Chapter 51
After a moment, the wave of embarrassment passed.
Clearing his throat, Hendrick finished telling the story of his involvement with the men of the Jackal Club.
There was nothing left to say about the infamous “Heartbreaker in Crimson.”
“Anyway. That’s just how my life went. One thing led to another, and somehow I ended up with bandits treating me like their boss.”
“I see. The life of the ‘Heartbreaker in Crimson’ truly was a grand adventure.”
“Aaah… please, stop talking about it.”
As Hera calmly expressed her admiration, Hendrick clutched his ears. Being sincerely praised like this was harder to endure than being teased.
While Hendrick squirmed from embarrassment, Hera was lost in thought.
“But why would such a remarkable person be with the Duke?”
That innocent yet ruthless question slipped from Hera’s lips, and Hendrick couldn’t hold back his laughter.
“I think Prince Laurent would take quite a bit of damage from that comment.”
He glanced at Hera from the corner of his eye.
His impression of her wasn’t anything special.
When he first arrived in Central, he had saved Marriot from an assassin. Hera had been with her at the time, so it was like saving her as well.
She was a bit eccentric, but not enough to be called strange.
What Hendrick had found odd wasn’t Hera herself, but the way Marriot’s emotions became wildly unstable whenever she was involved. It was like they were natural enemies.
He’d heard Marriot had been depressed for a long time after the death of Lady Wintale. In a way, he was grateful someone—enemy or not—had finally come along.
Ever since the scandal between her and Hera broke out, Marriot seemed to have regained her previous vitality.
Marriot herself probably hadn’t realized just how deeply Hera was affecting her.
Anyway, for that reason, Hendrick had a favorable opinion of Hera.
Although Shane had said there was nothing good to come from getting close to someone from House Tolyn, Hendrick couldn’t detect any danger from this eldest daughter.
He had a keen sense for people with ill intentions, and he could say with certainty that Hera was perfectly safe for Marriot.
Perhaps that was why Hendrick felt comfortable around her.
He even shared parts of his past that he usually kept to himself.
“I’ve been going in and out of the imperial palace since I was very young, and one day, Prince Marriot—he was still the crown prince then—told me this: If I pledged my loyalty, he’d give me a candy the size of the palace gate.”
“Candy?”
“I really love candy,” Hendrick said, smiling sheepishly.
Whenever he smiled like that, he looked far younger than his age.
“It might’ve been a meaningless joke, but no one else ever said things like that to me.”
The bond between Marriot and Hendrick hadn’t formed overnight.
Thinking about that made Hera envious.
Unaware of her feelings, Hendrick wrinkled his nose at her gaze, thinking she found him childish.
“I know, I know—about the nose piercing.”
Looking sheepish, he turned halfway toward Hera and changed the subject.
“Anyway! Enough about me. Miss Emilia, what brought you to the stinky Jackal Club?”
Since Hendrick had shared so openly, it was Hera’s turn to respond in kind.
“Well… actually, it’s about the children under the bridge.”
After hearing everything, Hendrick’s expression turned grave.
He never imagined such a horrifying thing was happening under the bridge.
“That’s… terrible.”
“I was hoping someone acting like a vigilante around here might know something.”
“Unfortunately, the guys at the Jackal Club won’t be much help.”
Hendrick tapped his temple playfully.
“They’re not exactly… sharp. And you said nobles might be involved? Then they’ll definitely stay away. They hate nobles.”
Hera recalled the drunk man’s words earlier. He had shown intense resentment toward the aristocracy.
Hendrick was probably right.
“Isn’t there any way we can get a lead?”
“Hm… I don’t know. Feels like we should do something…”
As he stroked his chin in thought, Hendrick’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“Oh! Why don’t we meet him directly?”
“Pardon?”
“You said someone was accepting gold coins to get rid of illegitimate children. What if we fake a request and catch him ourselves?”
That man in the fedora who had taken the gold under the bridge.
If they could catch him, they might uncover the full extent of what was going on.
Still, Hera hesitated. Was it okay to accept help so easily?
Sensing her worry, Hendrick mistook it for doubt in his abilities and tried to reassure her confidently.
“There’s no one I can’t handle! After all, I’m the ‘Heartbreaker in Crimso—oh god…’”
Saying the shameful nickname out loud made Hendrick blush all over again.
“I won’t tell anyone about that name.”
“…Thank you…”
With Jeff’s help, Hera placed a note inside The Red Bull of Ssesy Boniche, requesting adoption.
Jeff referred to the man in charge of this operation as “The Handler.”
The procedure was simple: write down the child’s age and gender on a request form and place it under the bridge. The handler would check it and leave a note with the demanded amount.
Once the payment was confirmed, he would come to collect the child on a specified day.
According to Jeff, the handler would have the birth parent sign an oath that the child would be adopted into a wealthy family, and also sign a waiver stating they would never reclaim the child.
If that were all, it would sound like a charitable mission—finding good homes for children who were about to be abandoned.
But many of those children, like Lina, may have ended up suffering horrendous abuse.
Finally, the day of the meeting arrived.
Hera had told Hendrick the time and place, and they agreed to meet under the bridge.
They would pretend to be a well-off middle-class couple and dress to avoid revealing their noble backgrounds.
Hera waited under the bridge, a wooden doll placed in a baby stroller.
She felt uneasy about showing up with no concrete plan, but shook her head, trying to banish her worries.
“Sir Poi is the famous Heartbreaker in Crimson. If he’s set on catching someone, there’s no way he’ll miss.”
If Hendrick could catch the handler, there was so much she needed to ask.
Especially about the person who had abused Lina. She had to find them—make them pay.
[The Red Bull of Ssesy Boniche has been detected.]
The blue text hovered above Hera’s head.
Trying to ignore it, she continued to wait for Hendrick.
As dusk fell, a chill crept in, making her lips dry with unease.
“Is that your child?”
“…!”
The man who suddenly appeared behind her wasn’t Hendrick.
Even in this vulnerable twilight hour, Marriot’s striking features radiated.
Hera froze in place, too shocked even to scream.
“L-Lord Poi…”
“And the first thing out of your mouth is his name? Really?”
Pretending to be hurt, Marriot came to stand on her left.
He looked exactly like the youthful middle-class man Hera had asked Hendrick to imitate.
With roughly styled bangs, beige trousers trendy in Central, and a loose white linen shirt, Marriot looked light as a feather.
His clothes, his demeanor—nothing noble about them.
Only his fair skin betrayed his status.
Hera couldn’t look away.
There was a strange, languid atmosphere about him that made her feel… odd.
It was the same Marriot as always, and yet today, he exuded something overwhelmingly sensual.
Hera, who was generally oblivious to anything romantic or erotic, couldn’t even summon the word “seductive.”
Just looking at him made her blush. The tips of her ears flushed with heat.
Unaware of the effect he had, Marriot began scolding her and boasting at the same time, rubbing the back of his neck.
“You still haven’t figured him out after meeting him several times? He’s hopeless when it comes to improvising. He kept begging me to go in his place, so I squeezed out some time to come.”
“Oh… thank you for making the effort.”
“Whatever. It’s not even that hard.”
Marriot clasped his hands behind his back and stood beside her.
In truth, what had happened at the Laurent estate a few hours earlier… was nothing like what he had just described.
