Chapter 133
Enoch shrugged and continued.
“Also, it turns out the guard Damian Meister is Kido’s former fiancé.”
“That explains her confidence, then.”
Viviana tilted her head with a bored expression.
Guard or no guard backing her, the nerve of that woman to tell such brazen lies.
Besides, guards working rotating shifts couldn’t chase down every petty squabble among the prisoners.
“Enoch. We have a more important objective, don’t we?”
“Money?”
“Not just any money. If we can find the secret bank accounts and vaults where House Farsene and the Beatrice family’s fortune along with Mare’s Heirloom are supposedly hidden, we wouldn’t need to endure life on the run or life as prisoners.”
If they’d had that from the start, they never would have been locked up.
Viviana lowered her voice, her tone carefully measured.
“If we donate a portion of the money and the heirloom to the Order under the guise of a contribution, we could become members of the Dark Order. Once we receive official believer credentials, wouldn’t our situation improve considerably?”
Those who had caught on quickly before the revolution and pledged loyalty to the Order had handed over their entire fortunes and avoided the worst. But the vast majority had their assets confiscated or simply couldn’t scrape together enough, leaving them helplessly imprisoned or killed.
“You want to hand over the Mare’s Heirloom to the Order?”
Since she spoke of it as if it were her own possession, Enoch’s tone carried a sharp edge.
Viviana had no idea what value the Mare’s Heirloom actually held.
In truth, Enoch didn’t know much about it either.
It might be a time-honored artifact passed down through generations, but what good did any of that do now?
“Duke Mare entrusted it to House Farsene, so… is it a very important item?”
Her words were carefully polite, but the underlying meaning was clear: What does it matter at this point?
At first, both Viviana and Enoch had tried to offer their wealth to the Order and pledge loyalty, but they’d lacked the funds. For an Inmaz to receive official believer credentials, one had to pay a minimum donation of ten billion Lib under the pretext of renouncing greed and repenting for one’s sins.
So instead, they had bribed a high-ranking priest and offered up Kido and Marquis Farsene as bargaining chips to secure their escape.
Enoch thought of Viviana, who had blown through their escape funds on luxury hotels, gourmet food, and expensive dresses during their time on the run, and his brow furrowed.
It reminded him of his own parents, who had indulged in shameless extravagance driven by vanity, ultimately trying to sell off even their own son through an arranged marriage.
After hearing Kido’s venomous remarks earlier, he couldn’t shake the sudden resentment toward his parents that had risen unbidden.
Was Viviana no different from them?
Enoch shook the thought away.
Along with the rationalization that his choices hadn’t been wrong.
“…No one can be perfect.”
“Pardon?”
Enoch smiled casually at Viviana, who had reacted to his muttering.
“But why isn’t Kido using that money herself?”
“Pride, probably. Or she simply has no way to withdraw it.”
“Even with connections to a high-ranking guard?”
“The amounts involved are astronomical. She can’t trust anyone for fear of betrayal. She’ll never realize, not until the day she dies, that she was abandoned precisely because she refused to trust you. She’s probably still blaming everyone but herself.”
Viviana gently stroked Enoch’s cheek and smiled sweetly.
“If she had trusted and loved you unconditionally, the way I do, would things have turned out differently?”
What kind of answer was she looking for?
Just as Enoch was searching for an appropriate response, Number 11—the prisoner Viviana had first given orders to—approached.
“Number 10, I have something to report.”
“What?”
Number 11 let out a quiet sigh before getting to the point.
“Number 49 says she won’t follow your orders.”
“What? What did she say exactly?”
“Um… ‘I refuse.'”
Did she still not understand her place?
Viviana fixed a frigid gaze toward Kido and spoke.
“She’s always been someone with no manners and no semblance of noble dignity. I’ll go tell her myself.”
“The thing is…”
Number 11 hesitated, glancing around nervously.
She wasn’t watching Viviana’s reaction, she was watching Kido’s.
At some point, Kido had perched atop one of the machinery units, legs crossed, radiating lofty composure as she stared in their direction.
Why on earth?
Was she acting this way because she trusted that guard named Damian?
Viviana scanned her surroundings with that thought, but the man was nowhere to be found.
“Haa.”
Viviana smoothed her golden hair and rose from her seat.
She needed to make it clear once and for all just how far she was above her.
Viviana strode up with deliberate menace and looked down at her with sharp eyes.
“Sister Kido. Or should I start calling you Number 49 now?”
“We’re not exactly on terms where we’d be calling each other anything.”
Kido yawned with a languid stretch. Viviana’s expression twisted.
There was no longer any reason to play nice or act apologetic.
“It was you, wasn’t it? Spreading the rumor that I was locked up for adultery.”
“Oh, the heinous crime of conspiring with the spouses of the wealthy to murder them for their assets?”
With that, Kido burst out laughing and rose to face Viviana head-on.
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