Chapter 75. This Was Enough
2023.11.14.
'...Herdin.'
At the sight of her collapsing as she called his name, a sense of relief, along with another wave of anxiety, washed over him.
The fear that he might never hear that voice again.
If she had caused this disaster with the intention of turning his insides upside down, she had certainly succeeded.
Even now, at this very moment when she was breathing perfectly fine right before his eyes, that anxiety remained.
The coachman said Blair had gone into the Empress's Palace. That she had taken something out from there.
He had so many questions—what exactly was it, and why did she go to the Imperial Palace alone that night?
So...
Please, open your eyes soon.
The moment he thought that. As if she had heard his thoughts, Blair's eyelids fluttered, and then she opened her eyes.
Herdin stared blankly as focus slowly returned to Blair's hazy eyes, belatedly opening his mouth to speak, but Blair called him first.
"...Herdin."
Her characteristic low voice flowed out from between her lips that struggled to move. Herdin waited for her next words.
"You were right."
"What do you mean all of a sudden—"
"Her Majesty the Empress wasn't killed by suicide that day; she was murdered."
His gaze looking at Blair began to waver.
Blair, suffering the aftermath of her returned memories, suppressed the surging emotions of that day and continued speaking.
"...And she didn't try to kill me; she protected me."
"......"
"I'm sorry. For being so late..."
On top of the guilt of turning a blind eye to the truth for ten years, the guilt of failing to save Esmeralda was added, heavily crushing her chest.
Her exhausted eyes were dry without a trace of moisture, but her voice carried an unmistakable tremor.
"Then did you go to the Imperial Palace that night because of that memory?"
At his question, Blair hesitated for a moment before confessing.
"...Actually, I tried hypnosis with Madam Lorelayne yesterday."
At the mention that she had undergone hypnosis without his permission, Herdin's expression hardened.
However, the exhausted Blair didn't notice the change in his demeanor and continued speaking.
"The hypnosis didn't yield any results, but I had a dream at night. It wasn't the day of the accident, but a memory of seeing Her Majesty hiding something in her bedroom sometime."
"So you went that night to find it?"
"Yes. I thought I needed to go and return before my mother noticed. Then... at the burning villa, the memories of that day came back."
"......"
"...In the end, I lost the documents, though."
Self-mockery was vivid in Blair's eyes as she looked down weakly.
If it were someone else, they might have criticized her for blowing things out of proportion like this.
But at least he couldn't bring himself to blame her.
Because he knew better than anyone who had driven the woman, who would be bedridden for days from just one hypnosis session, to such extremes.
"It was too dark, so I could only see the front page of the documents, but at least that..."
"Blair."
Herdin gently cut off Blair, who was rambling like someone being chased by something.
He hadn't pressed her because he wanted to hear about some documents when the woman had just barely survived death.
Right now, this was enough.
The fact that you are breathing right in front of my eyes, and speaking perfectly fine. Just that alone.
Seeing Blair's face, which was steeped in guilt, apologies towards him, and an unconcealable exhaustion even amidst it all, Herdin covered her face with his hand.
"Rest for now. I'll look for the documents."
Feeling his hand gently touch her face, Blair blinked slowly before letting her heavy eyelids fall. Her exhausted body quickly succumbed to sleep.
Herdin stared blankly at the sleeping Blair, who was now breathing evenly.
She had found the memories of the accident.
With this, she had taken a giant step closer to the truth she had so desperately wanted for the past ten years.
But why was it? Why did he feel more unsettled than relieved?
After guarding Blair's side for a while, Herdin quietly rose from his seat and left the room. Ruth, who had been waiting in front of the door, approached him.
"Where are those bastards?"
"They are in the underground prison."
The two arrived at the underground prison located outside the Duke's estate. The Knight Commander waiting at the entrance offered a salute.
Acknowledging the salute with a nod of his head as he went down into the basement, Ruth offered Herdin a pair of leather gloves.
Herdin put on the gloves and stepped into the prison.
Inside the prison, the man who had kidnapped Blair was bound in shackles. It seemed he hadn't been captured quietly, as he had various large and small wounds all over his body.
As soon as the man saw Herdin, he looked terrified, the chains binding him clinking loudly.
That was only natural, considering the man before him exuded an overwhelming presence that could kill with just a glare.
"Hello."
The voice that slipped through his bared teeth was sweet. Horrifyingly so.
Herdin casually swept back the hair piercing his eyes, took out a cigar from his pocket, and lit it.
He exhaled the smoke and continued.
"My mood is pretty dogshit right now."
"......"
"I'd appreciate it if you just answer the first time I ask."
The man gulped. He could instinctively tell that those words weren't a bluff.
"Who is it?"
He abruptly asked who it was, but what those words meant was obvious.
However, the man hesitated, unable to answer readily.
Herdin, who had been staring at him with cold eyes while exhaling smoke, casually threw the cigar to the floor, crushing it out before opening his mouth.
"I suppose having a few fingernails ripped out just feels like a tickle?"
He called the Knight Commander waiting behind him.
Realizing what he was about to do, the man cried out in terrified desperation.
"I-I don't know! I really don't know!"
"Looks like you still don't feel like answering properly."
"I-I really don't know! We just do as we're told for the money!"
Herdin, gauging the man's sincerity by looking into his eyes, signaled the Knight Commander to step back with a nod. Then, taking a step closer to the man, he asked.
"What were you told to do."
He knew it wasn't simply to kill Blair.
If killing her was the order, those bastards wouldn't have been scouring the entire forest, claiming she had escaped.
When the man didn't answer quickly and instead observed his mood, Herdin's gaze turned to the Knight Commander behind him.
Seeing that, the man immediately answered.
"M-Memories. They told us to erase her memories."
"What memories?"
"They said to erase her childhood memories..."
"And how were you going to erase them?"
"We were going to erase them with black magi—"
The man, who had been answering frantically, belatedly realized his slip-up and shut his mouth, but he had already spoken about black magic.
Herdin's eyes narrowed as he read the information the man had yet to reveal.
"You don't look like a black magician, so that means there are more accomplices."
"N-Not accomplices. More like... business associates, you could say."
Herdin scoffed at the word 'associates'. Cooperation among men doing dirty work. It was a laughable word.
The man seemed to take the meaning of that laugh as a danger signal, as he voluntarily spilled the information.
"But we don't know their identities either. We were only told to monitor the Duchess's movements and contact them after kidnapping her..."
"Where is that?"
The man rattled off the address of the place they had contacted. Hearing the address, the Knight Commander left the prison immediately.
'There probably won't be any results even if he goes.'
According to the man's words, they were meticulous enough that even the 'business associates' didn't know each other's identities.
It was highly likely they had already come near the villa, caught wind of the situation, and fled. Of course, they wouldn't have left any traces behind either.
Herdin moved on to the final topic.
"I heard the Duchess had a document in her possession. Have you seen it?"
The man, who pondered for a moment what document Herdin was referring to, shook his head.
"I don't remember well... But we brought the Duchess's belongings with us when we kidnapped her, so it's probably at that villa..."
At the man's answer, Herdin furrowed his brow.
The villa had almost completely burned down in the fire. That meant the document inside had been reduced to ashes.
Herdin concluded the interrogation there and left the underground prison.
If it were up to his heart, he would have killed the kidnappers who had almost left Blair to die in the flames, whether by accident or not, but they still had their uses.
Herdin ordered Ruth, who had followed him out.
"Release him tomorrow morning. Put a tail on him. They might contact him again, whether it's the mastermind or the black magician."
"Yes, sir."
"And tell them to strictly keep their mouths shut about today's incident, both inside and out."
"Understood."
Actually, he had a guess as to who the mastermind was.
No, it wasn't even at the level of a guess; there was someone who came to mind the very moment this incident occurred.
'...The Grand Empress Dowager.'
He had noticed Blair trying to find the memories of the accident from ten years ago, and he had even told her to stop the hypnosis.
But it was only a suspicion.
If this were a simple kidnapping case, he would have publicly announced the culprits and administered appropriate punishment to show what happens when you mess with Delmark, but this incident wasn't such a simple matter.
If this kidnapping case was intertwined with the incident from ten years ago, he couldn't rashly bring it into the public eye without concrete evidence.
A heartless mother who abandoned her daughter for ambition, and the pitiful daughter exploited by her.
Or a daughter manipulated by her husband into betraying her mother.
It would simply be throwing out fodder for scandal-mongers to chew on however they pleased.
If that happened, the ones to suffer the greatest damage would be, on a large scale, Delmark and the Imperial Family, and on a smaller scale, Katarina and Blair, the subjects of the rumors.
He had no intention whatsoever of throwing the woman, who was already overwhelmed by the truth that her mother had used her life, out as prey for the scandal-mongers.
Since many people would have witnessed the Delmark knights moving in large numbers today, he wouldn't be able to stop the rumors about the kidnapping from spreading.
'But if Delmark doesn't publicly address it first, it will just end up as baseless speculation.'
This incident had to pass quietly like that. Until they caught definitive evidence.