Episode 98
“The master is waiting. This way, both of you.”
The butler, who had received separate instructions from Ejekail, welcomed the two women who had arrived mixed in with the army.
They had only just come to the end of an exhausting journey. They had not even had a moment to catch their breath, nor had they been shown to a guest room, but the silent pressure brought by the butler pushed them onward. As soon as Anna and Polina entered the Valdemaera estate, they were taken upstairs to Ejekail’s bedroom.
“Why would he call us straight to his bedroom? This is terrifying.”
Taking in the heavily guarded atmosphere of the Valdemaera estate, Anna whispered to Polina.
In Derosa, where Anna had been born and raised, the annex established by the Valdemaera family had been the largest and most magnificent mansion. But the grandeur and splendor of the main house in Cleris could not be compared to Derosa in the slightest. A country girl by birth, Anna had been cowed and shrinking in on herself ever since setting foot in the Valdemaera main house.
She had come into Cleris in a daze, following the army without knowing much of anything. Polina was no different. Since the body of the late Madam Serba was being transported to Cleris, and since there were wounded among the soldiers who needed a doctor, she had somehow ended up coming along.
Moreover, the atmosphere was not one in which they could quietly slip away now. After Ejekail, who had been commanding the battlefield, suddenly left the site without giving a reason, everyone who remained had fallen into utter confusion. Mongkam, Peder, and the other closest staff officers had taken the lead in cleaning up afterward, but they too had been just as bewildered.
They had even heard a strange rumor after entering Cleris. It was said that Ejekail had burst into the execution grounds, picked up one of the condemned prisoners in his arms, and returned with them.
When they compared the date of the rumor, they were even more shocked. Though the cleanup of the site and the funeral procession had consumed a great deal of time, it was still a distance that could never be called short, even riding hard with light baggage. How Ejekail had covered it in less than a day was another mystery.
His subordinates clicked their tongues, saying that to innocent onlookers it must have looked as though war had broken out. In fact, the checkpoint had stopped Mongkam and Peder and questioned them several times. Major Valdemaera had not stopped even when called to, and had passed through the checkpoint almost as if flying—had some problem perhaps arisen at the border? Even while knowing nothing at all about why Ejekail had been in such a hurry to enter, they had spent even more time reassuring the checkpoint soldiers that the border was safe and that nothing had happened.
“Could he perhaps have been hurt badly enough to be bedridden……?”
Anna answered her own question and nodded to herself, convinced. Judging by Ejekail’s movements, it seemed he had ridden day and night while injured, and no matter how ironlike his stamina might be, there had to be a limit. With her mind so cluttered, she had no chance to wonder why none of the other subordinates besides the two of them had been called to the bedroom before they arrived there.
And she was surprised all over again.
It was because Ejekail, whom she had assumed to be injured, appeared unexpectedly unharmed. Instead of explaining the circumstances to the two women, who stood there dumbfounded, he abruptly spoke a woman’s name.
“Lizan.”
“Pardon?”
“Forget her former name and call her Lizan.”
“Lizan?”
“One more thing. Her throat was badly injured, so she cannot speak.”
“……Pardon?”
“There is no time to explain right now. You will hear the details later. For now, I simply want you to be a comfort to her.”
Only then did Anna realize that behind that closed bedroom door was someone extremely important—someone who had shaken the reason of Major Ejekail Valdemaera, a man always rumored to be cold-hearted.
And as far as Anna knew, there was only one person who held that much meaning for Ejekail.
While Anna felt dizzy with shock and confusion, Ejekail passed Polina with heavy steps and quietly instructed her.
“She has not yet been examined by a doctor, but she is extremely wary of people. I would like your help, Doctor.”
Ejekail opened the bedroom door.
Now that he had to receive reports from his returning subordinates on the aftermath at the inn, he needed someone who would stay by Lizan’s side while he was away for a while.
Polina and Anna—those two could be trusted. It would be all right to leave Rose with them for a short time.
Because there was a risk that Anna and Polina would act awkwardly if they knew Lizan’s identity, he had given them only the bare minimum of information so that the three of them could focus solely on their immediate reunion.
“Rose……?”
But when Anna actually saw Lizan, she could not immediately recall the name that had just been changed.
It had been shocking enough that, after disappearing from the Derosa estate, she had vanished without a trace and thrown the entire country into an uproar. But now that very same woman was somehow at the Valdemaera main house, and Anna could not understand what on earth was going on. Even amid all the bewilderment, the joy of meeting a familiar face in this unfamiliar Cleris, the relief that they could tell each other about the accidents they had endured and comfort one another, and on top of that her worry and pity for the sickly pallor visible at a glance all came together, and Anna cried out the familiar name.
“Rose!”
Anna ran over in a single stride and seized Lizan in an embrace with arms wrapped round and round in white bandages.
“What happened to you? Why do you look so sick! Did you almost die too? I almost died. See this? I was treated for burns.”
Overcome with emotion, Anna burst into tears.
Compared to Anna, Polina was quite composed. Though she was surprised by the sudden meeting, Polina had not forgotten the new name Ejekail had told them.
“Miss Rose—no, Miss Lizan?”
Before Polina could offer a greeting, Anna grew tearful again.
“Ah, right. Lizan. He said Lizan…… What even are you, changing your name and making everything so complicated……”
“Calm down. He said Miss Lizan injured her throat and cannot speak.”
“Right, he did. Seriously, what on earth happened to you……?”
After sniffling for a while, Anna finally brought up the most shocking news of all.
“Did you know? Madam Serba has passed away……”
For the first time, Lizan’s eyes wavered.
❖ ❖ ❖
Leaving Lizan in Anna and Polina’s care, Ejekail moved to the study where his subordinates were waiting.
They were close enough that skipping greetings could be understood on both sides. As soon as Ejekail sat down, Mongkam reported.
“The number of spies we shot dead is eighty-three. None were captured alive. We did take two or so prisoner for interrogation, but there was sniping while we were preparing to transport them. It seemed they fired from long range to prevent them from divulging information. Seven of our own died in combat, and twenty-one were wounded. Fortunately, none are gravely injured enough for their lives to be in danger. Lastly, the number of civilian deaths discovered in places such as the basement is forty-nine. They are presumed to be the innkeeper, employees, and guests.”
For civilian casualties to have reached such a number meant the bastards had seized control of the inn in advance and prepared an ambush. Ejekail’s tone turned cold.
“If there was sniping, that means some of them escaped.”
“Yes. We attempted to pursue them, but after returning fire, it took time to reform our ranks, so we lost them.”
He could not reprimand his subordinates. The greatest reason for the incomplete finish was the confusion caused when the commanding officer left his post. One more debt had been added—one he would have to settle himself someday.
“What about Akenaus?”
“We did not find him at the inn. Nor the man named Levian. I believe there are likely some who fled, centered around those two.”
Peder clicked his tongue and cut in.
“To be honest, the structure of that inn was probably better understood by the bastards who got there first and hid inside than by us, seeing it for the first time.”
Ejekail pressed his lips together, twisting the corner of his mouth. If they had shot dead eighty-three, it was safe to assume most of the spies who had infiltrated Astrie were dead. However, it bothered him that they had missed key figures they absolutely should have caught, like Akenaus and Levian.
“By the way, we heard some strange rumors on our way here too.”
Peder cautiously brought up the topic.
“I wondered where you had run off to in such a hurry after leaving us at the inn, but they say you stopped a hanging and saved a condemned prisoner.”
Anna and Polina, who had heard the same rumor without knowing the details, had merely looked puzzled. But Ejekail’s subordinates realized who the condemned prisoner Ejekail had saved was and were horrified.
“No, what are you planning to do? That woman is the one who ruined your eyes at Akenaus’s instigation, Major. Do you not resent her?”