Chapter 181
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 181
Gabriel had rarely interacted with the Empire's high society, so he knew nothing of its complex political landscape. He simply recounted what had happened, his tone shifting from calm to passionate as he spoke.
“In the middle of all that, Giselle told me you were dead. She explained why they kept it quiet, but it had nothing to do with me. Don’t take it personally. To me, you were as good as dead anyway.”
I snorted.
“There’s no reason to be offended. In fact, I’d find it weirder if you said you missed me all these years. Like you said, I was just someone from your past.”
A faint smile touched Gabriel’s lips. His story centered on G&G Cybernetics, Giselle, and Gilda.
“Who knew the company would grow so fast? The people we hired later were all top-tier experts, nothing like a guy like me. I didn’t want to be seen as some lucky bastard who landed a good position just because he knew the right people.”
Gabriel grinned as if he’d already had a few drinks.
I listened as he continued. His story traced the growth of G&G Cybernetics, a path marked by frequent clashes with other corporations and, at times, the use of illegal force.
They expanded their business with incredible aggression. Many of their decisions involved huge risks.
It was hard to believe this was how Gilda and Giselle operated. At their core, both were technicians, far from the type to make bold, aggressive moves or employ underhanded business tactics.
Knowing them, I would have expected them to expand slowly, building on a foundation of solid technology. Something must have changed their minds. Or…
“…Did someone new join the core management? Someone I don’t know?”
Perhaps someone had come in to fill the gaps for the two technicians.
“Huh? No, that’s not it. Giselle and Gilda’s decisions were always absolute.”
So my assumption about a third party was wrong. It was possible; I was working with limited information. If I could guess everything that had happened during my twelve-year absence, it wouldn’t be insight—it would be a superpower.
“Keep talking.”
“Maybe they figured the market for Kinesis Chips in Akbaran and the Empire was saturated, because they decided to expand into Border City. Outside of imperial territory, it’s the city with the highest use of cybernetic prosthetics. Giselle was so proactive about the expansion that she even avoided full-body prosthetic surgery, claiming other nations and species would find it off-putting in business dealings.”
It was no surprise that a company pursuing aggressive expansion would target Border City. It was a buffer zone between the three nations and a testing ground for new technologies—a market any capable company would covet.
And Giselle avoided full-body prosthetic surgery.
My fingers twitched.
“Ever since the decision to enter Border City, things started to sour between Giselle and Gilda. G&G Cybernetics split into two factions as well.”
My eyes widened. This was inside information, something only a direct party would know.
New information.
A new piece slotted into place in my mind, and from it, countless possibilities began to branch out.
Giselle and Gilda were in conflict.
Even I hadn't expected that. For business or other reasons, they had clashed. Gabriel didn’t know the exact details either.
“Because Gilda refused to cooperate, the Border City expansion fell entirely on Giselle’s shoulders. For two years, she spent nearly half of every year there. The Empire would never have permitted such a long stay if she weren’t from the Custoria Family, no matter how beneficial it was to the national interest.”
“Was the expansion smooth?”
“I don’t know the details. It didn’t seem to go as well as it did in the Empire. For starters, the friction inside G&G went beyond simple arguments—the abscess finally burst.”
“The abscess?”
“Luka, I’m a dumbass. I don’t get all the complicated numbers and stories. And I don’t think Gilda is a bad person. So I’ll just tell you exactly what I saw and heard. G&G Cybernetics was on the verge of a spin-off. If Giselle hadn't gone missing, the company would have split in two.”
I bit my lower lip, then let it snap back. It was time to ask the question I dreaded.
“Is it possible Gilda did something to Giselle? No, that’s a stupid question. There’s always a possibility. Let me rephrase, Gabriel. Do you think Gilda did something to Giselle?”
Gabriel’s eyes wavered. He liked Gilda, and he liked Giselle. He liked me, too. He was the type who couldn’t bring himself to hate anyone he considered one of his own.
“I—I don’t know. At some point, I stopped understanding what Gilda and Giselle were thinking or doing. They were always talking about complicated stuff. I just did what I was told, believing the two of them would figure it out somehow…”
If it had been me, I wouldn’t have just stood by and watched them drift apart. But Gabriel wasn’t me. I couldn’t hold him to my standards.
…Gilda.
A new suspect.
So far, I had identified four main suspects. One of them had either kidnapped Giselle or was involved in her disappearance.
First, Kinuan. He was the most likely candidate. Given Valek’s appearance, it was highly probable Kinuan’s intentions were somehow tied to Giselle’s disappearance. He was a master at pulling strings from the shadows.
Second, Barbara. A woman who wanted to possess Giselle. However, there was no evidence of her involvement. More importantly, Giselle was wary of Barbara; she wouldn't have moved without some kind of countermeasure.
Third, unknown parties Giselle had come into conflict with. G&G Cybernetics had pursued an aggressive expansion. Competitors, other nobles—the list of potential suspects in this category was endless.
Fourth was Gilda, who had just emerged from this conversation. The Gilda I remembered was warm, kind… a woman who tried to protect her friends. It was hard to believe she’d been in a conflict with Giselle so severe it nearly split the company. People change, but this was beyond anything I could have imagined.
If there was a fifth suspect, it would be Ivan. But I ruled him out. I knew the darkness of the Empire's elite all too well.
If Ivan had decided to capture Giselle, she would have been in his possession by now.
For the Empire, extracting information from Giselle would have been child’s play. They had methods so formidable that willpower alone could never withstand them.
“What about Ilay Kartika? Do you know anything about his movements?”
Gabriel had almost no contact with Ilay. I was grasping at straws.
“I don’t know anything about him. I just heard his name every now and then.”
I had the general gist of what happened while I was gone. This was likely the full extent of what Gabriel had seen from his perspective.
“Now, tell me about Siren and Lunia. And what happened the day Giselle went missing.”
I didn't give him any more time to recover. It was time to get to the core of it.
“Haa… haa…”
Gabriel’s breath came in ragged gasps. With trembling hands, he gulped down some water.
“Want a drink?” I asked, pretending to reach into my inner pocket. I obviously didn’t carry alcohol on me.
“No, thanks. I’m staying sober.”
I had seen the photos of Siren and Lunia’s deaths. If Gabriel had witnessed that scene himself, it would have been a miracle he was still sane.
I didn’t even want to imagine being in his shoes. If I had been in his position… I would have tried to tear the world apart. Of course, I would have been the one to shatter in the end.
“Siren was a good woman. In Akbaran, any girl who got close to me would ask me to buy them something or beat someone up. Siren never asked for anything. She said she was happy just having me around. I’d never met a woman like her. She told me later she had a daughter, but that didn’t matter to me at all. I—I just… I just liked her…”
Sorrowful tears streamed down Gabriel’s rugged face, his features contorting in grief.
“How did you meet her?” I asked flatly. I was not a comforting person. Trying to be something I wasn’t would only look ridiculous.
“Siren was a cleaner at our Border City branch. I saved her when another employee was harassing her.”
“You stopped it instead of joining in?”
“Hey, I’m a manager, you know? After that, we started greeting each other, and eventually, I started buying her drinks. It was the first time I’d ever gotten close to a woman so slowly. Thanks to her, I actually started looking forward to Giselle’s business trips to Border City.”
Their relationship deepened. Gabriel had even thought about bringing Siren to Akbaran once G&G pulled out of Border City.
“Siren’s daughter, Lunia… yeah. Getting close to her was incredibly hard. As you can see, my face isn’t exactly kid-friendly. I really tried my best. I even considered plastic surgery.”
A spark of life returned to Gabriel’s voice as fond memories surfaced. But just as quickly, his face twisted in pain again.
“B-but… that day was Lunia’s birthday. She sent me an invitation. It had ‘Dad’ written on it. Luka, you hear me? That cute little girl called me ‘Dad’.”
Gabriel’s expression was a horrifying mix of a laugh and a sob. His emotions were shifting so rapidly his face couldn’t keep up. He pulled out a crumpled photo of himself with Siren and Lunia.
“Of all days, that was the one Giselle was in a big negotiation with another company. Security had to be exceptionally tight. I told Giselle I’d be gone for just thirty minutes. I’d just drop off the present, say happy birthday, and run right back. She wasn’t happy, but she let me go. I swear, ever since I became team leader, I never let my personal life interfere with work. That was the first and last time.”
Gabriel had given his subordinates their instructions and stepped away for a moment. Then, disaster struck.
Tremble, tremble.
Gabriel’s body began to convulse, the power output of his prosthetic limbs fluctuating wildly. His teeth chattered so hard they sounded like they might shatter.
“E-even Siren begged me to come, just for that day. I only stayed at the party for five minutes, but it was the best moment of my life. I gave her a big doll and held Lunia in my arms. For the first time, she shyly called me ‘Dad’ out loud. But when I got back… a terrible… a nightmare I can never escape from began. I’m still trapped there. Whenever I close my eyes, I see it, and the smell of blood fills my nose. It makes me want to rip it off my own face.”
He struggled to get the words out. Using his testimony, I meticulously constructed the scene in my mind, locking in every detail.
Giselle and her security detail were traveling in an aerial vehicle when they were shot down. The vehicle was incredibly sturdy, so everyone survived the crash. The problem was what happened next.
They were attacked immediately.
The security guards were brutally slaughtered. Only Giselle’s body was missing. Based on the vehicle and security equipment logs, someone had taken her.
Circumstantially, it looked like a kidnapping for ransom. But no demand ever came. Giselle simply vanished, and the incident was swept under the rug.
“I—I r-really didn’t want to doubt her, but it was s-strange. Even Siren insisted I c-come, which was so unlike her. And I—I…”
He trailed off. Two days after cleaning up the crash site, he went to find Siren. What he found was despair. He discovered the corpses of Siren and Lunia, already starting to rot.
Thud!
The moment he finished, I struck his jaw. He slumped over, unconscious. It was better than letting him suffer brain damage from reliving the trauma.
Slide.
I supported his body, preventing him from falling, and gently lowered him back into the chair.
Leaving Gabriel, I went up to the first floor. Gaya, who had been attending to another patient, stood up and approached me.
“Did you really have to drag all those memories out of him?”
“It was necessary.”
“Necessary for you, I suppose.”
“Don’t pretend you know anything about us. Gabriel wants to stand on equal footing with me. He’d rather carry more pain than be in my debt.”
I brushed past her shoulder and walked toward the door.
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t visit Mr. Gabriel for a while. For the sake of his treatment.”
“…Take good care of him.”
I stepped out of the hospital.