After muttering Grace's name dozens of times, the main keep finally appeared in the distance. The keep was silent, and soldiers stood guard below it. It was the very moment when the anxiety surging as if to consume his entire body had begun to recede like a river lowering its waters—
Clang!
The sound of something breaking pierced his acute hearing like a stab, and at the same time,
"Is anyone there!!!"
A sharp scream shattered the faint relief that had been rising.
Seeing red flames shoot up from the office window where Grace was, Ares ran at superhuman speed and climbed the giant tree in front of the main keep. There was no time to go through the castle interior.
His remarkably resilient and powerful muscles made possible movements no ordinary person could mimic, and by the time Crimson and Jesse arrived below the main keep, Ares was already leaping from the treetop toward the office window.
Sharp edges of the shattered glass grazed his cheek and the back of his hand in a thunderous crash, but Ares felt nothing.
"Grace!!!"
Simultaneously with his cry, a desperate voice came from somewhere in the room.
"My lady!!!"
Grace was there, in the direction the silver-haired man who had broken through the door was rushing. Covered in blood, she glared straight ahead while shielding someone with her body.
At that moment, Flora Rinco, who had collapsed behind her, rose up. With her pink hair tangled in disarray, Flora already seemed to have lost her mind. Gripping something sharp, she raised her hand toward the back of Grace's neck.
* * *
"Is anyone there!!"
The moment she called for soldiers, flames shot up from a pile of documents. Grace grabbed Flora by the nape with her left hand, which wasn't holding the fragment.
"Aack! Y-you! Won't you let go?! Let go!!!"
Grace shoved the struggling Flora between the wall and a pillar and stood blocking her path.
"Stay still if you don't want to die."
Count Rinco would want it to appear as though Flora had died by her hand here. The soldiers and maids would testify that only she and Flora had been in this room, so the blame for Flora's death would fall entirely on her. The inspector would take Count Rinco's side, and the Count, putting on the act of a father who had lost his daughter, would declare independence from Richmond in the worst-case scenario.
Grace blocked Flora with her entire body, holding the fragment. Her own body was the best weapon. They would have been ordered not to kill her. Because if both Flora and she were dead, the desired outcome wouldn't come to pass.
She felt no fear.
"You will never get what you want."
A perception beyond the five senses had already turned aside knives flying at her several times. Something lukewarm flowed down her arms and legs.
It was when she clenched the fragment tighter and bit down hard on her molars.
At the same time as the main gate, which had only been banging without opening, burst apart, the balcony window shattered with an enormous sound.
"Grace!!!"
"My lady!!!"
She saw in her wide field of vision a raven-haired man tearing through the flames and running toward her.
"Behind you!!"
The moment she tried to turn around at Eric's warning, he shouted.
"Don't move, Grace!!"
She reflexively stiffened, and Ares threw something. The moment stretched long. While she muttered, 'No,' and drew in a breath, a dagger brushed past her side and lodged deep into something with a thud.
"Ugh—"
A deathly groan sent a chill down her spine.
When Grace turned around, Flora was frozen in the same stance, gripping a sharp blade aimed at her neck.
"U-uh—"
Flora's body, blinking in disbelief, gradually crumbled. Like a withered flower ultimately unable to bear its own weight, she crashed to the floor. Her tear-filled pink eyes remained fixed on Ares behind Grace's back until the very end.
Flora, whom Count Ruwen had tried to protect even at the cost of losing everything, died on the spot without ever closing her eyes.
In the meantime, Ares ran straight in and swung his sword at the air. To others' eyes, it might have looked as though he were cutting at nothing, but the tip of his blade had clearly sliced through something.
Ares calmly swung his sword again, relying on his instincts, and soon flames shot up at his feet. Those were the flames that had burned the Duke and Duchess of Richmond and eight-year-old Walter in the past, and the Duke and Duchess of Taylor. Ares kicked with all his might at the bastard grabbing his ankle with a burning hand.
Eric ran to Grace, who was checking on Flora. Her cream-colored dress was a mess, stained red with blood. Eric roughly tore off a piece of his shirt and grabbed her arm.
"Please stay still."
Only then did Grace realize she was quite seriously injured. But right now, her arm was not what mattered.
"I'm fine."
When she hurriedly got up and turned around, Crimson was informing Ares—who stood before her like a mountain range—of something with a grave expression.
"Your Grace."
Ares, who had been conversing with Crimson, finally turned to look at Grace. With the fire at his back, his eyes felt as cold as lead and as lifeless as stone.
"Using Flora Rinco's death as a pretext, the Count's faction will try to leave the castle. The inspector is……"
Grace trailed off at Ares's sudden action of taking her right hand. His brow furrowed as he looked down at her clenched fist.
"Open your hand."
The teapot fragment she had been clutching desperately had dug deep into her right palm. When she opened her hand, Ares carefully pulled out the fragment embedded in her flesh.
The flames behind them, the soldiers busy trying to extinguish them, the corpse at their feet, the impending trouble. Amidst all the surrounding clamor, he was strangely calm. He acted as though the only thing that needed to be done immediately was removing the fragment from her palm.
"This will hurt. Endure it."
Along with his low words, he pulled something out, yet strangely, she only felt the warmth of the large hand wrapped around the back of hers.
The emotions that had been stirring uneasily gradually settled. The noise that had been tormenting her mind faded into the distance, leaving only him and her. As always.
If there was one thing different, it was that in the past, the one by her side had been the figure of a boy whose face she didn't even know, but now it was a man as massive as a mountain range, with eyes harder even than hers.
Grace slowly let out a long, deep breath.
"I protected the important documents."
"Good job."
The commotion outside grew even louder. Judging by the sound of approaching footsteps, the nobles must be coming.
"But since Flora Rinco is dead, the Count's faction will certainly—"
"Don't worry."
His jet-black eyes were like gems born of enduring heat and pressure over a very long time. Ares released Grace's hand and turned his body.
"Step back and get treated."
His back blocked her path like a retaining wall holding back a landslide.
"My lady. This way."
Eric, having surmised the situation, led her. Only then did Grace look at him. His hood was in disarray, likely from rushing here.
"Put your hood on properly and step back, Eric."
"……"
"Hurry."
"…Then please, at least bandage your right hand."
"No. It's better this way."
She could feel Ares turning to look back immediately, and Eric's red eyes also twisted, but it was better that she herself appeared covered in blood as well.
"Uwaack!!!"
A noble who had run in first screamed at the sight of the office, which had become a complete mess.
"Y-Your Gr—... huhp."
The man, who had been stuttering badly, gasped upon seeing the corpse on the floor. The scattered pink hair was so distinctive that it was impossible not to recognize.
"Fl-Flora Rinco..."
"Why, why! What on earth happened?! Move aside, move!"
The Count, pushing through the surging crowd of nobles, opened his eyes wide at the unfolding situation.
Grace fixed her gaze on Edward Rinco, who stood at his side. Edward likewise stared at her, and their gazes crossed in the air. Now it was time for the drama Edward Rinco had orchestrated to reach its climax.
"What?! Why is Flora—move aside!!"
The Countess appeared with a scream. Stopping dead at the doorway, she shook her head as if in disbelief before letting out a scream with all her might.
"Flora!!! Oh, Flora!!!"
When the Countess collapsed, the Count supported her, and Edward approached Flora in his parents' stead. Ares stared intently at him. Edward passed by that Grim Reaper-like figure and knelt before Flora. Then he laid her, who had fallen facedown, on her back and confirmed the death he himself had arranged.
"Aaaaack!!! Aaaack!!!"
The Countess lost her mind and shrieked, and the nobles stirred all at once. Pushing through them, Inspector Ivanka Tirien's large eyes flashed with curiosity.
"Flora Rinco is dead."
"Dead? Who, Flora Rinco?!"
Strangely, strength would not enter Edward's left knee, so he pushed himself up with his right knee. Then he drew his sword toward Ares.
"Why has Flora of House Rinco met such a death in this place?"
After all, the arrow had already left the bow.
A full thirteen years ago.