Chapter 4
On the way home from Layton Bridge, her head felt numb, as if she’d been struck from behind.
“Don’t forget me, Prina.”
He had said not to forget him…
“Don’t abandon me, Prina.”
He had said not to leave him…
And yet that same man had—
“If you had met a truly wicked noble, that hand would no longer be attached.”
Threatened to cut off her arm!
All she had planned to do was return the ring!
Is this even possible?!
Even though it had happened only an hour ago, she still couldn’t believe it.
Was this what it was?
If someone forgot first, it had to be him.
If someone abandoned the other first, it had to be him.
The man she saw today felt like a completely different person.
The way he looked at her, his attitude, the way he spoke—everything.
But why…
Why did this chilling feeling seem strangely familiar?
Had something like this happened before?
Hugo had been a gentle person, but…
There had occasionally been little incidents.
Like suddenly shattering a cup during a date with her, or snapping the armrest off a chair without warning. He broke things constantly.
“Ah, I’m bad at controlling my strength.”
What kind of excuse was that?
But Prina—
Wow, Hugo is handsome and strong too!
—had simply admired him sincerely. She’d even been a little touched by it.
Are you an idiot?
“It’s okay, Hugo. I break my glasses sometimes too. I understand. Honestly, seeing you make mistakes like this makes you seem more human… and cute.”
“I think you’re very cute too, Prina.”
How is breaking glasses the same as breaking furniture?
But Prina never thought too deeply about it. How could she stay so carefree?
Because Hugo was unbelievably beautiful.
He was stunning enough that her reason often blurred when she was with him.
Maybe that was why. She had accepted everything that happened around Hugo with a simple:
Well, Hugo’s just like that!
She’d been completely blinded by love.
Still, it wasn’t as though Prina had never felt any unease.
“Wah! Hugo, I got pickpocketed! What do I do? That was my entire month’s salary! Uwaaah!”
There had been a day when she cried after a pickpocket stole her wages.
But then…
“Prina, the guards found your wallet.”
“Really?”
“Let’s go to the guard station together.”
When they arrived, the pickpocket was there with both arms broken, sobbing the moment he saw Prina.
At the time, the guards’ terrifyingly excessive force had given her chills…
But now that she thought about it—
Maybe it wasn’t the guards he was afraid of…
It felt more like he’d been trembling at the sight of her lover.
The more strange coincidences piled up, the more suspicious she became.
So a year ago, Prina had decided to break up with Hugo.
But somehow things ended up like this…
Not only had she failed to say they should break up, she hadn’t even managed to return the ring.
Because Hugo hadn’t let her say a single word!
Did he really injure his head during the mission?
The thought lasted only briefly before Prina sighed while staring at the ring set with a red ruby.
This wasn’t some ridiculous melodrama… there was no way. Hugo really went too far. No matter what, not even giving her a chance to speak was excessive.
Setting aside the breakup, she also failed to return the ring that had been troubling her for an entire year.
Hmm…
Maybe the ruby was fake after all? Considering he was supposedly a commoner, that seemed more likely.
Maybe that was why Hugo had left without caring about the ring in the slightest.
Prina was desperately clinging to hopeful possibilities when—
“You’re just getting back now?”
Prina hurriedly hid the ring.
It was a familiar face.
Her landlord…!
He looked thoroughly drunk as he staggered home. Of all times to run into him now—her luck was awful.
“Isn’t it dangerous for a young lady to be wandering around so late at night?”
“…Thank you for your concern.”
It clearly wasn’t genuine concern, but there was no reason to provoke him unnecessarily.
He was a notorious loan shark in the area, and people who got on his bad side tended to disappear from the slums without a trace.
“Come to think of it, rent day’s coming soon. You’ve prepared the money properly, haven’t you, Prina?”
Even though he knew perfectly well how tight her finances already were.
Not long ago, the landlord had suddenly raised the rent by twenty percent.
And Prina was in no position to afford it.
“Well then, I’ll see you on rent day. Heh heh.”
…What should I do?
Once the landlord decided to squeeze money out of someone, he always succeeded somehow.
Before she knew it, thoughts of Hugo had completely vanished from her mind.
The capital’s slums.
Beyond Layton Bridge stretched a landscape where shadow and light seemed to meet.
Rows of abandoned houses lined the streets, and the stench of rotting wood filled the air.
And in this abandoned building, reeking of blood, no one ever came.
“Dispose of him.”
The black-haired man stripped off his bloodstained gloves and tossed them aside. He walked casually across a pool of blood.
At his feet lay a man covered in signs of torture.
“So a lot happened while I was away. Even spies have managed to crawl in.”
The man leaned deeply into the backrest of his chair and lazily crossed his long legs.
Under normal circumstances, he should have entered the capital triumphantly through a grand victory ceremony by now. Instead, Declin had returned unofficially.
The reason: to deal with the spy hidden within Kaisar.
“My apologies, Your Grace. This was my failure.”
The aide bowed hastily.
“It’s fine. We found out who was responsible.”
Declin’s crimson eyes drifted toward the cold corpse that had lost against the torture.
A smile spread across Declin’s lips.
His beautiful exterior could easily enchant anyone, yet the aide felt a chill crawl down his spine.
“…And, Your Grace, searching for the heirloom may require more time.”
The ring Declin always wore—it was a treasured heirloom of Kaisar.
During the conquest of an enemy castle, his memories had briefly gone blank.
He had no idea when the ring he always carried disappeared.
A shadow darkened Declin’s brow.
“Strange, isn’t it?”
The ring bound to him wasn’t something that could be easily lost.
There was no way he could fail to notice it slipping from his finger.
Which meant someone had manipulated his consciousness and stolen it…
“Who could it be?”
Declin stood there deep in thought. For a brief moment, his crimson eyes seemed to lose focus.
“Hugo.”
Suddenly, the drunk woman who had grabbed him earlier came to mind.
She looked like a rabbit, with lovely pink hair.
She had been fairly pretty.
Enough that, for the moment she grabbed him, she was the only thing he could see. That had never happened before.
The instant he recalled her face, a headache stabbed through him. Declin frowned.
Ever since returning from the war, whenever he tried to remember certain things, splitting headaches would strike him. It was deeply irritating.
“…To be honest, I don’t know if there exists anyone skilled enough to surpass you, Your Grace. I can’t even begin to imagine how someone managed to steal the ring without your knowledge. My apologies.”
Declin erased the woman from his thoughts and gave a short order to his aide.
“Find it.”
