Chapter 88
“They say the House of Valdemaera has set out to bring the princess back.”
Levian delivered the news with a faint smile. Akenaus bit down hard on the inside of his mouth. These days, unless it came through his spies, Akenaus had no way of hearing rumors from outside. Even when it concerned the House of Valdemaera—his own family’s affairs—he had not known until Levian told him.
Suppressing the rage that surged up in him, Akenaus asked back.
“Princess?”
“Major Valdemaera’s red-haired lover. I heard it was quite a spectacle—they sent servants to wait on her, soldiers to escort her, and even an enormous, comfortable carriage packed to the brim. They say the townspeople followed behind the carriage to see it off.”
“That mad bastard.”
Once he heard it, a laugh of scorn burst from him. Ezekail was the younger brother who, on the rare occasions they crossed paths inside the mansion, had looked at him with expressionless eyes as though he were a piece of furniture. No, he would not have looked at furniture with such indifference.
As long as he had eyes and ears, Akenaus could not have failed to know what people outside were weighing when they compared the brothers. Even so, thanks to his appearance being more striking than most, he had been tremendously popular as a romantic prospect. And since that was the only field in which his talents stood out, while Akenaus was merrily scattering scandals everywhere, that bastard had steadily lived up to their parents’ and everyone else’s expectations, making Akenaus look all the more pathetic.
So he had gritted his teeth and watched, wondering what made him so damn superior, only for the situation to suddenly turn rather amusing. He had never in his life seen a man so noisily display his one-sided love for a woman who had run away, as if to prove he was an utter novice. Even a childish boy in the throes of puberty would not have disgraced himself like that.
“And him?”
“It doesn’t seem he went along, at least. He only just returned, so it would be awkward for him to leave his post again. Instead, he sent Monkam. Not many people from that unit have their identities known, but Monkam is famous as Major Valdemaera’s closest aide. It’s rather excessive treatment for bringing back one woman.”
“What is he doing, spoiling the woman like that?”
“We find it strange too. The great Major Valdemaera, going that mad over a woman? Is this truly the Major Valdemaera we know? Is this some kind of trap? All sorts of thoughts come to mind.”
“What do you think, Granny?”
Akenaus leaned forward slightly and looked down at the two figures crouched on the floor. Feeling Akenaus’s gaze on her, the young woman flinched in fear, her shoulders trembling. If not for the gag in her mouth, she surely would have screamed noisily. In fact, he had heard that throughout the entire time she was dragged here, the young woman had sobbed, screamed, and struggled so much that they had been forced to choke her unconscious and bring her in.
Unlike the young maid, who looked ready to faint if anyone so much as brushed against her, Mrs. Serva clearly had experience on her side. While the terrified maid’s eyes and nose were swollen from crying, Mrs. Serva, though she had been dragged here roughly and her entire appearance was torn and disheveled, remained quite composed.
The two women, captured by Davys’s spies, had arrived last night loaded into a carriage with their limbs bound. According to the spies’ explanation, they had followed the women after they went out to visit a shop and snatched them away the moment an opportunity arose. In truth, if anyone had a right to feel wronged, it was the young maid. She had merely accompanied Mrs. Serva as a companion and had been caught up in it by accident.
Originally, they had intended to dispose of the maid and bring only Mrs. Serva, but the two women had clung tightly to each other and refused to be separated no matter what, so he heard they had no choice but to bring them both.
Of course, if the two women did not return, the Derosa mansion would send an urgent message to Ezekail, but the spies had left one of their companions behind in preparation for that. Messengers would be shot dead one after another as soon as they set out, so Ezekail would never hear of Mrs. Serva’s disappearance.
“It’s been a while, Granny. No, Head Housekeeper.”
Akenaus greeted her lightly.
“After you went down to the Derosa mansion, I never got to see how you were living, but you’ve aged quite a bit in the meantime. ‘Granny’ just comes out naturally.”
Instead of reacting to Akenaus’s attempt at recognition, Mrs. Serva patted the back of Anna’s hand as the girl sat beside her, shoulders pressed together, sobbing without cease. Having sensed that she would die the moment she was separated from Mrs. Serva, Anna clutched Mrs. Serva’s hand tightly and refused to let go even as she cried all day. Mrs. Serva, too, having lost her cane in the commotion, limped along with Anna’s support, directly demonstrating Anna’s necessity.
“In your eyes as well, Head Housekeeper, is that woman worth all this?”
“One moment. If you’re going to talk, we should remove the gag. We don’t usually grant this sort of convenience, but they say this head housekeeper has a rather dignified temperament and didn’t scream much.”
With a dagger, Levian flicked through the knot of the gag that had been blocking Mrs. Serva’s mouth. The gag dropped away, revealing Mrs. Serva’s face, red marks imprinted around her mouth from the intense pressure.
Akenaus paid no mind to the old woman’s haggard state and poured out his own curiosity first.
“I’m dying to know. Was she really that breathtakingly beautiful?”
After asking, he tilted his head to himself and answered his own question.
“Wait, that bastard couldn’t see, so did looks not matter? Then what did he fall for?”
Mrs. Serva gave no answer, fixing her eyes instead on Akenaus’s eyepatch. Feeling the touch of her gaze, Akenaus drew up the corners of his mouth with murderous eyes.
“Ah, this? That was his doing. He put a bullet in a man’s eye. You raised him very well, Head Housekeeper.”
Mrs. Serva listened calmly to Akenaus’s mockery. Then she answered without so much as twitching an eyebrow.
“Yes, I raised him that way. Whether it is grace or debt, repaying what one has received is the duty of a human being.”
“Ah, so that’s what I intend to do as well.”
Akenaus clenched his teeth and shot back.
“That red-haired woman he’s looking for. Did he sleep with her?”
“…….”
“Even blind, it seems he still felt like doing that. What made him trust a woman whose face he couldn’t even see enough to stick it in her? Or was she worth eating even if her face didn’t matter?”
Levian, who had been listening, cut in.
“At a time like this, why on earth are you curious about that?”
“Because I’ve grown curious about that woman too? I’d like to know just how good she is for him to end up like that.”
“Young master, you truly do have a nasty personality.”
Levian shook his head with a playful air.
“But it’s clear she isn’t merely some woman he happens to cherish. He must be frantic to bring her back quickly, yet he went to all that trouble so she could travel safely and comfortably. If it were the Major Valdemaera we know, I would have thought he’d simply ride off on horseback, toss the woman up behind him, and return. Unexpectedly, it seems he’s terribly worried she might blow away in the wind or vanish if he holds her in his hand.”
“Thanks to that, it must have been easy to put people on them. No?”
“Young master, you’ve become quite accustomed to our ways now.”
“I’m the one who told you that woman was his weakness. So, where are you going to hit them?”
In that instant, Mrs. Serva and Anna exchanged terrified looks. After hearing such filthy obscenities about Rose, it was horrifying to imagine how Rose would be treated if she fell into the hands of Akenaus, who was notorious for his lust.
“Hit them?”
But at Akenaus’s question, Levian expressed doubt in return.
“What are you talking about? Aren’t you going to lie in ambush and attack them on the road back with the woman?”
“Of course not. Attack that side by surprise? You might as well tell us to shove our heads into a tiger’s mouth. Why do you think he sent his subordinates with her? To eliminate every danger in advance. That unit is so seasoned in that kind of combat that we can’t beat them by using the same method.”
“Then?”
“We’ll take that woman without fighting.”
It was a confident answer.
“We’ll take control of an inn and disguise ourselves as the innkeeper and guests, then when they’re asleep…”
Levian mimed pulling a trigger.
“We finish them all at once.”
“Didn’t you say soldiers keep night watch and are sensitive to any sign of movement?”
“Then we make them dull.”
The man took out a small vial and shook it.
“Laudanum serves as a painkiller, but it also has a soporific effect. It tastes bitter if you drink it as is, but if you mix just a small amount into food or wine with a strong aroma and flavor, it won’t be especially noticeable unless one’s palate is extremely sensitive. The best would be for them to fall asleep and never wake, but even if we only feed them enough to make their minds hazy, it will be sufficient to subdue them. They can’t swing guns or swords while drunk on opium.”
“And on top of that, since you can take care of his closest aide and the rest of his subordinates all at once, it’s also an opportunity to earn merit?”
“You understand well. The major seems to have selected about fifty subordinates and sent them, but even during wartime, casualties in that unit could be counted on one hand. Losing that much fighting strength now, when it isn’t even wartime, would be painful. It’s a unit Major Valdemaera carefully selected and raised himself. If he loses Monkam and the woman at the same time in particular, the blow will be enormous.”
“But how do you know which inn they’ll stay at?”
“They’re the House of Valdemaera, after all.”
Levian shrugged.
“There’s no way they would let the woman he loves so desperately and cannot forget sleep just anywhere. Once they enter a city where she can stay comfortably, they’ll choose an inn—and without question, the most expensive one with the finest facilities.”
Levian jabbed a finger at a city located on the road back to Cleris.
“While they gradually tire themselves out making the long round trip, we plan to conserve our strength here in comfort and wait for them. And when their guard relaxes with their destination right before their eyes, we will begin the operation.”