Carlo presented her with the exact information he’d received from the Military Police. “Your brother, Xavi Inocencio, has testified that Kuklo committed the crimes.”
“My brother…”
“Is he wrong?”
“He is!” Sharle cried. “I’m also a witness! I was there! Kuklo did nothing at all!”
“Then who did it?”
“The cultists. They snuck into the mansion that night and unleashed that horror…”
“He did not command them to do it?”
“He couldn’t possibly have.”
“Why not?”
“He was locked up at our home. There was no way for him to send any orders…”
“So he was held prisoner…”
Sharle nodded in reply.
A life befitting the son of a Titan. It would seem that he is yoked to a cruel fate, Carlo mused as though it wasn’t his business. In truth, he had played a part, if only incidentally. Either way, his face did not betray any of his thinking. His first priority was to draw out whatever information Sharle had to offer.
“Is it possible that he met with the believers in secret, without your knowledge?”
“I don’t think so! He was chained up. And besides…”
“And?”
“He only just recently learned to speak…”
Sharle explained how, bought and sold in black markets, Kuklo had gone without any education.
So the boy has lived not as a human being, but as a “Titan’s son.” The toughness and nimbleness Kuklo exhibited owed to years of abuse, then. There was another reason, too. Like father, like son, I suppose. The boy’s father was Heath. No surprise if his nerves were made of steel.
“Kuklo’s life was ruined because of the Titans. There’s no way he would ever join the cultists’ side.”
“And what is the reason he snuck outside of the wall?”
“He needed to know that he wasn’t the son of a Titan.”
This lined up with what Kuklo had said about his goal being to see a Titan.
So he went out there to become confident he was a human. The deed was incredibly risky, near suicidal, and foolish, but it made sense given Kuklo’s background. It must have been like a ritual he had no choice but to undergo. He’d wanted to exorcise the label of “Titan’s son” that haunted him.
“Was there a reason for the abduction?”
“I had reasons…for not wanting to be at home anymore. So when Kuklo plotted to escape, I decided to join him.” Sharle explained how her own circumstances matched up with the plan Kuklo had been forming─in other words, the fact of her marriage of convenience.
So just as they were off to their fresh start, something huge got in their way. Carlo felt as though he had gotten to the truth of the situation, but one large question still weighed on his mind.
“So why did your brother provide false testimony?” Things would be quite different had Xavi not lied.
“He was knocked off his feet by Kuklo as we escaped. Perhaps he is holding a grudge over his defeat…”
“I see,” Carlo said, satisfied. He took out the knife he’d stored in his table’s drawer and presented it to Sharle. “I don’t think he wanted the Military Police to confiscate the weapon, so he slipped it to me first. It’s yours, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Sharle took the knife and held it close to her chest. “This is my good luck charm.”
“A rather deadly good luck charm, if you ask me. He said that the knife saved his life.”
“Is that so?”
Carlo had no idea how she came to regard it as a charm, but he could tell it was like a treasure to her.
“Actually, I was planning to use this to kill Kuklo.”
“Well, that’s very brave of you.” He had no way of knowing what had happened between the two, but Sharle neither spoke nor acted like the stereotypical aristocratic girl.
“Um, so… What’s going to happen to Kuklo?”
“If nothing changes, he won’t be able to avoid punishment. Of course, if you were willing to testify, he might have a chance.” But that, Carlo realized, wasn’t to be taken for granted considering Sharle’s position. It meant not only giving up the freedom she’d finally earned but also cornering her brother, Xavi, who’d given false testimony. When he saw the look of determination on her face, however, he realized she was up for it. On the other hand, Kuklo might not be happy to be freed in such a way…
He even seemed liable to take the blame if it meant saving Sharle. In other words, there was no point in a plan that only saved one of them. Carlo saw that solving this problem involved overcoming a host of challenges, but there was nothing but to tackle them. If he made good use of his place as commander, freeing Kuklo wasn’t impossible.
“It may take time,” he warned, “but I might be able to use my connections to make something happen.”
“Really?!” Sharle leapt out of her chair with a smile.
“I want to talk to him as much as you do. And there’s someone else I want him to meet as well.”
That man was his father, who now trained recruits. If I can give him Kuklo, he might make the boy into an even greater soldier than Team Leader Heath. Whether Kuklo would agree was another question, but it was worth trying to convince him. He would surely be a major addition to the Survey Corps, as freshly reformed and short on talent as it was. Plus, I suspect he might be able to master that thing.
“I want to ask you a question,” Sharle said looking straight at Carlo, who was lost in thought. “Why are you helping us? We’re total strangers to you.”
“Strangers? That’s not quite true.”
“Have you met either of us before?”
“Well, you see, I was there the moment he was born.”
Sharle blinked. “Huh?”
“You could say it was me who burdened him with the fate of being the ‘Titan’s son.’”
With a solemn look, Carlo closed his eyes.