Chapter 34
Pursuit (3)
“-Hmm.”
Noel let out a breath through her nose as she stared down at the documents on her desk.
For someone known to never slack off during work, this was quite unusual behavior.
“……”
With narrowed eyes, Noel scanned the seal on the envelope of the document. The neatly written sentence conveyed only the necessary information in a concise manner.
[From the Central Intelligence Department to Dame Noel. This is the personal information of the individual you requested.]
…This was the personal file on Aiden Kellermain, the one she had requested an investigation on previously.
As soon as he said he had a past connection with her, she had sent in the request.
Without a word, Noel stood up and made a slow circle around her office.
She walked slowly, eyes full of melancholy, as if inspecting every corner of the room.
After pacing like that for a while, she eventually returned to the table.
“-Hummmm.”
Letting out a long nasal sigh again, she stared at the envelope.
…She had already done this same thing several times, though she couldn’t tell exactly how many.
“Dame, are you feeling unwell?”
It had come to the point where even Stella, who had been silently watching her from the side, asked such a question.
It made sense. This was the first time Stella had seen the usually diligent and silent Noel struggle like this.
“You personally requested this information. I remember you were desperately waiting for it.”
“...That’s true.”
Noel answered weakly as she picked up the envelope.
Stella’s question was perfectly reasonable.
Back when she first commissioned the investigation, shortly after meeting Aiden, she had been extremely curious about his background.
But now, the relationship between her and that man had… progressed, hadn’t it?
Even within her own heart, it was clear that Aiden Kellermain was no longer just a “contract target.” Her feelings toward him were far more complicated.
In that state.
There was one thing she knew for certain.
The past of Aiden Kellermain contained in this envelope—was undoubtedly unknown territory.
The Central Intelligence Department could unearth even the tiniest scraps of information. Their reach was far beyond the private investigation she had conducted herself.
Which meant, in other words—
‘…If something goes wrong, there’s no going back.’
What if—
What if—
What if Aiden had been involved with her in some unpleasant way in the past?
What if there was something in this file that she absolutely could not overlook?
And because of that, what if she couldn’t continue this relationship with him?
“……”
Her hand, about to open the file, halted again.
‘—Why?’
She had felt something similar before. When she watched the prince confront Aiden from afar, when she thought he was trying to break off their engagement—this was the same feeling.
He—
She felt afraid at the thought that she might grow distant from him.
She couldn’t even understand why she was so afraid of something like that.
‘…From the start.’
Noel’s eyes drooped downward.
What exactly was her relationship with him?
She had heard that he liked her, but she had never said anything in return.
And yet here she was, digging up information behind his back without him knowing.
“……”
Truly.
Even if it was something necessary, it was still clearly something she shouldn’t be doing.
Noel slowly closed her eyes.
But then, taking a deep breath, she suddenly opened them wide and tore the envelope open with determination.
‘…At the very least.’
If she was going to do something she shouldn’t, then at least she shouldn’t regret it.
If this led to her discovering something he had wanted to keep hidden, then she would apologize honestly. And if he had done something wrong he couldn’t tell her about, then she would carry the burden together with him.
At the very least, wasn’t that the honest way to face someone’s feelings?
With resolute eyes, Noel picked up the document and began reading it thoroughly, with a focus sharp enough to seem almost radiant.
After poring over the contents several times, she finally set it down on the desk without a word.
“…Stella.”
At the weight of Noel’s voice, Stella turned to her with a tense expression.
She, too, had many questions about Aiden’s identity.
“Yes.”
“Aiden has never been in a relationship in his entire life.”
“……”
“…His favorite food is spicy noodles cooked in Far Eastern style.”
When Stella turned to her with an expression that clearly asked, “How am I supposed to respond to that?”, Noel ran a hand down her face and threw the document onto the desk.
“…That was the most useful piece of information in there. Out of everything written.”
“Pardon?”
“Just come and read it for yourself.”
At those words, Stella tilted her head and stepped forward to pick up the file.
And once she had read it to the end, she couldn’t help but agree with Noel’s assessment.
“…This is a completely ordinary citizen, through and through.”
“Right.”
“There’s nothing worth noting—”
“There is.”
Noel clutched her forehead, showing signs of a headache.
“He’s a war orphan.”
“Pardon?”
“The people he calls family now are ones he met after the age of fifteen. They’re not blood-related. And there was never any formal adoption process.”
“……”
Stella blinked.
“I assumed they were blood relatives, given how dearly he holds them.”
“…Exactly.”
It was unexpected.
Considering how fiercely he risked his life to protect them, Noel had naturally assumed they were close family by blood.
On paper, they were practically strangers.
Just like the relationship between Noel and him.
“……”
What a strangely fitting coincidence.
Especially when she thought about how Aiden threw himself into matters concerning Noel as if they were his own family affairs.
“More than that, if he’s a war orphan… it explains why there are no childhood records at all.”
“Exactly.”
Indeed, all records before he met his current “family” were completely blank.
Thinking logically, even the Central Intelligence Department wouldn’t be able to trace the background of a war orphan.
There would be countless possible routes and ways he might’ve entered the Empire. It was more than natural that they couldn’t uncover it—expecting otherwise would’ve been unreasonable.
“……”
But once again, something about it bothered her.
‘…Of all times.’
The period during which Aiden’s records were missing matched exactly with the time of Noel’s own “amnesia,” something she had never shared with anyone.
Of all things, the most crucial part she wanted to know fell squarely within the timeframe the Central Intelligence Department couldn’t retrieve.
‘There’s only one clue.’
And to follow that trail, there was only one path she could take.
“Stella.”
“Yes?”
“…I need to meet Aiden’s family. At least once.”
“…As ordinary citizens, they might faint just running into you, Dame.”
That might be true.
But still, if she wanted to dig deeper into Aiden’s past, that was the only place she could hope to hear anything useful.
As Noel reflected seriously on that thought, the office door suddenly burst open.
It was Katya, her face clearly displeased.
“…Your Highness? What brings you here?”
Noel tilted her head and asked.
After their fight some time ago and the exchange of apologies that followed, Noel hadn’t shown it outwardly, but Katya still seemed visibly uncomfortable around her.
Still, for the two of them to get along, both sides needed to avoid tension. Noel usually took the lead in easing the atmosphere.
“First, stay calm.”
…That clearly wasn’t going to happen, judging by what came next.
“That bastard’s been kidnapped.”
“…Who do you mean by ‘that bastard’?”
“Your husband.”
Sparks flew in Noel’s eyes.
▣
Having a sack over one’s head actually took more stamina than one might think.
Especially when being tightly bound and dragged along by ropes—there was really no need to elaborate on how exhausting that was.
So by the time someone yanked off the sack covering his head, Aiden was already quite worn out.
‘…I really need to train more.’
He had never once thought his stamina was lacking, but now that he was caught up in the main scenario full of all kinds of monsters, it seemed he was going to experience all sorts of chaos.
Things were only going to get worse from here.
As that thought crossed his mind, the person who had removed his hood was now pressing the barrel of a gun against his forehead.
Their fashion was striking—fully covered from head to toe. Mask, black gloves, long coat.
It was the kind of outfit that screamed, “We do shady and dirty work.”
“This him?”
“Yes. He was found near the building and brought in.”
“…Caught him easy. Isn’t he the one who’s been poking around all day?”
Hearing the other masked man say that, Aiden let out a bitter chuckle inwardly.
No, seriously—it probably hadn’t been hard at all to catch him.
After all, Aiden had let himself be captured without offering the slightest resistance.
As he thought that, the man holding the gun to his forehead took that as his cue.
‘Ah.’
There was no need to ask what it was for.
The pistol was swung hard and struck Aiden squarely in the face.
As it was repeated several times, blood trickled down and began to tint his vision red.
“…Doesn’t even flinch. Tough bastard, isn’t he?”
“……”
…No.
It wasn’t toughness—just cautious calculation.
He had taken medicine in advance. It was only logical; when you get kidnapped by a group like this, it’s pretty clear you’re not getting out unharmed.
‘…Even the Holy Flame’s not activating.’
Seeing that the Holy Flame, which should’ve triggered upon sensing danger, wasn’t appearing, Aiden laughed inwardly.
…Well.
“That should be enough of a greeting. I hate wasting time, so let’s cut to the chase. Who sent you?”
“I hate wasting time too, so let me get right to the point. If you don’t want to die, make sure to leave some documents or items behind.”
The reason nothing was activating likely stemmed from the fact that Aiden didn’t perceive this situation as a “real threat” at all.
His composed response, without even blinking, made the masked man pause.
“…What?”
“You know you can’t destroy everything in time anyway. Just leave enough behind to suggest I had ties to the Prince or the Minister of Administration. That way, I won’t bother chasing you down and killing you.”
“……”
The masked man let out a scoffing laugh and once again aimed the gun squarely at his forehead.
“Hey, I don’t think you understand the situation here—”
“I know you won’t kill me.”
“……”
“You still have a lot left to destroy. If you add a corpse to the list, there’s no way you’ll escape cleanly without leaving a trail.”
“……”
“You don’t have time to escalate this mess if you want to walk out of here alive, do you?”
As Aiden continued speaking casually, the masked man fell silent.
‘—What is with this guy?’
In their minds, they were probably thinking just that.
As if he had willingly let himself get caught.
He was seeing straight through their situation and operations. Even though they had him tied up and a gun pointed at him, it felt like they were the ones under pressure.
“We’re not trying to kill you either, so just cooperate and—”
Aiden, who had been speaking, suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Now that his eyes had adjusted to the dark, he was finally able to take in his surroundings clearly.
And then he realized—
The number of people surrounding him was far more than he had expected.
“…You haven’t evacuated everyone yet?”
There were still that many around.
Aiden’s face instantly turned pale.
The masked man who had been holding a sword to him also looked visibly startled at the sudden shift in Aiden’s demeanor.
For someone who had just been threatening them without blinking an eye, this was an abrupt and strange change in atmosphere.
“—No, aren’t you guys supposed to be competent enough to receive direct orders from the Prince or the Minister of Administration? What have you been doing until now?!”
…And then, out of nowhere, he started scolding them.
“…What?”
“I figured you would’ve already pulled out most of your people and only left one or two behind. Now I can’t even protect everyone! Someone’s definitely going to die at this rate!”
“……”
They had no idea what he was going on about.
He’d been kidnapped, threatened them, and now claimed he wanted to protect them?
“Calm down and listen to me carefully.”
Aiden sounded nearly breathless as he spoke again.
“It’s not too late yet. First, treat me.”
“……”
It was becoming more and more impossible to understand a word he was saying.
‘…Is he mentally unstable?’
As the people around him began seriously considering that possibility, Aiden blurted out in desperation.
“No, there has to be some elixir or something, right? I’m not saying you need to actually heal me—just make me look uninjured! If she sees me hurt, she’ll really kill all of you!”
“—What the hell is this lunatic even talking abou—”
Someone finally lost their patience and said it out loud, but even that sentence was cut short.
-……
Something.
Something was off. Even they could feel it now.
-………… -………… -…………
The air shook.
Even though it was still quite far away.
…Something “horrific.”
It was drawing closer.
-…………
-…………………………
-…………………………………………
One step.
Another step.
With every footstep, the vibration in the air intensified. It felt like some giant creature was approaching them.
“…She’s coming.”
To the dumbfounded group, Aiden added in a tone of surrender.
“My fiancée.”
And with that voice—Aiden’s voice filled with genuine fear—
-…
-…
-…!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
—the world flipped upside down.