Chapter 122
Giselle's skill was excellent. A tingling sensation spread from the extremities of my prosthetics, and soon my senses became clear.
Of course, the reason I had called Giselle today wasn’t for maintenance and calibration.
I moved my fingers, which were now more responsive than before, and spoke.
"You have access to the armory, don’t you?"
Very few people were allowed independent access to the Custoria family's armory. Giselle was one of them.
"I do. I’m the person in charge of the armory in Mother's absence."
Giselle answered while tidying up the scattered maintenance tools. Beads of sweat clung to her forehead after the intensive work she had just finished.
"I want to stop by the armory for a bit."
"You're a member of the Custoria family, so there’s no reason you can’t. But it’s not just because you want to look around, is it? What’s your purpose?"
Sometimes, I wished Giselle were a fool. But if she were that kind of woman, I wouldn't have been drawn to her in the first place.
"Do I have to say?"
"I'm getting sick of you acting all high and mighty and keeping everything to yourself."
I shrugged.
"Even so, I can’t tell you."
I had no confidence in confiding my tangled darkness to her. And Giselle wouldn’t be able to handle it.
"…Your tight-lipped nature is probably why Father trusts you. Juppe would never act like you do."
"Nikolaos would have, though. But Nikolaos is gone now."
I felt a certain sense of duty to fill the void he had left behind. His death was a great loss to the Custoria family.
‘Nikolaos was one of the few talents capable of navigating the empire’s darkness.’
He had even managed to manipulate the emotions of our superior, Bao Zakanan, which proved his potential. But he didn’t have the strength to protect himself from the imperial conspiracy. Before he could gain that strength, he died. Maybe that was exactly why he had to die.
Giselle stared at me with an expressionless face before standing up. Even in her silence, I could feel her dissatisfaction.
"Follow me, oh esteemed acting head of the family."
I let out a sigh, grabbed my coat, and followed her out of the room.
As the night deepened, the mansion was silent.
Once outside, my gaze drifted toward Hemillas' room.
A soft glow spilled through the large window. Inside, the faint silhouettes of Hemillas and Eva could be seen. They were dancing, their shoulders and cheeks gently touching.
‘They seem to have a good relationship.’
I knew a fair bit about noble society. Compared to most noble couples, Hemillas and Eva got along exceptionally well. Many married only to produce heirs and then lived as strangers.
"By the way, don’t you think Anna is kind of cute, even if she’s a bit clumsy? She’s actually pretty popular."
Giselle, walking a step ahead of me, spoke without turning around.
"Well, there are guys who like that kind of woman, I suppose."
I answered indifferently as I followed her.
"So you're saying you don’t?"
"I prefer women with a bit of an attitude."
"You have some weird tastes."
"I think so too."
We weren’t walking side by side but with a gap between us, one leading and the other following.
Still, I knew Giselle was smiling. This wasn’t some instinct from Akies Victima or anything. I didn’t need something like that to notice.
"They say daughters tend to be drawn to men who resemble their fathers."
Giselle's pace slowed slightly.
"Is that superstition or science?"
"I don’t know. Just something I heard once. I always thought it was nonsense, but maybe not entirely."
I let out a short chuckle. Giselle’s shoulders also shook slightly.
There are things in this world that can’t be controlled by will. Emotions are one of them.
Up ahead, the Custoria armory came into view. Giselle, who had gone ahead, stopped in front of the entrance, while I stood behind her, waiting for the security process to complete.
Clack.
The lock disengaged, and the armory opened.
Creak.
Giselle pushed the door open and stepped inside. I followed her. As we entered, the lights automatically flickered on.
The interior had remained unchanged, resembling a museum of sorts.
‘I followed Giselle’s lead back then too.’
And now, I was doing the same. The circumstances were just a little different. Back then, it was daytime; now, it was night. And the emotions flowing between us were different as well. Not just a little—quite significantly.
I slowly closed my eyes, shutting off my vision and focusing on my hearing.
Click.
I lightly clicked my tongue. The sound mapped out the entire armory in my mind. There was no one here but us.
"What was that?"
Giselle looked at me curiously.
"I bit my tongue."
I brushed it off vaguely and walked deeper into the armory. Various pieces of equipment, a testament to the history of the Custoria family, passed by in the background.
Thud.
I stopped walking. As the lights illuminated the farthest corner, a towering, almost antique full-body prosthetic came into view.
‘The full-body prosthetic, Scylla.’
It belonged to Agatha Custoria, the progenitor of the family. The helmet had a single horn, and its right arm was longer and bulkier than the left.
Step. Step.
I halted in front of Scylla.
"Giselle, this is one of the first secrets I'm showing you. Not even Father knows about this. It’s a secret that only you and I will share."
"Luka…"
Before Giselle could even finish saying my name, it was already over.
Clack. Creak.
I twisted Scylla’s right thumb at a precise angle. A section of the right elbow opened like a gun barrel, and a small chip, no larger than a fingernail, shot upward. A hidden mechanism.
Click.
Scylla’s twisted thumb snapped back into place in an instant.
Creak!
The elbow compartment closed as if it had never opened. That section of the elbow must have originally functioned as a vent for pressure and heat.
‘Agatha was telling the truth.’
I caught the falling chip mid-air. It was an outdated format, long out of use. Practically an ancient relic. Then again, this thing was over two hundred years old.
This chip was the secret Agatha had whispered to me before she died. She had told me there was a chip hidden inside Scylla.
"What did you just do? How do you know something even I don’t…?"
Giselle wore a bewildered expression before furrowing her brows.
"An elder from the Silver Moon Pavilion told me."
"And why the hell would they tell you? That doesn’t make any sense!"
"They must have decided I was trustworthy."
…Or they had gone senile.
Giselle bit her lower lip. She must have been struggling with this as well. She knew things around her were turning strange, but no one was explaining anything to her. And I was no different.
Grip.
She clenched my clothes in her fist as if she were trying to hold something in.
"Luka, can I really trust you?"
A foolish question.
If I intended to deceive her, I would tell her to trust me. And if I genuinely had her best interests at heart, I would still tell her to trust me.
No matter the answer, the response would be the same.
Giselle must have known her question was stupid. But after some thought, I answered.
"…I don’t know if you can trust me. But I trust you. If you tell Father what you just saw, I won’t come out of this unscathed either."
Emotions between men and women are volatile. The chances of them lasting even a handful of years are slim. Rationally speaking, it’s reckless to trust someone based on such fleeting emotions.
I had just made a foolish decision. Yet, I felt no regret.
"Alright, I’ll trust you."
Giselle rose slightly on her toes and pressed a kiss to my lips.
This wouldn’t erase all her anxieties. But she didn’t demand an unreasonable answer from me.
She chose to fill her uncertainty with trust.
* * *
Hemillas and I boarded the aerial transport heading back to the Imperial Guard.
I used to enjoy this time. Back then, chatting with Hemillas about various things made the time pass unnoticed.
Of course, now it was uncomfortable.
"Ah, Luka. I saw a record of you and Giselle entering the armory."
Hemillas spoke while reviewing holographic documents.
"I was reminded of an old armament the elder mentioned, so I went to take a look. It really was just an antique."
Nothing strange about that. Since I had spoken with the elder for a long time, it made sense that I’d want to see an old relic.
Hemillas seemed convinced, nodding slightly. He swiped the holographic documents aside with his hand, bringing up a new agenda in dense text. It was about the Catacomb Mine.
"Last night, for the first time, Eva had something good to say about you. Seems you finally earned some points with her."
Hemillas pressed his fingers against his brow and leaned his head back.
"The first time, huh? That means she hasn’t had anything nice to say about me until now."
"Well, you’re an intruder digging deep into her territory. Don’t hate Eva too much—she’s a good woman."
"I’ve never hated her, truly."
"Then I can take it to mean that Eva is now within the range of people you’re obligated to protect?"
I nodded. Hemillas let out a small sigh of relief and smiled.
The aerial transport landed at the Imperial Guard’s airfield. Instead of heading back to my quarters, I immediately made my way to the lower district.
Hemillas disappeared to tend to his own duties. We both had work to do.
Since I had departed from the airfield, I reached the checkpoint in no time.
The soldiers on duty widened their eyes upon recognizing me. As I passed, they started whispering like they had just seen some famous figure.
"That kid’s Lukaus Custoria, right? So it’s true he comes through here often."
"Kid? If you don’t want to die, watch your mouth. That’s a walking murder machine. Even the crown prince favors him. He could execute a couple of lower-ranked soldiers on the spot, and no one would bat an eye."
"Yeah, considering he takes out nobles like it’s nothing…"
I can hear everything. And no, I have no intention of killing you.
After passing through the checkpoint, I let out a sigh and slipped a hand into my coat. My fingers wrapped around a palm-sized mask.
Tssssk.
I pulled it over my face, covering everything up to beneath my eyes.
I didn’t like wearing it—it dulled my senses. But I had no choice.
Thanks to Francec’s reckless stunt, I could no longer walk around the lower district with my bare face.
Passing through official checkpoints was risky. Somewhere out there, nobles were targeting me. To stay safe, I had to erase my tracks. The problem was, I had no real way to do that.
‘At times like this, I envy Kinuan’s Overseer authority.’
Kinuan could disable the Empire’s security systems, leaving no trace wherever he went.
Viiiiiing.
The high-speed elevator shot downward, swiftly reaching the lower district.
Ding.
As soon as the doors opened, I squinted. The commotion beyond the hallway pressed down like a physical force.
"Reveal the true culprits!"
"Punish the nobles who tried to harm the crown prince!"
"We can’t let this pass! Never!"
Protesters stood on either side of the checkpoint passage, waving signs and shouting. Normally, such demonstrations would have been unthinkable. But the current situation was unique. Among the crowd, I spotted several well-dressed individuals.
"Praise Dino Accretia! Long live His Majesty! Long live Prince Francec!"
These people supported the imperial family and the crown prince. The authorities would be hesitant to suppress them by force.
"Strike down the incompetent nobles!"
For a second, I thought I had misheard. A bold declaration rang out from within the crowd.
"Strike them down!"
My gaze fixed on the center of the protest.
‘Damn it…’
A curse nearly slipped out.
— The True Face of an Imperial Citizen.
Above those words, a crude drawing of me was displayed on a sign. It looked like a child’s scribble, exaggerated and ridiculous—but it was unmistakably me.
And in the drawing, I was holding someone’s severed head. Blood dripped from the neck.
‘Luka, the noble slayer.’
There was no mistaking the message.
Until recently, such radical imagery would have never been tolerated in the Empire. And this wasn’t even the lower district—it was the checkpoint just below the upper levels.
‘Francec, is this what you wanted?’
The whirlwind of chaos was only accelerating. The lower district was undoubtedly crawling with Francec’s agitators.
Forget his so-called new era—if this continued, an entire army of people would come for my head. Like it or not, I was becoming a symbol of the lower district.
Tch.
Pulling my hood low over my face, I pushed through the crowd. Their shouts echoed long after I had walked away.
In the back alleys, murals of me and Francec appeared here and there. I stopped in my tracks.
A long wall painting stretched before me—me, drawing a bow, loosing arrows, and slaughtering nobles. Below it, scrawled in bold letters, were the words:
Noble Hunter.
‘…This is insane.’
The situation seemed worse than I had anticipated.
I quickened my pace. Rather than heading to a gang hideout, I made my way to G&G Workshop. The grim atmosphere of the lower district had likely forced them to shut down business—there were no lights on the sign.
After checking my surroundings, I knocked on the door a few times.
Click.
A small panel in the door slid open, revealing Gilda’s eye.
"Who is it?"
"It’s me, Gilda."
I pulled my mask down slightly as I spoke.
"L-Luka?"
Gilda’s eyes widened. The sound of multiple locks being undone rang out noisily.
Creak.
The door opened. I stepped inside but immediately sighed upon sensing another presence. Gilda wasn’t alone.
‘Gabriel.’
Inside the workshop, Gabriel was sitting, watching a televised fighting match while drinking a beer.
As soon as he saw me, he scrunched up his ugly face and stood up.
"Well, well, look who it is. If it ain’t young master Lukaus Custoria himself! Oops, my hand slipped!"
The beer bottle he threw whizzed past me and shattered against the wall. Without so much as blinking, I tucked my mask into my coat.
"Gabriel, do you have a death wish? You knew my status from the start."
"Yeah, but I didn’t realize you were this big of a deal. I bet even Martina the Diva knew who you really were. Ah, whatever. Doesn’t even matter anymore. To you, I’m just some fun little plaything. Kill me or don’t—do whatever the hell you want."
Gabriel cracked open another beer with his fingers and poured it straight into his mouth.
This was exactly why I hated running into him. He didn’t want power or money from me. If he did, he wouldn’t be sulking over something like this.
Yeah… Gabriel was never really my subordinate to begin with.
"I’m sorry, Gabriel."
I bowed my head slightly as I spoke.
Thunk.
The beer bottle slipped from Gabriel’s hand. He just stood there, mouth agape, staring at me.
"Wh-what did you just say?"
"Ah, forget it if you didn’t hear."
"Hey, hey! What the hell did you just say?! Holy shit! No way! Gilda, you heard that, right?!"
Gabriel grabbed my shoulders and shook me. Yeah, I’d had enough.
Thwack!
I struck Gabriel’s chin lightly with the heel of my palm. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed at my feet, unconscious.
Gilda covered her mouth, laughing at the sight. I held out a chip to her—the one I had retrieved from Scylla.
"I need a terminal or device compatible with this."
Gilda examined the chip closely before letting out an awkward laugh. Yeah, I knew—it was beyond outdated, practically an ancient relic.
"…I’ll do my best."