Chapter 51

Antonio hurriedly tried to explain, hoping the attendees of the Earl of Iaron’s birthday party wouldn’t misunderstand.

“No! I don’t know anything about it. How could I know what my parents did?”

Antonio denied it, but the loan shark wasn’t backing down.

“At that time, the child acted as the guarantor. Since the parents couldn’t pay, the child signed the guarantee with a thumbprint. I still have that document at my house. Are you going to deny it?”

“No! I’m telling you, it wasn’t me!”

“Stop running and pay me back!”

The man grabbed Antonio’s clothes, demanding his money. The commotion was so loud that even the Holy Knights standing outside rushed in to intervene. In the chaos, Antonio’s clothes were torn, and he fled while clutching the tattered fabric.

“What should we do…? He mustn’t get hurt.” 

Rivera said, feigning concern with an exaggerated expression. When her eyes met her father’s, she quickly looked away. After all, she had caused this scene on her father’s birthday, of all days, and she was sure she’d be scolded for it.

Adrian had uncovered quite a few of Antonio’s weaknesses. While tracking his movements after he left the Empire on a ship, Adrian discovered that Antonio had lived as a salt mine slave. However, everyone who knew this fact had died, making it difficult to find any witnesses.

They had almost given up, but then they learned that the lack of witnesses was because Antonio had left the kingdom’s territory. Through Harin, they discovered people who remembered him.

‘He was right under my nose, and I didn’t even know.’

Antonio had always been someone who cared deeply about appearances. Even after becoming a priest, the debts from his past didn’t simply disappear.

Rivera approached the Earl of Iaron, intending to apologize for ruining such an important day.

“I’m sorry for ruining such a good day…”

She truly felt ashamed for causing trouble without discussing her plans beforehand.

However, the Earl of Iaron remained calm.

“How do you feel?”

“…What?”

“I’m asking if you feel better. Just thinking about how you skipped meals because of that bastard still makes my blood boil. When you started saying we should throw a big party and bring in extra help from the Bartman family, I figured something was up.”

“Father…”

“You did well.”

Rivera, moved to tears, was pushed aside as the Earl rubbed his nose bridge.

“Is the Duke of Bartman handling the aftermath?”

“Huh? You figured that out too?”

“Of course. How could I believe the news that you two broke up? The man who called me ‘father-in-law’ and kept trying to win me over suddenly announced a breakup in the papers? Who would believe that?”

The Earl of Iaron clasped his hands behind his back.

“Once everything is settled, tell him to come by. We’ll share a drink later.”

As the Earl walked away in style, Rivera cautiously raised her hand.

“Can I have a drink with you too…?”

At her words, the Earl snapped.

“Absolutely not!”

Rivera pouted in disappointment.

‘Why am I the only one who’s not allowed to drink?’

***

Antonio, now outside, drowned his sorrows in alcohol.

He wanted to keep everything a secret. He wanted to erase his embarrassing and shameful past, but things weren’t going his way.

‘Why were those Lenin bastards there?!’

Just when he thought his life was improving, it had been thrown into the mud.

Wiping away his tears, Antonio gulped down his drink. On bad days like this, alcohol and women were the best remedies.

Kya-ha-ha.

The sound of women’s laughter brought back memories. It had been a long time since he’d been in a place like this. The last time he visited was before his family fell, eight years ago.

As Antonio drank alone, Trisha, who had been watching him from above, showed interest.

“You’re someone I recognize.”

Antonio couldn’t believe his eyes. He had never seen a woman as beautiful as her in his life.

“Do you… know me?”

Her beauty made him unconsciously speak formally.

“I’m sorry for the late introduction. I’m Trisha, the owner of Royal Charlotte. I almost got introduced to you once, but I saw you leave before it happened. I only caught a glimpse of you back then, but seeing you now, I remember.”

“Introduced? By whom?”

“Hehe, that’s a secret.”

“Ah…”

He felt strangely disappointed.

“If you’re here for a drink, would you like to come upstairs?”

Seeing how exhausted he looked, Trisha led him inside.

“What’s upstairs?”

She smiled softly, and Antonio’s face turned red.

“There’s a special drink for special guests. It’s perfect for soothing a weary heart.”

Antonio, following Trisha’s lead, arrived at a room. Unlike the noisy outside, this room was quiet, with a bed in one corner where one could lie down comfortably.

“It’s a bit warm today, isn’t it?”

Trisha, saying she felt hot, began removing her clothes.

The soft music playing in the background and the atmosphere of the room disoriented Antonio. When she poured drinks into their glasses, his throat felt parched. Her voluptuous figure made his gaze wander.

Feeling it would be rude to stare, he turned his head and quickly downed his drink. Unlike Antonio, who emptied his glass in one go, Trisha sipped hers slowly, lowering her arm quietly. Strangely, the drink in her glass didn’t decrease at all.

“Does the drink suit your taste?”

Trisha, who had been making conversation while watching Antonio closely, covered her glass with her palm and discreetly poured the drink into a container next to the sofa. 

Then, pretending to finish her drink, she refilled her glass and leaned slightly against Antonio’s shoulder, flaunting her figure.

“Have another drink.”

Once again, Antonio couldn’t refuse. Watching him gulp it down, Trisha’s lips curled into a sly smile.

“It’s very sweet, isn’t it? Not many people here have had the chance to taste this drink.”

***

As Antonio listened to her voice, he began to feel his consciousness fade.

That was his last memory. When he woke up, he was in a damp, musty place.

“Mmph!!”

Antonio was in a state of panic.

No matter how much he screamed or struggled, no one came to rescue him. His hands were tied behind his back, and his legs were bound tightly as well.

‘What’s going on? Could it be the drink she gave me?’

Antonio, overwhelmed by fear, couldn’t think straight.

A foul-smelling cloth covered his face, preventing him from seeing anything. Desperate to remove it, he thrashed about.

After struggling for a while, the suffocating cloth finally came off. His vision cleared.

‘Where am I?’

At first, his vision was blurry. After blinking a few times, he began to make out his surroundings.

He had thought he was alone, but he was shocked to realize there were other people in the space. However, what truly horrified him was the man sitting in a chair.

“Duke of Bartman!”

The man nodded, as if appreciating the recognition. Adrian, seated on a wooden chair, was casually playing with a small dagger.

“That took a while. Why does it take so long to remove a simple cloth sack?”

Adrian had been silently watching Antonio struggle.

“Where have you taken me?!”

“Do you still not understand the situation?”

Antonio flinched.

The menacing aura Adrian exuded made Antonio instinctively recoil. As he backed away, his bound hands touched something behind him.

Curious, Antonio turned his head to see what it was, and his face went pale. It was the corpse of a man, long dead and rotting in a gruesome state.

“Why don’t you say hello? He’s the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Lenin.”

Antonio was horrified. He had heard rumors that the Duke of Bartman was behind the Crown Prince’s disappearance, but he never expected to encounter the prince’s body here.

“Is the location too shabby for you? Still, since he’s your senior, you should at least greet him.”

“…Senior?”

“He arrived before you, so he’s your senior. He acted recklessly, relying only on his status, and ended up like that.”

“If… if you harm me, you’ll regret it! Do you think the temple will stay silent?!”

Adrian stood up from his chair.

“If you’re going to threaten me, do it properly. What do you think you can do in your current state, tied up like that?”

“You’ll regret this, Duke of Bartman! The temple will move to find me. And if I die, Rivera will find out. Are you okay with that?!”

The dagger in Adrian’s hand touched Antonio’s throat.

“Oh, I don’t care anymore. Thanks to you, we’ve decided to share secrets. Now that I have permission to kill you, there’s nothing I can’t do.”

“Are you not afraid of the temple?!”

“Why should I be?”

“If you harm a High Priest, you’ll be locked in a prison so deep you’ll never see the light of day again!”

Adrian calmly replied, 

“Oh, I know. That’s why nobles don’t easily touch the temple. But if a priest kills another priest, wouldn’t that be a different story?”

“…What?”

Adrian’s eyes gleamed with a sharp, menacing smile.

“You killed High Priest Houston, didn’t you? You orchestrated his death and even killed his disciples.”

Thud.

Antonio felt as if his heart had dropped into his stomach.

Frozen in place, Antonio couldn’t move, as if time had stopped just for him.

“What’s wrong? Are you surprised that I know?”

Antonio swallowed hard, his posture now meek.

“At first, I thought it was an accident. After all, there are people who harbor grudges against the temple. But I underestimated you.”

“…….”

“You wanted to become High Priest so badly that you killed him. The more I investigated, the clearer it became.”

“No…”

“High Priest Houston saved you when you were a salt mine slave in the Kingdom of Lenin. He gave you a new name and a new life as a priest. But to erase your miserable, shameful past, you had to kill everyone connected to it.”

Antonio remained silent.

“It was a perfect plan. You even prepared a place to escape to in case things went wrong. And with the bomb you planted, you thought everything would go smoothly. Except for one thing.”