Her pupils trembled violently.
I threw Loyola’s clothes down like I was discarding trash and took a step back, bending down so our eyes were level.
Then, wiping my tears away with a smile, I said,
“Jake, Sister Serin, and everyone else. Sixteen in total. Where are they?”
At my words, Loyola finally opened the mouth she had kept tightly shut.
“You won’t be able to find them anyway.”
I pressed down firmly on the sword wound on her shoulder.
“AAARGH!”
“Whether we find them or not isn’t your concern. It’s in your best interest to speak clearly. If you’re lucky, maybe we’ll even spare your life. Isn’t that right?”
“Ugh… In my desk drawer… there’s a notebook with the adoption records.”
At Miller’s signal, one of the knights entered Loyola’s room and brought back the notebook.
Inside, as she had said, were detailed records of the children—how much they were sold for, when they were turned into slaves, and where they were taken.
The children were taken to a total of three different places, including an illegal mine located here in the east.
[Serin / 120 silver / Year XX, Month X, Day X / Diara Magic Stone Refinery]
Even though she acted mature, she was just a teenager. They had sent a young girl to a refinery, forcing her to swing heavy rocks every day with those delicate arms that once embraced me.
I handed the notebook to my father, and it passed into Miller’s hands.
“Jerome Mine, Diara Magic Stone Refinery, and the Teppin Contracting Company—those are the three locations.”
Miller ordered the knights to split into three teams and rescue the children.
These knights were not ones regularly seen around Rayes—they were truly like the rumored “Shadow Knights.” Their faces were covered with masks, and their black armor bore no family insignias.
Miller joined the team heading to the Diara Refinery.
“I’ll be back, Father.”
Miller and the knights disappeared into the forest.
Loyola, watching them go, muttered in disbelief.
“The opponent is Kablos… That Kablos. Why do something so reckless…?”
At her meaningless babble, my father sneered and personally explained to Loyola, who still didn’t grasp the situation.
“This is Rayes.”
“Ra-Ra…yes? If this is Rayes—! That’s impossible! Why would a noble from the capital be here?!”
It seemed she had assumed my father was just a local lord. She should’ve known just from his unusually silver hair. She was far too ignorant of the world.
“And this child is the precious youngest daughter of Rayes. The very one you abused with your own hands.”
I looked at him. The way he kindly explained his identity made it clear he had no intention of letting Loyola go gently.
Now that the locations of the sold children were known, I had no reason to stop him either.
“Th-that’s nonsense! That gentleman never said anything like that!”
That gentleman? I interrogated Loyola again.
“Tell me who brought me to you.”
When I raised my hand to press on the wound again, she panicked and answered.
“I… I don’t know who brought you. I kidnapped the other orphans myself, but you were brought by someone powerful. I only saw blue eyes behind a mask…”
COUGH!
She couldn’t finish her sentence. She spat out a mouthful of blood and died. She had lost too much blood.
“She’s dead,” my father said, his voice tinged with a hint of regret.
He seemed disappointed that she died so easily.
But I focused on the fact that it was over.
The tyrannical rule of the infamous Loyola was finally finished.
‘Blue eyes…?’
I stood up. At least we now knew where the children were. Blue eyes and a masked face…
That mystery would have to wait. Now that I was back in Rayes, they’d come looking for me eventually.
Garnet and the remaining knights helped the children board the carriages, one by one.
My father and I turned to head for our own carriage, when—
[Earlier, you sure had no trouble listing off what the other children were good at.]
“……?!”
Startled by the voice from behind, I turned around.
But I only saw the lifeless body of Loyola.
Her lips were moving—those words had come from her mouth.
She was speaking, but it wasn’t her voice.
Someone else was using her dead mouth to speak.
My father approached me as I froze in place.
“You didn’t hear that voice just now, did you?”
He tilted his head and shook it.
Only I could hear it.
[Then tell me, what do you want to do? What do you want to become?]
The strange voice echoed in my ears.
[…This time, do well.]
With that, Loyola’s corpse slumped to the side.
Even as I climbed into the carriage, that genderless voice lingered in my mind.
‘Who in the world was that…?’
Despite the mystery, there had been a hint of affection in the voice.
‘So many unanswered questions.’
I shook the confusion away and focused on whether Miller had safely rescued the children.
Outside the carriage window, the sunset painted the sky in warm hues.
I prayed that everyone would return safely.
Four days later.
It was a particularly sunny morning, and for some reason, my heart felt giddy with anticipation.
When Garnet brought me the news, I dashed down the stairs like a madwoman.
“Sister Serin!!”
I ran toward the familiar golden hair in the distance.
“Ri-Ria! Is that really you?!”
We hugged tightly. It had been seven years.
Serin was taller, prettier, and thinner than the last time I saw her.
But the hand she clasped with mine… was in terrible shape.
“Your hand, Sister!”
“It’s fine. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”
I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. She was the first person who smiled at me after I fell into this world—the one who took care of me with warmth and kindness. The first person I ever grew attached to.
According to Miller, all sixteen children had been rescued. But because they were technically of age under imperial law, they were given a choice before being brought to the Duke’s estate.
Having been part of a criminal operation under the Kablos family, there was a real danger of being recognized if they came to the capital. Most of them chose not to come and instead were relocated to safe, guaranteed lives in distant provinces.
But Serin…
“She came to the capital alone, just to see you.”
At Miller’s words, I looked at her.
“Ria is still so young. I believe I need to stay by her side.”
Despite her own safety not being guaranteed, Serin spoke firmly.
We had always been unusually close—like real sisters.
“Can Serin live with me at the duke’s estate?”
Miller nodded lightly.
I smiled brightly and hugged her tightly again.
Thinking of the children from Troy Orphanage now safe made my heavy heart feel a little lighter.
Meanwhile…
“You’d better explain everything clearly, so even I can understand. Otherwise, even you won’t be spared.”
Though it was morning, the study of Duke Kablos was darker than any night, sealed off by thick blackout curtains.
The duke sat slouched in his chair, his feet in black shoes resting carelessly on the desk. He lazily swirled the wine in his glass—his usual posture.
But the piercing glare of his blue eyes, even in the dark, radiated intense fury.
Mendes, kneeling before him, could see that the relaxed gaze from before was gone.
“The Troy Orphanage under Viscount Luiccon was raided. By the time we arrived, the child slaves were already gone, and the headmistress had been killed. Simultaneously, other child slaves from the orphanage escaped.”
Feeling the duke’s icy stare bore down on him, Mendes spoke with a voice trembling in fear.
“We believe they had help. Witnesses said the attackers bore no insignia or identifying marks. No traceable clues were left behind.”
The duke slowly removed his feet from the desk and gently pressed Mendes’s head down.
“Slaves come and go. Whether one or a hundred disappear, it doesn’t matter. They can be replaced. What does matter is…”
His sharp eyes glinted coldly as he continued.
“Explain the return of the Crown Prince and the Rayes noble girl. Whoever attacked the orphanage was likely one of them.”
“The Crown Prince and the girl who was adopted into Rayes both escaped from Troy Orphanage a few days ago. Rayes knights found them, gave them shelter for a day, and the next day the duke personally escorted the Crown Prince to the palace. It’s assumed the girl was adopted into Rayes during that process.”
Duke Kablos tapped Mendes’s head with his fingers.
“So Rayes found the Crown Prince, huh? I’ll confirm that later. But more importantly…”
His voice turned razor-sharp again.
“Why is the Rayes girl still breathing? Kane met her only once, yet adopted her immediately. That’s highly unusual—unless she really is his daughter.”
Someone with such animal-like intuition wouldn’t adopt a girl unless he was certain.
“Twelve years ago, when you kidnapped the girl, she was supposed to die. So why was she living peacefully in that orphanage? I gave the order to send the Crown Prince there, but who sent the girl?”
Mendes had nowhere left to run. He had served the Kablos family his entire life and knew the duke’s nature too well.
He wouldn’t leave this room alive.
He had long predicted this day would come.
Closing his eyes tightly, Mendes said a quick prayer for his true master—then bit down hard on the poison capsule hidden in his mouth.
The lethal dose spread through his body in seconds, and he collapsed without ever revealing the truth.
“…Impressive loyalty. I really thought you were my dog. Looks like I was fooled.”
The duke looked down at Mendes’s lifeless body and sneered.
Then—
Knock knock.
“Father, may I come in?”
It was his beloved daughter, Senia.
Normally, he would’ve welcomed her with open arms, but now wasn’t the time.
Her temperament was too soft and gentle. If she saw Mendes’s body, she’d faint.
“I’m still working. Go back to your room—I’ll be done soon.”
“…Okay.”
Her footsteps faded.
The duke summoned his hidden aides from the shadows and ordered them to clean up the body.
Then, for the first time in a while, he asked about a child other than his daughter.
“When is Enoch returning?”
[Young Master will finish his studies and return next week.]
“Hmph…”
The duke spun a pen between his fingers, watching Mendes’s corpse being bagged up.
Then he slowly began writing a reply to a letter that had arrived earlier.
It was from a concubine who had conspired with him to kidnap the Crown Prince—furious and demanding to know why the prince was still alive.
He scribbled some convincing excuses.
In the letter, Mendes was mentioned several times—as if it had been his idea to spare the prince and send him to the orphanage.
And just like that, the dead man took all the blame.
That’s really weird… even if she is Rayes daughter, for duke Kablos to have brought her himself to the orphanage? It’s just too strange…. After all, what kind of duke does the dirty deeds himself? That NEVER happens.