Episode 26
Katrina tried to walk past him, ignoring him.
But Damian stepped forward, blocking her path with his body.
“I asked if you were with him.”
Katrina frowned.
Why is he being so persistently nosy? That’s not like him.
“No.”
“……”
“I wasn’t with him.”
Because of his characteristic blank expression, Katrina couldn’t tell what Damian was thinking.
“Is that so?”
Damian quietly stepped aside.
Then, as if his business was done, he walked past Katrina and entered Duke Abiche’s office.
…What the hell is with him?
The prison known as Ahok, considered the worst hellhole on earth, was in complete chaos.
Prisoners lay groaning in every corner, some slumped against the walls bleeding, others crying out in pain.
All of them were desperately trying to escape one person.
Standing in the center was a man—Silas Rockfenheim.
Only his ragged breathing echoed through the prison.
His disheveled, fiery red hair clung to his forehead, and his muscular arms remained swollen with tension.
His hands were stained with blood, yet there was no wavering in his eyes. He was cruelly calm.
“More?”
Silas muttered lowly as he scanned the room.
The prisoners collapsed on the floor shrank back in terror.
That lunatic…
His footsteps were heavy yet swift, and soon his hand clamped down on the nape of a prisoner.
A twisted grin appeared on his lips. Everyone still in the room was paralyzed with fear.
Then—
“Inmate 65203! You have a visitor!”
Silas stopped.
Relieved sighs escaped from all corners of the room.
Silas turned and began to walk.
In the visitation room, an old childhood friend was waiting for him.
Niel Franze.
Silas sat in the chair on the other side of the bars and asked indifferently,
“What do you want?”
The woman’s smile, once radiant like a blooming flower, had withered.
“Silas.”
She called his name in a flat tone.
“What?”
“You’ve got blood on your clothes. Did you fight again?”
“There were too many punks picking fights. Couldn’t help it.”
“……”
Niel looked at Silas with a troubled expression.
When nobles committed crimes, they were generally treated with a certain level of courtesy.
But Silas was different.
Though it was Katrina who had locked him up, Silas had incurred the emperor’s wrath—and so ended up in the prison reserved for the worst of the worst.
“Come back, Silas.”
“Come back, huh.”
“You can come back anytime.”
“……”
“All you have to do is give His Majesty what he wants. How long are you going to live like this?”
Silas didn’t seem particularly interested in what she was saying.
He leaned back, listlessly staring at the plaster wall.
But Niel wasn’t deterred by his attitude and continued.
“Why did you mess with the Wishing Stone?”
“……”
“When I heard you’d escaped, I thought maybe you were finally going to do something.”
“You care too much about me.”
“……”
Niel sighed.
Silas showed no desire to continue the conversation.
So finally, Niel got to the point.
“Katrina Abiche is alive.”
At those words, Silas, who had been staring into space, turned his gaze to her.
“She came back.”
Niel saw it.
A strange light flicker in Silas’s eyes.
“When?”
The Harmony Assembly had ended without a hitch.
Katrina was no longer being sent to the monastery.
She must be deep in thought.
The fact that Katrina had brought Hildegard’s aide raised a lot of questions.
The fact that Katrina had taken Abiche’s aide as her partner—perhaps it meant Hildegard had something in mind.
Maybe sending Katrina to the monastery would now seem like defying Hildegard… That sort of thing.
Calling Heil had been the right move.
“Hildegard left a message for you, Lady Katrina.”
“She is currently dealing with a difficult issue. If you help her resolve it, she said she would help you stay in Abiche.”
“If you accept her offer, she’ll send you the details in a letter. Will you accept?”
There was no need to think.
Of course I will.
“Young lady, you’ve received a letter.”
Katrina sent her reply with that resolve, and finally, Hildegard’s letter arrived.
Hildegard had long since withdrawn from the frontlines and rarely involved herself in family affairs.
For her to be struggling with something…
What could it be?
Katrina opened the letter and began to read.
But by the time she finished reading, her expression had hardened.
“……”
All she could think, instinctively, was that something terrible had happened.
…She wants me to do this?
[‘Pied Piper’ reappears in Ashius after 11 years.]
Ashius was one of the territories under Abiche’s jurisdiction.
Eleven years ago, it had been the site of a demonic incident—what came to be called the “Pied Piper Case.”
Children had started disappearing en masse in the middle of the night.
It had happened three times.
Katrina knew the case well.
Back when she was a candidate for Saintess, she had gone to Ashius herself to observe the situation.
To be honest, Katrina had been very young then.
Among the missing children were others her age.
“I was terrified… shaking the whole time, afraid I’d be taken too.”
In the end, Katrina had done nothing there.
The case had never been resolved and remained a mystery.
**[Unlike 9 years ago, this time the missing are criminals.
Investigate the connection to the past cases and whether the ‘Pied Piper Devil’ has returned.]**
Even reading it was a headache.
But Hildegard was not the type to entrust important matters to just anyone.
She must have a reason for this.
Well, if I’ve been told to do it, I have to.
Damian was reading the newspaper.
Today’s front page featured something quite sensational. He was reading with great interest.
Katrina’s going to freak when she sees this.
There was news in there that would surely horrify her.
“Damian!”
Just then, the office door burst open.
It was Selena Abiche. Lately, they’d been seeing each other much more often.
They’d barely exchanged words before, so it stood out.
“Katrina’s heading to the Ashius territory!”
“I know.”
He’d already heard the news.
Unbothered, Damian turned another page of the paper.
The article was absolutely riveting.
“Aren’t you going to stop her?!”
“Why would I?”
A faint smile tugged at Damian’s lips.
