Chapter 80
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 80
The Custoria mansion was as solemn as its ancient architecture. Even the maids who passed through the halls kept their mouths shut and their eyes lowered, as if silence itself were the highest virtue.
In this house, if you had something to say, you retreated into a room to say it. It was as though even family members guarded countless secrets from one another. Then again, other noble houses were probably no different.
Heilas and I waited, having summoned Giselle.
Creak, thud.
Giselle opened the door and stepped into Heilas's study. She flinched slightly when she saw me, surprise flickering across her face. She clearly hadn't expected me to be here.
"Have a seat first, Giselle," I said, speaking on Heilas's behalf.
Heilas was lost in thought, staring out the window. He was likely mapping out a plan, drafting an operation, weighing variables the rest of us didn't even know existed.
Giselle came over and whispered, "What's going on? Father looks incredibly serious."
"We have a mission. Family business," I said curtly. Only then did Giselle sit, her expression hardening.
"Because of Nikolaos?"
I nodded without a word.
Rustle.
Heilas turned from the window to face us. He fixed his gaze on Giselle and spoke carefully.
"Giselle, Luka and I are searching for the one who ordered Nikolaos's assassination. We've already gotten quite close."
"...Isn't that Nemesis's doing?"
Giselle's words carried a heavy weight.
Destroying Nemesis is impossible.
They were a terrorist organization even the Empire couldn't stamp out. Worse still, they operated in decentralized cells, making any sweeping, consecutive strike nearly impossible.
"We need to show them our strength... so they never dare lay a hand on the Custoria family again."
At the very least, we would find and kill everyone involved in Nikolaos's assassination.
It's a matter of the family's prestige and safety.
I understood, too, why Heilas was pouring so much time and effort into this.
"Wasn't the mastermind Rick Silva Nunez? Luka killed him."
"Rick was a high-ranking member of Nemesis, but everyone knows he wasn't the type to devise plans and issue orders. He was a man who carried out orders from above."
It was true. If Rick had been the brains, he wouldn't have kept showing up on the front lines.
Rick was a capable warrior, but to Nemesis he was replaceable. The ones they truly couldn't afford to lose would be buried deep, surrounded by men like Rick.
"So, does that mean I have a role to play?"
Giselle read the room and cut straight to the point.
"We need to draw out Barbara of Nemesis, Giselle. The girl who attended Cracia Academy with you."
Heilas spoke calmly.
The fact that Barbara was an 'Imperial spy' was classified—something Giselle didn't know. To her, Barbara was simply a psychotic terrorist.
"Barbara..."
Giselle flinched. Her hands, which had been trembling faintly, began to shake in earnest. I laid a hand on her shoulder, as if to still the tremor for her.
She startled at my touch, but it worked; her agitation slowly ebbed.
Giselle is still afraid of Barbara.
Barbara was a chilling human being. A woman whose very nature Giselle found impossible to face head-on.
"Luka says you can act as bait for Barbara. Do you agree with that?"
Giselle's gaze shifted to me. I didn't look away. She bit her lower lip.
I'd expected her to shower me with blame, or anger. But the emotion in her eyes was... sadness.
"...It's true she was unusually obsessed with me. I don't know if she'll come out just for me, but Luka is probably right. His instincts are better than mine."
Giselle raised her thumb to her lips, then lowered it again. I could read her anxiety and unease in every small gesture.
Yet Heilas remained unmoved by his daughter's distress. Whatever he felt inside, on the outside he was a man of steel.
"We must make contact with Barbara, Giselle," Heilas said, looking down at her.
No detailed explanation was needed. Everyone gathered here was sharp. Counting myself in that number makes me feel a little self-conscious.
Giselle closed her eyes, seemingly sorting through her emotions. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open. The light of intellect drove the anxiety from them.
"Tell me the plan, and I'll prepare."
* * *
The plan was simple.
Send Giselle beyond Akbaran under some plausible pretext. If Barbara still had her eyes on Giselle, she would try to make contact somehow—whether she came in person or sent an agent.
Whoever comes, we press them about Nikolaos's death.
Naturally, we couldn't let them suspect Giselle was bait, or that the whole thing was a trap. But sending her out with no escort was out of the question.
The problem was that assigning me as her escort would reek of "Custoria family" involvement. On top of that...
"If we officially assign you as Giselle's escort and send you out of Akbaran... there will definitely be an assassination attempt. They'll target you for killing Rick. Rick was a highly respected man. They want revenge every bit as much as we do."
Plenty of people had me in their sights. Strictly speaking, I was in the more dangerous position.
But we couldn't send Giselle out without an official escort. And it would look strange for a military family headed by the Imperial Guard Captain to hire private mercenaries.
Finding the right person to guard Giselle was no easy task.
"I'll assign Ilay Kartika to escort Giselle as a cadet mission. I can arrange it at my own discretion—no internal meetings required. It won't raise any flags."
"Ilay? What if, by chance—"
A situation might arise where we'd have to silence him. It was a problem that Ilay was my friend—and worse, I wasn't confident I could take him down with my own strength.
"Luka, doesn't Ilay owe you a great debt? He'll keep most secrets. I'll say no more than that."
Heilas said it casually, as if it were nothing. I barely swallowed the words climbing up my throat.
Just how much do you know?
The memory surfaced. Ilay and I had committed anti-Imperial acts to save Lillian Ramones.
Even back then, Heilas had prodded at me as if he knew something.
Is he testing me again?
I opened my mouth, forcing a nonchalant tone. I needed to change the subject.
"Then I'll follow Giselle and Ilay from a distance."
"No, that won't do. Immediate response is critical. I've prepared another identity for you."
There was a hint of excitement in Heilas's voice. The unease inside me swelled.
...I felt a sense of déjà vu.
There had been a moment just like this before.
When Heilas sent me to Cracia Academy...
He handed me a sheet of paper. The electronic ink glowed faintly.
"Son of a— tsk."
The instant I read the document, every muscle in my face contorted. A curse rushed to the tip of my teeth, only to swirl uselessly around my tongue.
"Are you serious?"
I asked as politely as I could manage, barely reining in my emotions.
"I don't joke about family matters."
"No, seriously, what kind of fucked-up operation is this—"
Ah. It slipped out. Three years ago, saying something like that in front of the Imperial Guard Captain would have gotten me summarily executed.
"Hmm. It's not a fucked-up operation—it's a dickless operation. This is the most foolproof disguise there is, Luka."
Heilas smiled, the wrinkles around his lips deepening, clearly proud of his own joke.
Right. I had to pretend to be a woman. As Giselle's maid.
* * *
I want to die.
I stared out the window of the moving aerial vehicle, a very specific fantasy taking shape in my mind.
I wanted to open the door and jump. If I went headfirst, there wouldn't even be any pain.
"Hmm, open your eyes a little wider and look over here, Keisa," Giselle said, her voice threaded with amusement. It was just the two of us inside the auto-piloted craft.
Keisa.
That was my alias. On paper, I was a servant in the Custoria family's employ.
"The mission hasn't even started. If you call me Keisa one more time... ugh."
Before I could finish the threat, Giselle pinched my eyelid with some strange little tool.
"If I do, what?"
She paid me no mind, rummaging through a bag stuffed with makeup tools. She kept talking, the odd instrument held between her fingers.
"Besides, I need to get used to the name so I don't slip up later. Unlike you, I'm not used to missions like this. Aren't soldiers supposed to prepare thoroughly? Are you really the type to raise the odds of failure just because you're in a bad mood? Hmm? Keisa?"
The words flowed out of her, perfectly logical, leaving no room for rebuttal.
"...Fine," I said, defeated.
"You're decent-looking, but your features are masculine, so we'll have to do meticulous work to pass you as a woman."
Giselle smoothed a cold liquid over my face. I frowned at the unfamiliar sensation.
Slick.
Warmed by my skin, the liquid clung and set, hardening into something with the texture of flesh.
"This makes up for the lack of fat in your face. Softens the sharp angles, rounds everything out. Since your features are naturally sharp, it'll work beautifully."
Giselle's skill was undeniable. I could feel my face transforming in the mirror.
Swish.
She dragged the brush across my face as if she were painting a canvas.
My lips turned red, my eyes looked far larger. Thanks to that mysterious liquid cosmetic, my forehead, cheeks, and jawline now curved soft and gentle.
"We can't change your build, so I brought loose, modest clothes. We need to hide your Adam's apple, so a choker—"
Giselle pulled out the garments she'd prepared and tossed them into my lap.
"A skirt? Women wear pants too, you know."
"And where on those legs of yours do you see a woman? Shut up and put it on. Are you going to keep whining like a baby? Lucaus Custoria?"
Ugh. Once again, I had nothing to say.
She hadn't packed just one outfit. One by one, she held each garment up against my body, sizing them up.
To me, anything would have done.
"Giselle, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, but this is a mission," I grumbled, starting to lose patience.
"Oh, I'm well aware, dear brother Lucaus—the genius who came up with the brilliant plan to toss me out as bait."
Her words stabbed clean through.
"There was no other way. And I owe Nikolaos. Finding the mastermind and repaying the debt is the right thing to do."
"Right, throwing me out as bait is the most efficient method. How wonderful. Truly worthy of a highly decorated soldier. Should I applaud you?"
I caught her wrist just as she moved to clap.
"I'm in just as much danger. If things go wrong, I'll die in your place, so don't worry. I'll never let you die alone."
I said it firmly.
My own conduct aside, Giselle's sulking was childish too. And being as clever as she was, she surely knew she was acting like a brat.
Giselle sighed, her voice softening.
"...You don't need to go as far as dying for me, Luka. Ah—this outfit will do. Don't forget to attach the signal jammers to your arms and legs."
She set the clothes down beside me and moved to the front seat.