If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 143
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
read more chapters on luna kofi
January, 510 of the Imperial Calendar.
It was like a thunderclap.
“C-Cain!”
“What’s all the fuss about?”
“There’s been an accident!”
“What?”
“An accident!”
Ethan rushed into the training ground, his face pale. Normally calm in even the most troubling situations, his current panic was unlike anything Cain had seen before.
“The commander had an accident!”
The only time Cain had seen Ethan lose his composure like this was when something had happened to Duke Kristin.
“What? An accident?”
Has something dangerous happened to the schedule? Cain quickly ran through the Duke’s itinerary in his mind. Aside from attending a distant relative, Count Aike’s wedding banquet a few days ago, there had been nothing significant on the Duke’s schedule.
“What kind of accident?”
“The carriage… damn it. Apparently, it fell off a cliff. The terrain is so rough that they can’t even conduct a proper search.”
“What do you mean, the carriage fell off the cliff?”
“Lady was alone at the mansion, so he decided to take a shortcut and… well, the accident happened.”
Ethan ran a hand through his hair roughly. He clenched his fists and then relaxed them, repeatedly muttering curses under his breath. It was clear that the accident involving the Duke was more serious than Cain had initially thought.
“Where exactly is it? We need to head there immediately.”
“The knights have already been deployed. A second team is being organized.”
“I’ll join the second team.”
Cain didn’t think the Duke would be in any immediate danger from a carriage accident, but if the search parties couldn’t get into the mountains, he would. Cain hurriedly grabbed his weapons.
“I don’t know why it took so long for us to get word, though. The accident happened three days ago.”
“Calm down, Ethan. Are you joining the second team or not?”
“Of course.”
As Cain and Ethan prepared, other knights arrived with reports on the accident site. They had found several of the coachmen and attendants from a nearby carriage that had crashed and were all confirmed dead.
When Cain heard that the Duke’s carriage had fallen down the steepest part of the cliff, and that it hadn’t been found yet, his hand froze mid-motion.
“So, how bad is it? How dangerous is it for the commander?”
“Most likely… he had already passed…”
The knight couldn’t finish his sentence. Ethan shot him a fierce glare, warning him not to speak carelessly.
“Shut up. There’s no way the commander could be in danger from something like this.”
“B-but, Ethan…”
“If you keep opening your mouth, I won’t let you get away with it. Cain, hurry up!”
Ethan quickly left to gather his gear.
“It’s impossible. He won’t die, not like this.”
The Duke could not die like this. No, the Duke must not die this way.
“If he’s going to die…..”
He must tell him where his mother and sister are, Cain thought with gritted teeth.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Duke Kristin was dead.
The greatest knight of the Nikephos Empire, who had survived countless battles and fatal wounds, had died from a simple carriage accident.
Wails of grief echoed through the air. As everyone else was immersed in sorrow, shedding tears, Cain felt as if he had been left alone, detached from the world. Perhaps it was because the reality of the situation didn’t quite sink in.
Cain silently looked down at the bodies of the Duke and Duchess, whose embalming preparations had been completed.
It wasn’t until the imperial guard and the knight’s order joined the search that they finally found the Duchess’s body, and it was unrecognizable, so badly damaged. The sight was so horrific that all of Kristin’s knights kneeled in agony, crying out.
But even in that moment, Cain didn’t feel sadness—he felt only anger.
“Swear to protect Kristin with your life, and I will help you find your family.”
“…I swore it.”
He had sworn and acted on it. Now, it was time to keep his promise. Cain bit the inside of his lip.
If it weren’t for the deep wound on the Duke’s face, he would have looked like he was merely asleep. His face, pale and drained of color, gave the illusion that he might open his eyes and speak to Cain, as he had done countless times before.
Cain closed his eyes. On the surface, he appeared to be a young knight, devastated by the loss of his beloved commander, but inside, he was filled with nothing but resentment.
He hated that such a trivial thing had taken the Duke’s life. He hated how such a powerful man had been reduced to nothing in such a senseless way.
What had he fought for, shedding so much blood? In the face of death, honor and accomplishments meant nothing. He wanted to scream at the Duke, asking why he had brought his family and country to ruin, only to live such a short life.
“Miss, you shouldn’t come any closer.”
While everyone else was too absorbed in mourning the sudden death of the Duke to notice, the ten-year-old lady had wandered nearby. Her nanny, Charlotte, hurriedly took her away from the scene.
The Duchess’s body, hastily pieced together, barely retained its human form. The Duke’s body, though relatively intact, was still not something a child should witness.
Cain’s gaze followed the Lady as she walked away, unaware of the tragedy unfolding around her.
Though everything was different—circumstances, surroundings—he couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity in her figure. The way she walked, the way she was left behind, alone, reminded him of his own past.
Perhaps it was because, like him, she had lost her family in an instant, left to face the world alone.
