Chapter 25
“Sit.”
Albert pulled the chair back for me and said. Even though I knew how awkward the situation was, I had no choice but to follow his instruction. What is he thinking? Is he telling me to eat first? But I haven’t even taken my luggage down yet…
I looked around the dining car. I had expected a small compartment, but I never imagined that such a large dining hall would be inside this train.
A bellflower-shaped lamp hanging from the ceiling poured out a lavish light, and the floor was covered with a plush, high-quality mat. Right in front of me was a table covered with a white tablecloth and set with various tableware.
I sat down and stared absentmindedly out the window. Most of the platform seemed deserted; it looked as if most passengers had already boarded the train. Just then, as the attendant poured clear water into my glass, I spotted a familiar face on the platform and inhaled sharply. I looked at Albert as if to ask for help, but he only shrugged as if nothing were wrong.
“Hold on.”
“Huh?”
“He’s here.”
Albert answered flatly.
“Really?”
“No, I said he’s here! Giles Hessen is here! It looks like he’s on this train.”
My voice nearly failed me, but he calmly took a sip of water.
“Albert!”
“Anna, calm down.”
“How am I supposed to calm down—”
Albert drew the heavy curtain across the window. That hid Giles from my sight, but it didn’t change the fact that he might be on the train.
“He came to take me back. I’m sure of it.”
“It’s okay. We expected this.”
“What?”
Albert looked different from usual today. His gentle eyes and smile were the same, but something covering his face seemed peeled away. He wasn’t the same Albert I knew.
“Of course Giles Hessen would follow you onto this train. Do you really think you could get rid of him with just a train? Do you know how deep his attachment and obsession with you run?”
My fists on my lap turned white. I wanted to scream and get off the train immediately, but I knew I had to stay calm more than ever.
“…Are you in league with Giles Hessen?”
Albert burst into a light laugh, as if he had heard a funny joke. I couldn’t trust him anymore. I had the terrible sense that he was hiding something important from me.
As my gaze drifted to the knife on the table, Albert picked up a small spoon and tapped the glass exactly three times.
Ding, ding, ding.
People who hadn’t been there filled the dining car. Well-dressed travelers in fine clothes and dresses took their seats one by one, chatting like actors entering a set. Not one of them looked in my direction, but somehow I felt they all knew about me.
I was sitting in a huge set. The problem was I wasn’t the only actor.
I glared at Albert. But there was no way Albert would fear someone like me. I genuinely could not understand why he was doing this to me. Was he really working for Giles?
The train started to move. The wheels clattered and the great wheels began running along the rails. There was nowhere left for me to run.
“Explain everything.”
“First, I suppose I owe you an apology, Anna. I should have told you everything beforehand. But I had no choice. I knew he was listening in on our conversations.”
“Just tell me one thing. Are you in alliance with Giles?”
“No. I’ve kept many things from you, but I have never lied. Giles Hessen is one of my primary enemies.”
Albert leaned back in his chair comfortably. I, meanwhile, couldn’t relax. Every nerve in me was on edge; even changing my posture felt difficult.
“Anna, how much do you know about Giles?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you know about his past? Do you know what he did, why he has so many enemies… have you ever wondered why someone like you is the center of his obsession?”
What I knew was limited. Giles knew everything about me, but all I knew about him was that he was an officer in the revolutionary army. The balance between him and me was deeply skewed; that was why I had such fear of him.
“You didn’t know Giles was from Beldam too, did you?”
“He… was from Beldam?”
Albert sighed.
“Look at his name—‘Hessen.’ It’s a typical Beldam family name. Didn’t you notice?”
“But he’s an officer in the revolution. He killed many Beldam nobles. I thought… there’s no way he could be from the same place as them.”
“It’s simple. No need to overthink it. He betrayed his country and people to save his own skin. He handed over every possession, and led the slaughter of his own people to survive. He became infamous in Beldam. It’s hard to find someone now who doesn’t know the name Giles Hessen.”
In short, he was a traitor to the nation. And he shared the same roots as I did.
“He was noble?” I asked.
Albert shook his head.
“Not noble—he was the son of a wealthy landowner. Though he lacked a title, he lived almost the same life as the aristocracy.”
“Then what does his being a traitor have to do with me?”
“If he weren’t so obsessed with you, it might have nothing to do with you.”
Damn him. He had dragged me into his problem after all.
“Think about it. Even though he’s an enemy to many, he’s still an officer in the revolutionary army. He’s committed terrible acts, but he’s also earned merit. He has strong backers protecting him. Within this country, approaching him directly was nearly impossible. We had to get him out of Ipswin somehow, and for that we needed a good lure.”
“So you used me. All the kindness, the ways you helped me—was all of it—”
“Forgive me. There was no malice. I only did what had to be done.”
Of course, he didn’t look remotely apologetic.
“This train we’re on—isn’t it supposed to be going to Vittelsden?”
“Don’t worry. Once everything is over, you’ll be free. That much I promise.”
“You expect me to believe you after putting me on this suspicious train and using me as bait?”
“We don’t care about you. All we want is Giles Hessen. Once we have Giles, we’re done with you. Anna Keating, you must read the newspapers sometimes, right? Beldam is in great despair now. The glories of the past, the peaceful times… were all utterly lost after the world war. People have hit rock bottom. The air force bombed the buildings to ruin. It wouldn’t be surprising if society descended into madness. We must stop that arrow from hitting the government.”
And a devil perfectly suited to unleash accumulated anger and despair had appeared: a traitor. A despicable betrayer who sold out his own people to Ipswin to survive. All the conditions were perfect.
Giles Hessen was absolute evil—the kind of figure who could make people forget the defeated country’s past.
“So you used me to get him out of Ipswin?”
“Yes.”
“Even to the point of using such an extravagant train?”
“To be honest, it didn’t have to be an express train. We chose a selective one because it could cross the border discreetly without much inspection and could hold many people.”
Even after knowing that I wasn’t the target and they didn’t intend to hand me over to Giles, I couldn’t feel reassured. I was still effectively a prisoner.
Perhaps reading my thoughts, Albert spoke again.
“You are not a prisoner, Anna. I’m giving you an opportunity—an opportunity to seize your own freedom. Look around. As you’ve probably guessed, these people aren’t ordinary travelers. They’re just a device to deceive his eyes. I want you to help me. You’ve always wanted to escape his grasp. Help me, and you’ll never have to face him again.”
Albert slid a small pistol across the table. I took it. It was a real loaded gun.
“Our goal is to capture him alive, but if needed, you may kill him. Don’t be nervous, Anna. Remember that the whole train is targeting Giles Hessen. Think about it! The entire train is on your side. Your situation has completely changed. Now the mouse in the poison is him, and his life is in your hands. That image should be familiar to you, right?”
I looked at the pistol in my hand. Memories of my life flickered through my head. I had endured persecution to survive, then had run desperately to escape.
I had never been part of the mainstream. As he said, I was the mouse in the jar—always surviving like that.
If Albert’s words were true, and the Orient Express was a large-scale project to capture Giles, and I had been made part of it… then maybe I didn’t have to be afraid of him anymore.
Within this vast and confined train, for the first time I could have the upper hand over someone. Someone whose life had held my fate—Giles Hessen.
I slipped the pistol into my clothes. Albert smiled.
Perhaps the advantage now lay on my side.
But could it really be true? Could Giles have walked into their hands so easily—because of me? If so, why? Why was he so obsessed with me?
I still couldn’t believe it. Albert didn’t seem to be lying, but everything around me seemed to be telling lies.
Giles Hessen was not a careless man. He wouldn’t willingly board a train rife with danger over a single woman.
What on earth had I done? What did I do to you…?
The dining car’s passengers burst into applause when they seemed to take my taking the pistol as acceptance of their plan. Hearing it, I felt the entire train moving as one.
Still…
I could not understand Giles Hessen.
Were you really that stupid? The man I knew was not that sort. If he were the sort to fall for such a trite trick, I wouldn’t have feared him in the first place.
The Giles I knew was clever and meticulous. If Albert’s words were true, he also had a strong survival instinct.
How could someone who had tried so hard to survive, who shot his compatriots in the head to live, fall for such a flimsy operation?
I wanted to know. I wanted to know what was going on in his mind and why he clung to me so desperately. To learn that, I had to meet him.
And now there was no reason to fear meeting him.
After a long time, it was time to meet him again.
