Chapter 52
“Where are you going at this late hour? You’ve been acting strange lately. I called you to be my escort knight, but instead of staying by my side you’re constantly sneaking off somewhere!”
Ever since Hendrick had gone alone to the Kuon District, he had started showing suspicious behavior.
It seemed like he was exchanging letters with someone. He suddenly started doing bare-handed sparring exercises. Despite never caring about clothes, he even asked the butler to buy him garments that were in fashion among Central’s middle-class youth.
In the end, when he tried sneaking out of the mansion without even reporting to Marriott, she caught him by the scruff of his neck.
He wasn’t the type of man to waste time on nightlife, so it wasn’t that. Half worried, Marriott interrogated him.
“…Ah… well… it’s not that I was out having fun…”
“Hmm. Is that so? You’re not going to tell me the truth?”
“It’s just… if you heard it, you probably wouldn’t like it. Couldn’t you just pretend not to notice, just for tonight?”
“One. Two. Thre—”
“I promised to meet Lady Emilia!”
Unable to endure Marriott’s pressure, Hendrick confessed everything.
He explained that he was worried about what was happening under the Bridge and felt he had to capture the handler. But since he didn’t want Marriott to get dragged into danger, he tried keeping it secret.
“You went and did all this without telling me? Hendrick Foy, you’ve got guts.”
If it had involved anyone else, Marriott might have let Hendrick handle it alone.
But upon hearing that he was pretending to be in a secret relationship with Emilia Tolin, Marriott ripped the shirt right off Hendrick.
“Agh! What are you doing!”
“Take them off. Pants too. All of it.”
And so the clothes Hendrick had planned to wear became Marriott’s instead.
She had no idea where he’d gotten such cheap-looking clothes, but wearing them, she felt as embarrassed as if she were naked when she arrived under the Bridge.
Just as Hendrick had said, Lady Tolin was waiting there, pushing a baby stroller.
‘Really, she never ceases to surprise me.’
What kind of bold woman came up with such a risky plan in a place like this?
Her pink hair, tied up high in a single bundle, suited her surprisingly well.
The simple red skirt and neat silk blouse were plain in design, but they doubled her composed aura.
A couple, supposedly ordinary.
One that had even borne a child.
Marriott felt a strange twinge at the thought.
Stealing glances at Hera, she noticed a brooch on her chest, engraved with a familiar crest.
“That brooch.”
Without thinking, Marriott reached toward it.
Startled, Hera recoiled quickly. She had already been tense, conscious of Marriott, so she overreacted to his sudden movement.
“…That’s the Tolin family crest. You should hide it better.”
“I’m sorry.”
Indeed, the brooch bore the image of a phoenix blazing in fire.
She had simply grabbed something to decorate her plain outfit, not realizing it carried the Tolin emblem.
Hastily removing it, Hera saw Marriott laugh lightly.
“How funny. We’re going all out to avoid arranged marriages, and yet here we are pretending to be forbidden lovers who’ve even had a child out of wedlock.”
“If it makes you uncomfortable, I can do this alone.”
“Who said I was uncomfortable? And how could you say you’d stay here alone?”
“I thought you were just speaking in your usual irony.”
“What?”
Marriott looked at her in surprise, and she couldn’t hold back her laughter.
Realizing she was teasing him about his usual manner of speaking, he raised an eyebrow.
Quick-witted young lady.
“You got me.”
The tension had eased between them when a man in a fedora appeared.
It was the “handler” of Under the Bridge, someone Hera had only glimpsed from afar.
“Are you the ones who made the request?”
“Yes.”
“Unusual for the clients to come in person. Usually someone else comes in their stead. I suppose this is a ‘forbidden lovers’ kind of thing?”
The handler was much more ordinary than Hera had imagined.
He tried to keep his voice gentle so the couple wouldn’t be frightened about giving up their “illegitimate child.”
That only twisted Hera’s mood further.
“More or less. Each of us has a fiancé chosen by our parents.”
Marriott answered lazily.
The handler expressed pity, though his eyes carried no sincerity.
“Oh, how unfortunate.”
“I hear we paid quite a sum. You’d better make it worth it.”
“Don’t worry, sir. I’ve arranged a very well-off, kind household.”
“Raising someone else’s child isn’t easy. What sort of family is it?”
“A couple who’ve been unable to conceive for years. Good people—just lacking the blessing of the gods.”
“That so? Our child is going to such a family, then.”
Calling the baby “our child” with such affected tenderness, Marriott closely observed the handler.
This man was clearly a noble’s lackey.
His appearance tried to mimic nobility from head to toe, but it was full of pretension.
From his earnings alone, he couldn’t possibly afford the fine fabric that nobles wore.
Yet a luxury pocket watch dangled from his vest—likely a gift from the noble who employed him.
But which noble? And for what purpose were they running such a business?
“Now, as I explained earlier, please sign this pledge. It states that you will never attempt to reclaim the child. Abandoned infants grow up believing their foster parents are their real parents. If the birth parents suddenly appear, it causes terrible confusion. For the child’s sake, you must never look for them.”
The speech was smooth and polished.
Hera snatched the pledge and quickly signed it.
She had prepared the surname “Cauchini” for this mission.
Scrawling the false name, she handed it back. The handler smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. I’ll take the child now.”
As Hera slowly released her grip on the stroller handle, she tapped Marriott’s shoe lightly with her toe.
Hidden by the stroller, the gesture was invisible to the handler.
Marriott instantly understood her signal.
It was time to seize the handler.
Their eyes met briefly.
“Madam Cauchini. However…”
Staring at the pledge, the handler spoke in a chilling tone—shattering Hera’s belief that the plan was flawless.
“No matter how I searched, I couldn’t find any family named ‘Cauchini’ in Central.”
“……!”
With a kick, he sent the stroller flying.
“This bastard child too, isn’t it?”
A wooden doll spilled out as the stroller tumbled toward Marriott.
“Emilia! Get behind me!”
Bent over from the impact of the stroller, Marriott shouted to Hera.
She raised her head—under the bridge, men hiding in the shadows stepped out.
Including the handler, there were four.
As Hera moved behind him, Marriott drew the dagger hidden at his waist.
He cut down the men who lunged at him, one after another.
That was why he hadn’t needed Hendrick—he was confident in his own skill.
“Grab the woman first!”
Having dispatched two without a scratch, Marriott regained his composure.
Seeing where this was going, the handler barked at his remaining men.
The handler lunged at Marriott to create an opening, while another man charged at Hera with a blade.
Marriott cried out urgently.
“Emilia!”
The man seemed willing to wound Hera if necessary.
She instinctively raised her arms to block, but she knew a barehanded defense was useless against a sword.
In her heart, she cried out:
‘Bluerose!’
[Yes, Hera Wintale.]
‘Give me a sword!’
Here, inside the place targeted in The Red Bull of Sessy Boniche, she could use the power of the prophecy book.
But at the last moment, she canceled her request.
Even with a sword, she wasn’t sure she could win.
‘No, wait! Cancel!’
While she communicated with the book, the attacker raised his sword higher, ready to slash.
Marriott’s voice rang out more desperately—he had just knocked out the handler and turned toward her.
“Emilia! Run!”
‘Then—break his sword! Break his sword!’
Hera crossed her arms in an X and squeezed her eyes shut.
If the prophecy book didn’t grant her request, she might lose her life here.
