16. Encounter

Crash!

It was a kind of signal flare.

The sound of destruction grew louder, beginning to overlap with several other simultaneous noises.

This wasn’t a situation Bernardo Hardy, a seasoned information merchant from the underworld, hadn’t anticipated.

It hadn’t been just a day or two since he was recruited as an informant by Jace Riverton. He could tell from the sound alone that the situation behind that door was worse than he had expected.

Bernardo Hardy took out his watch chain and counted the date written inside the watch.

‘It’s about time for the madness to come. You held out quite well this time.’

Bernardo Hardy, an information merchant from the underworld and one of the few surgeons in this city, had come here at great risk because he had first-class information that needed to be reported as a priority in any situation.

If he took no action while possessing first-class information, it was clear that a sane Jace Riverton wouldn’t leave him and his organization alone. Of course, it goes without saying that Jace Riverton in his current unstable state was no easy opponent either.

This situation seemed to still trap Bernardo in a dilemma.

At that moment, Bernardo, who had stopped at a pillar on the first floor while pondering, widened his eyes as he saw someone’s quick steps passing by him.

“Ah, I’m late! What should I do!”

The person running toward the source of destruction while muttering was clearly a girl without any weap*ns.

But that wasn’t the only source of his unease. Her attitude as she ran up the stairs was also strange.

She didn’t seem to show any fear for someone about to meet Jace Riverton.

Bernardo doubted his eyes, closing them tightly and opening them again.

‘Such light footsteps while entering that h*ll. Can this child not hear these sounds?’

Bernardo Hardy looked up again and listened. Clearly, various objects were still being broken and shattered after being hit by firearms.

He had to calm himself, almost developing a non-existent sense of humanity. There was a principle of the food chain in this world.

The foolishness of one individual can sometimes be the driving force that preserves that principle.

‘If that woman dies here, that too would be fate.’

In fact, she wouldn’t be the only one reduced to a handful of ashes in Jace Riverton’s grasp.

At his feet, emperors and nameless humans were all the same. Adding one more nameless girl to his list wouldn’t make much difference.

“Wait……”

Reaching a sudden and sharp intuition, Bernardo Hardy roughly opened his document case. The first thing that popped out of the document case was related to the first-class secret information he had intended to deliver today.

It contained a neat signature from the head of the Brienne family, who was willing to give up all his assets, along with documents transferring the railway management rights.

“Was she not a nameless girl?”

Bernardo remembered that Young Master Riverton had recently gotten engaged. It was a fact he had forgotten due to the rush of his recent work.

Moreover, if his memory was correct, the name of the person engaged to Young Master Riverton was the same as the one written on this document.

The document he was looking at contained a condition that Bernardo Hardy’s side would immediately forgive the enormous debt incurred from western steel trading.

Bernardo had been wondering about the Count’s attitude, acting as if there was a reason to settle all those debts immediately.

He was a sharp man. That timid Count Brienne clearly wanted to save that woman who had jumped into the beast’s mouth of her own accord.

This was the first time he had directly encountered Brienne’s daughter in person.

“This is bad, all of her father’s efforts will be in vain.”

He had no leisure to save a foolish person who was directly running to Jace Riverton in his madness. Also, disgustingly, he had no conscience to cancel the contract that held all those advantages.

❀❀❀

Though the day was still long, anyone could see that I was clearly late. The midday heat had completely cooled, and cool shadows were lying here and there.

Unlike before, the grass field had become quiet with no insects chirping, pricking at my sense of guilt.

I began to run through the garden as if chased by that guilt.

The flower bed where the piles of flowers he had brought two days ago would have bloomed was completely withered. The once beautifully blue garden was without a trace.

The entrance to the outer castle, gradually getting closer as I ran, was completely covered in darkness. It was always a cool shaded area, but this was also the place where the sun set first.

It felt a bit unfamiliar since this was my first visit to this place swallowed by darkness, but I couldn’t stop running.

I could no longer gauge his kind heart when he visited me in the deep night for my sake. But the fact that I couldn’t repay his kindness because my mind was completely focused elsewhere was being clearly revealed.

He would be disappointed in me. Though it was fine if he was disappointed, I was also concerned that he might be hurt by my careless tardiness.

I had no idea what words to use to apologize.

Should I apologize again and again until his mind is at ease? How about gifting sweet foods until he feels better?

Upon reaching the desolate castle gate that no one guarded, my tardiness became even clearer. The dark scene I had never seen before seemed to scold me.

“Ah, I’m late! What should I do!”

I muttered loudly as if shouting a slogan to calm my trembling and anxious heart. Since I had done something wrong, it seemed right to apologize first.

I kept rehearsing my apology as I went around the spiral staircase railing.

‘I’m sorry for being late. Thank you for coming that day. The whiskey and flowers you gave me……’

Then, I realized another mistake.

‘I didn’t even taste the gifted whiskey, nor did I personally care for the flowers. Though they were moved to a vase, it wasn’t done by me……’

After briefly reproaching myself, I continued practicing my words of apology to present before the young master.

‘Thank you for visiting me when I was sick. I’m saving the whiskey you gave me that day to enjoy later. When I woke up in the morning, the flowers were well arranged, so I appreciated them. No, this won’t work. It sounds too much like making excuses.’

When such self-reproach and rehearsal had been repeated countless times, I discovered a familiar door.

The location of the door was familiar, but I could see that the surroundings had become incomparably darker than before.

Standing before the black, heavy door swallowed by darkness, the sounds I had inadvertently let pass earlier seemed to come clearly.

Something breaking and being damaged, and something shattering seemed to be heard from beyond.

My body leaped forward, driven by instinct faster than thought. The unconscious thought that the young master was in danger dominated my mind.

The door leading to his room was open, just like when I had come before. I was relieved it wasn’t locked.

Though I couldn’t visually confirm the interior, which was darker than ever before, it didn’t seem much different from before except for the strangely subdued air.

“Young master!”

The sound of something breaking and cracking stopped momentarily. But it was a very brief moment.

The outlines in the deep blue darkness flowed into my eyes bit by bit. All sorts of odds and ends seemed to be scattered around the dark room.

A metallic sound of something colliding with a click, followed by a sharp friction sound that seemed to tear my eardrums. As if my voice wasn’t heard, that sound echoed regularly.

The acrid smoke of something burning and a chemical scent pricked my nose. But I searched for the young master with my eyes while covering my nose with my sleeve.

To avoid losing consciousness in the dizzyingly murky air, I closed my eyes and opened them wide again.

In the silence, with the sound of something turning, click, something interlocking again, and the moment a bright red flame ignited, I discovered two completely unfamiliar eyes.

Those two eyes smiled brightly and cheerfully the moment they met mine. Though strictly speaking, that smile was no different from the affectionate eye smile when he served me tea, something was clearly different.

There was an unfamiliar light in those eyes that glittered as if searching for prey, and the cynical smile at the corner of his mouth was something I had never seen on his face before.

Could he really be the Young Master Riverton I knew?

It was a completely unfamiliar and terrible sight, to the point where I wanted to deny that everything I saw was a dream.

I could see a shadow slowly rising from its seat holding a rifle, but my two feet couldn’t move at all, as if frozen.

He walking toward me was excessively calm and quiet. I knew well that greetings like asking how he had been were already inappropriate in this situation.

But he was still a patient. Very occasionally, he might act without reason. Isn’t there a saying that a healthy mind dwells in a healthy body?

I decided to act as if nothing was wrong, showing no reaction.

“Young master, I’m here. It’s Rosaline of Brienne. Have you been well?”

Naturally, there was no answer to my greeting, which didn’t fit this situation.

Only his steps, gradually getting closer, began to stagger. Unfortunately, as he walked with his back to the moonlight, I couldn’t see his expression at all.