32 – Ghost of the Past
“Dear…!”
As the duke held his bleeding stomach and groaned in pain, his wife reached out to him. Sherry rushed to him as well.
“…It’s fine. It didn’t hit any vital organs. But the bullet is still inside of him… It will have to be removed.”
“We-we need a doctor…”
His wife said frantically. But Sherry wasn’t sure if a skilled enough doctor could be found in the countryside.
“We have a military doctor.”
Zero. The mercenary.
“What are you doing?”
Yukito asked, and the man shrugged.
“Our mission is a failure. We will not be paid. Besides, I would not side with someone who brought out a tank. We will be leaving as soon as possible.”
“…Well, your PMC is not going to get out of this so easily.”
“Perhaps. We will accept the judgment of the law then.”
Though, who knows how much they would be charged for.
It was lively that the body Ms. Aize had seen had already been discarded, as well as any evidence.
“In our case, we want to do what we can to mitigate matters. So what do you see? Our doctor can probably help him.”
“…Fine.”
Aize said with a bow of her head.
Sometimes, there were things to prioritize over a grudge. She was calm.
She then turned to the man who was holding the gun.
“Mr. Rand, why…”
She asked, and he closed his eyes.
“Mrs. Lilieth. There is one thing that you do not know.”
He said, as she looked at him with a confused expression.
“I was the one who was pulling the strings.”
“What…?”
“I made the introductions which led to the investment fraud. And sold the information about the elyzium to Mikhail.”
So he was behind everything.
That was Mr. Rand’s confession.
“But why…”
“…It’s a cure. Lady Aize.”
He said with a tied expression. And then she suddenly realized it.
He was also someone who was being eaten away by the curse on their family.
“I had an old friend.”
He spoke in a voice filled with sadness.
“I was still a child then…but children are capable of feeling love.”
But it all went wrong.
The Lilieth family had defected to the empire.
“Over a decade ago…I was able to take some days off, and return to my homeland. And that is when I learned the truth. My old friend had lost her parents in the war. After that, she had crossed over to the empire, and used her body to make a living.”
He traced her footsteps and discovered her fate.
“By the time I learned of it…she had already died. After everything that happened, she was killed without reason and was buried in the mountains.”
Yukito twitched.
(Could it be…)
“At first, I just hated the empire. But the empire wasn’t the one who burned our homes. It was our own countrymen, who learned of the Lilieth betrayal. They burned it.”
“So…father…”
“While she saw hell, I was living here, in peace. As were the Lilieth family, who brought hell to their lands.”
And so…
He merely wanted to show them the same hell.
—Curse. Bound. Disease.
That’s what it was.
Fate moved, without being seen or controlled.
“I was tired of the Lilieth house. My duty. All of it.”
He raised the pistol in his hand.
Yukito stepped forward. But the butler just smiled.
As if broken.
Then he pointed it at his own head.
“I hope you can be happy.”
“Wai…”
The sound of the gun echoed around them.
Aize closed her eyes tightly.
But when she opened them again.
It was not to see the sight of a dead Mr. Rand.
“Gaah…”
It was Yukito, who was clutching his arm tightly.
And the pistol dropped to the ground.
And then Yukito’s fist slammed into his face.
The butler flew into the air and rolled over the ground.
“There’s no escape.”
He said, as Mr. Rand got up, blood streaming from his mouth and nose.
“You’ve hurt and tormented others… And you think you can run?”
Yukito grabbed him by the collar.
“A curse? So what? No matter how hard it was…even when she felt like she was in the pits of hell, she continued to fight desperately!”
“…”
“You saw despair, didn’t you? Then you should have understood it. What she felt while fighting. Even if you died now, it would not help her at all!”
Mr. Rand just looked at him, wide eyed.
There was no going back. No matter how much you wished for it.
Still, Aize had fought.
“Mr. Rand. If you hated my family so much. Why did you help me?”
“Lady Aize…”
Without his information, she would not have been able to reach this point.
If he had planned everything…there was no need for him to help her.
Yukito let go, and he fell to his knees. But his eyes were fixed to Aize and…
“I don’t know…”
He shook his head and smiled vacantly.
“I don’t know. Even I…don’t…”
“Mr. Rand…”
“I thought it was useless. Nothing would change. There are no miracles…”
But…
“But then why…am I so…”
He hugged his knees as his shoulders shook violently.
Aize felt that it was from sadness and anger…and maybe, hope.
In war there are no winners only losers and the sinners who karma has yet to repay