Chapter 34 - Pursuit (3)
10 min read ·
“Hmm.”
Noel exhaled through her nose, glaring at the documents on her desk.
It was unusual behavior for someone famous for never allowing herself to be distracted while working.
“...”
With narrowed eyes, she examined the stamp on the envelope. Written in an elegant hand, the message was brief and to the point.
[ From the Central Intelligence Bureau to Dame Noel. Enclosed are the personal particulars of the individual you requested. ]
... The dossier on Aiden Kellermain she had commissioned some time ago.
She had requested it the moment he claimed that their paths had crossed in the past.
Noel rose silently and made a circuit of her office. She wandered slowly, her gaze melancholy as she surveyed every corner, before eventually returning to the table.
“Hmmm.”
Once again, she glared at the envelope and let out a long breath through her nose.
... Even she had lost track of how many times she had done this.
“Dame Noel. Are you feeling unwell?”
It was enough to make even Stella, who had been quietly watching from beside her, ask.
She had never seen this diligent woman, normally so quietly devoted to her work, agonize over something like this.
“Isn't this the information you personally requested? I recall you were eagerly awaiting it.”
“... It is.”
Noel forced out the reply and picked up the envelope.
Stella's question was perfectly reasonable.
When Noel had commissioned the investigation shortly after meeting him, she had been intensely curious about Aiden's background.
But since then, her relationship with him had made a little... “progress,” hadn't it?
Certainly, her feelings about Aiden Kellermain had become too complicated for her to regard him as merely the other party to a contract.
As things stood, there was one thing she knew for certain.
The past of Aiden Kellermain contained in this envelope was uncharted territory.
The Central Intelligence Bureau dug up even the tiniest scraps of information. Its work would be on an entirely different level from the background check she had conducted herself.
Which meant, in other words...
'... If something goes wrong, there's no going back.'
What if...
What if his past connection to her had been something bad?
What if these pages contained things she simply couldn't overlook?
What if that meant she could no longer maintain the relationship they had now?
“...”
Her hand hesitated once more as she moved to open the dossier.
'Why?'
She had experienced something similar before. Watching Aiden face the prince from a distance, believing he intended to break off their engagement, she had felt much the same.
The thought that he might drift away from her frightened her.
She couldn't even understand why she was afraid of it.
'... For that matter.'
The corners of Noel's eyes drooped.
What exactly was she to him?
He had told her he liked her, yet she had never given him any answer.
And here she was, digging up information behind his back.
“...”
Really, necessary or not, this was a terrible thing to do to him.
Her eyes slowly closed. But then she took a deep breath, snapped them open, and tore open the envelope.
'... At least.'
If she was going to do something so awful, she should at least make sure she had no regrets.
If this revealed something he wanted to hide, she would apologize honestly. If he had done something wrong that he couldn't tell her about, she would shoulder the burden with him.
Wasn't that, at the very least, an honest way to respond to his feelings?
With determination in her eyes, Noel picked up the documents and began scrutinizing every word, her gaze almost blazing.
After spending a long time reading them over and over, she silently set them down on her desk.
“... Stella.”
At the gravity of her voice, Stella turned toward her, tense. She too had many questions about who Aiden really was.
“Yes?”
“Apparently, Aiden has never been in a romantic relationship in his life.”
“...”
“... And his favorite food is spicy noodles cooked in the Far Eastern style.”
Stella looked at her, utterly at a loss for how to respond. Noel tossed the documents onto her desk and ran a hand down her face.
“... That's the most useful information in there, at least.”
“Pardon?”
“Come read it yourself.”
Tilting her head, Stella approached and picked up the dossier.
Once she had read to the end, she could only agree with Noel.
“... This describes a completely ordinary citizen.”
“Exactly.”
“There's nothing noteworthy at all—”
“Not quite nothing.”
Noel held her forehead as if she had a headache.
“He's a war orphan.”
“Pardon?”
“The people he calls his family now are people he met after he turned fifteen. They aren't related by blood. He was never formally adopted, either.”
“...”
Stella blinked.
“He treasures them so much that I simply assumed they were blood relatives.”
“... So did I.”
It was a surprise.
Given how he was willing to risk his life to protect them, Noel had naturally assumed they were close-knit blood relatives too.
On paper, weren't they practically strangers?
Just like Noel and him.
“...”
What a curious thing to have in common.
Especially considering how he now threw himself into anything involving Noel as though it concerned his own family.
“More importantly, if he's a war orphan... that explains why there are no records of his childhood.”
“Doesn't it?”
Indeed, his records before meeting his current “family” were a complete blank.
Common sense dictated that not even the Central Intelligence Bureau could trace a war orphan's past.
There were countless possible routes and circumstances by which he could have reached the Empire. Its failure to establish the details was only natural; expecting otherwise was unreasonable.
“...”
But once again, there was something troubling her.
'... Of all periods.'
The gap in Aiden's history coincided exactly with the period of her own memory loss, something she had never revealed to anyone around her.
The information she most wanted happened to lie in a past even the Central Intelligence Bureau couldn't uncover.
'I only have one lead.'
And there was only one way to follow it.
“Stella.”
“Yes?”
“...”
“I'll have to go meet Aiden's family sometime.”
“... Ordinary commoners might faint just from meeting you.”
True enough.
Still, if she wanted to delve further into Aiden's past, they were the only people she could ask.
As Noel seriously considered the prospect, the office door suddenly burst open.
It was Katya, looking deeply displeased.
“... Your Highness? What brings you here?”
Noel tilted her head as she asked.
They had somehow managed to exchange apologies after their fight, but while Noel showed no particular discomfort, Katya still seemed ill at ease around her.
They couldn't get along if both of them remained uncomfortable, so Noel usually took it upon herself to ease the tension.
“Stay calm and listen.”
... Clearly, what came next would make maintaining that composure impossible.
“He's been kidnapped.”
“... Who has?”
“Your groom.”
Sparks flew in Noel's eyes.
▣
Having a sack pulled over your entire face was actually far more exhausting than one might expect.
Add being trussed up with rope and dragged along, and the strain went without saying.
By the time someone yanked the sack off his head, Aiden was thoroughly worn out.
'... I need to train more.'
He had never thought his stamina was particularly lacking, but getting involved in a main scenario teeming with monsters of every description was putting him through all sorts of things.
It would only get worse from here.
As he entertained that thought, the person who had uncovered his face pressed a gun to his forehead.
The outfit covering the man's entire body was striking. A mask, black gloves, and a coat.
One glance was enough to tell you, “I do sinister, dirty work.”
“Is this him?”
“Yes. We found him near the building and brought him in.”
“... That was easy. Isn't he the one who's been poking around about us all day?”
At the other masked man's words, Aiden smiled wryly to himself.
No, it really wouldn't have been difficult to capture him.
He had let them take him without putting up any resistance whatsoever.
As he thought that, the man holding the gun to his forehead raised it.
'Ah.'
There was no need to ask what that was for.
The pistol swung hard into Aiden's face.
After several blows, the blood running down his face stained his vision red.
“... Not even showing any pain. You're a tough bastard.”
“...”
... No.
Not so much tough as thorough.
He had simply taken medication beforehand. He'd been certain that getting kidnapped and brought somewhere like this wouldn't leave him unscathed.
'... My divinity isn't coming out, either.'
Noticing the absence of the divinity that would normally sense danger and immediately spring forth, Aiden chuckled inwardly.
... Well.
“That's enough introductions. I hate wasting time, so let's get to the point. Who sent you?”
“I hate wasting time too, so I'll answer straightaway. If you don't want to die, leave some of the documents and supplies intact.”
The most likely reason his divinity wasn't emerging was that Aiden didn't perceive this as a crisis at all.
The masked man faltered at the unblinking response.
“... What?”
“You know you can't dispose of everything in time anyway. Just leave enough for us to establish a direct connection to the prince or the minister of administration. Then we won't hunt you down and beat you to death.”
“...”
With a disbelieving laugh, the masked man leveled the gun at Aiden again, almost against his forehead.
“Listen, I don't think you understand your situation—”
“I know you won't kill me.”
“...”
“You must still have plenty left to destroy. Add a corpse to the pile, and you'll never make a clean, untraceable getaway, will you?”
“...”
“If you want to save your own skins, you don't have time to make more trouble here, do you?”
The masked man remained silent as Aiden continued nonchalantly.
'What the hell is this guy?'
His mind was probably full of thoughts like that.
Wasn't he acting as though he'd volunteered to be captured?
He saw straight through their circumstances and how they operated. They were the ones who had him tied up at gunpoint, yet somehow they felt like the ones under pressure.
“Killing you isn't our goal either, so if you'll just cooperate—”
Aiden broke off mid-sentence.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he began to make out his surroundings, he finally got a clear picture of the situation.
Namely, the people surrounding him were far more...
“... You haven't all pulled out yet?”
...numerous than he'd expected.
His face went pale in an instant.
The change was so sudden that even the masked man pointing a sword at him looked momentarily taken aback.
It was a strange shift for someone who had just been threatening them without batting an eye.
“Aren't you supposed to be competent enough for the imperial prince or the minister of administration to entrust jobs to you personally? What the hell have you been doing?!”
... And now he was scolding them out of nowhere.
“... What?”
“I assumed you'd have almost everyone out by now, with only one or two left behind! I can't protect all of you like this! Someone is definitely going to die!”
“...”
What the hell was he talking about?
First he threatened them after getting kidnapped, and now he claimed he would protect them.
“Stay calm and listen carefully.”
Aiden sounded almost breathless with urgency.
“It's not too late. Treat my injuries first.”
“...”
He was making less and less sense.
'... Is he mentally ill?'
As everyone present seriously entertained that possibility, Aiden spoke urgently.
“Come on, you must have an elixir or something! You don't even have to actually heal me. At least make me look unharmed! If she sees me injured, you're really all going to die!”
“What the hell is this lunatic—”
Someone finally lost patience and spoke up, but even those words died halfway through.
...
He must have felt it himself.
Something was terribly wrong.
... ... ...
The air was vibrating.
Even though it was still far away, they could tell that something horrifying was slowly approaching them.
...
...
...
One step.
Another step.
Each time it set a foot down, the vibrations in the air grew stronger. It was as though some enormous creature was approaching.
“... She's coming.”
Aiden spoke to the people frozen in bewilderment, sounding utterly resigned.
“My fiancée.”
As his voice rang out, filled with absolute terror...
...
...
...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heaven and earth turned upside down.