What Happened in the Last Month

In the private room where Kyle went to greet the guest, his aide Alf and a middle-aged man who looked to be in his 40s were sitting.

A man with long, flowing blonde hair, giving off a somewhat haggard impression.

It was definitely a face he had never seen before, but Kyle, who was staring intently at him, finally opened his mouth towards Alf.

“Alf, get out.”

“Yes? But, Doryeon-nim….”

Despite his command, which felt almost cold, Alf looked troubled and glanced back and forth between his master and the visitor.

Leaving the family’s next head alone in a room with an outsider who could have crawled out from anywhere.

What kind of servant would obediently back down after hearing such a thing?

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Yes, y-yes….”

However, unable to withstand Kyle’s icy attitude, he eventually had to leave.

Even as he opened the door and left, he glanced at the unfamiliar man’s face and tilted his head, and Kyle, who was watching this out of the corner of his eye, finally confirmed that the door was closed.

Jiiiing.

He deployed a soundproofing barrier around them, sat across from the man, and opened his mouth in a low voice.

“…So you were alive, thankfully.”

At that moment, a faint smile appeared on the man’s lips.

“You noticed, how perceptive.”

“Just looking at that shaggy hair, it’s obvious who you are.”

“Such disappointing words. I consider it quite the pride, you know.”

“Cut the crap and undo that transformation magic. It’s annoying to talk like this.”

At Kyle’s blunt tone, the man chuckled and then closed his eyes tightly, focusing his mind.

Then, the deep wrinkles on the face of the man who had looked to be around 40 years old just moments before disappeared cleanly, and his somewhat haggard appearance began to return to normal.

The person who appeared was none other than Vermillion Drake.

The very person Kyle had been desperately searching for until recently.

“I thought you were definitely dead since I hadn’t heard from you in over a month.”

“I came back from the dead.”

“That means they found out.”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Vermillion shrugged and took a sip of tea to wet his throat, while Kyle stared at him silently.

Originally, Vermillion boasted the appearance of a handsome young nobleman, but now Kyle could see small scars etched on his face.

He spoke in a light tone, but it was clear that he had gone through several life-or-death situations.

“Sorry. You went through unnecessary hardship because of me.”

“So you do know how to say sorry. I’m surprised.”

“Stop talking back. More importantly, how did those bastards find out?”

Kyle quickly changed the subject, perhaps feeling awkward about apologizing to someone other than Sylvia.

In response, Vermillion’s eyes changed as if he had been waiting for this, and he opened his mouth.

“…I don’t know the method. But at least, the incident at the Imperial Palace must have been the trigger.”

“You mean they realized you saved Sylvia.”

“Maybe. Or perhaps they were monitoring me when I told you about Hasel Lyaird.”

“Tsk, either way, it’s become a pain in the ass.”

Kyle clicked his tongue and frowned.

When Vermillion gave him information about Hasel, he was sure that there wasn’t a single person around.

He had even deployed a soundproofing barrier, so there was no possibility of the sound leaking out.

And when he rescued Sylvia, he killed all the assassins sent by those bastards on the spot.

That meant that those bastards must have had another way to get information out of the Imperial Palace.

“There’s a spy in the Imperial Palace too. I guess I have to think that way.”

“It’s too early to be sure, but I think there’s at least an 80% chance of that.”

“Anyway, what happened after that?”

“I was attacked on the way back to the main family. They were quite skilled. All I could do was barely save myself.”

An attack.

It was expected, but Kyle found the word a bit strange.

“Why did they bother? Wasn’t your family loyal to the Eyes of Dawn?”

“I wonder.”

Vermillion, noticing the question in Kyle’s words, stroked his chin and hummed.

That is, it meant this.

Since those guys realized that Vermillion had betrayed them, and Vermillion didn’t know that they knew, there were many ways to kill him.

Especially considering that the entire Drake family was a large group of Eyes of Dawn followers, that place was not a safe place either.

If those guys were planning to kill Vermillion as secretly as possible, it would have been right to kill him when he returned to the main family, when he thought he had arrived in a safe place, taking advantage of that gap.

But what could be the reason they didn’t do that?

“…Didn’t they agree?”

“What does that mean?”

“It’s just what it sounds like. If the guys who realized you were a traitor directly ordered the Drake family to kill you, what if they refused?”

“……!”

Vermillion’s eyes widened at Kyle’s unexpected opinion.

Of course, it was possible that it was just speculation, but if that was true, it could explain all the phenomena.

It also explained why they tried to cut off the sprout early, before the prey came into their arms on its own, rather than trying to catch it when it arrived at the Drake family.

“I hadn’t thought of that. But isn’t that too much of an interpretation….”

“I know. There’s no need for the Drake family to suddenly have a conflict with the Eyes of Dawn now. In the first place, those guys are the ones holding the knife.”

Kyle also acknowledged that this could be a somewhat excessive interpretation, so he nodded at Vermillion’s words.

Even if the two were in a cooperative relationship, it was clearly not a horizontal relationship, but a tilted vertical relationship.

From the Drake family’s point of view, the Eyes of Dawn could instantly ruin their family’s fortunes if they accidentally said the wrong thing, so they would have to try their best not to offend them.

But on the other hand, this thought also occurred to him.

It was a question that Kyle had always had about the Drake family, the essential question of ‘Why did they join hands with the Eyes of Dawn?’

According to Vermillion, the power they had given to the Drake family was so great, and thanks to that, the previous head of the family had even risen to the position of Magic Tower Master, so they couldn’t refuse them.

But the Drake family, which was not a minor barony or marquis family lacking power, but a family with a high reputation as a magical family in the Empire, colluded with traitors just to pursue power?

There were many strange things about it.

‘Maybe it’s something like the Eleanor family, with several things intertwined.’

He had suspicions, but he had no way to confirm them right now, so he had no choice but to leave it alone.

Anyway, what was important now was to hear in more detail what had happened to Vermillion.

“Anyway, you managed to come back alive. You must have been busy hiding.”

“…Yes. When I was cornered and jumped into the Brin River, I thought I was definitely dead. Fortunately, there was a benefactor who saved me.”

“……?”

Kyle felt a sense of doubt at Vermillion’s tone, which seemed to subtly emphasize that it was in the past tense.

Soon after, upon confirming Vermillion’s eyes, which were filled with sadness, he could intuitively sense that something had happened with the ‘benefactor’ he had just mentioned.

Moreover, judging from the depth of that sadness, the other person must have been….

“…Is it a woman problem?”

“Wh-what are you talking about…!”

Vermillion was startled as if burned by a sharp remark, and Kyle chuckled for the first time in a while, laughing as if he was truly enjoying himself.

He poked at it just in case, but the reaction confirmed it.

Somehow, even though he managed to come back alive in that situation, Vermillion’s expression wasn’t very good. So this was the reason.

“It’s obvious. Whenever you’re always grinning annoyingly, seeing you so down like that, you know.”

“Annoyingly? You say whatever you want to my face.”

Vermillion muttered sullenly at that, but he also knew it.

That his mood was quite down.

If you look for the reason for this, there would only be one.

“The situation seems plausible. A woman saved your life when you thought you were dying, so it wouldn’t be strange to fall for her.”

“Falling for her? It’s not that simple. Don’t speak carelessly.”

“…Hoo.”

Kyle made a playful expression and opened his mouth in a somewhat frivolous tone, unlike him, and Vermillion firmly cut him off.

In response, Kyle didn’t freeze, but rather exclaimed and steadfastly faced Vermillion, who was looking at him with icy eyes.

He didn’t know exactly what happened, but it seemed that he had met someone with whom he could build a fairly deep bond in a short period of time.

However, there must be a reason why he couldn’t bring such an important person with him, and why he was trying so hard not to talk about it.

Kyle smiled bitterly, thinking that it was not something he should interfere with.