Chapter 73
Realizing that conversation was pointless, Jared turned around without another word.
Then he quietly hid himself in the shadow of Baldomer Castle’s wall.
There was no other choice.
Rather than waste any more time, he needed to meet Kallion as quickly as possible.
Jared kicked off the wall and swiftly disappeared onto the roof of the estate.
For someone who had carried out numerous covert missions, scaling walls and climbing roofs was nothing.
He was also familiar with the usual locations of the private chambers and offices occupied by the master of a large estate.
Spotting a room where the lights were still on despite the late hour, he quickly opened the window and slipped inside.
But before his feet even touched the floor, a blade was already pressed against his throat.
“Who are you?”
A voice as deep and dark as the night.
It was Kallion.
“I came to see you, my lord.”
Kallion frowned at the man’s calm voice despite the sword against his throat.
“You broke into the estate because you wanted to see me?”
At Kallion’s suspicious question, Jared slowly pushed back the hood covering his face.
When the familiar face was revealed, Kallion’s expression stiffened.
“You’re…”
“It’s been a while.”
Even after Jared greeted him, Kallion’s blade remained pressed against his throat.
“Isn’t this rather excessive for a greeting?”
“The guards wouldn’t let me in, so I had no choice. Please forgive me.”
“So what do you want?”
At Kallion’s still-wary voice, Jared slowly closed his eyes.
Then he opened them and met Kallion’s dark gaze before speaking firmly.
“The Madam wasn’t the one who leaked the information to Silverstel.”
He had broken into another man’s estate without warning, only to immediately declare that Juliana wasn’t the culprit.
“How can you be so certain?”
At Kallion’s sharp question, Jared reached inside his clothes to take out what he had prepared.
Kallion raised an eyebrow and pressed the tip of the sword harder against him.
The cold blade dug into his skin, but Jared remained expressionless as he met Kallion’s eyes.
“You’ll understand when you see it.”
At Jared’s firm words, Kallion reluctantly withdrew the sword.
Jared then pulled out a sheet of paper and held it out.
Kallion accepted what looked like a letter and read it.
It was an order.
It instructed them to lie low for the time being so they wouldn’t leave a trail, since Madam Baldomer was currently being blamed as the culprit.
Kallion frowned and looked at Jared, silently demanding an explanation.
“I belong to House Schultz’s covert unit.”
Kallion’s expression visibly twisted.
“House Schultz…”
It was one of Baldomer’s vassal houses, the very house that had held a banquet not long ago.
Like every vassal family, House Schultz had maintained a long relationship with Baldomer and had always been considered loyal.
Then why…
“Recently, the head of House Schultz began frequenting gambling dens in the capital, and the family’s finances have collapsed.”
“So they received a large sum of money in exchange for leaking Baldomer’s information to Silverstel?”
“They must have already made contact with Silverstel and negotiated before we stole the information. We were only responsible for acquiring it afterward.”
That was it.
Lloyd, Silverstel’s second son, had attended House Schultz’s banquet.
At the time, Kallion hadn’t suspected anything because House Schultz and Silverstel were collaborating on an iron mine business.
The face of the head of House Schultz, sitting calmly at the meeting of the vassal heads while pretending to know nothing, came to mind.
‘How dare he.’
How dare he betray Baldomer and still have the nerve to walk into the Baldomer estate.
His blood boiled.
Then, belatedly, a hollow feeling washed over him.
The words he had thrown at Juliana while condemning her as the culprit.
The fact that he had tried to force himself on her.
The sight of her lying face down and crying was still vivid in his mind.
‘Damn it.’
Kallion roughly swept his disheveled bangs back and let out a harsh sigh.
Then he turned toward Jared, who stood as rigidly as a statue.
“What are the chances this order is fake?”
“I’ll stake my life on it. If you come to House Schultz, you’ll find me there.”
“You intend to betray House Schultz?”
“……”
After hesitating, Jared answered in a stiff voice.
“I decided it was better than betraying my benefactor.”
At Jared’s resolute expression, as though he had already accepted whatever consequences would follow, Kallion eventually nodded.
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll leave first thing tomorrow.”
At Kallion’s words, Jared silently bowed his head.
“I’ll be waiting at the Schultz estate.”
With those final words, Jared’s figure disappeared through the window and into the darkness in an instant.
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