A New Phase for Count Rivan's Family (1)
A New Phase for Count Rivan's Family (1)
The dull sound of the canvas hitting the back of her head echoed louder than expected.
Strength drained from Emiline's body as she lay in his arms.
Iden's heart sank.
A reaction he didn't need to analyze to understand.
Emiline had fainted.
"Grand Duchess-nim...?"
Iden immediately stood up.
Pushing the canvas aside, he carefully pulled Emiline into his arms. He checked her head. The back of her head seemed to have taken an impact, but fortunately, there was no blood.
Her breathing was regular, and luckily, the amount of nosebleed was extremely small.
However, Emiline did not open her eyes.
Iden did not hesitate.
"Excuse me."
He carefully lifted Emiline.
Judging that carrying her in both arms would make movement inconvenient, Iden immediately put her on his back. Her body was lighter than expected. More so than any of the women(?) he had held until now.
Something brushed past one side of Iden's vision.
He saw the fallen canvas and dozens of canvases stacked behind it.
It was the space behind the canvases set up like a partition wall.
'That is...'
Iden's gaze lingered there for a moment.
Several sheets were overlapped. And the overall color scheme of the paintings... was somehow strangely apricot-colored.
Because they were overlapped, he couldn't make a detailed determination.
Anyway, now was not the situation to check that.
There was no reason to check it either.
Iden immediately turned his head.
He hoisted Emiline a bit higher on his back.
And then he ran out of the studio just like that.
The corridors inside the Main Castle were long.
Iden's footsteps echoed quickly down those long corridors.
Startled by his sudden running, the servants moved out of the way.
The servants who identified the person on his back sometimes even screamed.
Given the situation, it must have looked quite urgent.
Iden didn't ask for directions.
It was because he had visited the Wintel Grand Duke Family's Attending Physician's office before to visit Vivienne.
He ran that way without hesitation, and before long, the door to the Wintel family's Attending Physician's office appeared.
Kwang!
Iden threw the door open roughly.
The Attending Physician inside looked up.
"Hmm? Count Iden?"
Iden immediately walked toward the bed and carefully laid Emiline down.
"A canvas set up in the studio fell and struck the back of her head. Her breathing and pulse seem stable, but she has lost consciousness."
His breathing was a bit rough, but he explained the situation as calmly as possible.
The Attending Physician approached the bedside.
There was no sign of panic.
The Wintel family's Attending Physician was someone who boasted the best skills in the kingdom.
Just by hearing the explanation and seeing Emiline's condition lying on the sickbed, he had finished a rough assessment.
"...."
He silently and carefully wiped from under Emiline's nose with a handkerchief.
The nosebleed, which had already stopped, was drying up.
Emiline lay there with a peaceful face.
As if.
She were asleep.
The Attending Physician took her wrist.
He checked her pulse.
Immediately after, his eyes gleamed very subtly.
'....'
As if he had realized something, he gave a satisfied smile so that Iden couldn't see and carefully lowered her wrist.
'Hehe.'
While one might deceive a man's eyes, one cannot deceive the hand of an elderly Attending Physician.
The Attending Physician composed his expression as if nothing had happened.
It seemed that looking after the prestige of the great Grand Duchess before his eyes was the priority for now.
"You do not need to worry. It is merely a faint due to a temporary shock, so she will recover soon."
Iden's shoulders dropped just a little.
Hyuu.
A sigh of relief naturally swept through his chest.
He thought it wouldn't be a big deal, but it was only after the Attending Physician's examination was over that he finally felt relieved.
If so, it would be proper to wait until she woke up.
He tried to pull a chair next to the bed.
However, the Attending Physician reached out and stopped him.
"No."
"Pardon?"
"It is fine."
The Attending Physician shook his head.
"The Grand Duchess-nim will wake up soon. There is no need for the Count-nim to remain here."
Iden had a puzzled expression for a moment.
"Still..."
"I will be by her side, so do not worry."
The Attending Physician said firmly.
"Are you not a busy person, Count-nim?"
His tone was soft and polite, but it strangely contained the hint that 'it would be better if you weren't here.'
Iden thought for a moment and eventually nodded.
For some reason, he felt like he knew what that hint was trying to say.
A sort of unspoken exchange of intentions between men.
"...I understand."
He looked at Emiline one last time.
"Then, when the Grand Duchess-nim wakes up... please tell her that I will visit again."
The Attending Physician nodded.
Then, he wore a fainter smile than the one he had sent to Emiline.
"Understood. I will certainly convey that."
Leaving the physician's office quietly, Iden decided to leave the Main Castle immediately.
He could visit again later.
At that time, they would share the stories they couldn't finish.
Just as he was walking toward the Main Castle's front gate.
"Iden!"
A familiar voice was heard.
Iden looked up.
Two people were running from afar.
Erwin Vermir.
And Vivienne.
Both of them were breathing heavily, and their calling voices were urgent.
Their hair was disheveled, and their clothes were soaked with sweat.
Iden's eyes narrowed.
Their appearance was clearly foretelling that something bad had happened.
"What's wrong?"
He asked briefly.
Vivienne said while catching her breath.
"The Resonance Device."
"......."
"There's a reaction... in the Black Magic Resonance Devices we scattered."
In an instant, Iden's expression completely changed.
He transformed from the gentle noble chatting in the studio to a fierce gladiator with eyes that shared the scent of blood on the battlefield.
Iden looked at Erwin Vermir.
"Erwin. Request support troops from the Grand Prince-nim in case of an emergency. They might notice the pursuit and hide, so have them standby nearby."
"Got it."
Then he said to Vivienne.
"Let's go."
Vivienne replied immediately.
"Yeah. I'll lead the way."
The three of them turned directions simultaneously.
Erwin Vermir toward the Main Castle.
Vivienne and Iden toward the place where the reaction occurred.
And they began to run without delay toward the location where the Black Magic reaction appeared.
**
The place where Vivienne and Iden arrived in one breath was a noble residential area not far from the city center. Wide gardens, high walls, and neatly trimmed trees and flower beds continued in a row, and luxury carriages stood here and there on the street.
It was a completely different landscape from the gloomy alleys of the slums or the ruins on the outskirts.
When Iden and Vivienne arrived, the street was covered in the quiet tranquility characteristic of the afternoon.
But within that tranquility, Vivienne and Iden were sharpening their tension.
"It's here."
Vivienne said while catching her breath.
Iden slowly looked around.
"Is this the right way?"
"Yeah."
Vivienne untied the leather map case she was wearing at her waist. She unfolded the map with familiar hand movements. On the map, the street structure of Hellon was drawn in detail, and small dots were densely marked on it.
Those dots were all the locations of the Resonance Devices installed by her and Erwin Vermir, members of the Special Task Force.
"The contamination started from here."
Vivienne's gaze moved quickly over the map.
Before informing Iden, as a result of exploring several paths, the contamination started here and continued along a specific route.
Within her soft impression, the gaze of a scholar was clearly alive.
It was the face of an alchemist and an investigator.
She pointed to a spot on the map.
"For now, this is as far as I've checked. I thought informing you was the priority, so I only checked a few samples."
Her finger moved to the side.
"So we have to check from here."
The dots were connected like lines.
"It's a chain reaction."
Vivienne said.
"The devices reacted in order. Over the course of one night."
Iden's eyes narrowed.
"That means something moved last night."
"Right."
Vivienne nodded.
"Something that uses Black Magic."
She folded the map and moved immediately.
Since she herself had almost lost her life to the Black Magic of a high-ranking official named Redric Ricardo, she showed a certain hostile obsession that went beyond the determination to help her benefactor.
Iden also walked quietly following her.
From now on, caution was necessary.
Vivienne took the direction without hesitation, as if she had already completely drawn the path in her head.
The first Resonance Device was hidden in the bushes.
Vivienne leaned over and took it out.
It was a small metal device.
Originally, it should have been a transparent crystal color, but now the center was stained black.
"Good. It's still continuing."
Vivienne said.
She put the device back in its place and headed straight to the next point.
The next device was on a tree.
Vivienne climbed the tree without hesitation.
Unlike an alchemist, her movements were light.
"Here too."
She said from atop the tree branch.
The device was also turned black.
Vivienne checked it and then came back down.
"It's in one direction."
She said briefly.
After that, the movement continued.
Under the garden wall.
Behind a small fountain.
Under a stone bridge.
Vivienne checked the devices one by one and followed the path.
"Good, here too...."
Then, the reaction stopped at a specific point.
The Resonance Device was full of only transparent crystal color.
"......?"
Vivienne's eyes narrowed.
"It's strange."
She looked back and forth between the map and the surroundings.
"It suddenly disappeared here."
Iden closed his eyes.
And he expanded his sense of detecting magic and focused extremely.
He compares and explores the lingering scent and traces of Black Magic floating in the atmosphere and buried in the area one by one.
The flow of air changed very minutely.
It was a faint lingering scent that a normal person wouldn't feel at all.
"Traces remain."
Iden said lowly.
"It's very weak, though."
Vivienne looked up.
"Where?"
Iden slowly moved his steps.
He moved while observing the surroundings. He greeted the nobles he occasionally encountered as if nothing were wrong.
After a while, his steps stopped.
Vivienne also stopped.
Iden's gaze was directed in one direction.
Vivienne followed that gaze as well.
It was a large mansion.
A high iron gate and a grand building visible beyond it.
It was a typical noble mansion, but there was something that caught Iden's eye.
The pillars on both sides supporting the iron gate.
On the flags stuck on top of them, the crest of Count Rivan's family was engraved.