Chapter 74
Kallion stared into the darkness where Jared had vanished for a long while before letting out a hollow laugh and irritably sweeping back his bangs.
‘That’s right. I heard it from Madam.’
That sly bastard.
He joined hands with House Schultz, then lied to my face?
And Juliana defended a bastard like that as her lover?
Pathetic woman.
Does she even know that sly bastard is using her?
That he whispers sweet words to her face while doing things like this behind her back?
Alongside his guilt over suspecting her, an anger he couldn’t explain surged inside him.
Juliana, who seemed to believe unwaveringly that Lloyd was a kind and decent man.
Lloyd, who had betrayed her trust and deceived Kallion.
And Kallion himself, who hated the relationship between the two of them so much it drove him mad.
There wasn’t a single normal thing about any of it.
* * *
The next morning, the moment Layla saw Kallion preparing to leave for House Schultz as soon as he woke, she followed him curiously.
“Why are you suddenly going to House Schultz?”
Instead of answering, Kallion looked coldly at Layla.
That false rumor had probably started with her.
Layla’s shoulders stiffened beneath his icy gaze.
“I’m going to House Schultz alone.”
At his cold voice, Layla could no longer argue.
Kallion looked down at her icily and gave a low warning.
“Do not disappoint me again, Layla.”
Leaving those words behind, Kallion headed toward the carriage.
Layla could only stand there, frozen like ice.
It was the first time since the orphanage incident that she had heard such disappointment in his voice.
Could he be angry because the rumors about Juliana had spread?
She had already expected that he might suspect her.
But Layla firmly believed Juliana was the culprit.
Once everything came to light, she had thought Kallion would praise her instead.
And yet he reacted like that…
At the sound of his voice, colder than it had even been after the orphanage incident, Layla’s hands began trembling.
Because of nothing more than Heister’s daughter.
Because of a woman like that.
Her perfect Kallion.
The Kallion who had always cherished her.
It felt as though he were changing.
She desperately didn’t want to accept it.
No.
She couldn’t accept it.
* * *
A Baldomer carriage arrived at the Schultz estate.
At Kallion’s sudden visit without any prior notice, the head of House Schultz rushed outside in a panic.
“W-What brings you here so suddenly without any notice?”
Looking at the face of the head of House Schultz, who appeared to know nothing, Kallion spoke indifferently.
“It concerns what was discussed at the meeting of the vassal heads.”
“The meeting of the vassal heads?”
“The possibility that Juliana leaked Baldomer’s information.”
“Ah… Ah, yes.”
At Kallion’s question, the head of House Schultz glanced at him cautiously and cleared his throat.
“Truthfully, I kept quiet during the meeting because nothing had been confirmed.”
With that, he straightened his shoulders and continued rather confidently.
“But I don’t disagree much with the head of House Highland either. There’s no smoke without fire.”
“Is that so?”
Encouraged by Kallion’s calm, even response, the head of House Schultz raised his voice with more confidence.
“After all, isn’t she that daughter of Heister? No one knows what sort of grudge she might have entered Baldomer carrying! Of course!”
“I see.”
“Since you’ve come all this way, why don’t you stay for dinner? We recently hired a new chef who’s quite talented…”
At that moment, Kallion raised a hand to cut him off, then suddenly gestured into the empty space.
Jared stepped out from behind a pillar.
The head of House Schultz’s eyes widened at Jared’s sudden appearance.
“You bastard, how dare you show yourself here. Ah, forgive me, Lord Kallion. He’s one of the men I trained, but he’s still an ignorant brute with no manners.”
One of Kallion’s eyebrows tilted.
“So that man is a subordinate you trained.”
“Yes. He belongs to an assassination unit I’ve been secretly investing quite a bit of effort into. If Lord Kallion ever has need of them…”
Kallion raised a hand as though he had no desire to hear any more.
Then, in the same indifferent tone one might use to invite someone to dinner, he said.
“Arrest this man.”
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.