LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 45
If the previous Elsez—the one who had loved him—had heard those words, they would have cut her deeply.‘So, you knew about her feelings all along.’He had been aware of them, yet he still treated his fiancée that way.Elsez swallowed a sigh as she looked at Tezette.She wasn’t angry.Tezette had ignored the previous Elsez’s emotions, not hers.And more than anything, that was just the kind of person he was.A man indifferent to the emotions of others.Even when he did recognize them, he simply didn’t care.It wasn’t just due to his apathy—it was because, at his core, he lacked emotions himself.When Ruel had first met Tezette as a child, he had neither laughed nor cried.Nor had he ever expressed anger.He had been like a lifeless doll—incapable of feeling.Ruel had tried to teach him what it meant to be human, but Tezette had ultimately rejected those emotions.No, more precisely—he refused to accept them.The world he had survived in was one of predators and prey.In such a world, emotions were useless.No, they weren’t just useless—they were a liability.So perhaps, in the end, it was for the best that Elsez’s love for him had ended.“I did like you. But you won’t have to deal with me following you around anymore.”She placed subtle emphasis on the past tense.“Besides, I’m currently assisting His Holiness. If His Majesty were to find out, it would put you in a rather difficult position.”“……”“That’s why I believe it would be best for both of us to end this engagement here.”“……”“The debt my father left behind is large, so repaying it all at once won’t be easy. But I’ll pay it back consistently, with interest.”So please.Just let this engagement end.Though her words were cold, her gaze held quiet desperation as she looked at him.Tezette, who had been watching her with his usual indifferent eyes, finally lowered his long lashes and spoke in a quiet voice.“Do as you wish. We’ll call off the engagement.”At last, the answer she had been waiting for.A slow smile curled at Elsez’s lips.One of the two biggest obstacles in her way was finally gone. **** “My Lord, we have arrived.”Elsez, who had been dozing off against the carriage, snapped her eyes open at the coachman’s voice.Oh no. I must’ve dozed off.At that moment, she locked eyes with Tezette, who was seated across from her.Against the backdrop of the sunset, his green eyes, now tinged with red, gazed at her silently.Tezette spoke as he looked at Elsez.“If you’re sleepy, why don’t you head back first?”“Oh, no. I think I got enough rest just now.”“So it seemed.”What’s that supposed to mean…?Did I sleep with my mouth open?Just in case, Elsez discreetly wiped the corner of her mouth. Fortunately, there was no sign of drool.The two stepped down from the carriage and stood in front of the orphanage.It was one of the largest orphanages in the capital and the last on their list to visit after making rounds across the city.Elsez knocked on the door and waited. Soon, the door creaked open, and a little girl, who appeared to be around six or seven years old, peeked out.Elsez bent down slightly to meet the child’s eye level.“Hello. We’re here to see the headmistress. Is she inside?”The girl carefully examined Elsez and Tezette’s faces, then gave a small nod.“Can we come in and meet her?”Instead of answering, the child quietly opened the door for them.As Elsez and Tezette followed her into the orphanage, the little girl scampered off somewhere.While wandering near the entrance, taking in the surroundings, Elsez noticed several flower pots neatly arranged by the window and walked over.Just then, a young boy, hiding behind the wall and peeking at Elsez and Tezette, whispered in a tiny voice.“Those are the plants we’re growing…”Elsez immediately picked up on the boy’s pride in his plants and grinned.“Oh, you guys are growing them yourselves?”The boy nodded.“We planted them. We water them ourselves and even pick off the bugs.”“Wow, I wouldn’t be able to do that—it sounds like too much work. You’re amazing.”As she praised him, the boy smiled shyly.Elsez was ruffling the boy’s hair when she suddenly noticed something: the overwhelming presence next to her had disappeared.Tezette had already wandered further inside the orphanage.Elsez hurried after him.“Where are you going? That girl just went to call the headmistress.”“I know where her office is.”Only then did Elsez realize how he knew.This was the orphanage he had grown up in.Tezette had never spoken much about it, but she vaguely remembered him once mentioning the name of the orphanage to Ruel.It probably doesn’t hold good memories for him, considering he ended up roaming the back alleys after leaving.Elsez sneaked a glance up at Tezette beside her.As always, his face was void of any emotion.“Where is the guest—?”Just then, the little girl from earlier returned, leading a woman who appeared to be the headmistress.One look at them, and the headmistress immediately recognized them as guests, smiling warmly as she approached.“I am the headmistress of this orphanage. What brings you here today? You don’t seem to be here for an adoption…”She trailed off as she glanced at Tezette and Elsez. Then, she subtly reached for Tezette’s hand.“Oh my, I’ve been thoughtless, keeping you standing like this. Please, come inside so we can talk.”At a glance, she seemed to be offering a friendly welcome, but there was an unmistakable interest in the way she looked at him and the way her fingers lingered on his hand.Well, well.Elsez, glaring at the woman, was about to step in, but Tezette coolly withdrew his hand from her grasp.The headmistress awkwardly retracted her hand, cleared her throat, and turned to the girl beside her.“Mia, would you bring us some tea?”“Yes.”The girl who had first opened the door nodded and walked away.The three of them entered the headmistress’s office, and the moment Tezette sat down, he got straight to the point.“Are you selling children to traffickers?”“…Excuse me?”The bluntness of his question caught not only the headmistress off guard but also left Elsez staring at him in shock.What the hell? You can’t just ask that outright! Do you even know how investigations work?Even if it were true, did he really expect her to just confess, ‘Yes, I did.’?Elsez pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed. He had never been one to beat around the bush, past or present.The headmistress, visibly flustered, forced an awkward smile.“T-That’s ridiculous. I’ve always raised these children with love.”“The previous headmistress said the same thing while secretly beating the kids and selling them off.”Elsez turned to look at Tezette in surprise.He had never spoken about his time at the orphanage before.“So I cut that bastard’s throat.”His voice was emotionless, as was his gaze.But the way he spoke so indifferently about killing someone made him even more terrifying.“And you took the empty seat that was left.”The headmistress swallowed hard.“Unless you want to end up the same way, you wouldn’t do something like that again, would you?”“O-Of course not! These children are like my own—how could I?”The investigation was already ruined beyond repair.Elsez, resigning herself to the situation, pulled a parchment from her inventory and held it out to the headmistress.“Do you recognize these children?”It was a sketch of the boys Count Lort had killed.The headmistress flinched at the sight.“They used to stay at our orphanage.”“And now?”Elsez already knew what had happened but feigned ignorance.The headmistress hesitated before answering.“Around two weeks ago, they left for Euten with a merchant looking for sailors.”“…Euten?”“Yes, an island nation in the southern Carinth Sea.”The headmistress elaborated.“They were both fifteen. At that age, adoption becomes difficult, so we start preparing them to stand on their own. They simply chose their paths a little earlier.”“I see.”“But why are you looking for them?”Just as Tezette was about to respond, the door opened, and Mia returned with the tea.Elsez quickly grabbed Tezette’s hand, stopping him from speaking, and turned to Mia with a smile.“Thank you. This looks great.”Tezette, feeling the warmth of her touch, paused and looked at Elsez.She subtly signaled for him to stay quiet.There was no need for a child who had lived with those boys like a sibling to hear what had happened to them.Once Mia left, Elsez finally answered the headmistress.“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but a group trying to resurrect a demon was recently exposed. The bodies of those boys were found there.”“T-That can’t be…”The headmistress gasped, covering her mouth. Tears soon welled up in her eyes.“They shouldn’t have gone like that… It’s all my fault.”“We’re tracking down the culprit under His Majesty’s orders.”Elsez handed the weeping headmistress a handkerchief.After a long pause, she finally spoke.“The merchant from Euten must be involved.”She pleaded with them to bring the culprit to justice as she saw them off.As they left the orphanage, Elsez wiped away her earlier smile, her expression turning cold as she glanced back at the building and muttered to Tezette.“That woman… She’s lying about the boys.”