At that moment, Gravis stiffened from the chill that ran through his entire body.
“Leorino!”
The military leadership, gathered during the strategy meeting at the Palace of Defense, were startled by Gravis suddenly shouting his fiancé’s name.
But it was Dirk and Lucas who immediately reacted to his cry.
“Sir!”
“Hold on, Your Highness! I’m coming with you!”
The two men quickly placed their hands on Gravis’s arms, aware of how unthinkable it would have been in any other circumstances. They knew what Gravis would do next.
The three of them leaped.
They arrived in the hallway of some mansion. Immediately, they heard a young woman crying. A pregnant woman was supported by her servants, bent over and bawling. There was also Josef, Leorino’s bodyguard.
“Wait, this is…”
“Josef? …We’re in the Brungwurt estate!”
Josef looked at the three men who had suddenly materialized before him, his face white as paper.
“Master Leorino has been kidnapped…”
“…What?!”
“Suddenly, this man appeared… He had the same ability as the general. He grabbed Master Leorino and leaped somewhere.”
Gravis clenched his teeth. Then Leorino’s voice had been a cry for help the moment he was kidnapped?
“…Who was it? Did you know him?”
The people of the Brungwurt estate reflexively looked to Erina. Erina was clearly distraught, weeping with no end in sight.
“I’m sorry, madam. Could you help us?”
Erina answered, clutching her belly and heaving with sobs. “A—a merchant who had been visiting me recently was standing there and he…he took L-Leorino…”
At that moment, Gravis’s uncontrollable anger hung in the air, thick enough to cut with a knife.
The maid, Erina, and the guards were so overwhelmed by the man’s palpable fury that they turned pale and began to tremble.
“Sir! Control yourself! You’re in front of the lady!”
“Your Highness! Please!”
At Dirk and Lucas’s appeal, Gravis immediately focused his strength inside him, regaining control. It lasted only a moment, but the blood had drained from Erina’s face.
“I apologize, madam… You said the man is a merchant. How long have you known him?”
“N-not very long… A friend recently introduced him to me… That’s why he’s been coming to see me as of late, and…”
Partway through her answer, Erina reached for her belly.
The men suddenly tensed.
“Madam! Your Excellency…! Please, she can’t do this.” The maid cried out to the men.
Gravis nodded in understanding. “Get the lady a doctor!”
“Y-Yes, sir…!”
Erina’s bodyguard ran down the corridor. He went to fetch the resident doctor, Dr. Willy Jr.
“It’s all my fault… I invited that man, Smirnov, here, and now…”
“Madam…!”
Erina fell to the floor and broke into tears. Her eyes slowly turned vacant.
“It’s because of me that…Leorino is…”
“My lady, you must calm down… Think of your baby. Please, calm down.”
“How could I have… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Auriano…”
Apologizing to her husband in their distant lands, Erina finally fainted. The maid screamed.
“My lady!”
“Lady Erina!”
Noises came from every direction in the Brungwurt estate, footfalls approaching.
“Your Royal Highness…! What brings you here at this hour?”
The first to arrive at the scene was Leorino’s third brother, Gauff.
Of all his brothers, he resembled August the most, with his large, muscular physique. He was startled by his youngest brother’s fiancé and the men of the Royal Army suddenly appearing in the family residence in the middle of the night.
Lucas answered on Gravis’s behalf.
“…Leorino has just been kidnapped.”
“He…what? What happened here?!” Gauff was in a panic, struggling to understand the situation.
In the meantime, Erina’s guard returned with Dr. Willy Jr.
The doctor examined the unconscious Erina with a stern expression.
“Is my sister all right?” Gauff demanded.
The doctor stood up and nodded. “Both she and her baby are all right. However, she seems to have suffered a great deal of heartache. She must rest.”
“Thank you, Dr. Willy. I’m sorry to bother you before bedtime, but would you mind staying with my sister for now?”
“Of course… I’m sorry, but I’m going to need you to carry Lady Erina.”
The guard lifted Erina. Gauff watched with concern as he took her to her room.
The men who remained looked uneasy, their faces pensive.
“…If I may, I would like you to explain what happened,” asked Gauff, his face pale.
Lucas answered again on Gravis’s behalf. “We don’t know either. But His Highness heard Leorino’s voice and leaped here.”
That was when Johan came running from his room, having heard the commotion.
“Your Royal Highness! Lieutenant General…?! What is the matter?”
“Lord Leorino was kidnapped by a merchant… Josef, could you describe what happened in detail?”
At Dirk’s request, Josef nodded, his face pale. “Erina and Leorino were having their after-dinner chat, as usual. Then Lady Erina said her stomach was upset, so they decided to call it a night… When we went out into the hallway, a man was there.”
“Who was he?”
“We met him in the hallway earlier today. He greeted Master Leorino out of the blue, without even asking permission. He’s a merchant who has been seeing Lady Erina recently…and for some reason, he was standing in the hallway just now…”
Josef then pointed to the darkness of the hallway, a dozen paces from where the men were standing.
“…Why would a merchant be in our private quarters at this hour?”
The Brungwurt residence had been under even tighter security ever since Leorino’s engagement was finalized. How, then, could the Cassieux brothers be taken by surprise like this?
“He has the same special ability as His Excellency.”
“…What?”
“Jo, is that true?”
Josef nodded in reply, his face bereft of color.
“…So what else can you tell us about this man?”
There was something horrifying about Gravis’s voice as he urged Josef to continue.
“The man suddenly appeared in the hallway, and in the blink of an eye, he was beside Master Leorino. When I realized it was his Power, he had already grabbed Master Leorino, and…in an instant, they were gone.”
Gauff and Johan groaned in anguish. Learning their beloved youngest brother had been kidnapped, they blanched in fear.
“…I think that man was trying to kidnap Lady Erina as well.”
“What…?”
“Master Leorino must have understood at that moment who the man was and what he was about to do. To stop Lady Erina from being taken with him…he turned to us and yelled ‘Hold my sister!’ and pushed Lady Erina toward us… By the time we caught her…it was already too late.”
The men all snarled in unison. It was a small mercy that Erina was spared, considering her advanced pregnancy, but they wished Leorino had cared more about his own safety.
Gravis clenched his fists tightly, trying to contain his anger. Dirk and Lucas watched him anxiously.
“…Do you know anything about this merchant named Smirnov that the lady mentioned earlier?”
“The man referred to himself as Smirnov of the Moirlud Trading Company earlier today.”
The moment he heard Josef’s words, a tremendous rage filled Gravis once more. Josef felt him emit a visceral pressure and reflexively backed away.
“Calm down! Your Highness!”
“How do you expect me to remain calm?!” Gravis glared at the lieutenant general, his eyes glistening with gold. “…Don’t you remember the Moirlud Trading Company?!”
“And you do?”
“You heard it in Dirk’s report! Edgar Yorke’s brother and sister-in-law were from the Moirlud Trading Company!”
Lucas and Dirk gasped at Gravis’s words. The information had seemed so trivial at the time that they had forgotten all about it.
“…A shady merchant with connections to Edgar was frequenting Leorino’s home?”
“Why was this man at the Brungwurt estate?”
“He was learning the layout under the pretext of doing business! He has my Power, he was attempting to establish a base! From the very beginning! To kidnap Leorino!”