Perhaps because he had experienced brutal battlefields at a young age, Lars had an unusually cold and unfeeling side. If something wasn’t related to his work, even if Kirhin begged and pleaded, Lars would just calmly tell him to handle it himself. No, he wouldn’t even be within reach to plead to in the first place.

That was Kirhin’s assessment of Lars.

Of course, if the person who kidnapped Lucienne was related to the Count, it would make sense for Lars to step in. But this didn’t seem like that kind of situation. It didn’t seem likely that Balshwin would gain anything from Lucienne by causing such a commotion.

After all, Lucienne was just a young lady from a prestigious family trying to adapt to her suddenly elevated status.

“I bet this pebble has shortened my life by ten years. Or at least thinned my hair.”

Sighing deeply and tugging at his disheveled hair, he suddenly heard the sound of a carriage and looked up. A carriage with lanterns on both sides was rapidly approaching along the dark street.

The mansion was wrapped in silence since he had told the servants to rest after hearing Lucienne had been found. Kirhin ran urgently toward the carriage as it slowed down.

“Lucy! Lucy?”

As soon as the carriage stopped, someone inside kicked the door open. Seeing Lars getting out, Kirhin blinked at his fierce demeanor.

Lars was wearing a mask, but his piercing eyes shone coldly enough to freeze everything around him. Guessing something had happened, Kirhin’s lips trembled as Lars spoke roughly,

“Contact a convent right away. The farther, the better. Ah, I think St. Vitalinus Convent in the Kensburg Mountains would be good. Three days’ journey should be enough.”

“What? A convent?”

As Kirhin opened his mouth in surprise at the sudden statement, he spotted Lucienne getting out of the carriage. She was wrapped in a cloak so large it covered her body twice over, and she was glaring with her ash-gray eyes.

“I’m not going. I said I won’t go! You don’t think I’ll stay quiet if I go there, do you?”

“You will stay quiet. It’s an isolated mountain peak with clouds beneath your feet.”

Lars sneered coldly. Lucienne, who had been fuming, shouted with a voice full of firm determination,

“I’ll jump out on the way there. I’ll escape even if I have to hide in a food supply wagon!”

“Go ahead and come back. I’ll just send you again. Of course, when you go back the second time, your treatment will be quite different, just so you know.”

The two glared at each other tensely. Lucienne, her pale face flushed with anger, lowered her voice. She sounded like a small cat growling.

“I said I’m not going.”

It was quite a fierce attitude, but Lars didn’t budge at all. He stared at her with narrowed eyes and spoke,

“Take this opportunity to learn that you can’t always live according to your own wishes.”

“I have never once in my life lived according to my own wishes!”

Lucienne cried out sharply, as if pouring out her pent-up emotions. The words felt like they pierced Kirhin’s heart, making him flinch.

Lars also frowned, his expression softening slightly. Lucienne wiped away her tears with a shrug before they could fall and bit her trembling lips.

“This won’t work. Just watch. If you send me to a convent, from that day forward, I’ll become your biggest headache. Not Beitram Balshwin.”

“You……!”

Before a horrified Kirhin could move, Lars’s hand was already covering Lucienne’s mouth.

Lars’s eyes, as he gripped the back of her head, had hardened with unprecedented coldness. His gaze was so fierce that Kirhin wouldn’t want to face it head-on.

Kirhin had never seen Lars truly angry before. He thought Lucienne had finally crossed a line she shouldn’t have. As he swallowed nervously in the tense atmosphere, a sinister, slow voice echoed in his ears.

“Fine. Now I understand. That there’s a different place suited for you.”

With a tone suggesting he might bind her limbs and throw her into a dungeon right away, Kirhin rolled his eyes, gritted his teeth, and threw himself between them, wrapping his arms around Lucienne.

“W-what are you threatening a child for! And one who’s just returned from being kidnapped! Lucy, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Let me see your face. Do you know how worried I was?”

Even after summoning his lifetime’s courage, his hand trembled as he stroked Lucienne’s cheek. He felt like Lars’s glare from behind might bore a hole through the back of his head. Lucienne’s expression, which had been stubbornly glaring at Lars, crumbled in an instant.

“Brother.”

A childlike sob escaped through her teeth. Having seen her always acting calm and mature recently, he realized he often forgot Lucienne’s actual age.

“Yes. It’s okay. Nothing to worry about. You’re home now. Just rest well today…… But what’s this smell? Were you locked in a stable or something?”

Kirhin wrinkled his face at the terrible stench and pulled his head back. Lars’s voice, now lower, was heard,

“Nothing more to discuss. Look into the convent first.”

Lucienne’s tear-filled eyes narrowed sharply once more.

“I’ll go inside and wash up first.”

“Get your wrists treated first. You’ve lost quite a bit of blood.”

At Lars’s words, Kirhin looked down and finally noticed Lucienne’s wrists where blood had congealed. His head felt dizzy. He had no tolerance for blood.

“Oh my! Let’s go in right away. Nina! Ni……”

“Not Nina. Please call Maya.”

Lucienne held his arm and said quietly. Kirhin, who had guessed the situation from the series of events, nodded reflexively.

“Alright. But what about Lord Lars……”

As Kirhin turned around, he followed with his eyes the sight of Lars already striding past him and entering the mansion without hesitation.

He truly didn’t know which tune to dance to. He supported Lucienne as they walked. Just thinking about getting involved in the war between these two, which had only temporarily ceased but would surely resume, made his stomach turn.

* * *

After bandaging my wrists and washing thoroughly with warm water, hunger washed over me. Maya hurriedly brought potato soup loaded with cheese, bread, and hot milk.

Wearing a soft robe over my indoor clothes, I had to endure the gazes of Lars and Kirhin while eating. Lars’s gaze in particular was sharp as a blade, but with the determination that I could only overcome it by eating, I emptied the soup bowl clean.

“So, the man who kidnapped you was Troy Langberton, Laurel’s lover? He thought you killed Laurel based on rumors, so he kidnapped you? How on earth did he know you were going to the butcher’s district?”

“He must have been hiding there to avoid debt collectors. Oh, what happened to Troy?”

Having somewhat filled my stomach, I wrapped my hands around the milk cup. The warmth felt welcome.

“He lost a lot of blood, but they say he’s still breathing. He’ll die in prison anyway. He dared to kidnap and try to kill a member of the Bickman family.”

Kirhin clenched his fist and expressed his anger with a frown. I took a sip of milk.

Even if he survived, Troy might take his own life. From the atmosphere at that time, he didn’t seem to have the will to live.

“By the way, why did you think the man who saved you might be one of the Count’s subordinates?”

Kirhin asked while checking Lars, who was glaring at me as if determined to pierce through me with his gaze. I took a short breath before speaking,

“He knew too much about me.”

It was Kirhin who chuckled. He shrugged his shoulders.

“Lucy, you’re quite a celebrity. There are countless people who know how you became Lucienne Bickman and what you’ve been doing……”

“Nina colluded with merchants to manipulate prices and embezzle money from the Bickman family. When Laurel found the ledger proving this fact, Nina killed her. This is that ledger.”

I took out the ledger wrapped in a handkerchief. Despite my care, the burned edges crumbled. Kirhin’s lips parted in bewilderment.

“W-what?”

“Even if someone noticed I suspected Nina, no one would have known why. But this Quido knew. He knew what Nina had been doing and why I was investigating Laurel’s death.”

Lars narrowed his brow and adjusted his posture. Only then did I glance at him briefly and continued,

“It means he’s been watching me closely. Without anyone knowing. Who would be so obsessed with me? And so methodically that no one would notice? I thought it must be related to your work.”

“One pedir for a sack of potatoes, ten pedirs for two bolts of silk fabric? I don’t think we paid this much for goods.”

Muttering as he flipped through the ledger with disbelieving eyes, Kirhin soon shook his head vigorously toward me.