/
The ride back to Conler Castle in the carriage was silent.
I didn’t say anything, just stared at the rapidly changing landscape. The scenes in my head were moving at the same speed as the scenery outside.
“Bring Sofia back.”
The newly awakened Baron Bruno continued to murmur while crying.
I wasn’t expecting to see a middle-aged man cry like this, much less Baron Bruno. I had the impression that I was being forced to learn a secret that I didn’t want to learn.
“Stupid human.”
Rex and I could only watch Baron Bruno wailing helplessly. We couldn’t offer consolation, nor could we reprimand his actions up to now.
On the other hand, the man who was deftly sipping tea sharply criticized Baron Bruno.
With his composed tone, our attention naturally turned to him. The man who gained our attention only raised the corners of his mouth with an air of disdain.
Baron Bruno, who one would have thought would be enraged at such a haughty attitude, could only cry a little when he heard those words.
It was obvious that he was in a very weak state.
‘I guess it’s because his daughter is gone…….’
Before I went to see Baron Bruno, I had doubts about whether I could trust everything he said. However, in light of his earlier tone and facial expression, I was unable to assert that it was a lie.
If everything was an act, Baron Bruno’s title had robbed him of his true talent. He should have been a theater actor.
‘To think that Baron Bruno and X were once on the same side.’
When Baron Bruno talked about his alliance with X, he briefly mentioned his sister.
I was unsure of whether I could still recognize Baron Bruno as a human being as I listened to the account of how he gave up his sister to save Sofia.
No, perhaps the reason he could do such a thing is that he is human.
“How….”
My voice was shaking tremendously. Baron Bruno was tightly biting his lip and had tears streaming down his face.
“It was as if I possessed by something…….”
“That’s just an excuse.”
“Yes, it’s just an excuse, but I really wanted to save Sofia at that moment. That was all I could think about.”
“Really, that was all you had in mind?”
At my question, Baron Bruno clenched his jaw and bowed his head deeply. Thinking of Gilbert, Aiden, and Theodore made it feel even more like a lie.
Never will they give me up for anything.
“It’s dreadful, truly…”
“Ugh…”
“How hot she must have felt, wait a minute.”
Baron Bruno said he killed his sister under the guise of a fire to save Sofia, who was suffering from a high fever.
Hearing those words, I remembered when I met Sofia for the last time. She had said she was feeling hot.
“Jessica….”
When I told the story to Baron Bruno, he covered his face with his hands and painfully uttered her name.
When I realized Sofia said that with Jessica’s voice, a sense of guilt overwhelmed me that I had not felt until now.
“She then warned me to watch out for similarities.”
As I recounted the memories from back then, Baron Bruno nodded.
“Probably.. another Sofia-like similarity.”
“Sofia Bruno?”
“To call Tia Bluea…….”
The answer was simple: they needed Sofia Bruno to call Tia Bluea, just as they needed Jessica Bruno, who was similar to Sofia Bruno, to keep Sofia alive.
“Why do they need Tia Bluea?”
“She’s similar to Mary Conler.”
“Why on earth do they need someone similar to me?”
“They didn’t tell me that……. So I don’t know.”
Baron Bruno bowed his head as if he felt ashamed. Even though he had a ridiculous attitude, the conversation wasn’t completely pointless.
Tia Bluea is Jung Seulbi.
What they wanted was me, so they’re using her to get me. Why would they take such drastic measures? I have no idea what the God of the Underground and X are thinking.
‘I should have captured X and had a conversation with Baron Bruno.
Perhaps X appeared to silence Count Bruno’s mouth.
He said he was close to Baron Bruno, and he seemed to know where he was and who he was meeting. Maybe he’s got a location tracker or something…….
“I’ll do anything to get Sofia back!”
Baron Bruno sounded so desperate, but he was also quite cautious when it came to talking about X.
At first, when he was told that X had appeared and attacked him and put him to sleep, he had curiously referred to him as ‘that bastard’, but the more he talked, the more I realized that he was quite afraid of him.
That’s why he came to me, whom he hated so much.
“What should I do?”
“Oh, I don’t know either.”
“How pathetic.”
The man pierced through the conversation between me and Baron Bruno.
He rose from the sofa, leaned forward, and looked at Baron Bruno. It was the kind of stare…… that would have made me run out of the room in shame if I had received it.
“You came here asking for help without any plans? To a child at that?”
“I couldn’t think of anything better to do…….”
Baron Bruno stammered, unable to form a sentence in the face of the forceful attitude of the man, who was much younger than him.
Perhaps for Baron Bruno, I was like a rope in front of a tiger. I don’t particularly have any sharp skills, I could very well be a rotten straw rope, so to speak.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you!”
It can’t be helped, though. If Tia Bluea had been brought here to target me, I had to deal with her somehow. In the process of dealing with her, perhaps a way to save Sophia Bruno would come up.
Baron Bruno must have been aiming for that too when he came to find me.
“But I have a condition.”
“Please tell me anything!”
I said cautiously, and for the first time since he’d been here, Baron Bruno looked hopeful.
I spoke as coldly as I possibly could, recalling the usual tone of Grand Duke Estin.
“You must pay for your crimes.”
“What? Oh, yes, of course. I’m remorseful for my involvement in the underworld and…….”
“Not that.”
My eyes narrowed as I looked at Baron Bruno.
“About Jessica Bruno.”
“Oh….”
Baron Bruno couldn’t hide his surprise at the mention of his sister’s name.
It seemed that his remorse was only temporary. He seemed to have taken her sacrifice for granted.
Even though it was Sofia Bruno’s face, the voice that had muttered “It’s hot” stuck in my mind like a thorn.
I wanted to alleviate her grudge, at least. Maybe she warned me to be careful because it was dangerous.
“Of course! If you save Sofia, I will accept any punishment.”
“Good.”
“Are you sure about this?”
The man who was listening to the conversation between me and Baron Bruno said in a worried voice. It was different from the sour tone he had used with Baron Bruno earlier.
‘He seems a bit more lenient toward me.’
The man’s tone was rather light, but there was still a tenderness in the way he spoke and looked at me.
I wondered who this man was, who had saved me and made X shudder at the sight of him. And yet, his brown eyes were filled with warmth as he looked at me.
Who exactly is this guy?
“What are you thinking?”
Lost in my thoughts, the man in front of me asked. Come to think of it… How did this man end up riding in the carriage heading to Conler Castle?
I was so absorbed in my contemplation that I didn’t even realize how natural it was for him to be in the carriage.
“Are you going to Conler Castle?”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“Is there a reason to protect me at Conler Castle?”
When I asked the man, he simply shrugged his shoulders.
Now I remembered that this man had said earlier that good news and bad news were waiting for me at Conler Castle.
My head is spinning from Baron Bruno’s bombshell confession, and now there are more things awaiting me at the castle. My life is just too dynamic.
“Who are you anyway?”
“It’s me, Mary.”
Every time I asked who I was, he would respond with something like, “You already know me.” But no matter how hard I think, this man doesn’t even exist faintly in my memories.
I couldn’t ask properly because I was already distracted by Baron Bruno’s confession, but now I was starting to get annoyed, so I asked with a grumbling voice.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Arsene.”