Damn! Damn! Chapter 16

“I know,” Achim said in affirmation, dropping his eyes to the notebook that had fallen onto the bed.

He was staring intently at the page with the sketch of the map, looking back and forth between the two names he had just scribbled down in his terrible handwriting.

[Now, it’s your turn to tell me the reason.]

When Achim failed to understand the statement and asked back blankly, Linus let out a short tongue click.

[Didn’t you ask me to look into him because something seemed fishy? What, did that man pour abuse on you too?]

Oh, poor Yvonne. Linus offered his sincere sympathy without giving him a chance to answer, and Achim shot back a quiet curse in return.

“It’s not that…”

Achim recounted everything that had happened last night to Linus without omitting a single detail.

Having heard the story, Linus was startled just like last time, letting out exclamations like Oh, my god and Geez a few times.

Repeating the same responses as if he understood it all, Linus waited until Achim finished speaking before asking.

[So, Achim. You’re suspecting that they might be in cahoots with that warehouse manager bastard?]

“Yeah.”

[But you said he asked you if he should kill the guy for you. If they were in cahoots like your suspicion, they would have disposed of you for harming their servant, rather than asking you something like that. Don’t you think?]

“…”

That was true, but still. Achim rubbed his forehead with his palm, muttering as if talking to himself.

Achim was actually thinking that there was a flaw in that part of his theory as well.

He had only thrown strange questions back at him; surprisingly, Michael had not handed down any punishment to Yvonne, who had beaten his own servant into a pulp.

It was a move that made it entirely difficult to fathom his true intentions. It was to the extent that even Linus, whose intuition was usually terrifyingly sharp, didn’t seem to easily grasp it.

[Whatever it is, it doesn’t give off a great feeling. He talks as if he really has killed someone before.]

At Linus’s remark after a brief moment, Achim suddenly curled one corner of his lips at an angle.

“Linus, I’m not curious about whether he has committed murder or not.”

[Ah, right.]

Achim let out a scoff at Linus’s agreement. It was because he knew that during his days as a mercenary, he had engaged in all sorts of bad deeds including murder, violence, and theft, meaning he was in no position to criticize anyone else.

After letting out a cynical laugh at his own past, Achim continued after some thought.

“You know. What it is that I’m sensitive about.”

Linus sounded unsure, but Achim couldn’t let go of his thread of suspicion.

And with good reason, because the thing Achim treated most strictly was precisely a “child.”

Even during his mercenary days when he committed bad deeds as routinely as eating meals, Achim maintained his own ironclad rule: never touch a child.

He didn’t know whether growing up as an absolute orphan during his childhood had unconsciously influenced him, or if he was simply weak-hearted toward small and fragile things. At any rate, that was the reason his attention was leaning elsewhere, completely separate from the mission Achim was currently tasked with.

— Tell me. What connection does it have to me that the fellow hails from Maaconi?

The words he had spouted toward a child who hailed from the welfare organization he ran were no different from throwing fuel onto a fire.

No matter how one looked at it, wasn’t that reaction vastly straying from a normal response? Even if he wasn’t in cahoots with the warehouse manager, that statement could never be considered normal.

[Achim, I understand your heart well, but…]

Linus broke through the silence.

[Don’t dive into danger of your own volition. It definitely looks suspicious… but there’s no clear evidence yet. So take care of your own body first.]

Before a bullet hole opens up in your body without anyone knowing. Achim let out a smirk at Linus’s rarely serious voice.

“I don’t throw the first punch if I can help it, Linus.”

Achim picked up the notebook that was on the bed. Gazing blankly at the names written in terrible handwriting, he pulled up one corner of his mouth.

“It’s always just self-defense.”

🖤🥀

Thanks to waking up early, Achim left the servants’ building with time to spare. As usual, it was after skipping breakfast.

Since he didn’t enjoy eating, Achim frequently skipped meals on a regular basis. There was a separate dining hall just for them in the servants’ building, but he barely dropped by there even once a day.

While there was the reason that he originally didn’t get hungry easily, it was also because he was worried about mingling words with someone. Well, even that had ended up being as good as a wasted effort due to the incident with Martina, though.

Achim looked up at the gloomy sky while crossing the garden heading toward the main building.

The rain had stopped, but because of the low atmospheric pressure, his right knee was still throbbing. He had wanted to endure it if possible, but he figured he should tell Linus in advance to procure a little bit of pain-relieving cannabis.

It was just when he was standing in place for a moment, resting his hand on his knee. A shadow fell over the crown of his head, and the toe of someone’s dress shoe filled his vision.

At the somewhat familiar scene, Achim raised his head with a naturally frowning face.

“Are you alright?”

However, the person who appeared was unexpectedly not Michael Bernhard. It was a towering guard whom he was seeing for the first time.

They said the mansion’s guards were entirely comprised of Alphas, and sure enough, befitting an Alpha, his build was spectacularly good.

The guard, who was as massive as a mountain, was looking down at Achim with a thoroughly worried face. Achim stared blankly at the unexpected figure for a brief moment before nodding his head.

“Yes.”

I’m fine. When Achim answered while straightening his lowered upper body, the guard closed the distance by one more step.

“Your complexion doesn’t look good.”

“…”

“I’ll take you to the infirmary.”

Achim looked up at the guard who stood blocking his path like a totem pole. He offered a polite smile with Yvonne’s face, but inside, he thought it was an absolute nuisance.

For one thing, his mood wasn’t great because his knee was throbbing, and the infirmary was the only place in this mansion that Achim absolutely did not seek out.

The reason was the gunshot wound located on his knee.

Even though eight years of time had passed, the scar from back then still clearly remained on his knee. If a medical professional saw it, they were bound to notice instantly that it was the trace of a gunshot wound.

What ordinary person would go around with a bullet mark on their body? Moreover, the identity of “Yvonne,” which Linus had personally crafted, belonged to a woman who had lived a normal life before entering this place, so it was even further distanced from a bullet mark.

It was a relief that the skirt length of the maid uniform he was wearing was long; if it hadn’t covered his knees, it definitely would have caught someone’s eye.

Since he planned not to go to the infirmary for the remainder of his stay in the mansion, Achim shook his head.

“No, I’m fine.”

It was just when he was about to move his feet after politely declining. When the guard suddenly grabbed his wrist, Achim came to a halt in his tracks again.

Right before Achim’s patience ran completely dry, fortunately, the guard opened his mouth.

“Um…”

Seeing his hesitant attitude, an inexplicable sense of unease blossomed. Just as Achim’s face was gradually about to contort, the man struck up a conversation with a slightly flushed face.

“If it’s alright, could you give me your contact information?”

Achim held back the harsh words that almost burst out unconsciously, pressing his hand to his forehead as if supporting his dropping head.

He had almost spat out foul curses right to the guard’s face. At the same time, the words of Linus talking about his ass came to mind, making Achim scream loudly on the inside. Fuck!

After barely calming his mind, Achim put on the most fabricated face possible. Just as Achim grabbed the guard’s hand to refuse politely this time as well with a smiling face—

Suddenly, footsteps were heard right nearby, and an all-too-familiar voice soon flowed into his ears.

“Good morning.”

Achim snapped his head around. There, standing a step away, Michael was wearing a fresh smile that crinkled his eyes.

At his sudden appearance, the guard hurriedly bowed his head. Achim, who had almost lost his mind to the facial features that looked as if they had been painstakingly sculpted piece by piece, hurriedly shook his head to clear it.

Regaining his senses and following the gaze that slid downward, Michael’s eyes were fixed on the guard’s hand.

“Hmm…”

Michael let out a low groan. At that sound, the events of just last night came to mind, prompting Achim to raise his eyes again and stare into his. Back then, he had also let out that sound before spouting strange words.

Just when he wondered if he was going to do it this time as well, Michael smoothly raised his eyes, beamed, and asked.

“Have you eaten?”

“…”

“…”

At the sudden question, Achim and the guard looked at each other. It was because both of them thought that it wasn’t a remark meant for themselves.