Chapter 55
The Lifeline
Tomorrow morning, that man will pass through here. A man with platinum-blond hair and violet eyes. It’s a place where no car can get through, so he’ll likely be on foot. Go there. It might be… the only chance you have to free Lane.
There was nothing left to think about.
As if in a trance, Gerys had set out for this place today.
This was the only way to save Lane Arel—that woman. He’d killed before. It wouldn’t be difficult.
And as morning light brightened the world—
The man really was walking toward him.
Standing behind a tree, Gerys quietly raised his gun.
The familiar scenery of the forest came into view. Ansi urged her horse to go even faster. The ride here had already been at full gallop, and the animal was worn out, but she couldn’t afford to slow down.
It felt like her heart was being rubbed raw with sandpaper.
Chasing after Damion, her heartbeat had been out of control, as if a cold hand had gripped it tight. The warning came from Amor.
Still, she couldn’t stop.
Then—
Bang!
The sharp gunshot reverberated through the forest.
Ansi bit her lower lip hard. Damion was still nowhere in sight. The anxiety was unbearable. But if the dream she’d had was right, Damion would dodge this bullet.
He had to.
Before the shot rang out, Damion had already thrown himself flat to the ground. It was a habit honed over years. But habit didn’t shield him from his own problems.
Bang!
The deafening sound made his head go blank. It was as if the bullet had been fired straight into his ear. A piercing, nails-on-a-chalkboard screech rattled through his skull. Everything else fell silent.
Damion was back—on a battlefield from another time.
It was when a trusted subordinate had shot him.
“Stop, Leo…”
The spot where the bullet had grazed his side burned with pain, twisting his face in agony.
He could never understand why—just days earlier—that same man, to whom he’d entrusted his back, had pulled the trigger on him.
The weight of betrayal and despair crushed him. The powerlessness of realizing that even this place wasn’t his world consumed his mind.
Everything was shrouded in darkness.
And through that darkness came a woman’s voice.
“Damion!”
Her call sliced through the sharp ringing in his ears—a voice that had no place in this battlefield. Damion clung to it like a lifeline. He followed that voice, lifting his head.
“…”
The ashen tint faded from his eyes as they found focus again. New sights filled his vision.
This wasn’t a battlefield—it was a lush, green forest. The woman all but leapt from her horse and ran toward him. Then she cupped his head tightly in her hands.
“Thank goodness…”
She was wearing the same sky-blue jacket she had that day. Ansi looked down at him.
Catch this!
Just as she had the day she pulled him from the lake in this very forest—and set his life on the path that had brought him here.
“Ansi…?”
The moment he recognized her, the ringing in his ears vanished as if by magic. The pain, too, melted away in an instant.
“Quick, get out of the way!”
Ansi’s face was uncharacteristically tense. It wasn’t hard to guess why. That gunshot had been no illusion—it was real. Which meant the shooter was close.
“Lane!”
Ansi spun around, spreading her arms wide in front of Damion, as if to shield him—though her body could never fully cover his.
“Lane, are you crazy? Why are you protecting that bastard—”
“You’re the crazy one, Gerys.”
Her sharp retort cut him off. Gerys stepped closer. At the same time, Damion pulled her behind him.
Seeing this, Gerys gripped his gun tight and strode forward, looking half out of his mind.
“Come to me. Leave that sly bastard!”
Bang!
A second gunshot rang out.
“No!” Ansi’s scream tore through the air. She clapped her hands over her ears, then looked at Damion with trembling eyes. The gun was pointed skyward. Damion had seized Gerys’s wrist and forced the muzzle upward.
“Step back,” Damion told Ansi, who stood behind him.
He struck Gerys’s wrist, forcing the man’s grip to slacken. In the same motion, Damion wrenched the gun free and twisted Gerys’s arm behind his back.
“He’s got a knife!” Ansi shouted.
Damion immediately twisted Gerys’s other arm back as well. The man struggled violently to break free, but he was no match for the strength of someone who’d been a soldier for years.
Hooking Gerys’s arms in the crook of his elbows, Damion reached up with one hand to tug at his own necktie.
With efficient, precise movements, he yanked it free and used it to bind Gerys’s wrists. Moments later, Gerys was on his stomach, his head pressed into the dirt.
“Who are you?”
Damion’s icy tone dropped over him, the cold muzzle of the gun pressing into the back of his head. Gerys froze, sweat trickling down his temple.
“S-spare me.”
“And why should I?”
The innocent question sent a chill down his spine. This man didn’t look like someone you could reason with. Gerys switched targets, shouting at Ansi.
“Lane! Help me! You’ve got that gun—you took it from me! Shoot him, now!”
If she liked him, she’d shoot this man without hesitation. She had to—
“Are you asking me to help you die peacefully?”
Ansi’s voice was small, her body drawn in, but her eyes were wide and unflinching—as if she really might do it if that was what he wanted.
“That’s not what I meant! Shoot him!”
“Do you even hear yourself?”
Her eyes burned like blue fire, so fierce they bordered on madness. Gerys found himself speechless. But one thing was clear—
Lane Arel’s heart did not belong to him.
“No, Lane, don’t do this.”
“Who are you calling? I’m not Lane.”
Crushing disappointment flooded him. He’d come all this way to save her, only to be betrayed at the last moment. It felt like sinking into a pit with no escape.
And unexpectedly—it was the man who saved him.
“I’m turning you over to the police. You’ll be dealt with by the law.”
Hope flickered in Gerys’s eyes. No one had seen him try to kill this man, after all. If he played it right, he might even claim they had tried to kill him.
“But Damion, there aren’t any witnesses,” Ansi pointed out. She knew the truth—she’d once reported Gerys only to be met with retaliation. It was a lesson well-learned.
“If he’s released for lack of evidence…”
“Fortunately, we have witnesses.”
Damion glanced to the side, a smile touching his eyes. Startled rustling followed, and soon four figures emerged from behind the trees, coming from the lakeside.
“I’m Damion de Orphey. I didn’t expect to be meeting you like this.”
“Ahem… you’re not hurt, are you?”
They were the two people Damion had been scheduled to meet today by the forest lake, along with two servants. Alarmed by the gunshots, they’d come running.
“I’m not fine, as you’ve seen for yourself—this man tried to shoot me, and urged my wife to kill me. Mistaking her for someone else, no less.”
His voice was far too calm for someone claiming not to be fine—but nothing he said was false. The others nodded.
“Yes… yes, I saw it.”
“It’s frightening, to think such a man roams the capital. Viscount Belin, Lord Ronf—you could have been in danger as well.”
Damion’s brows drew together in concern. Viscount Belin suddenly realized how close he had been to the line of fire, and his expression grew grave.
“It’s a good thing you restrained him—yes, very good. I’ll give my testimony without fail. You’ll do the same, won’t you?”
“Of course.”
“That’s a relief. I hear attempted murder of a noble… can carry the death penalty.”
Damion lowered his gaze to Gerys. The man flinched. He could feel it—this wasn’t a maximum sentence situation. It was certain.
Gerys thrashed, trying to break free, but the cold press of the gun at his neck made him freeze.
“Careful. Struggle too much and the trigger might go off by accident. I do have a duty to deliver you to the police, you know.”
Damion’s tone was almost gentle. Gerys clenched his teeth. There was no way out.
At the servants’ call, the police came, and Gerys was arrested on the spot.
Damion drove Ansi back to the estate. Now was no time for business meetings.
In the passenger seat, she looked shaken and exhausted. Why had she even come here? Damion kept a tight rein on the hot turmoil in his chest as he spoke.
“That was dangerous. How did you know to come?”
“I just… had a bad feeling, I guess.”
A lie.
She was wearing only a chemise under her long coat. She must have run here the moment she woke.
And she’d spoken with absolute certainty that the man had a knife.
She saw it—the future.
There was no other reason she’d have come so desperately. She’d saved him again—at the cost of her own life.
Damion gripped the steering wheel hard enough to ache. The fury boiling inside him was overwhelming. And he didn’t even know why.
