Chapter 5
Click.
The moment Ruben stepped into the room that had officially become his, he locked the door behind him and sucked in a ragged breath. A crushing sense of guilt swept through him, making his entire body tremble.
“Ha…”
Everything had gone wrong.
Everything.
Of all people, someone from the Werner family… and her, of all people—the very person who despises them.
He should have run.
Had he known the person waiting beyond that door was Ritzhaian Werner, he would have disappeared without a second glance.
That would have been the right thing to do.
For her sake.
Far better to flee like a coward than force her to suffer the hell of learning that the man she had saved with her own hands belonged to the very people standing at the edge of the blade she had sharpened in her heart for years.
It wasn’t a guess.
It was certainty.
And of all things… she chose to take the snakes’ hand.
Ironically, it was because she knew nothing.
He didn’t think that was wrong.
Sometimes ignorance was a blessing.
At least, Ruben believed it was better for Ritzhaian not to know the truth behind the tragedy that had befallen the Werner family.
Which meant that unless he chose to reveal it himself, he was a sinner in her eyes.
And yet…
He couldn’t leave.
For someone who had once held no attachment to life, a single hope had finally appeared.
The only hope he had ever possessed.
I’m certain of it. My illness is getting better.
The pain that had devoured him since the day he was born had subsided.
A disease whose cause he never understood.
A disease for which no cure had ever been found.
For years, he had done nothing but grit his teeth and endure it.
As time passed, even enduring became impossible. He had reached the point of smashing his head against stone walls and floors, praying for the agony to quiet down.
He had already accepted death.
Truly accepted it.
Yet now, for the first time, he saw a possibility.
He still didn’t know how.
Or why.
But he knew one thing.
She had brought this possibility into his life.
Of that, he was certain.
“There is definitely something about her.”
Ritzhaian Werner.
From the moment he laid eyes on her, he felt as though his very soul had been bound to her.
It wasn’t simple attraction.
Nor was it a fleeting impulse born from her beauty.
The only way he could describe it was this:
It felt as though he had been shackled with handcuffs and a collar, dragged helplessly toward a fate he could never escape.
“How are you feeling? Are you alright?”
Her gentle voice, trembling with concern the instant she saw him, continued to echo endlessly through his mind.
And that was the greatest problem of all.
Every time he replayed Ritzhaian’s voice in his head, overwhelming guilt surged through him and gathered into a single crushing weight.
His body burned as though it would burst apart.
When she had clasped his hand and pleaded with him—
he had felt a pull so powerful that it was almost unbearable.
“Why…?”
He couldn’t understand the reason.
All he knew instinctively was that the name Ritzhaian Werner had become the fuse that ignited something inside him.
And that realization terrified him more than anything else.
She wanted him dead.
Yet the very man she wished to kill had reached a state where, after only one meeting, he was ready to surrender both body and heart to her.
Even so, he remained.
For his own sake.
Driven by an overwhelming impulse whose origin he still couldn’t comprehend.
And deep down, he knew that if he stayed by her side, it wouldn’t be long before he discovered why these feelings had awakened.
A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
So what if he learned the truth?
What would change?
No matter what that truth was, to her…
he would remain nothing more than a target of revenge.
And that would never change.
He had already accepted it.
“Ritzhaian Werner…”
Ruben spoke her name as though branding it into his soul.
“I will pay for the sin of deceiving you.”
Within his ash-gray eyes, a crimson light flickered.
Like embers still hidden beneath cold ashes.
“Both I… and them.”
* * *
As befitted the heart of the kingdom, the capital city of Widenbas in the Kingdom of Enswiden was lined with magnificent buildings and bustling streets.
Yet just beyond the city’s center, older alleyways stretched endlessly through forgotten corners of the capital.
And among those countless alleys, deep on the outskirts where even existence seemed to fade into obscurity, stood an old alehouse.
A tavern without even a signboard.
From a distance, it looked abandoned.
A woman stepped inside as though she had walked through its doors a thousand times before.
Contrary to its shabby exterior, the interior was crowded.
Patrons argued over drinks while smoking.
Some sat in corners reading newspapers through clouds of tobacco smoke.
Others quietly enjoyed whiskey neat at the counter.
But the moment the woman entered, conversations stopped.
Every eye turned toward her.
Even the bartender stared.
“Madam’s here.”
“Sharon? She actually came? How long has it been?”
There was a reason everyone reacted so strongly to the arrival of the woman known as Madam Sharon.
Her vivid crimson curls flowed all the way to her hips.
Her features were striking.
Her large golden eyes were so captivating that even heavy makeup seemed unable to overshadow her natural beauty.
And her figure matched her face perfectly.
If anything, it drew even more attention.
Naturally, people stared.
Sharon accepted those gazes with effortless confidence and headed straight for the counter.
A middle-aged man wearing a bowler hat set down his whiskey as she approached.
“Well now. It has been a long time since you’ve come here.”
“That’s because I’m an expensive woman, Father.”
Ethan Satters, the leader of Familie Hagen, an underworld organization whose influence rivaled even Casa Bacada, chuckled.
“An expensive woman? Hardly. Look behind you. Every man in this place is practically drooling.”
He found it amusing.
Sharon constantly dressed provocatively and exposed more skin than necessary, yet somehow still insisted she was difficult to obtain.
But Ethan knew better than anyone.
For all her flirtation, she never crossed the line.
And that only made her more entertaining.
“Forget them. They’re not on my level.”
A woman who stood above men and left them all yearning.
Ironically, the reason Madam Sharon had voluntarily come to the organization’s headquarters today was because of a single man.
“As expected. There’s only one person you follow around so faithfully. Is that why you’re here? Speak.”
“Karta left despite being in such terrible condition. He’d barely recovered consciousness… You know where he went, don’t you?”
“So now you’re chasing after him just like the snakes are. Do you not think he’s dead?”
“No.”
Her answer came without hesitation.
“I know he’s alive.”
A man whose death seemed inevitable—even if the snakes failed to find him, his illness surely would.
Yet Sharon believed without question that he still lived.
For someone who treated every man who pursued her with icy indifference, she became astonishingly foolish whenever Karta was involved.
And because Ethan knew exactly why she obsessed over him so intensely, it only made the situation more troublesome.
“Karta has left Hagen. I don’t know where he went. I didn’t have anyone follow him.”
“What? You’re joking.”
“Why would I joke? Listen carefully. Karta is no longer family.”
For the first time, genuine shock widened Sharon’s eyes.
Unfazed, Ethan calmly pulled a cigar from his coat, clipped the end, and lit it.
Flick.
Thick smoke began filling the room.
“No. You have to call him back! You know better than anyone what condition he’s in—!”
The sight of Ethan speaking so casually shattered Sharon’s composure.
Her voice rose sharply.
“Yes. An incurable disease. But staying by your side won’t change that. You know that better than anyone.”
“Won’t change it? No.”
She shook her head.
“I’m the only one who truly understands him. Which means I’m the only one he can lean on. If Karta wants even a little peace, he needs to stay with me.”
But Ethan simply smiled and struck directly at the heart of the matter.
“For his peace of mind, you say?”
His gaze sharpened.
“Be honest. This is simply your own desire.”
“…”
Only then did Sharon realize that Familie Hagen truly intended to let Karta go.
And despite knowing she shouldn’t feel this way toward the organization’s leader, she was genuinely furious.
The Godfather wasn’t wrong.
Part of it was personal desire.
She had no intention of denying that.
But before anything else, Karta was a symbol of Familie Hagen itself.
Ethan had led the organization, yes.
But Hagen had grown powerful enough to rival Casa Bacada largely because of Karta’s achievements.
He was their spearhead.
Their banner.
The face of the organization.
And in terms of raw combat strength, he was an even greater pillar than Ethan himself.
That was who Karta was.
“This isn’t just about what I want. Without Karta, we might lose ground to the snakes. We already can’t match Bacada in numbers.”
Emotion overcame caution.
She crossed a line.
“Such arrogance.”
The instant the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
Before she could finish speaking, Ethan’s pale blue eyes pierced straight through her.
Cold.
Sharp.
More cutting than honed ice.
A rare flash of the Godfather’s anger.
“Have you begun to think so little of me? To believe that the snakes could gain the upper hand simply because one boy is gone…”
A man over sixty years old.
An old man, by most standards.
Yet everyone in the tavern felt the overwhelming pressure radiating from him.
The room itself seemed to tighten.
Karta might have been Hagen’s spearhead, but this was a reminder of why Ethan Satters remained its undisputed ruler.
“I apologize, Father. I spoke out of turn.”
Watching his daughter bow her head in apology, Ethan sighed heavily.
My fault for raising these children too freely.
Clicking his tongue inwardly, he drained the last of his drink.
“Nothing changes, Sharon. Whether Karta lives or dies is no longer our concern. Stop chasing him.”
His gaze softened slightly.
“If you truly care about him.”
“…”
“My drink is finished, and it would be rude to linger. I’ll be leaving first.”
Having crossed the line herself, Sharon could do nothing but lower her head as the Godfather walked away.
But only outwardly.
Father… I’m going to find Karta.
Even if you forbid it.
The determination shining in her golden eyes never wavered.
