If You Leave Without a Word - Chapter 26
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
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He was smiling without realizing it. Cain raised his hand and stroked his mouth. Although he hadn’t done anything wrong, he felt strangely uneasy. Chuckling while thinking of someone. It was a side of him that didn’t quite fit.
“You seem quite pleased. I’ve known the Commander for a long time, and this is the first time I’ve seen that expression.”
Ethan’s voice sounded somewhat disgruntled as he looked at Cain, the Knight of Blood and Ice, who held the marriage approval document and smiled.
“I told you, it’s not like that. I’m just feeling a bit good at the thought of recruiting excellent talents from the Kristin Order again.”
“Ah, I see.”
That’s right, it’s just like that. No need to say more; it’s all written on your face.
That guy, really. When Cain furrowed his brow, Ethan quickly turned his head away and looked out the carriage window.
“But where are we going? This road leads to Count Calvino’s estate, does it?”
” I am heading to the Calvino estate.”
“What? Didn’t you see her yesterday, and now again today…”
“I promised I’d return shortly, so I need to keep my word. It’s all about upholding a knight’s honor. Keeping the promises I make is my code.”
“Ah, I see.”
Ethan pursed his lips, displeased, and turned his face away.
Ethan Hawk. He was the person with whom Cain connected with the first time he set foot in the Kristin Order of Knights. He was the seventh child of Baron Hawk, and to escape the overprotection of parents who doted on their children excessively, he joined the Kristin Order at the age of sixteen.
He had cherished the role of being someone’s older brother, and he treated Cain, who was five years younger, like a true younger brother.
However, when Cain displayed exceptional skills and became a junior knight ahead of him, and when he began to gain fame as a hero summoned by the Emperor himself, Ethan treated him not as a younger brother but as a knight worthy of respect. This connection eventually led him to the Vernat Knights as well.
For Cain, who trusted very few people and rarely confided in anyone, Ethan was one of the very few people he trusted completely. That’s why Ethan could tease his superior without any fear.
“Oh, the carriage has stopped. Hey, what’s going on?”
The carriage suddenly came to a halt with a jolt. Ethan, who had momentarily lost his balance, asked the coachman.
“There’s a carriage blocking the road. If they don’t move aside, we might have to go down and turn back.”
As the coachman spoke, two carriages were indeed blocking the road on the opposite side.
“They’re just standing there without moving. Commander, should I go and ask them to move?”
Upon closer inspection, there was a distinctive emblem stamped on them. A white eagle. It belonged to Calvino County.
“I’ll go and check.”
Sensing something amiss from Cain’s animalistic intuition, Ethan led him towards Calvino County’s carriage. But he never expected to come face to face like this.
Suspiciously stammering, the Countess opened the door, but he certainly didn’t expect to find Agatha sitting there in such a sorry state.
“Who… did this to you, Lady?”
It felt like a dagger to the heart. Agatha’s disheveled clothing could be overlooked, but the blood-soaked bandages and undergarments defied any reasonable explanation.
Judging by the concentrated bloodstains on her back, it didn’t seem like an accident or something that had happened overnight. That meant there was only one possibility – these were deliberate wounds inflicted by someone.
“I asked who did this to you, Lady Kristin.”
Agatha seemed too out of it to respond, her lips trembling as she weakly lowered her arms.
A quick-witted maid gestured and signaled vigorously, pointing outside the carriage towards the Countess. Based on her facial expression, it seemed like she was conveying a message along the lines of, “The Countess has injured her like this.”
In a brief moment, Cain pieced together the situation. From morning, Countess Calvino had taken Lady Kristin, who appeared to have been assaulted, in the carriage to go somewhere.
“If you don’t move aside, you will be accused of showing disrespect to Her Majesty, the Empress. No matter how noble your background may be, it’s utterly uncouth to brazenly open a noblewoman’s carriage…”
The Countess stood in his way, but ever since Cain had seen Agatha’s blood, his rationality had given way to a fierce rage directed at the Countess.
“You have no business with me. It would be wise for you to keep your mouth shut.”
Continuing to make a fuss like that makes me want to shut that mouth of yours with my fist. Swallowing those words was to maintain at least the minimum courtesy as a knight.
“Oh, dear. My, my. Who are you to speak to me like that? I am favored by the Princess…”
