Chapter 69

“When the Conclave ends, I will go to the Papal States.”

Costance spoke while clearing the empty bowls in front of Benny, one by one.

“I already told you, I’m not going with you.”

“…Still, our destination is the same. Just think of me as a fellow traveler.”

Costance deliberately avoided Benny’s gaze as he spoke.

After leaving only the water bottle she had been drinking from on the table, he spread out a map.

At the edge of the map, a vast sea was drawn, with small dotted lines marking, “Below this is the Papal States’ coast.”

“Until the Pope is elected. It will take up to two weeks at most.”

Costance pointed to their current location on the map with his hand.

“Traveling to the Papal States before the Conclave ends is risky. It’s better to move around the harbor areas. Crossing the border and entering the Papal States is also an option, but… that would alert the Agency.”

“That’s too much trouble. So, you should travel separately from me.”

“Benny.”

Costance did not back down and faced her head-on. He truly seemed determined to go to the Papal States with her.

“Even if I concede a hundred times and you do go to the Papal States… you’ll return to Toramde sooner or later, won’t you?”

In Toramde, Costance’s younger brother Eugene resided, along with the Orsi family. Manager Lance, Sir Elvin, and Sir Finn from the Navy were also there.

“I’m staying in the Papal States.”

“What?”

Benny’s jaw dropped.

“Are you insane?”

“If you’re asking whether I’m crazy about a woman named Benny, then yes, I am.”

“I’m not joking! If you stay with me, you’ll carry the label of a traitor for the rest of your life!”

Costance was a man known as the hero of Toramde.

“Don’t worry about it, Benny.”

“Costance!”

Benny shouted his name loudly, but Costance didn’t seem to have any intention of yielding.

“What’s important is the feelings between you and me. Neither of us considers the other a traitor, do we?”

“Everyone will criticize you.”

“As long as you believe in me, that’s enough. The others will come around eventually.”

“Are you okay with becoming the second Nergal Galinne? Is that what you want? You don’t understand. I’ve already seen Nergal Galinne and stood by his side. I saw how much my father struggled and suffered…”

“Nergal Galinne.”

Costance recited the name of Benny’s father.

“I know your father took his own life.”

“What?”

Benny froze at his words. 

What was he talking about?

“He pressed the detonator in the lab. To destroy the weapon.”

“…How do you know that?”

“I read it in a document. That’s what it said in the agency’s files.”

“In the agency’s files?”

Benny froze in place.

‘Nergal Galinne committed suicide.’ 

She had believed that was a fact only she knew. She had thought so until now…

How did Costance and the agency know about it?

“Did it really say that in the agency’s files?”

“Yes.”

For 14 years, Benny had endured without being able to refute a single word as people cursed Nergal as a traitor. But now, she was hearing that the agency’s official documents stated that Nergal Galinne had committed suicide.

“…Then the agency knew everything?”

Her voice trembled uncontrollably. Her entire body felt frozen, while a surge of anger burned through her head.

“Benny?”

Noticing her abnormal state, Costance hurriedly grabbed her hand. But how could she control emotions that had already spread like wildfire?

‘The agency knew the truth…’

They knew the truth all along, yet they called her father a traitor. For 14 years, they labeled him a traitor and treated him worse than a dog.

〈NOK One is a weapon to protect Toramde. Please, Doctor, become the hero of Toramde.〉

Nergal Galinne was someone who didn’t care about others, not even his family. But…

He was just a man in his early thirties.

〈Benny… You must live.〉

Once, overwhelmed by despair, her father had said that to her.

Hearing his heart for the first time that day felt like her soul had been ripped out. The collapse of her father was scarier to her than war sweeping through Toramde again.

“Benny.”

Costance, his face pale, approached her and held her head tightly. Benny couldn’t suppress the anger boiling inside her.

The government had forced her father to create a destructive weapon. Even when he refused, they used threats and coercion to ensure he held that weapon in his hands.

“They knew everything… They knew everything, and yet…”

How could they pin all the blame on him?

“Benny!”

“I’m so angry. I’m so angry I feel like I’m going to lose my mind, Costance.”

The rage reached its peak.

“My father bears all the blame. He took on the sins of others without knowing anything. They knew he couldn’t defend himself, so they…”

They passed their sins onto her father. Without any compensation, he bore all those sins and died, and even after death, he continued to carry the sins of others.

It made her furious to the point of madness.

“Benny. Benny. Benny.”

Costance called her name desperately as he hugged her head.

Damn it! Damn it!

Gasping for breath, Benny eventually buried her face in his chest. She continued to breathe heavily in Costance’s arms.

“Maybe it would be better to just develop the destructive weapon. Just give them what they want. I’m so sick of all this.”

There was no strength in her voice. Costance knelt down and looked up at her face.

“Benny. Do you really think that?”

He held her gaze firmly. Under Costance’s eyes, which sought only the truth, Benny’s lips trembled uncontrollably.

“…Whatever you decide, I will help you.”

“I…”

Her head drooped. Clutching his hands tightly, she couldn’t stop trembling.

“Honestly, I hate it. I really hate destructive weapons! My father and Alres both worked so hard to hide them. If I ruin all of that…”

“Benny.”

“But if I keep hiding the weapon, what about my father? The government will continue to insult him! People who know nothing will always think of him as a traitor.”

“I know the truth.”

Costance responded immediately.

“I also thought Nergal Galinne was a traitor. But I know now that he wasn’t. Because I know the truth. Benny, there’s a limit to how long you can cover the sky with your hand.”

The sun was setting.

Dark shadows crept into the cabin. But soon, a faint light shifted its direction and slowly moved toward Benny and Costance. When the light finally reached their feet, Costance’s lips parted.

“Over time, all truths will eventually come to light, and people’s perception of Nergal Galinne will change.”

His gray eyes burned with a reddish glow.

“…Will that perception change for the better?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. It’s true that Dr. Nergal created a destructive weapon. But it will be different from now. Watch for yourself.”

He held her hand tightly.

“With your own eyes.”

“…”

“When the time comes when you can speak, tell the truth. You’re the one who knows Dr. Nergal best, aren’t you, Benny?”

Did I really know my father?

Before her mother ran away and she started living in the lab, she hadn’t even properly seen her father’s face…

A father who was so indifferent and selfish that he didn’t even act like a father…

But that same father smiled at her, and only her, and showed her his tears.

“So, Benny. Don’t give up until the end.”

Tears fell again. The tears that dropped on Costance’s hand soon trickled down her fingers and soaked her nightgown.

“I will always be by your side. Live while sharing that burden with me.”

“…”

“Benny.”

Costance quietly called her name.

“I will escort you safely to the Papal States.”

His words steadied her shaken heart.

“Why are you doing this for me… Why do you go so far?”

Costance kissed the back of her hand.

“Because I love you.”

The man in front of her made a difficult resolution seem so easy.

The light that had been moving stopped completely as it touched both Benny and Costance. Light flowed over Costance’s body and illuminated the face reflected in his eyes—her face.

“Costance…”

She looked at him.

“I have nothing to give you.”

“If you want to help me, there’s only one thing I need right now.”

He slowly rose and placed his hands on the armrest of her chair. Costance’s face moved close to hers. He gazed at her intensely with a piercing look.

“Say you’ll come with me.”

She hesitated at his words.

She didn’t want to. She couldn’t bear to put Costance in danger because of her.

“Benny, please…”

Unable to wait for her answer, Costance leaned toward her.

“Benny.”

Just as his lips brushed hers, she flinched at the strange sensation. Unlike her, Costance lingered for a moment before fully claiming her lips.

“Mmph.”

Holding the back of her head, he kissed her deeply.

The overwhelming scent of each other made her head spin. The moans escaping between their lips and the sweet taste flooding her senses made both Costance and Benny lose their reason.

Costance gripped her thigh tightly.