Chapter 59

***

The motorcycle taxi carrying Lino arrived precisely at the designated location, shaving a massive sixteen minutes off the estimated travel time.

“Ugh…”

Stumbling off the bike, Lino rubbed his churning stomach. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket and handed over the fare. “Keep the change…”

“Haha, thank you!” The driver bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle before roaring off down the alley.

Thanks to the motorcycle’s reckless speed making up for the time he had lost struggling through the window, Lino arrived exactly two minutes before the scheduled meeting.

As expected, the location was a residential house—or rather, an abandoned one. Such derelict properties could always be found scattered among the inhabited houses on the outskirts, even in a capital city.

If he chose an abandoned building for a meeting… it means he doesn’t even have the money to rent a proper space. He might have chosen it to keep things quiet and avoid drawing even the slightest attention, but the Baron Haklan that Lino knew was hyper-sensitive to formality and protocol, always overcompensating for his lowly title.

The peeling paint on the two-story building’s exterior suggested it had been vacant for quite some time. After verifying the address, Lino pulled out his phone and typed a message to Grondil. He opted for a text since a phone call could be overheard.

I’m going in now. I didn’t run away, so please don’t be angry.

He had left the note in the study, but his anxiety compelled him to send one last message—an insurance policy for his life. Putting his phone away, he carefully pushed open the rusted iron gate. 

Screeeech—! 

The horrifying sound shattered the silence.

Stepping into the first floor, the empty living room seemed to waver and dance. Lino initially thought it was an optical illusion, but soon realized the scattered candles had flickered wildly from the draft he let in.

“You’ve come.”

A raspy male voice greeted him. Standing in the center of the desolate living room was Baron Haklan—the man Lino had so desperately avoided and prayed never to see again.

Lino moistened his parched lips with his tongue, his senses sharpening to a razor’s edge as he scanned the room. He picked up faint movement from the second floor. One… no, two people. Noting the exact location of the stairs, Lino cautiously approached the Baron.

“I’m only here to hear this secret, and then I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” The Baron’s tone pitched upward in a mocking sneer, as if saying, ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

“Back to the Duke’s estate… Ah, whatever. Just tell me what this secret is quickly.”

Lino didn’t bother hiding his irritation. The Baron’s eyes went wide with shock before he let out a dramatic gasp, clicking his tongue in clear disapproval. “I poured so much effort into educating you. How did you become so vulgar?”

“This ‘vulgar’ adopted son will disappear the moment you tell him the secret, so hurry up and speak.”

“I will tell you, but tomorrow, you must accompany me to meet someone.”

“What kind of nonsense is this? Why are you changing your story? There was no mention of this in your letter.” Lino scowled at the sudden condition.

“You must never forget that situations are always fraught with variables that can change anytime, anywhere, Arno.”

“You sure have a lot of variables rolling off your tongue, probably because you’re a noble. But seeing as how far removed my birth is from nobility, I’m terribly allergic to those variables. So what now? And don’t call me Arno. I threw that name in the trash a long time ago.”

Lino delivered the words with a low growl. For a split second, a tickle of embarrassment fluttered in his chest as he realized he sounded exactly like Grondil—he had been spending entirely too much time with the Beast.

Ah, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that.

Shoving the distracting thought aside, Lino glared at Baron Haklan. Illuminated by the flickering, unsteady candlelight, the man’s face looked ghastly. He had always been thin, giving him a naturally neurotic appearance, but now he was practically skeletal, his features twisted and drawn. In fact, calling him ‘neurotic’ would be a compliment compared to how he looked now. He looked like a man standing on the edge of a cliff, consumed by the terror that someone might push him at any moment.

I heard he borrowed money from some shady loan sharks. The situation must be seriously dire. Lino guessed the Baron’s drastic physical deterioration was the direct result of Iscazel’s delusional business ventures. If that’s the case, did he call me here to extort money from me…?

As the suspicions piled up, Lino couldn’t help but ask, “You aren’t planning to sell me to a loan shark to pay off your debts, are you?”

“…What? Sell you to a loan shark? I’d have to be crazy. Why would I do that when there is someone willing to pay whatever price I name?”

“…?”

Someone willing to pay whatever price he names? Catching the crucial piece of information, Lino let out a pathetic scoff. “So I am the merchandise being sold, after all.”

“…”

“Your silence confirms it.”

I knew it. 

Feigning a stretch by rolling his neck and rubbing his shoulders, Lino focused intently on how the two men upstairs reacted to his movement.

Scuff. 

He heard the sound of a cigarette being dropped and crushed under a boot. The men muttered to each other sporadically, seemingly checking the perimeter through the windows. They were grumbling about how annoying it would be if the police showed up.

I hope it’s not the police, but the Beast who shows up, Lino sighed internally.

Wishing for luck in his situation was probably asking for too much; he just wanted to avoid the worst-case scenario. Hoping against hope, Lino shifted gears and confronted the Baron directly.

“This secret… does it have something to do with my body?”

At Lino’s question, the Baron’s cloudy eyes widened drastically. He didn’t need to speak; his reaction was a deafening confirmation.

“I always thought the reason you chose me—even when there were other orphans far better suited for adoption—was because of my divine power… But if that were true, there would have been no reason to lock me in a room for eight years. Am I wrong?”

“…I’d like to hear what you think it is.”

“Why should I humor you?”

“…”

The Baron snapped his mouth shut at Lino’s blatant sarcasm. Honestly, Lino had intended to treat him with a modicum of respect. Yes, he had been confined for eight years, but the knowledge he had gained from the Haklan estate was substantial, and he knew exactly what his future would have looked like had he remained at the orphanage.

Because of that, buried beneath his fear and disgust, Lino harbored a microscopic shred of gratitude. He had planned to at least show the basic respect due to an elder, but the Baron’s behavior was rapidly peeling away the patience suppressing his irritation.

His Highness must know I’m gone by now. 

The ever-mounting anxiety contributed heavily to Lino’s rough behavior. He desperately hoped Grondil would understand he hadn’t run away, but looking back on it, that flimsy note he left looked exactly like a runaway’s parting words.

Damn it… Even if he bites my head off right now, I wouldn’t have a single excuse.

At the thought of Grondil’s impending wrath, any desire to show the Baron courtesy vanished. Instead of pestering the man to spit out the secret, Lino stood up straight and stared him down, violently suppressing the negative emotions churning in his gut and wiping his face completely blank.

He analyzed the Baron from head to toe. The man was wearing a cheap long coat. Considering the Zetina Kingdom’s climate was much milder than the Hestin Kingdom’s, wearing a coat meant he was concealing weapons. The Baron was far too emaciated to have the stamina to swing a sword, which meant he was packing a gun. Every time he shifted slightly, the fabric around his chest wrinkled awkwardly.

Can’t even aim properly, but he still brought a gun to stroke his ego. And he was wearing thick gloves, too. It was essentially a billboard screaming, ‘I’ll shoot you if things go south.’ But Lino also had a gun, his marksmanship was infinitely superior, and he had even brought a backup blade. The Baron’s concealed firearm didn’t threaten him in the slightest.

Lino’s real concerns were the two men upstairs and the possibility of armed mercenaries stationed outside the building. However, that worry quickly shrank. The cigarette the Baron pulled out with trembling hands was incredibly cheap. He didn’t even have a lighter, forcing him to pathetically light it off a flickering candle.

To think the Haklan estate’s finances are so ruined that he has to smoke the cheap garbage you only find in the slums. 

Realizing the sheer depth of their ruin, Lino concluded there were no other armed guards besides the two upstairs. And those two were likely just random thugs hired for pennies, their skills undoubtedly matching their price tag.

Lino took a large, deliberate step toward the Baron. Twisting the blank, doll-like expression on his face into a crooked smirk, he shoved his hands into his pockets, adopting a deliberately arrogant stance.

“Baron.”

The voice he used to address the noble was the absolute epitome of a street thug. It was an amalgamation of everything Lino had learned surviving in the slums. Having been born a noble and living a life of lofty privilege, the Baron had never experienced such raw disrespect, and his face instantly turned a mottled, furious red. Illuminated by the wavering candlelight, the sight was utterly ridiculous.

“I put so much effort into teaching you, yet you behave like a slum rat. What is the meaning of this?!”

Refusing to admit he was being cowed by someone far younger and of lowly birth, the Baron flexed his jaw and lashed out. However, Lino simply kicked an empty can rolling on the floor with vicious force. 

Hick! 

The Baron’s knees buckled violently as if he were about to collapse, a pathetic wheeze escaping his lips.

“You have a good eye. I did spend some time in the slums. It seemed acting like a proper noble wouldn’t get you to spill my secret, so I decided to switch to a slum rat attitude. How about it? Do you feel like talking now?”

“Y-You ungrateful wretch…! The amount of money I spent feeding, raising, and teaching you—!”

In a flash, Lino closed the distance, looming right in front of the Baron’s nose. Startled, the Baron frantically reached into his coat, but Lino was much faster.

Click. The pitch-black muzzle of Lino’s gun pressed firmly against the left side of the Baron’s chest, directly over his heart. Belatedly trying to draw from his shoulder holster, the Baron looked down at the barrel pressed to his chest and began hyperventilating in sharp, panicked gasps.

“Y-You bastard…”

“Weren’t you planning to threaten me with your gun if I didn’t listen anyway? I’m simply doing the same.”

“Wh-What do you mean, ‘the same’?” Staring up at Lino with wide, terrified eyes, the Baron’s pupils trembled violently like a man staring death in the face.

“I mean I also intended to threaten you if you didn’t hand over my secret willingly. And by the way, you really shouldn’t hire cheap mercenaries if you can avoid it.”

“What? What mercen— Ah…!”

Only when Lino mentioned them did the Baron seem to remember the two armed guards he had stationed upstairs. However, he clearly missed the true intent behind Lino’s words.

“Just how much did you cheap out on them for them to drink, smoke, and fall asleep on the job?”

“Sl-Sleep?”

“Yes. Listen closely.”

Shh. 

Lino pressed a finger to his own lips, signaling the Baron to be quiet. Swallowing hard, the Baron strained his ears. Even to an ordinary old man’s dull hearing, the distinct sound of loud, rhythmic snoring filtering down from above was unmistakable.

“…”

The Baron’s face flushed a deep, violent crimson from humiliation and rage. His already frail frame looked even more pathetic. Unfazed, Lino tapped the Baron’s chest with the muzzle of his gun.

“Hurry up and tell me the secret.”

“…Are you going to kill me?”

“Hmm… I’ll decide that after I hear what you have to say.”