Ch#67
“Chairman, we are about to arrive.”
Somewhere in the first-class carriage of the transcontinental railway.
At the sound of his secretary’s voice, Edward felt like he wanted to hang himself.
‘Ah, I don’t want to get off.’
Ehehe—
A soulless laugh escaped his lips, his face pale.
His body was devoid of strength, and even his voice sounded dejected.
“Right, I have to go…”
It was the moment he stood up, staggering.
“Ah, and also.”
“What now?”
“There are others getting off at Wibin as well. From first class.”
Edward flinched, his body jerking.
His gaze snapped to the secretary, whose expression had turned quite serious.
“……They are from the Empire.”
“Goddammit, seriously.”
Edward clicked his tongue, his mind racing.
‘I absolutely refuse to let the situation get any more complicated than this.’
Whatever the case, he couldn’t avoid stepping forward himself.
By the time he finished the thought, his body was already moving out of his seat.
As he looked toward the seats where the doors were just opening, sure enough.
“Oh, what brings Geumgong here?”
There was a man coming out, pushing a wheelchair.
Beside him stood a lanky man with a fedora pulled down low over his eyes.
Edward had to struggle to maintain his composure.
“What a staggering coincidence this is?”
“A coincidence? I beg to differ.”
Elbus Graham, the Empire’s hidden talent, replied with a sly smile.
Edward clenched his fists tight.
‘Why is that man here… No, he’s Kasha’s friend, so it’s only natural. If so, he must have come along because of the business of the man standing next to him.’
Even with the fedora pulled down, the jawline of that lanky man was far too familiar.
After all, how could one do business without knowing the face of such a famous figure?
Edward bowed his head.
“……I greet the noble blood.”
The Imperial family’s sore spot, the 3rd Prince of Mahir, was here.
There could only be one objective.
‘It seems I wasn’t the only one thinking of Kasha.’
The war in the West had begun in earnest.
Those who desired victory had made their move.
All to obtain the joker card known as the Sword Demon.
The atmosphere at the Portman estate was more chaotic than ever.
It was only natural.
A mage.
And not just any mage, but a high-ranking one with gold embroidery on her robes had visited this backwater territory. It was no wonder the servants were on edge.
But there was more to it than that.
“She’s here to see the Young Master, right?”
“She looked really young? And a woman, too…”
“Just what on earth was the Young Master doing while he was away?”
“Hey, don’t you think? Maybe a lover from his wandering days…”
“Oh my god, then that’s infidel—”
Thud!
A fist struck the wall.
The maids gasped in horror at the woman who appeared.
“Hick! Head Maid?!”
“What are you doing? Get back to work this instant!”
To Elric, she was a warm grandmother figure, but to the maids, Head Maid Ronda was like the Grim Reaper itself.
As she spoke in a stern voice, the maids lowered their heads and scurried away.
“……You may come out now, Milady.”
Tiria, who had been standing behind the door, finally entered the room and sat at her desk once the maids had all departed.
Ronda’s eyes were filled with pity as she looked at her.
‘Young Master, really, why did he act like that there?’
The moment Tiria brought the mage back, Elric had immediately taken her to the drawing room, saying he had a private conversation to discuss.
He had even grabbed her by the wrist and led her away, a sight witnessed by all the servants in the mansion.
In other words, the servants had seen Tiria being left behind all alone.
It was undeniable that the scene was one that sparked the imagination.
But to put it another way, it was a scene that loosened the discipline of the mansion.
Does not the emergence of juicy gossip mean that respect and fear for the master have faded?
At times like this, one should drive the servants even harder, but…
“Milady?”
“……I’m just tired from going out alone.”
Tiria was in no state to do so.
Ronda had been the one to observe Tiria from the closest distance ever since she first joined the family.
She knew, whether she wanted to or not.
That expressionless face was a mask, and the real Tiria Portman hidden beneath was actually a very fragile girl.
Yet, she couldn’t offer comfort rashly.
Because she knew that doing so would only make Tiria feel more miserable.
It was not a servant’s role to lift a mask that the master did not wish to take off.
“For now, I shall go attend to the guest. Milady, you should…”
“I will rest here for a while. Let me know when the Head of the family leaves the drawing room.”
“Yes, I’ll be back.”
Click. The door closed, leaving Tiria alone in the room.
I want to lie down.
Curled up in her chair, Tiria found herself thinking that.
The reason she couldn’t, however, was because the day’s work wasn’t over.
Once the business in the drawing room was finished, she would have to go back down to meet the two of them. If she lay down, wouldn’t her hair get messy or her clothes get wrinkled?
Even in a moment like this, the thought that she had to maintain her dignity as the mistress of the house drifted through her mind.
Tiria wiped her face with her hands.
No matter what she did, her mind wouldn’t settle, making her uncomfortable, and her stomach churned with unease.
She took a long breath, but the more she did, the deeper the anxiety within her grew instead of calming down.
‘Ma, marriage…?!’
‘I, I think he’s… using an alias.’
‘I’ll… take him with me.’
She recalled the girl who had seemed so full of shyness.
The girl whose blushing cheeks throughout their conversation revealed her heart plainly, and whose reaction the moment she faced Elric was devastatingly pure.
Having faced such feelings and such a face, her thoughts kept branching out.
Despite promising not to ask, she wondered what Elric’s past ten years had been like.
What kind of life he had lived and whom he had met while he was away from her.
She wanted to know, yet she was afraid.
Afraid that words she didn’t want to hear might come out.
Afraid that his relationship with that girl was exactly what she suspected.
‘Ah…’
How foolish.
She felt so incredibly foolish for letting her heart rot alone.
Yes, such things could happen.
Was he not a man who lived as a wanderer for ten years in the prime of his life?
He must have met countless people and built countless connections; it would be stranger if none of them were romantic.
The reason this fact hurt so much was likely because she had hoped.
Just as they say the fall is more painful the higher you are, it was because Elric had been so kind since his return.
She shouldn’t fall into these thoughts.
She tried to pull herself together, but her mind kept spiraling in a bad direction.
What intention lay behind Elric’s action of pulling her into his arms to shield her the moment they met?
Did he not want her to see her expression?
Was it an instinctive desire to hide the fact that he had been unfaithful?
No, was it even right to call this infidelity?
‘……Head of the family.’
She muttered to herself.
When she tried to find the reason for her anxiety, the answer was always one.
‘I am…’
Afraid.
Afraid that you might leave.
Afraid that you might leave this place with her, just as that girl said.
Afraid that I will be left alone again.
To the point where I regret spending such happy days.
“Huuu…”
A trembling breath escaped her.
Her head throbbed.
Elric reminisced.
It was about his several battles with Igret Valentia.
‘I should have killed her when we first met.’
No matter how many times he thought about it, that was his conclusion.
Mistaking her for a mere child and only knocking her unconscious had been his fatal blunder.
Even considering how she had interfered in every single matter on the battlefield afterward.
And especially considering today’s events.
He should have killed her.
His complacent sympathy had created this situation.
Elric looked at Igret, letting that regret rise within him.
Click.
The atmosphere in the drawing room was sharpened to a keen edge.
Igret, sitting opposite him, was sipping tea with her hood pulled low.
It was too late for regrets, so he had to think about the future.
What was the reason she hadn’t used magic immediately, contrary to the personality he knew?
‘Her mana must be depleted. The mana I feel isn’t complete yet.’
Then, why was she hiding her identity?
‘Because she’s someone who shouldn’t be here. It’s the point where the clash of the Seven Strongest has begun.’
The situation wasn’t entirely hopeless.
The best course of action was to drive her away through conversation.
Who wouldn’t know that winning without fighting is the best?
However, should that fail, the secondary plan was to kill her secretly at this moment.
He could leave the disposal of the body to Danal.
And,
‘To use the secondary plan, there is a prerequisite task.’
Who else knows that she came here?
Who else must he kill to treat this as a perfect disappearance?
The answer was obvious.
‘Geumgong.’
The friendship between Geumgong and the Flame Demon was already widely known.
It was only natural, given that 10% of EW’s shares were in her hands.
As such, it was certain that his location being discovered was also because of Geumgong.
Should he have definitely dealt with Geumgong on the train that day after all?
‘……No, if I had murdered Geumgong inside the train, I wouldn’t have been able to escape the investigation.’
It pained him that it had been an unavoidable situation.
Elric gripped his cane tightly.
And then, filling the space with a chilling murderous intent, he asked.
“Why have you come here? I haven’t heard that part yet.”
At that, Igret slightly lifted her head.
She was red. Her hair, her eyes, her clothes, and even her skin.
“Uung…”
She replied, avoiding Elric’s gaze.
“……You and your wife look good together.”
Elric’s brow twitched.
It was because her voice was soft—not something that seemed like a threat, and certainly not something he thought would ever come from the mouth of the Flame Demon, Igret.
“What did you say?”
“I said you looked good. Just…”
Igret hung her head low.
“……I hope you keep getting along well. Because you looked good. Yeah. So.”
Is she crazy?
A vulgar thought crossed Elric’s mind.
He couldn’t fathom her purpose at all.
Was it goodwill, or was it a threat?
“Did you come all this way just to say that?”
Discomfort began to well up inside Elric.