Chapter 105
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 105
The Kartika Family gathering ended in tragedy.
The armed helicopter attack meant for me had left twenty-two dead. Granted, one of them had been killed by Ilay.
Officially, it would be announced as a terrorist attack. Come to think of it, terrorist organizations were awfully convenient for those in power. Whenever something inconvenient or something meant to stay buried came to light, they could simply pin the blame on terrorists.
I reported the situation to Heilas through my terminal. He, too, seemed busy tracing where the leak had come from.
—Iskan was attacked as well. The information must have leaked from inside the Imperial Guard. We're currently investigating the Guardsmen who are related to the nobles who died in the torture facility.
If Heilas's suspicion was right, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
'Ivan Cracia knew the attack was coming.'
But it likely wasn't the Imperial Family's doing. They must have caught wind of the attack beforehand through their intelligence network. After all, the Imperial Family had ears everywhere in the Empire.
'Then did Ivan really come to see me out of goodwill? To warn me in advance?'
Thanks to Ivan, I'd been able to react in time. Without his warning, I might have ended up in a far worse state—or dead.
It left me feeling strange.
Ilay handled the aftermath in his capacity as the next Family Head. With so many Kartika Family members dead, no one questioned Garcia's death.
"I am deeply sorry that such an incident occurred at an event I hosted."
Ilay said this as he saw Giselle and me off, offering Giselle a courteous apology.
Giselle merely nodded in silence and stepped into the aerial vehicle. Someone else's blood was splattered across her dress.
Having finished with Giselle, Ilay came over to me. He set a cigarette between his lips and lit it.
"Luka, I won't ask for the details. If it was something you could tell me, you'd have told me already."
He didn't press. He'd always been shrewd that way. And I, for my part, would keep my mouth shut about Garcia's death.
We hadn't spoken of it aloud, but our deal was done.
"That was a nice gun."
I nodded toward Ilay's custom weapon.
"Today was the first time I fired it in a real fight. Handled better than I expected. And, Luka..."
Ilay glanced toward the aerial vehicle Giselle had boarded.
"If you've got something to say, spit it out."
"Do you remember Lillian Ramones?"
Of course I did. She was a woman I couldn't forget even if I tried.
"Why bring that up now?"
"Don't make the same mistake I made. Don't hide behind excuses and call it being realistic. You only get one shot at this life. Once something passes, it never comes back."
"Cut the crap. Are you drunk?"
I brushed past him, knocking his shoulder as I went. He called out to my retreating back.
"I still regret it. Talking myself out of it with all those excuses... never holding on when I had the chance."
I let his words go in one ear and out the other as I climbed into the aerial vehicle. Giselle was already seated inside.
When she saw me, she turned her head and stared out the window. Neither of us said a word.
Whirrrr.
The aerial vehicle hummed to life, lifting off before switching to autopilot. Dawn was breaking as we made our way back to the Custoria mansion.
"The attack... it was about you, wasn't it?"
Those were her first words. I answered with silence, neither denying nor confirming.
"Right before the helicopter came, you acted strangely."
At the time, I'd spotted Ivan and given chase. I hadn't known about the attack beforehand, but to Giselle it must have looked like I'd been in on it.
"So?"
My tone came out sharper than I intended. My nerves were frayed from everything that had happened through the night.
"...You sounded just like Father just now. He never answered my questions either. He was always off doing something grand for the family. Even if I push you, you'll give the same answer, won't you? That it's all for the Custoria Family. That I'm better off not knowing."
"Then you already know."
I didn't have the emotional bandwidth to deal with her grievances.
'The Imperial Family, the Custoria Family, Yuri Cracia, Ivan Cracia, Kinuan, Heilas, Iskan, Ilay Kartika...'
My mind churned, dragging every thread together, hunting for the cause and effect behind the current situation. The headache that had been dogging me refused to fade. The bridge of my nose throbbed with a burning heat, as if a nosebleed was about to start.
This wasn't a thought process I could switch off. Just as the heart beats without conscious effort, the intuition and cognition honed through Akies Victima ran on their own. The strain on my brain was relentless.
Thanks to that mechanism, I could anticipate and prepare for ambushes as though I had foresight. But right now, it was a curse. I needed to redirect my focus somewhere, anywhere.
"...When the attack happened, I was so worried about you. Even as I fled with Ilay, my chest felt like it would burst from all the terrible things running through my head."
Giselle's voice was thick with emotion. I didn't look at her. I kept my eyes fixed on the blue dawn landscape rushing past the window.
"I wasn't worried about you. I trusted Ilay. I knew he'd protect you no matter what."
"Is that why you shoved me into this engagement with him?"
"I told you. It's only until he secures his position."
"Father said that if I actually like Ilay, we can make the engagement real. He seems to value Ilay's competence more than the Kartika Family's backing."
"If it weren't for me, Ilay would've been top of our class. He's capable and a decent guy. He'll go far."
"If I marry Ilay, it works out for you too. Since the two of you are so close."
My patience was fraying.
"...Do whatever you want. What kind of answer are you even looking for from me? We might be siblings, but I'm adopted. I don't get a say in your marriage anyway."
"That's not what I—"
I cut her off.
"Listen to me, Lady Giselle Custoria. I clawed my way up for the chance to stand where I am now. And on top of that, I'm barely keeping my head above water with the problems right in front of me. I get dragged into trouble just by breathing. I don't have the luxury to worry about you anymore. Do you understand?"
I looked her dead in the eye as I said it. Her eyes went wide. I'd suspected they were welling up, and I was right.
...Damn it.
It wasn't that I wanted to lash out at her. I just couldn't make sense of the way she was acting.
The emotions I'd kept bottled up started spilling over like a dam giving way. Unable to stop, I pressed on, talking right over her.
"Be realistic. I'm not going to throw away everything I've built for some fleeting feeling. And you shouldn't either. I don't understand why someone as smart and proud as you would act like this. I..."
My voice caught in my throat. It wasn't only the tears sliding down her cheeks.
I didn't want to show weakness. I couldn't afford to expose a single soft spot. In this world, even if you were born a sheep, you had to wear the face of a wolf. You could never let them mark you as prey.
...It wasn't that any of this came easy to me. I felt like I was losing my mind. There were so many times I'd wanted to throw it all away. There was a limit to how long I could keep charging forward with my eyes shut.
I was surrounded by monsters far worse than myself. Some of them were beyond anything I could even comprehend. To keep from being devoured, I had to play the monster too.
But I couldn't say any of that to anyone.
Giselle, who'd been listening in a daze, tried to wipe her tears with the heel of her palm. But they fell faster than she could catch them.
"I-I'm sorry. Just... hic... look away for a moment, please."
She was fighting desperately to pull herself together.
I bit down on my lower lip. Again—I hadn't wanted to yell at her. I bore Giselle no ill will at all.
Hummmmm.
The low hum of the engine vibrated through the cabin.
Even after a long while, Giselle couldn't calm down. She sat there, quietly letting her emotions bleed out of her.
Yes. It was best to draw a clear line between us today. It wasn't as if I was blameless—my half-answers, my ambiguous attitude, had helped bring us here. I should have been clear from the start.
"...I'm okay now."
Giselle said, lifting her head. I turned my gaze back to her.
Her cheeks and the rims of her eyes were flushed a raw, painful red. Her collar and sleeves were damp with tears. And yet a faint spark of her usual keen intelligence had returned to her eyes.
The aerial vehicle was already nearing the Custoria mansion. My plan was to drop her off and head straight back to the Imperial Guard barracks.
"Here's my plan going forward. I have no intention of becoming Family Head. Jupe is just projecting his own rivalry onto me. And my stepmother—Eva—will do whatever it takes to stop me. She'll never back me."
I spoke, deliberately steering the subject elsewhere. Giselle listened in silence.
"But Eva won't stand in the way if you, her own daughter, become Family Head. If you're willing, I'll bring Jupe down and back you, just like I promised before. That way, even the ones uneasy about a soldier leading the family will fall in line behind you."
I meant every word. I wasn't cut out to be Family Head. It'd be a lie to say I'd never coveted the seat... but not anymore.
Giselle's expression settled. Her lips parted, and she spoke in a voice gone utterly cold.
"Luka, I'm sorry for letting my emotions get the better of me. Looking back, I was being incredibly foolish."
"As long as you realize it."
I said it with a quiet breath of relief.
"I don't think I'm suited to be Family Head either. All this time, I was just scrambling to be recognized as someone useful to the family. A Family Head needs the strength to protect everyone who carries the Custoria name. I don't have that kind of power yet."
Giselle's eyes were calm as she spoke. The light of cold reason had returned to them.
"Jupe and I don't have that power either."
"Jupe might not. But you will, eventually. You have Father's favor, after all. So—I've made my decision. Thanks to you snapping me out of it, I know exactly what I have to do."
Her expression had gone past calm. It was completely frozen. Her eyes were vacant, unfocused.
Whirrrr.
The aerial vehicle drifted to a stop above the Custoria mansion's landing pad. As the thrusters powered down and the noise faded, Giselle's voice came through all the clearer.
"I'm going to tell Father I want a real engagement with Ilay Kartika. Not a fake one. It's the rational choice. Everyone wins."
Yes. This was for the best.
"Ilay's a good guy. He'll treat you well."
"It doesn't matter whether he's a good person. It doesn't matter whether he cherishes me, either. In a noble marriage, aligning interests is all that counts. This is how I make myself useful to the Custoria Family. And, Luka—my marriage to Ilay will benefit you too. Your best friend becomes your relative."
She made it sound as though she were doing this for my sake.
Thud.
The aerial vehicle settled onto the pad.
Giselle rose slowly. I couldn't tell if she was actually moving that slowly, or if it was just my perception.
Everything was falling into place. Once she stepped out, she'd tell Heilas she was marrying Ilay. The wedding would probably be next year, or the year after.
Heilas would agree without hesitation and push it forward. Ilay, too, would gain from marrying into the powerful Custoria Family to shore up his standing.
A win for everyone. The sooner, the better.
And once a decision was made, there was no taking it back. This wasn't child's play. It certainly wasn't something to be decided in a fit of temper.
"Goodbye, Luka. Take care of yourself."
Giselle stood before the vehicle's exit and bowed politely. All she had to do was reach out, and the door would slide open.
'Don't make the same mistake I made. Don't hide behind excuses and call it being realistic. You only get one shot at this life. Once something passes, it never comes back.'
Ilay's warning echoed in my head.
Nothing ever comes back once it passes.
Not this moment. Not these feelings.
Something inside me snapped. I felt myself falling into a bottomless abyss—everything I was, plunging into the dark.
"Ah..."
The sound slipped from my lips. Before I even understood what I was doing, I was on my feet, gripping Giselle's wrist. My own impulsiveness stunned me.
Her eyes went wide, trembling. Her fragile mask shattered in an instant.
Thud!
Still holding her wrist, I pinned her against the wall of the cabin.
"I thought you said this was foolish."
Giselle looked up at me, her face caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
I'd never put it into words. I'd tried my hardest not to even think it. But now I had no choice but to admit it.
...I am in love with this woman.
Giselle closed her eyes. I leaned in. Our ragged breaths met first. I realized, all at once, just how sweet her scent was.
Our lips met. Our teeth bumped lightly. Though no one had ever taught me, I instinctively parted her lips with my tongue. She met me halfway. As if bound by a promise made before we were born, we shared our breath, our warmth. I finally understood why people caught up in feelings this deep fall for the foolish illusion of destiny. Every single second was intoxicatingly sweet.
It felt as though I could forget the horror of the lives we lived—even the fact that ruin was the only thing waiting for us at the end.