39.
“Dia!”
Kylon’s eyes rolled back as he lunged toward her, but a cane tipped with a sharp, protruding blade whistled through the air and embedded itself into his thigh.
“Aaargh!”
Overcome by agony, Kylon collapsed, clutching his leg and writhing on the floor like a worm.
The Duke rose slowly from his seat and stood over him.
“Du—Duke. How could a wretch like me ever be a match for you, the Shield of the Empire? Please, have mercy. I don’t know what I did to offend you, but I beg for your forgiveness…”
Driven by blinding pain, Kylon crawled toward the Duke’s boots, the veins in his eyes bursting.
The Duke wrenched the cane free.
“Aaagh!”
“Yes. How dared a wretch like you do such a thing?”
At the Duke’s cold, lethal tone, Kylon’s senses sharpened. He frantically pressed his hand against the gushing wound on his thigh, looking up with eyes glazed in terror.
“I was wrong. I was wrong. Duke, please, have mercy.”
“Do you even know who is pulling your strings?”
“Pardon?”
Kylon stared up at him blankly, his face a slurry of tears and snot.
“Where did that woman go?”
“Sob. Wh—who are you talking about?”
Kylon collapsed into a submissive heap, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Where did your fiancée go?”
Olive, who had been watching from the shadows with a frigid expression, pressed the question in his master’s stead.
“She—she went out for a moment.”
“Find her.”
At the Duke’s low murmur, the window curtains fluttered violently, as if a sudden draft had been commanded into existence.
The Duke lowered his cane, the blade hovering just inches from Kylon’s throat.
“A piece of trash like you dared to touch my family…”
Despite the emotionless quality of his voice, the Duke’s hand trembled slightly with suppressed rage.
Sensing the cold kiss of death, Kylon squeezed his eyes shut, hot tears streaming down his face.
He hadn’t even been interrogated properly. The Duke already knew everything. He knew about the monster blood sprinkled over the corpses to frame a beastly attack. He knew about the men he’d hired to silence the brother and sister-in-law.
How could he possibly know? And why, at a moment like this, was he obsessed with the whereabouts of his fiancée?
“Wa—wait a moment. Duke.”
Just then, Dia, who had been standing at a distance, stepped forward.
At her voice, the blade stopped, leaving a thin, stinging scratch across Kylon’s throat.
“Dia!”
She was his only lifeline. Kylon stared at her with a pathetic, desperate gaze.
“You saw it all, didn’t you? The Duke is trying to kill me for no reason. Go to His Majesty the Emperor right now and tell him…”
“Where is Perido?”
Dia asked, her gaze fixed on his miserable, trembling form.
“What?”
Kylon squinted at her, looking vacantly confused.
“I asked where Perido is! Hand him over! You killed my parents and snatched my brother—I don’t care if you live or die, just give me back my brother!”
“No, I didn’t kill them.”
Kylon shook his head frantically, his expression hollow.
He hadn’t been the one to pull the trigger. He had merely given orders to the men the fiancée had introduced to him.
“Where is Perido!”
Dia sobbed, grabbing his collar and shaking him violently.
“I—I don’t know. Perido disappeared!”
“……What?”
The word choked out of Dia, sounding like a death rattle.
“Actually, I was looking for Perido, too!”
“You claimed you had him, you kept us locked up, and now you’re saying you don’t know?”
As the stunned Dia loosened her grip, a flash of malice flickered in Kylon’s eyes. He lunged, grabbing Dia by the throat.
Kylon yanked a small knife from his shoe and pressed the blade against her jugular.
“If you lay a hand on me again, I’ll kill this girl.”
The Duke, who had been standing with his eyes closed, raised both hands. Suddenly, the heavy forks and knives on the dining table lifted into the air, hovering like spectral daggers.
Horrified by a display of power he had never witnessed, Kylon shrieked.
“I’ll really—I’ll kill her…”
He never finished the sentence.
The silver cutlery whipped through the air, piercing his limbs with pinpoint accuracy.
The servants turned deathly pale as they watched.
Kylon, drenched in blood, rolled his eyes back and went limp, losing consciousness.
“Is—is he dead?”
Dia glared down at him, her voice trembling.
“……Not yet.”
As soon as the Duke spoke, Dia snatched up one of the fallen knives.
Her hand, aiming the blade at the center of Kylon’s chest, shook with a violent intensity.
“I want to kill him.”
She lowered the knife slowly, tears dripping onto the marble floor.
Olive stepped forward, gently taking her hand.
“An aristocrat must not kill another aristocrat.”
He shook his head, his tone steeped in bitter resignation.
“But I challenge him to a duel…”
Dia still kept the blade pointed at the prone man.
“The opponent must be conscious, Young Lady. And there is a reason the Duke has not ended his life yet.”
“……Why?”
“We must expose his crimes in their entirety. He will be torn apart, and his head displayed in public before all the nobles of the Southern Region. Everyone will see the price of touching the Ducal family. So that no one will ever dare to test our resolve again.”
Clatter.
The knife slipped from her fingers, striking the floor.
Dia closed her fluttering eyelids, tears streaming down her cheeks.
*Vines protects. Mother. Mother was right.*
* * *
Caw. Caw.
Crows circled the large, empty lot in front of the Viscount’s residence.
The residents of the estate filed past the displayed corpse, spitting on it or cursing with faces twisted in fury.
From early dawn, crowds had gathered. Kylon’s crimes were pinned to the gates for all to see. An imperial executor had arrived, and a summary judgment had been passed.
The townspeople, still mourning the loss of the benevolent Count and Countess, were incandescent with rage. Some cried openly, their grief turning into righteous indignation.
In the midst of the chaos, a black-haired boy with a mutilated face was found dead in Kylon’s secret warehouse—a child Kylon had kept as a desperate substitute for Perido.
Dia had fainted upon realizing the body wasn’t her brother.
With the Count and Countess already cremated, they dismissed the nobles who had flocked to the residence, opting for a quiet, intimate family service instead.
The air was heavy, smelling of damp earth and coming rain.
Kay knelt behind Gerald, who stood staring out the window.
“The woman disappeared without a trace. We have no leads on her associates.”
After a long, heavy silence, Gerald finally spoke.
“Was I the variable? I expected her to exploit Kylon further.”
“…….”
Kay bowed his head deeper, offering no reply.
A moment later, they sensed someone approaching.
“Enter.”
Olive walked in, accompanied by a haggard-looking Dia.
“The Young Lady insisted on speaking with you, Duke.”
Gerald remained by the window, offering only a slight nod.
Dia clasped her hands together, stepped toward him, and bowed deeply at the waist.
“Thank you for all the grace you have bestowed upon us. Now that we only need to find Perido, I believe we can return to… how things were.”
She could never return to the life she knew before her parents were murdered, but she was the head of the family now. Dia forced herself to compose her emotions and raised her head.
“…….”
Gerald remained as still as a statue.
Dia caught her reflection in his silhouette, reminded briefly of her mother’s nostalgic gaze.
“Are you telling me to return to how things were?”
“Pardon?”
Dia’s eyes widened at his blunt challenge.
“You are still a child.”
“I will be an adult in a few months.”
Dia clutched her hands tightly, her voice firm.
“In this Empire, women are not recognized as heads of houses.”
Dia bit her lip until it stung.
Could it be? Was this his price for fixing everything? Now that Kylon was dead, was the Western Duke attempting to seize the Count’s estate?
After the betrayal of those she once trusted, the world had become a place where she could trust no one.
Dia looked up at him, her eyes guarded.
“I will be honest. I don’t need a guardian. Once I am of age, I can provide for the children.”
“Impossible.”
“Do you want the assets? The land? I will give you anything. Please, just leave.”
Dia stared directly at him, her tone cold and defensive.
The corners of Gerald’s lips rose in the faintest of smiles.