If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 161
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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It was clear that Stella Calvino had faked her son John Calvino’s death and secretly smuggled him away somewhere.
“Th-there’s no way he could be… buried… what… what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
No matter how flustered she was, her emotional display made it impossible for her to lie convincingly. As Stella’s face turned from red to pale, and eventually to a ghostly white, Ethan couldn’t help but inwardly sneer.
“In the past few years, there’s been no official funeral held by the Calvino family. Did John Calvino have a quiet funeral because he was a criminal and couldn’t face a public one?”
Her crimson lips were bitten hard, so much so that Ethan wondered if the redness smeared on her lips was blood.
“I don’t need you to answer; there are plenty of ways to find out the truth. I’m just letting you know that resisting will only hurt you.”
“What? The kid is dead? I don’t know anything about it.”
She continued to feign ignorance. As expected. Ethan slowly rose from his seat. In the narrow, stark room, his presence grew more imposing.
“Stella Calvino. I have the records of your crossing the Leden Bridge at the beginning of last month. And exactly ten days later, there’s a record of you returning. I have it in my hands right now.”
“…”
“If you confess where you went and what you did during that time, I’ll report it to the Marquis and see if there’s any chance for leniency. This may be your last chance.”
Ethan always had this thought when interrogating criminals: why did they risk their lives on lies that would be exposed so quickly? Wouldn’t it be much more beneficial to admit everything and beg for mercy? Why didn’t they consider the possibility that confessing would help them more?
Either way, it was foolish.
Looking down at Stella, whose pale face trembled, Ethan motioned to his knights. They swiftly grabbed her arms and roughly pulled her to her feet.
“If you choose not to speak, you’ll have no more chances. Until we uncover what you did outside the capital, you’ll be held in the underground prison of the Capital Guard Command. And the excellent knights of Vernat will have no trouble finding the evidence of your crimes. They are the most skilled knights in the Empire, trained in battle their whole lives, Mrs. Calvino.”
“W-wait!”
Seeing that there was no more hesitation in Ethan’s posture as he turned to leave, Stella desperately called out to him.
“Call Christian Calvino here.”
“Are you referring to your other son?”
“Yes, my son. Christian Calvino, the administrative officer of the Imperial Second Knights. Bring him here, immediately.”
It seemed that the only thing Stella was relying on was the hope of her son, Christian, coming to her aid. But even if the administrative officer of the Imperial Knights was called, what could he possibly do? Ethan sneered internally.
“Sure. It looks like you want to push both your sons into the fire, so I’ll grant your wish.”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Christian had already arrived at the Capital Guard Command when he heard news of his mother. He had been chasing after Cain, who had fled the capital, when he unexpectedly found out that his mother was being interrogated there.
The Emperor had entrusted Vernat with the authority to oversee the capital’s security under the pretense of investigating Duke Kristin’s death. However, Cain’s actions now only seemed like defiant disobedience, acting on personal feelings instead of upholding the emperor’s trust.
“Hey, Marquis!”
Christian almost missed him. As he was about to head down to the interrogation room, he spotted Cain hurrying off somewhere and shouted at him.
But Cain didn’t even glance back.
“Marquis Vernat! Can’t you hear me?”
It wasn’t far enough for his voice to be inaudible. Christian stopped in his tracks, thinking that Cain was clearly ignoring him, and changed direction to follow him.
He didn’t know what Cain was thinking or what he was up to, but he couldn’t just let him run wild on his own.
Wasn’t there a royal order to keep a sharp eye on every move Cain made?
Whatever his plans were, Christian was determined to do everything he could to stop him.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
The sun began to set, painting the land with the fiery hues of the evening sky.
Karon and Rubens stood silently, watching Agatha’s back, which had not moved away from the window.
Only Karon, Rubens, a few knights who had been left to guard her, and Esther knew that Agatha was pregnant. Though they had instructed the doctor to keep it quiet, it was never possible to completely silence people—so it was only a matter of time before the news would leak.
As Agatha was married, there was little immediate risk in people learning about her pregnancy. However, the issue was that she had realized she was pregnant after declaring her divorce and leaving her husband.
