If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 242

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

The moment she spoke her name, Cain’s face was filled with a grief more terrible than anything else.

After days of hesitation, Agatha finally mustered the courage to ask:

“Esther… she’s alive, isn’t she?”

“…We haven’t found a body, so for now, it’s likely she is.”

Agatha felt a surge of relief. Every day she had watched Cain leave at dawn and return late, collecting bodies, wondering if today he might have found Esther.

But at the same time, she secretly hoped he hadn’t. If she were found alive, it would be better than not searching at all.

The two of them fell silent. There was nothing to say. Asking about each other’s daily life felt meaningless, and there were no cheerful words to exchange. It was better to remain quiet.

After a long pause, Cain left her room, leaving only the words, “Rest.”

Agatha, going to bed slightly earlier than usual, was forcibly awakened at dawn by Karon and Liana, who had hurried to find her. They had done so because a new visitor had unexpectedly appeared in Arta.

Startled awake, Agatha almost fainted after hearing the visitor’s name.

Christian Calvino.

Her cousin Christian, from the imperial guard and far from a welcome sight, had appeared in Arta. He was certainly not a guest she wanted to face at that moment.

No matter that Christian was the only ‘sane’ member of the Calvino family, when a real threat came to his bloodline, he would side with them without hesitation. He would never side with Agatha.

Christian seemed well aware that Agatha and Cain were in Arta, leaving her no choice but to face him. She emerged reluctantly to greet him, her presence radiating coldness.

The detested Calvino. How long had he intended to follow her and torment her? At that moment, he was one of the last people she wished to confront.

Charlotte had placed Christian in the reception room. Agatha quickly prepared herself and moved toward it. When she opened the door, she saw his broad back.

“What brings you here?”

Christian had been sitting with his back to the door, enjoying the sunlight streaming through the window. At her cold greeting, he slowly turned around.

“I didn’t come looking for a warm welcome, but I didn’t expect such open hostility either.”

He began to speak, but the moment he saw Agatha, his mouth froze mid-sentence.

“You…”

“Duke Kristin, please use the proper title.”

Karon interjected immediately, stepping in as Agatha entered the small reception room. With Karon, Rubens, and another large man present, the room felt crowded.

“Very well. I see. Duke Kristin.”

It was easier than arguing with a rigid, inflexible knight. Christian sighed, raising his hands to show he meant no harm.

“Why have you come?”

Agatha asked just as cold.

“Hmm. I have no ill intent, so please don’t glare at me, Your Grace.”

“Whether your intent is good or not, I’ll decide. State your purpose.”

He showed no hint of retreat. Christian, seeing the fragile woman before him, doubted she was truly the Agatha he had known.

This timid, shaken child had changed so drastically? She seemed almost unrecognizable. He remembered the girl who never spoke out of turn, who quietly wept in her room after injustice.

Christian had felt some relief when Cain Vernat had stepped forward to marry her. Agatha had seemed pitiful to him, even putting aside the complex affairs with her mother and the Kristin family.

Though he had never outwardly shown compassion or offered comforting words, he had quietly felt sympathy for her.

Even when Cain humiliated his mother and branded his youngest sibling, John, as a criminal, Christian had thought, “Well, it had to happen.”

Even for family, the actions of Stella and John were extreme.

Christian had ignored the abuse Agatha suffered from Stella not to defend her, but to avoid opposing his mother. No matter what he said, Agatha would call it lies.

But that had been his true intention.