If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 232

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

A place filled only with the ash of death and no sign of life—it was hard to believe this was the same Arta she’d left just months ago.

“My goodness…”

Liana sighed with every step—whether out of pity for those who had lost their lives here or anger toward whoever had snuffed out so many lives, no one could tell. Perhaps it was both.

“Miss, lean on me if you feel weak.”

The dreadful scene was almost too much to bear, and Charlotte kept checking Agatha’s complexion. Since leaving the carriage, Agatha had been as silent and expressionless as Cain.

What was she thinking?

Though it was Charlotte’s first time in Arta, she had heard Agatha speak of her days there many times. Seeing Agatha’s unusually calm expression when recalling those memories, Charlotte assumed her Miss had at least lived in some peace there.

But Arta had turned into a terrible ruin in just a few months. No one had expected this.

Wasn’t Arta the place where Kristin’s knights were stationed against their enemies? And with support from Cain’s Vernat Knights, it was thought to be much safer than other borderlands.

Yet that Arta had silently become a land of death. This was no trivial matter.

They arrived at Kristin Orphanage. The sign bearing Kristin’s name lay shattered in two on the ground. The iron fence was twisted and broken from bombardment, and the gate had lost its function, half destroyed. The exterior alone revealed the likely fate of those inside.

Agatha was painfully aware of her racing heart. She struggled to breathe. Fear tightened her chest as she dreaded facing the death of someone she knew again.

Her shoulders rose and fell sharply. She tried to be calm but there was an instinctive fear.

Cain stood near the orphanage entrance, frozen in place as if rooted to the spot—perhaps battling the same or even greater terror than Agatha.

No living person was seen once inside Arta.

Even Mobishi’s body remained on display, forced into death. The chance that Esther alone had survived was near zero.

Cain didn’t dare push open the door. He only stood silently, trying to steady his ragged breathing.

“Sir, please step aside.”

Agatha summoned her courage first. She did not want to force Cain, who had witnessed family vanish into screams countless times, back into such hell.

Though she too was terrified and trembling from the metallic scent of blood in the air, she wished to help Cain face what might be the death of his only sister.

Not seeing it first would not lessen the shock of family death, but this was all Agatha could offer right now.

“Sir…”

But Cain didn’t move. Like his legs were rooted to the ground and no sound around him existed, he stared blankly at the orphanage building. Then slowly raised his hand.

“No. I will go in alone. Madame Borgia, take care of Agatha.”

“Yes, Your Grace. Do not worry.”

Just as Agatha tried to step forward, Charlotte firmly grabbed her arm.

Though unavoidable, Agatha had already witnessed too much death, and Charlotte did not want her seeking out more corpses deliberately. Especially since Agatha was not alone and Charlotte wished to shield her from further shock.

“Sir, please let me go with you.”

Against many’s worries, Agatha stopped Cain from entering alone, wanting to accompany him. The children and Esther at the orphanage were very important to her.

And somehow, she could not bear to send Cain, who seemed to swallow tears in secret, into that place alone.

Cain, meeting Agatha’s resolute gaze, turned his head silently. Without pushing her away or inviting her to follow, he started walking again. Agatha willingly followed.

Charlotte, knowing well that nothing would stop Agatha once she made up her mind, nervously bit her lip, glanced between the two, sighed, and followed after them.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

Passing through the iron gate, they walked a few steps inside to a wooden building. It had been built by Cain to gather and protect war orphans left with nowhere else to go. It was also the wish of his sister Esther, whom he had finally found after a lifetime.

Esther, unaware of her own status, had lived a wandering life with other refugees, forced to sell whatever she could. She vowed never to let anyone else endure such horrors.