Chapter 43
After a long-awaited sparring session with Caspian, I wiped the sweat from my brow and headed into the castle to clean up. At the end of the hallway, Dylan spotted Kylen and came running, out of breath.
“I went to your office, but you weren’t there, so I’ve been looking for you.”
Dylan panted from the short sprint.
Kylen took the towel Dylan offered and asked,
“Why were you looking for me?”
“Oh… well…”
Dylan hesitated for a moment and glanced at Benjamin standing behind him.
“I’ve prepared hot water in the bathroom.”
Benjamin, quick on the uptake, stepped aside. Dylan lowered his voice.
“Verdic Bank contacted us. Someone tried to access our vault.”
Kylen had private assets stored at Verdic Bank.
He had secretly accumulated wealth, avoiding Ferdinand and the Empress’s attention, and had opened a vault under another name, storing money, pure Torpaz, and gems.
No one knew about this except Kylen’s closest confidants.
“Who tried?”
“A man named Terdo claimed he was running an errand for you and tried to withdraw money from the vault. The bank found him suspicious because he wasn’t one of our usual couriers. When questioned, he ran away.”
Where had this information leaked from?
Kylen brushed back his sweat-soaked hair and furrowed his brows. Dylan lowered his voice even further.
“If this involves the Crown Prince, it might be difficult for the bank to find him. Should we send someone?”
“No. If it’s really Ferdinand’s people, it’s already too late. We won’t find him.”
The assets in the vault were crucial.
They were necessary to track Ferdinand and escape his traps.
Kylen had painstakingly gathered this money since deciding to stand against Ferdinand.
Though he had inherited the Chegre Mines from his mother, Ferdinand and the Empress always monitored that asset, so it couldn’t be used freely.
When exiled to the borderlands, he invested rewards earned from battles since childhood to grow his wealth.
This fortune could never fall into Ferdinand’s hands.
“Set up a new vault at Verdic Bank. Creating one at another bank is riskier. Use another name and make sure no one learns of its existence,” Kylen instructed the bank manager.
“Understood.”
Dylan hurried back toward the office, and only when he turned the corner did Kylen move.
Kylen headed to the bathroom and stripped off his sweat-soaked clothes. Scars ran across his broad, powerful torso.
The most striking was the scar along his right side. Running his fingers over it, he recalled the pain of that day.
At seventeen, in the fiercest battle of his life, a spear from the Tetra tribe pierced his side. He had trembled so violently that his teeth rattled, and he almost lost consciousness from the gush of blood.
A knock brought Kylen back from his memories.
“Your Grace,” Greta said.
“The Duchess wishes to see you.”
“Go after I wash,” Kylen replied.
He entered the bathtub, letting water at a comfortable temperature overflow slightly. With cupped hands, he splashed water on his face.
Droplets fell from his high nose tip onto the bath surface. Just like that, the pain in his side vanished.
In the morning, we had watched the sunrise, and in the evening, I planned a small dinner with the Winterford household—but a visitor disrupted the plan.
“So… where is she?”
“I’ve guided her to the parlor for now.”
Greta and I quickly walked to the parlor, where my visitor was warming her hands over a cup of milk.
“Ah, hello!”
The visitor was Hannah, the youngest of the children who had previously glanced at Kylen.
“Hannah, did you come alone?”
Hannah was the only one in the parlor; her older siblings were nowhere to be seen. Seeing her alone stirred a sense of worry.
“If any adults try to harm you, run straight to the castle, alright?”
With their guardian uncle out on a winter hunt, the children had to fend for themselves. I had worried someone might take advantage of this, though I hadn’t expected her to arrive so quickly.
“Hannah, did you walk all the way here by yourself?”
She nodded, tears welling up. Brushing them away with her sleeve, she approached and bowed.
“P-please save my brothers!”
I froze, then knelt to take her small hands.
What had happened to the children?
“Hannah, don’t cry. Tell me slowly so I can help you.”
Hannah took deep breaths and explained,
“My brothers… are being scolded.”
“By whom?”
She burst into tears again, and neither Greta nor I could calm her easily.
“Greta, summon the Duke.”
We would need to go to the village.
Hannah, sniffling, soon fell asleep.
Though the village was the closest to Winterford Castle, it was still far for such a small child to walk alone.
After the cold walk, entering a warm space, drinking milk, and crying hard, it was natural she fell asleep.
“What’s happened to her brothers?”
“I’m not sure… all she said was she needed help.”
Kylen crossed his arms, watching Hannah sleep on my lap.
The carriage rode quickly to the village where Hannah lived.
Though hunters had returned, the village remained eerily quiet. Smoke rose from chimneys, but no one was outside.
I shook Hannah awake; she rose slowly and peered out.
Recognizing the familiar scenery, her eyes widened, and she opened the carriage door.
“Hannah!”
I barely grabbed the hem of her skirt as she tried to jump out.
“You’ll get hurt if you jump like that, little one.”
Kylen, having stepped out first, lifted Hannah and set her safely on the ground.
As soon as she was on her feet, she stomped and pointed toward her house.
“Quickly! Hurry!”
I followed her lead, with Kylen, Caspian, and the guard knights behind us.
As we rounded a corner near a house in the square, Hannah’s older brothers appeared running from the alley.
“Hannah!”
“O-oh, brothers!”
They were fine.
I blinked slowly, watching the children scold Hannah for making them worry, while behind me, Kylen furrowed his brows, clearly perplexed by the scene.
“Hello,” greeted Jaden, Hannah’s second eldest, spotting Kylen.
Then the eldest, Hans, appeared and realized the Duke was present.
Hans nodded and gestured to Jaden, who silently shook his head.
“Are you okay? Hannah came to Winterford Castle. She asked us to save you.”
“What?”
Hans froze, gaping, while Jaden glanced at Hannah and his brother alternately, puzzled.
Kylen stepped forward, causing Hans and Jaden to flinch and shield crying Hannah behind them.
“Your sister came here crying, saying you’re being scolded. But you…”
Kylen tilted his head, looking from one to the other.
“…look perfectly fine.”
Hans and Jaden turned to see Hannah, who grinned cheekily at them, as if saying, “I did well, right?”
“Hans! Hannah! Did you find her?”
Just then, a man appeared from the alley, searching for Hannah.
“Hannah!”
He spotted us and stopped abruptly, pulling the children behind him.
“Who… are these people? Bow and identify yourselves first!”
Caspian stepped forward, growling at the man’s rudeness. The man flinched, hiding the children further behind him.
