Nathan Valencia.
He was leaning against the wall beside the door, looking at her.
“Why are you here……?”
How long had he been there?
He looked completely different from a few days ago.
His hair was neatly groomed. His formal attire, the kind befitting a nobleman, was slightly disheveled.
His smoothly groomed face was undeniably handsome, but—
“…Ah.”
More than his appearance, she felt uncomfortable.
He was the same man who had looked at her with contempt while dressed like that before.
The man, whose eyes revealed nothing of what he was thinking, stared at her for a while before slowly reaching out his hand. His hand was still rough, bearing a completely different texture from that of the knights, as he pushed shut the door to the room where loud cries were still coming from.
Thud—
A heavy silence descended as though it had been cut cleanly into place.
Rachel drew in a short breath and lowered her gaze. Her lips barely parted.
“How long have you been here?”
“I believe I’ve been here since you were talking about the shackles.”
“…!”
He meant that he had heard almost everything from the very beginning.
Rachel bit down hard on her lip.
“I said I wanted to speak with him alone.”
“I heard you. But there were loud noises coming from inside. I knew there was a magical barrier, but just in case, I had no choice but to come closer. I’m sorry.”
“…!”
She inhaled the unexpected apology.
Then she raised her head.
His face, lowered and, was one she had never seen before.
He slowly extended his hand.
“Would you like to take my hand?”
“……”
After staring at it quietly, she placed her hand on top of his.
The rough skin, with a texture different from the knights’, brushed strangely against her fingers once again.
Meanwhile, a knight who had approached locked the door and cast additional security magic over it.
As he led her outside, Nathan spoke.
“I understand how you feel, but please keep a knight nearby anyway. Even if there is isolation magic in place, there are bound to be weaknesses somewhere.”
“……”
Rachel quietly let his words wash over her as she replayed the conversation she had shared with Paris.
Perhaps she had kept in mind the possibility that a knight with sharp hearing might overhear them.
Still, she did not think she had said anything particularly strange.
Soon, they reached the door leading outside.
“…Why did you come here?”
The question she had put off suddenly came to mind.
Even though they had crossed paths briefly, she had thought her connection with him had ended there.
An answer soon followed.
“…I thought that, regardless of the circumstances, I should repay the favor.”
“It’s all right. As I already told you, Duke Valencia called off the engagement, and he compensated me sufficiently.”
Thanks to that, she had been able to break off the engagement quickly, before the marriage.
She had also confirmed the matter concerning the 「Record」 and brought her ill-fated relationship with Paris to an end.
So this was enough.
She had had enough of being involved with the Valencias.
Rachel released his hand and politely bowed.
“Please don’t concern yourself with it. If you truly want to repay me, then keeping your distance from me will be more than enough. You remember my request, don’t you?”
Even after confirming that becoming involved with Paris Valencia had ultimately been the beginning of her life falling into ruin—
She still felt uncomfortable around this man.
After all, he had played a part in her confinement.
And there was no denying that he was a member of the family bearing the surname—
‘Valencia.’
Realizing what she meant, he looked troubled.
“Even so—”
“Thank you for everything. Then, farewell, Sir Valencia.”
“…!”
Rachel smiled faintly and turned away.
Becky quickly approached and took her place beside her. Sir Hoffman also hurried over with the escort knights.
It was over now.
Rachel turned to the Valencia family butler, who stood there with an awkward expression, and gave him an order.
“Let’s go.”
“…Yes, My Lady. This way.”
She followed the butler back toward the main residence.
Just as when she had arrived, Rachel boarded the carriage with its crest concealed and left the Valencia estate.
Through the window, she saw the desolate gardens and the Valencia residence that still made her feel uneasy.
“……”
The window soon closed.
She never looked back.
Nathan stared at the carriage as it disappeared into the distance.
It was the second time.
The second time he had simply stood there, watching a carriage carrying her leave first.
To be honest, when he first heard that Rachel had visited, he had not thought much of it.
He had merely belatedly remembered that he owed her a debt of gratitude.
After all, she was his benefactor.
The Duke had granted him several favors, but Nathan believed that repaying a personal debt of gratitude was naturally a separate matter.
So he went to the prison.
When he heard that she had already gone down, he had followed along with a light heart, only to become concerned when he heard that the two of them were meeting alone and decided to go closer just to check on things.
If everything was fine, he had intended to return immediately.
But then—
—Still, you have magical shackles. I had iron shackles.
—……What?
It was only for a brief moment that he had stopped, unable to understand what she meant.
Then came the sound of someone striking the magical barrier, followed by a stream of vicious curses.
He had nearly pushed the door open and gone inside.
The thick iron door had rattled under his hand.
But then—
—You knew about your bloodline, didn’t you?
Her voice calmly recited something that had not even appeared in the reports.
Yet it was filled with a wound too deep to fathom.
Perhaps Rachel Ingrave had desperately searched for every piece of evidence because she had wanted to avoid marrying someone like that.
And the aftermath of it had reached him as well.
—Thank you for everything. Then, farewell, Sir Valencia.
That decisive farewell had clearly signaled the end.
“…Hoo.”
He let out a low breath and turned toward the detached residence.
The Red Hawk Mercenary Corps, which had entered the estate with him, was scheduled to be incorporated into the Knights Order. However, because things were currently chaotic both inside and outside the estate, they were staying in the detached residence for the time being.
I need to move my body.
At times like this, he needed to swing his sword.
Then the distracting thoughts would disappear, and the heart that was inexplicably restless would calm down as well.
Just as he loosened another button on the clothes that felt suffocatingly tight around his neck—
His gaze fell upon his personal servant, Ralph, and the escort knights who had been following behind him.
“Stay back for a while. I want to be alone.”
“…Understood, Master.”
Ralph and the knights quietly moved away.
Nathan let out a long breath and was just about to step into the training grounds of the detached residence when—
“But do you know there’s something strange about that young lady?”
It was the voice of Lou, one of the officers.
“What? What is it? Did you find something? Then why didn’t you report it to the captain?”
Another officer, Paula, asked in surprise.
Lou answered awkwardly.
“No, I was going to wait until I was more certain before saying anything. But yesterday, I received the investigation materials from Valencia and looked through them. And even there, there wasn’t a single trace showing that the young lady had investigated anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, she’s human, not a god. When you use people and money to dig up information, there are bound to be traces, right? But there wasn’t a single trace of her investigation. And when I met that person who was supposedly the councilor’s academy classmate, I heard something strange. That person asked me where I had heard it because he said he had never told anyone what the councilor had told him. He even asked whether anyone besides himself had heard about that twenty-step thing—”
“What does that mean?”
A cold voice cut through Lou’s words.
The deputy captain and officers, who had been huddled together in one corner of the training grounds, jolted in surprise and raised their heads.
“Captain?”
Their captain’s attire had changed, becoming as elegant as that of a nobleman, but the monstrous mana boiling and bursting around him remained unchanged.
Nathan, who had somehow already approached them, looked down at Lou.
Lou, aware that he had done something wrong, turned pale.
“C-Captain.”
“Report.”
“…Yes!”
His crimson eyes had gone rigid.
Yet they trembled violently with every word of Lou’s report.
“As, as you heard, there wasn’t a single trace of the young lady investigating anything. Even the person who was supposedly the councilor’s academy classmate said he had never said such a thing to anyone and asked how we had found the evidence.”
“……”
Watching Nathan’s expression carefully, Lou quickly dropped to his knees.
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