Only Half the Truth
“What kind of assumption is that…?”
Lunelck Ainz frowned as though the mere idea horrified him, yet he still delivered his answer.
“We cut Grayer Knox immediately and install a suitable replacement. If we borrow just a sliver of the real intelligence department’s power during the transition, he’ll settle into the role in no time. Change out the idiot at the helm, and the ship will sail in the right direction.”
Even though a mere low-ranking field operative had dared to call a superior “an idiot,” the thought of punishing Lunelck Ainz never crossed my mind.
“But you have no intention of doing so, do you? There’s no need, either.”
“No need?”
His insolently pouting lips were caught by Killian’s narrowed pupils, seized like prey in a hunter’s gaze.
Neither of the two men facing each other noticed the change.
“If a dragon were bleeding, everyone would come running with glee. They’d see it as their chance to topple a colossal being no one had ever dared challenge. However—”
“However, that blood would belong not to the dragon, but to enemies already hunted and slain.”
Lunelck Ainz gave a sullen nod, as if to say, Why ask what you already know?
Killian never looked away from that expression as he downed the strong liquor in a single gulp and spoke.
“The junior operative says so. What do you think, Dupont?”
At the brief summons, a tall man stepped into view.
It was Dupont Clancher, who had been listening to every word of the conversation from a concealed space hidden inside the office pillar.
“Wait—where did you suddenly come from…”
Lunelck Ainz’s eyes widened, and he kept stealing glances at the pillar Dupont had emerged from.
His curiosity did not last long.
Grab!
Dupont Clancher’s large hands clamped down on both of Lunelck Ainz’s shoulders as though seizing prey.
“It’s been a very long time.”
A strange light flickered in Dupont’s eyes.
“A truly capable talent has arrived.”
“Take him and train him properly, Dupont.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“W-wait just a moment!”
Lunelck Ainz wrenched himself free from Dupont’s grip with desperate strength and shouted.
“Then was my answer correct?”
“Hey.”
A startled Dupont moved to restrain the rookie who was acting like a newborn pup, but an invisible force pushed him back two steps at Killian’s light gesture.
Killian set his glass down and stood directly in front of Lunelck Ainz.
The shadow cast by the moonlight fell across that impudent, pale face.
“If so?”
“The antidote—please give it to me.”
“Did I ever feed you poison?”
“It wasn’t poison, but you fed me something close enough, didn’t you?”
The way he sneaked a glance at Dupont even as he spoke was both comical and pathetic.
There was nothing to be gained by catching that man’s eye.
The little creature was growing more endearing by the day.
He even knows which words to hold back.
Dupont Clancher was practically an extension of Killian’s own limbs.
Yet even in front of him, Lunelck Ainz clearly did not want to reveal that he had consumed Killian’s blood.
He was someone who had never learned how to feel safe or how to trust another person.
“That won’t do.”
Killian gazed at the lips that had once been smeared with his blood and continued.
“It was rather entertaining, but it was not the correct answer.”
The true answer was Eclipse.
The Eclipse—when Killian, the heart of Knox, was overtaken by dragon blood—was the family’s darkest secret.
But if he had learned of the Eclipse…
“W-why are you looking at me like that?”
It had been only the briefest instant, yet Lunelck Ainz caught the chill that had entered Killian’s eyes. He stumbled back a step, thoroughly frightened.
His sensitivity was on par with that of a small wild animal.
It will take time to tame him.
Having quietly reached that conclusion, Killian spoke in his usual calm tone.
“The answer you offered was only half correct.”
“Half?”
“You’ll learn the rest if you follow Dupont.”
At Killian’s gesture toward the door, the invisible wall that had been blocking Dupont vanished.
“I will give you the antidote once you prove you are worth it. You may leave.”
“…Understood.”
Even with clear dissatisfaction plastered across his face, Lunelck Ainz somehow managed a proper farewell. He trudged after Dupont, not once looking back—not until he had stepped completely out of the long shadow cast by Killian.
“……”
Killian remained still, sensing the dragon-blood energy inside the steadily retreating Lunelck Ainz. Out of habit, his fingers stroked the surface of the office desk.
After leaving the office, I was not granted the luxury of returning to my quarters.
Instead, I found myself following Dupont Clancher to some unknown destination.
He showed no sign of telling me where we were headed, so I had no choice but to walk in silence, eyes fixed on the heels of his boots.
“Never speak to His Excellency that way again. Understood?”
“Yes, understood.”
“Count yourself fortunate that His Excellency was in a good mood today. You came very close to dying.”
As if I didn’t already know that.
Everything Dupont Clancher said while walking a step ahead simply flowed out my other ear.
My head felt fuzzy.
I survived.
Having barely escaped death, the wave of exhaustion that crashed over me was no joke. My body—starved and sleepless for five days—went limp in an instant, like cotton soaked through with water.
Blinking heavy eyelids, I glanced out the corridor windows.
I never imagined the castle scenery I had grown used to over the past year could look so welcome.
My nose stung for no reason; I rubbed it roughly and thought.
The Eclipse must be over.
Just as Dupont Clancher had said, Killian Knox looked to be in a rather fine mood today.
He seemed like an entirely different person from the savage figure gripped by the previous Eclipse.
Killian Knox, you bastard.
The back of my neck, which had escaped that monstrous trap—dragon or serpent, I still didn’t know—still fluttered with residual terror.
It was good I hadn’t uttered the word Eclipse.
The moment Killian Knox spoke of “the darkest secret,” I understood exactly what it meant.
Yet while it might have been the correct answer, it was not a path that would have lengthened my life.
Any low-ranking member who learned that the head of Knox became something closer to a monster than a man at certain times would obviously be disposed of.
It was a fate in which I would die for giving a boring answer—and die even for giving the right one.
The moon was unusually bright tonight; disgusted by the sight, I jerked my head away.
Maybe I should just spread the rumor to everyone.
I had learned of the Eclipse back when I was still with the Wickers.
But I had discarded that information without ever telling Edward.
The Eclipse was like Killian Knox’s reverse scale.
Touch it carelessly and you would incur the dragon’s wrath.
At the time, all I wanted was revenge for my family. I had no desire to provoke Killian Knox before I could achieve that goal and die a meaningless death.
Besides, it isn’t even a weakness.
With every Eclipse, Killian Knox only grows crueler and stronger.
Realizing that, I felt anew just how close I had come to dying.
To think I had survived a trap set by that man.
As the tension drained away and my body temperature dropped, I ran a hand down my chilled nape and asked.
“By the way, where are we going?”
“You ask quickly.”
Dupont Clancher muttered as though he had seen every strange creature under the sun.
“Don’t make a fuss. Follow quietly.”
“…Yes.”
He wasn’t going to tell me anyway, even if I asked.
Whether this man or that, none of the people affiliated with Knox sat well with me.
Whatever this was, I just wanted it over with quickly.
The necklace that felt especially heavy today—I wanted nothing more than to tear it off and collapse onto my bed.
Yet the longer I walked behind Dupont Clancher, the stronger my unease grew.
That was how I ended up standing at the end of the western corridor on the fourth floor of the main building, before a massive portrait of the first Duke of Knox.
It was a vivid painting: the first duke’s golden eyes and the red eyes of the crow perched on his shoulder.
“Sir Dupont Clancher, why exactly are we—”
“Shh.”
One sharp glare from him was enough to snap my mouth shut. Dupont Clancher then pressed several jewels embedded in the frame with practiced familiarity.
The moment I saw those practiced movements, my mind snapped into focus.
Oh, this is bad.
It felt like I was about to be dragged into something extremely tiresome and troublesome.
“I’ll just—”
Dupont Clancher caught my arm as I tried to flee, then half-threw me forward. The place I stumbled into was a secret passage that had just revealed itself.
That’s right.
There had been a hidden passage behind the portrait!
“Let’s not make this any more annoying for either of us. Walk in front.”
I couldn’t tell whether that was the command of a Knox executive or the snarl of a thug stepping out of a dark alley.
While I stood there dumbfounded, Dupont Clancher’s long, firm fingers jabbed me in the back.
“Understood. I’m going, I’m going.”
The passage, lit only by moonlight filtering in from outside, was a staircase leading upward.