Chapter 10

The car soon changed direction.

The street of lights receded into the distance.

And soon, a stretch where darkness lay closer than light unfolded before them.

Streetlamps lit here and there.

Rough paving stones laid unevenly.

The car wound through the alleys of the city, passing streets where men who looked like drifters could be seen.

And before long, it came to a stop in front of a shabby general store.

“Follow me.”

Soon the car door opened, and Kiril, who got out first, held out his hand to her.

It meant she was to take it and get out.

This was a man who would never be doing anything innocent on a dark street like this.

Having braced herself to some extent, Gayeon took that hand and stepped out of the car.

The wind still blew as though it would slice away flesh in strips.

Thinking she would probably never adapt to this cold, she gripped tightly the man’s hand, which felt even colder than the wind.

“Don’t disappear from my sight, and don’t let go either.”

She had no idea how many times she had heard him talk about staying in sight.

When Gayeon nodded absentmindedly, he smilingly delivered what sounded like the most important part.

“And don’t run away.”

Why did those last words sound like a warning that he would kill her if she ran?

He had let one escape pass, but Gayeon knew there would not be a second.

Those who had gotten out following him took up watch around the area as though accustomed to it.

She wondered whether there could really be anyone bold enough in this country to dare harm the President’s son, but judging from the little she had seen of Kiril’s temperament, he seemed more than capable of making dangerous enemies both inside and out.

Standing quietly beside him, Gayeon stared into the dark interior of the general store, its windows set thick with iron bars.

Tap, tap.

With an expressionless face, he knocked on the general store’s door.

It was not even a bell, only the faint sound of knocking, and she wondered who could possibly have heard it, but unexpectedly, a dim light came on, and soon someone appeared.

The moment the owner recognized Kiril’s face, he immediately looked troubled.

“I found it.”

“Well, that is……”

The owner trailed off, then soon stepped aside.

Gayeon’s wrist was seized by Kiril.

And she was pulled inside.

Her booted feet nearly slipped on the frozen stairs and sent her falling, but he quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and caught her.

“Should I just carry you in my arms instead?”

He asked with a manner that was not a joke in the slightest, and Gayeon shook her head vigorously.

“I can walk on my own.”

The only people who went inside were Kiril and herself.

The men outside did not follow them in.

The general store, thick with the stale smell of dust, did not look like a place that sold goods.

Led by the owner who came in after them, they went deep inside, all the way to a place screened off by a curtain, and there a small room appeared.

There was only one old desk and a small box placed on top of it.

And one chair for a guest.

The owner sat down in front of the desk and tapped the box.

“This is all I found.”

“And the DNA test?”

“It matches.”

The owner kept watching Kiril’s reaction.

Leaving Gayeon standing beside him, Kiril sat down in the chair and silently stared at the box.

“For the results of three months’ work, this is underwhelming.”

The corner of Kiril’s mouth lifted.

Instinctively, Gayeon realized that he was in a bad mood.

This man only smiled when he was not in a good mood.

“This too was barely found among flesh all mixed together. I was absolutely threatened from above not to look for it, so it was truly difficult. It was all mixed together and about to be sent into the crematorium, and I had to plead desperately to get even this much…… since it was me, at least I was able to……”

He gave a short laugh, his face plainly saying not a chance.

As he slowly reached out his hand, the owner, startled before the hand had even touched it, quickly shoved the box he had been handling toward Kiril.

The box was too large to hold in one hand and a little too small to hold in both.

“If you keep making excuses like that, there is no choice but for distrust to grow.”

At Kiril’s words, the owner hurriedly opened a drawer, took out a document envelope, and respectfully pushed it toward him again.

“It is the DNA test result.”

Crunch.

The document envelope was crumpled harshly in his hand.

At the sight of it, the owner’s face turned white.

As though prepared to hide under the desk if things went wrong, the owner kept nervously watching Kiril’s expression.

Then, seeing Gayeon standing beside him, he sent her a look asking for help.

But even if the owner looked at her like that, there was nothing she could do.

In the first place, she did not understand a single thing their words meant.

“Do you want to open it?”

Kiril was no longer using English.

He asked Gayeon in the same Russian he had been speaking with the owner.

Realizing that he meant the box, she shook her head.

“No.”

He shrugged, then opened the box, revealing a smaller box inside.

If enlarged, it might have looked like those boxes used to hold organs on television.

A palm-sized box.

When he opened it, it was filled with coolant, and on top of that lay something that, by chance, was clearly visible even from where Gayeon stood.

There was a piece of flesh lying there, about half the size of a palm, so mangled its shape was hard to recognize.

“To think that when I told you to find even a single scrap of flesh, you would really find only a single scrap of flesh.”

Kiril said it in a cheerful voice.

“There are still many remains that have not been found, and many bereaved families who have not even recovered the bodies, so at least this……”

The owner began making excuses again.

Then Kiril placed one finger against his lips.

“I suppose I should have told you to find the head.”

Tilting his head, the man looked at Gayeon and spoke kindly.

The one whose face went white upon hearing that was the owner.

He looked thoroughly terrified that Kiril might truly tell him to find the head.

As she stared at the piece of flesh, Kiril closed the box.

Only after the flesh disappeared back into the black darkness did Gayeon finally look away.

“This is……”

“The remains of my pet.”

She was too frightened to ask anything more.

She had understood the word ‘pet’ exactly as it was.

She thought him deeply, thoroughly insane—a man nearly on the level of a madman, one willing to commit murder for an animal when several people had died.

But that piece of flesh, even to Gayeon, who was no expert, was not from an animal.

If it had been animal flesh, there should have been at least a strand of fur stuck to it.

“It’s not enough to fill a coffin, but it’s better than having nothing.”

Saying that, Kiril picked up the box and rose from his seat.

“Yes. That’s right. Of course.”

“I’ll have the commission fee sent to the usual account.”

“Yes. Please take care on your way back.”

More than the commission fee, the owner seemed satisfied simply that Kiril was leaving, and bowed deeply.

Without looking back, Kiril strode off with the box in one hand and Gayeon’s hand in the other.

“Angelica.”

“……Yes.”

Before opening the general store’s door and going out, Kiril called to her.

“Would you hold this for me?”

He suddenly held out the box in his hand toward Gayeon.

It was almost as if he were asking, can you carry this?

Without much reluctance, she accepted the box.

“It’s too heavy for me.”

The man smiled prettily, his eyes curving.

Did it mean that the more beautifully he smiled like this, the worse his mood was?

Even as she faced that smile, Gayeon could not smile back.

He slowly opened the door, and she cradled the box in her arms as she went down the stairs.