Chapter 21
Meanwhile, at that same time.
“It is as I suspected. We shall investigate together.”
Knox spoke to those following behind him. They were none other than the knights of the Crost family.
Knox hadn’t come here alone with Aisha without a plan.
What if Aisha really was a spy, and she was meeting another spy at the rendezvous point?
A physical confrontation would be inevitable.
Therefore, he had naturally kept the knights on standby.
“What’s going on?”
“Eek! Hide!”
As the armed knights marched into the illegal circus grounds in two columns, the spectators scrambled in every direction, terrified of being arrested.
And there, in the distance.
“…….”
Knox saw it.
The ringmaster, who had been about to protest against the knights ruining his stage, turned deathly pale.
His gaze was fixed firmly on the blue wolf crest—the symbol of the Duchy of Crost.
‘Could it really be…?’
It had been fleeting, but what he had sensed in the warehouse was undoubtedly the ice ability.
The evidence was the beautiful crystals that could only be manifested through the ability, not by a common blizzard.
With Calips currently at the End of the World for the monster subjugation, the only ones capable of wielding such pure power were…
His direct descendants.
‘The puzzle pieces are finally coming together.’
Knox let out a short, bitter laugh mixed with anger.
Had the House of Pose conspired with the Ahili Circus to kidnap the young masters?
“Let’s go.”
Knox’s expression, already cold, hardened until not a trace of warmth remained.
He wanted to grab the nearest person by the collar and demand to know what they had done to the young masters.
But confirming their safety came first.
Soon, he arrived in front of the employee storage room marked [Authorized Personnel Only]—
“…I’m sorry, but this area is off-limits. You appear to be a person of high standing; what brings you to such a humble place?”
The ringmaster, having rushed over, forced a smile.
“If you’ve seen the crest, open the door.”
“It seems the owner of that crest has not arrived, however.”
Though he bowed his head, his stance showed a stubborn determination not to open the door.
“I told you to open it.”
“Inside this door are rare treasures that even high-ranking nobles cannot easily obtain. If you wish to see them, you must pay—”
Boom!
It happened then.
A thunderous roar that seemed to shake the very foundations of the earth echoed from the circus entrance.
As the startled spectators turned their eyes toward the source—
A massive silhouette, well over 190 centimeters tall, emerged through the thick dust.
It was Duke Calips.
“…Your Grace? How on earth did you…?”
There wasn’t even time to ask how he had arrived.
Walking with long, heavy strides, Calips brushed past Knox’s shoulder and stood before the ringmaster.
“Open the door if you don’t want to die. I’m in a foul mood.”
Bloodstains marred the armor covering his body, as if he had just returned from the monster subjugation.
The scent of blood was enough to make one’s nose wrinkle, but the moment one met those chilling red eyes, their entire body would freeze, making it impossible to control their expression.
Duke Calips Crost maintained a refined image to the public.
He had hidden the sharp edge honed through countless wars behind the mask of a hero.
However.
“…….”
The aura of the Duke, fresh from the scene of slaughter, was raw and primal.
“Th-that…”
The ringmaster’s face turned from white to a cadaverous gray as he stammered.
Yet, he did not step aside.
Under normal circumstances, anyone would have moved, but his persistence was suspicious in the extreme.
Calips seemed to think so as well. Treating the ringmaster like an invisible man, he raised his leg as if to smash the door down—
“Aaaah!”
Only then did the ringmaster’s survival instinct kick in, and he scrambled away.
Of course, he was immediately seized by the knights waiting nearby.
“Your Grace. What about the monster subjugation…?”
“I feel the ice ability.”
Calips muttered, cutting Knox off.
“It wasn’t me, so what is it?”
His brow furrowed as he stepped into the room.
Gulp.
Knox swallowed hard, his tension palpable.
“…That is why I intended to go in. It seemed strange to me as well.”
While Knox was furious, he still harbored doubts.
Had that little spy brat really kidnapped the young master of Crost and planned to meet the House of Pose here?
If so…
Crunch—
The sound of something breaking came from beneath Calips’s feet.
When Knox looked up, he saw Calips’s face, contorted with a rage that far eclipsed his own.
“I will judge for myself whether I was deceived by that child or not.”
“…….”
“If that is the case.”
Calips fell silent for a moment as he pushed open the innermost door, then continued.
“I shall follow custom and carry out the execution…”
“Heugh… hic.”
Right then.
The sound of a young boy’s sobbing drifted through the gap in the door.
‘There’s something there.’
Calips and Knox exchanged a silent look.
And the moment Calips burst through the door—
“Sob, hic… Aisha!”
They found a boy collapsed on the floor, wailing at the top of his lungs, with a young girl slumped across his knees.
Knox followed behind, taking in the scene.
Sharp icicles protruded everywhere, and ice crystals floated around the boy.
The crystals hardened and melted repeatedly in rhythm with his violent sobbing, as if following the child’s emotions.
But Calips’s gaze was fixed solely on the fallen girl.
Aisha.
“…….”
Beside him, he thought he heard someone say, “Your Grace, it’s the ice ability. This boy is surely….”
But Calips didn’t hear it. He walked toward the children as if possessed.
He knelt down and asked, without looking at the boy.
“What is the situation here?”
His voice came out cracked despite himself.
The child collapsed over those small knees.
Her eyes were closed in crescents, her lips parted slightly as if she were having a pleasant dream.
Looking at her face alone, one might mistake her for being sound asleep.
But her blonde hair was a tangled mess.
Dirty dust and bloodstains were scattered everywhere.
Her shoelaces were undone; her right shoe was missing entirely, leaving only a thin sock clinging to her foot as if it had fallen off while she was running.
He didn’t know exactly what had happened, but he could feel how much the child must have suffered.
How desperate she must have been for an adult’s help.
The word ‘execution’ that had crossed his mind moments ago blurred into nothingness.
If anything, the thought of how cruel that idea had been to this child…
Ha.
Stray thoughts quickly flooded his mind. It was the moment Calips bit his lower lip, letting out a dry, hollow laugh.
“…You.”
The boy, who had been staring at him with wide, startled eyes until then, finally spoke.
“How are you here…? Don’t tell me… you’ve finally come to save me…?”
Calips, who had covered his eyes with his palm, slowly shifted his gaze.
Only then did he truly see the boy who had been wailing while clutching Aisha.
He looked to be about eight years old.
Through the boy’s shaggy hair—even more disheveled than Aisha’s—a familiar pair of eyes glared at him.
Eyes of a mysterious hue, like a drop of red paint falling into liquid gold.
The image of the infant who had once cried in his arms overlapped with that face.
Calips’s eyes widened—
“Why are you only coming now! This girl ended up like this trying to save me instead of you! Save her! You have doctors and money!”
The sharp accusation, keener than a blade, finally snapped him back to his senses.
She became like this while trying to save the boy?
Aisha did?
Why?
“Excuse me, but may I ask your name?”
It was then.
Knox approached urgently, dropping to one knee and asking the boy politely.
Calips still hadn’t fully grasped the situation.
The only thing filling his mind was the guilt that he had briefly intended to kill this young child.
But.
“Lucas. Lucas Crost.”
The venom in that youthful voice seemed to drain the blood from his entire body.
It was the same for Knox.
Crash!
While the Crost knights who arrived late rushed past them, neither Calips nor Knox could utter a word.
The boy’s appearance was so wretched he couldn’t even be called a commoner; one would believe it if he were called a slave.
But from the gaze staring directly at him, Calips realized what the sense of déjà vu he felt from the boy was.
Those eyes.
They were far too similar to the eyes of Lucas he had last seen as an infant.
“All this time, just what…”
For five years, he had wondered.
If he ever met his children again, what would the reunion be like?
What kind of people would they have grown into?
Of all his many imaginings, this scene had never been one of them.
“Why on earth are you here…?”
However—
“Don’t ask if you’re not even curious. If you finally have a use for me, then just take me away quickly.”
The boy cut Calips off and pulled Aisha closer.
“Just save Aisha instead.”
The boy was wary of everyone, as if Aisha were the only person in this world he could trust.
Calips’s lips twisted at the sight.
He was afraid.
It didn’t matter if accusations were hurled at him from the child’s mouth.
But when he thought about what Lucas must have endured to spit out those words, his hands clenched involuntarily.
“…Secure the children first. Take them to the carriage.”
In the end, unable to say anything else, Calips gave the order to Knox.
The unconscious Aisha was carried to the carriage, held in Lucas’s arms.
