.

“I suppose it was a ploy to get a piece of the action, so…”

Kalian asked the question nonchalantly, but inside he felt an unspeakable pang of devastation.

It wasn’t that he was worried that Evelyn had been touched by someone else, or that her body was already defiled.

The burn marks on her thighs gave him an idea of the abuse she must have suffered, so it didn’t matter.

Then Reah, who had kept her mouth shut like a child being punished, hesitantly opened it.

“It’s kind of hard for me to say this, so… do I have to keep saying it?”

A faint crack appeared in Kalian’s brow.

Reah realized instantly that the Grand Duke’s patience was about to run out.

Blinking back tears, she began to tell him what she had seen and what she had been told.

“If I could, I would turn back time, for I was but a mere bystander until you saved me.”

And this, he realized, was not what he had guessed.

But the constant abuse, violence, and sadism inflicted on her was unbelievable for a child.

From starving her to mutilating her body parts to throwing her in a lake and pulling her out just before she drowned.

The whole time he listened to the disbelieving words; he had to struggle with a deep sense of discomfort.

Why?

It wasn’t as if he didn’t know of her unfortunate past.

He’d never heard of her needing to draw blood once a month, a subject he’d never thought much of.

Or maybe it was because he remembered her saying she was afraid of water and felt sorry for her.

“What did the Count do while you were gone?”

Reah looked away, her eyes watering like chicken shit as she spoke.

“I don’t know,” she said, “Count Lawrence was a shadow of the High Priestess, so I rarely saw him.”

Well, he’d been knighted in exchange for her hand in marriage, so it was hard to keep his mouth shut no matter what she did.

Kalian could vaguely see where his displeasure was coming from.

It was the selflessness of a woman who had been so bullied by humans, yet still felt compassion for others.

If it had been him, he would have been so lonely and sick that he would have gone mad, in fact, he was half mad.

To him, the world was not something to be defended and saved.

He would have destroyed it again and again if it weren’t for the pretentious title of Protector of the Empire and his pact with the damned Evil God.

Compared to him, the woman’s mindset was that of a saint.

But…

‘That can’t be. It shouldn’t be.’

Dry-eyed, he gathered his thoughts and pushed himself to his feet.

He couldn’t wake the woman in front of him right now, but he knew what he had to do.

* * *

At dawn the next day, Kalian rode out of Parminion with Benjamin.

Their destination: the imperial palace.

They were to attend the viewing of the Countess’s body.

There was a stop along the way, so they had to use a carriage enchanted with powerful transportation magic.

Benjamin, who was unable to withstand the pressure of the enchantment, despite having an enchantment stone, paled and reported to Kalian, who sat across from him.

“About the illegal salon. I think it’s a little out of hand.”

During their stay in Parminion, they were able to get a sense of the Lawrence family’s size and debts, and the illegal arrangements, large and small, that came with them.

This included the sordid personal history of Count William Lawrence and the atrocities that took place at the manor.

The salons were the secret hideouts of the aristocracy.

The men who gathered there didn’t hesitate to engage in lewd behavior, including swapping partners and engaging in group sex.

“This seems a little too serious to be messing around with. It seems like it’s going to turn into a big aristocratic corruption case.”

“Aye, I suppose so. Well, it’s a good thing for the emperor.

Just then, Benjamin opened the window and gagged.

A tongue-in-cheek Kalian handed him a bucket of water, and Benjamin gulped down the leather-scented liquid and made a face.

“It’s a good thing. They’re all your cronies, and they might use this as an excuse to be suspicious of you. It might even give them the impression that you’re interfering in the Empire’s internal affairs.”

“Benjamin, you’re still younger than I thought.”

Kalian said, pulling a cigar from his chest.

Quickly, Benjamin lit it, his cheeks burning red.

“I have no intention of getting involved in this.”

He puffed on his cigar and stared out the window.

“Besides, it’s not the only time they’ve cheated, and I’m sure your Majesty knows how they got where they are, and the weaknesses of the dogs they keep.”

“You mean you’ll give the king a reason.”

“I mean to leave it to him. Whether he uses it to browbeat nobles or bury it is none of my business.”

“You mean you’ll create a mental debt.”

Kalian tugged one corner of his mouth up into a villainous grin.

“I don’t know whoever it is that’s trying to slander me, but I hope they realize that such shallow tricks won’t work.”

“Is this all because of the Lady?”

Benjamin’s question was met with an uncharacteristic silence. When he did speak, it was with the stub of a half-burned cigar.

“I told you; life is a constant struggle. You get back what you give, that’s all.”

Afterward, the smoke from Kalian’s cigarette enveloped the distant spires of the temple like a mist.

* * *

A short time later, they arrived before the temple.

With free access to the temple, he made his way through without effort and flung open the door to the office of Count William Lawrence, the head of the Paladins, on the top floor of the annex.

“I told you no one was to enter!”

William’s eyes flashed wildly as he finally recognized the visitor behind the wide-open door.

“What brings your highness, the Grand Duke, here on business…?”

William, who had been curled up under the wobbly desk, scrambled to his feet.

He looked up in bewilderment at Kalian, who was closing the distance.

“I hear you won’t be able to attend the inquest today because you’re helping with the recovery from the Litchev disaster.”

Kalian slumped back in his chair, his face expressionless, and took out a cigar.

“I thought all you got for your help was a knighthood and a title, but you must be quite wealthy. Considering you bought your parents a villa in another country.”

A hostile wariness quickly flashed across William’s face at the sudden rush of words.

‘This is too much, does he know something?’

Deciding that he needed to get the upper hand, William blurted out.

“Smoking,” he shouted, “is a sacrilegious act in the hallowed halls of God!”

“On the scale of impiety, I’d say murder weighs more heavily than smoking.”

“Murder, …what murder?”

After a brief silence, William stammered out an afterthought, but the agitation was clear. Kalian seized the moment.

“You must have been hunting somewhere.”

With a meaningless grin, Kalian crossed his legs haughtily, his right arm in a leather bracer.

“I don’t know if I’m anything else, but I can smell blood. Well, not me, technically, but the parasitic freak here.”