Chapter 95

If you look at it strictly, Cain—who had no relation to Yulia at all—couldn’t even swallow from worry, so he was indignant that Kayente, now her husband, could remain so composed.

“If it were me, I’d barely be holding myself together. He really is a different kind of person, Count Clu.”

When it became clear that Yulia had been inside the carriage abducted by the intruders, Cain was aghast that Kayente calmly proceeded, one step at a time, with what had to be done to find her. He said he would have fainted on the spot if he’d heard his wife had been kidnapped. He knew their marriage lacked warmth, but still—wasn’t that pitiful for Yulia?

“Even someone like that being my husband—he at least should be able to complain. He’ll probably make excuses like ‘I was a good person before all this’….”

Cain continued his criticism, even bringing up how Yulia had desperately defended Kayente in the Duchy of Esacudia, but Henry, who stood nearby pouring tea, knew full well that the Kayente before them was not in a normal state.

Kayente reached for the teacup placed before him and missed several times. He checked his watch repeatedly and stared at the closed office door, but his gaze never stayed in one place; it drifted aimlessly.

To Henry, Kayente looked as if the anxiety he felt might simply choke him. If he was breathing at all, his breaths were shallow and faint. His jaw chewed the sandwich through reflex alone. He seemed as if a wrong touch might cause him to crumble and dissolve into nothing… It was the faintest Kayente Henry had ever seen in all his years.

Even when news arrived of the death of the previous Count Clu, Kayente had not been like this. At that time, he had no time to grieve because he had to fight people coveting his position, but even with time he would not have collapsed like this.

Kayente had not loved his father.

“I’ve asked to be informed immediately of any developments. Thankfully, we confirmed the carriage headed west; we’re following and searching for witnesses, so Madam should be returned soon.”

“Any demands? Not yet?”

“Not yet… If anything comes through, I’ll run there at once.”

But this time was different.

After the previous Count incident, Yulia had been the only person who had ever let Kayente get close. Sometimes he pushed her away even when she reached out too much, but in the end he couldn’t help but take her in his arms. When Kayente had knocked on Yulia’s bedroom door the previous night, he had seemed to have regained his old self… How could a person like that remain sane when the only one he would call his became the one in danger?

“Who’s guarding the first-floor lobby?”

“Lord Ian is on guard.”

“Very well.”

In truth, Kayente forgot, in the span of a blink, where he was sitting or what he was doing. He had to force himself to recall that this was his office in the Reshikan Empire and that he was waiting to have Yulia retrieved before the shapes in the room snapped into focus again.

He clung to that blurry thought that he must save Yulia, but it was reaching its limit. He couldn’t believe that Yulia was being held by unknown people and there was nothing more he could do.

All the money and resources he had amassed by giving up his humanity—just to never again feel that the ground under his feet might wobble—were suddenly useless, and a rising despair could not be held back.

Why was there still no contact from whoever had taken Yulia? If it had been a simple kidnap for profit—money or something—there would already have been contact. This long delay made him think it might not be for that reason at all, and Kayente lost his sense of reality again and again in his seat.

What if they want nothing from me? What if their purpose is simply to harm Yulia? Why? Even if the whole world had done wrong, Yulia could not have—could she?

—Just the rehearsal. I won’t allow meeting Cain except for that. But meet me outside, where there are lots of people.

Why had she said that? Why had she insisted on meeting outside among people?

If Yulia had not gone out today, this might never have happened—he blamed himself countless times for that.

He couldn’t accept that the Yulia who had smiled like she owned the world at the permission of that one thing was not by his side now. He had been waiting only for the moment she would smile at his confession that he no longer wanted her unhappiness… The thought of possibly losing Yulia made his vision go dark several times.

—Kai?

From the first time they met until now—

—We were supposed to go look at rings, wasn’t that it?

He had never done anything good for her. He had even deliberately ignored all of Yulia’s needs.

—I want your unhappiness, Yulia.

He had said such cruel things and vowed to finish his revenge, driving even the father she adored to the edge of the cliff…

I thought I could not live without you; I thought I could never go on if I let you go. I could accept being cursed. Please, just stay alive—those were the prayers he wished to beg.

“I can’t stand this. I’ll follow the trackers and find Yulia myself.”

Unable to bear it any longer, Kayente rose from his seat; at the same moment, the office door burst open.

“Brother! The demands they sent have arrived!”

Night fell quickly as soon as the light dimmed. Inside the building, the only light came from moonlight seeping through the ceiling windows and a few lanterns men had set down on the floor to afford themselves some sight.

They had tied the coachman—his face bloodied from being beaten—to a nearby pillar, but Lucy could not be restrained like that. Yulia still held Lucy tightly in her arms. A man who had been watching for an opportunity to drag Lucy away finally gave up and said he would go buy food, then went outside. A hush filled the quiet building.

Lucy, face streaked with tears and snot, wiped her face and looked up at Yulia, whispering in a small voice.

“When will the Count come to fetch us?”

“He’ll be here soon.”

Yulia said it to reassure her, but she had trouble understanding how things were unfolding. She had expected that if Kayente paid, they would be freed at once or the men would abandon them; yet inexplicably, the men simply stayed put. She wondered if other accomplices were rendezvousing outside, but there was no sign of them contacting anyone outside.

Only then did Yulia begin to feel truly anxious.

Did they have another motive?

If they did not want money, she didn’t even know what else they could want. She didn’t know how long their instruction to leave her alone would be valid. The situation was that serious, and yet her stomach gave a loud rumble—she had missed lunch and was now skipping dinner as well. When the men standing in the center of the building all focused their eyes on her, Lucy spoke up loudly.

“If you don’t want us to starve, give us something! I’m dying of hunger!”

She stepped in because she was embarrassed for Yulia. One of the unsavory men shouted that there was nothing to be seen there and that it wouldn’t matter if they killed her, but a relatively polite man calmed the shouting man with a smiling, friendly face.

“Be patient. Don’t do anything foolish. The man who went out will buy food for the madam as well. Wait.”

Though his tone sounded almost kind, Yulia watched him with the greatest suspicion. He felt more dangerous to her than the men who shouted and threatened.

Being gentlemanly while holding people captive felt unnatural; the lack of emotion suggested a clear reason—he might not flinch at killing her without a blink. The two rough-looking men hadn’t dared retort to his words, which showed he was not someone to be taken lightly.

Holding Lucy in her arms, Yulia quietly scanned the men and whispered into Lucy’s ear.

“Lucy, if something happens to me, you must run away at that chance, okay?”

“What are you saying, madam? We’ll all survive together.”

“Right. I’m just saying this just in case.”

Lucy, bravely saying that if anything happened she would make the madam survive, nevertheless shivered at the thought of death. Yulia herself was afraid of death despite trying to appear composed. The thought of dying now made her tear up, but she steadied herself.

It was too soon to decide whether they would die, and Kayente surely would not give up on her so easily.

Kayente let out a deep sigh as he read the letter while standing in place. He had expected demands for a large sum of money or valuables, but what the other side asked for was much more.

“To withdraw all business and leave the Empire within a week… what is this….”

Henry, who read the letter next to him, was also shocked.

The letter, said to have been delivered by a young boy who briefly appeared and vanished, demanded that Kayente renounce and liquidate all rights to any real estate Kayente had bought upon entering the Empire—factories and farms, offices and mansions—and leave the Empire within a week. Only then would they release Yulia.