Chapter 190. The Calm Before the Storm (7)
"Hanbin…… Ainsworth……."
Clarisse's lips trembled faintly.
There was surely not a single noble in Britannia who did not know his name.
And for a noble of Clarisse's standing— She knew even that fearsome past, before he was the Kingdom's greatest Alchemist, Minister of Internal Affairs, Knight who had saved the Kingdom.
"……."
Clarisse swallowed.
If it was that Hanbin Ainsworth—if he were to pour all his strength into bringing Penelope back—
He would be an immensely powerful card to play in this desperate situation.
But this was simultaneously an act of confessing the family's shameful secrets to him—and Hanbin was, for generations, a loyalist to the Queen. Not merely a run-of-the-mill loyalist, but the Queen's sharpest Blade.
His true purpose in moving here remained unclear. It was possible that the truths Clarisse revealed could cause the very name of her family to be erased from history.
Perhaps Hanbin had anticipated all of this from the very beginning, and had been closing in step by step.
After all, the Royal political arena was a place rife with machinations and schemes that took one, two years of painstaking effort to set in motion.
When Clarisse pressed her lips firmly shut, Jurgen's eyes narrowed.
"You're hesitating."
"……."
"Is it the family's wellbeing you're worried about?"
Clarisse's eyes wavered—he had struck right at the mark.
Hanbin took one step closer toward Clarisse.
"……Ugh."
Because Clarisse had been a promising talent in Alchemy, she had heard countless stories about Hanbin. And she had privately believed that if she had devoted herself entirely to Alchemy, she would have been an equal to him.
Today she discovered just how reckless that notion had been.
They were on different levels entirely.
A colossal presence, no longer concealing itself in the slightest. Behind him, a pressure radiated that could scarcely be called human.
With a single flick of a finger, he could erase not only Clarisse but this entire manor.
"I'll give you one promise."
"……."
"If Penelope returns safely…… whatever circumstances lie behind all of this, I will turn a blind eye. I swear it on everything I am."
It was a meaningless oath.
A core figure of an opposing force. One who had concealed his identity and embedded himself at Penelope's side, no less. Clarisse was not so naïve as to swallow such a person's words outright, however cornered they might be.
That said—it was unexpected that Hanbin, a man reputed to be unrivalled in stubbornness and inflexibility, would go so far.
"But if Penelope does not return safely—"
Jurgen said, quietly.
"I will devote the remainder of my life to taking revenge on my enemy—and on every soul connected to that enemy."
It was said in a flat, unremarkable tone—not like a threat at all. As casually as one might ask about the weather.
And yet a chill ran down Clarisse's spine.
Hanbin Ainsworth. There were tales of how he had dismantled, in a single night, a Count family found to be colluding with dark mages—and how he had arrested every last member of a Marquis family caught in league with an enemy nation.
Setting aside the ill reputation that circulated among the noble houses, however. The Hanbin of that time had at least had some minimum standard and justification: 'for Britannia's sake.'
But now? With even that leash removed. If a monster driven purely by personal vengeance were to come hurtling at the Rosemore family in a frenzy?
That too would be ruin. It was better to take a measure of risk and seek Hanbin's help.
"Haa……."
A sigh of resignation escaped Clarisse's lips. With trembling hands, she rubbed her face with dry hands.
"I'll trust your oath."
"You may, Clarisse."
Having made her decision, Clarisse no longer wavered. She raised her head and looked directly at Jurgen.
"Whether you believe me or not is your prerogative—but the real power behind Rosemore is not someone like me."
"Then this business—was it also orchestrated by Rupert's side?"
Clarisse gave a start. She had not said a word about Rupert yet.
This man is different, after all.
"……That's correct. Rosemore is no better than that demon's plaything."
"A demon?"
"It wasn't always like that. He wasn't a bad elder brother."
Clarisse's voice grew hazy, as though groping through the past.
"Even if he was a little short on talent, he was a kind person. He had some inferiority complex, perhaps, but he was an ordinary person who cherished his younger siblings."
But at some point—an indistinct moment—everything became twisted.
"I can't even properly remember when it began. But he started killing people without a second thought."
Clarisse's shoulders trembled faintly.
"He beheaded a servant on the spot for spilling tea water, or beat a maid to death over a trivial mistake. With a perfectly composed face."
"……."
"He once invited a relative who had been obstructing his business and poisoned him to death."
The memories were vivid.
The sound of retching. The dark crimson blood soaking through the rug. And Rupert's face, smiling serenely as he watched the relative writhing in agony.
It was not fear she had felt. Disillusionment and disappointment, yes—but such things were not uncommon occurrences among families that held power.
Being born into a powerful house meant one needed to be equally ruthless.
"That wasn't what truly frightened me."
"What do you mean?"
"The day after he killed that relative. I set about concealing the body and suppressing the matter at the family level. But…… it was gone."
"The body, you mean?"
"No. It wasn't only the body that had vanished."
A faint terror lingered in Clarisse's eyes.
"The bloodstains, the broken tableware—all of it was spotlessly clean. Even that relative's remains had disappeared."
"……."
"I asked the butler, and he told me no such person had ever visited in the first place. When I contacted the deceased's Branch Family, they had even forgotten they had ever had a son like that."
Records, memories, traces. Every last thing in the world was denying Rupert's murder. Only one person—Clarisse alone—retained the memory of that wrongness.
Jurgen's expression hardened to something cold.
"The End Order."
"That's right."
Clarisse gave a slow nod.
Memory manipulation, distortion of causality, disruption of perception. All of them were characteristics of the Order's Alchemy.
But to simultaneously manipulate the perceptions of the many servants and relatives within the family?
They must hold an exceptionally high position within the Order. Or else they were receiving that much support from the Order.
Considering the influence Rosemore wielded in the North, it was a worthwhile investment.
"I tried everything I could."
Moisture gathered in Clarisse's eyes.
"I considered secretly compiling materials to contact the Church, and I even drew up a plan to collect evidence of his crimes and report him. But……."
She was blocked at every turn.
Rupert saw through Clarisse's covert resistance as though looking down at everything from the sky above.
Evidence she had carefully hidden would be found shoved into the fireplace come morning as though to taunt her. Carrier pigeons she had dispatched were found the next morning on her bed, their necks wrung.
Clarisse had been only twelve years old at the time.
Even so, Clarisse had tried to resist. She had resolved to unmask Rupert no matter what it took.
"Right up until he used Penelope as leverage to threaten me."
Rupert had dug into Clarisse's weakest point.
The place where Clarisse was most vulnerable. The existence she held most dear.
The moment she learned that even Penelope's life was in Rupert's grasp, Clarisse abandoned all further resistance.
"And so you cooperated?"
"Less cooperation, more…… surrender."
Clarisse bit her lip and lowered her head.
"I worked to push Penelope outside the family. To the furthest reach of my influence, I drove that child away."
Because that was the only way to make Rupert lose interest. She had to prove that she could handle Penelope's share as well—that Penelope was garbage not worth touching.
Jurgen frowned, perplexed.
"If Rupert is both a villain and a thorough one, he would surely have seen through it?"
"You're right, he knew it all."
Clarisse smiled bitterly.
"He let it go precisely because he knew. As though to say—go on, struggle if you can. Sisters tormenting sisters, an elder sister plunging her younger sibling into the mud. It seems that was quite an entertaining diversion for him."
Even Clarisse's twisted form of protection was nothing but play upon Rupert's palm.
"And then you appeared."
Clarisse looked at Jurgen.
"You pulled that child I had hidden in the mud and made her into a brilliant jewel."
"……."
"Rupert's game is over. Because I failed to keep my promise."
There was nothing more to say.
Everything was uncertain. Whether Hanbin would believe this pitiable-sounding story or not.
And even if he did believe it, whether he would be able to save Penelope was another matter entirely.
This was Rupert—the man who had had the Rosemore family in the palm of his hand. Her father falling ill was in all likelihood also Rupert's doing.
Could even Hanbin bring Penelope back? Against that malicious Rupert?
An anguish grown too long had Clarisse floundering in helplessness.
"……."
Jurgen stared steadily at Clarisse.
He was no expert at it, but Jurgen understood politics.
He knew that those who moved in those circles could squeeze out tears in three seconds when needed. And that they could reverse every word they had said without so much as blinking.
That was why no one trusted anyone in the political world. Jurgen had handed off those troublesome affairs to Lily.
After a long deliberation, Jurgen opened his mouth.
"Penelope will be pleased."
"……What did you say?"
At those unexpected words, Clarisse—who had been staring at the floor—carefully raised her head.
A face ravaged by tears. At the end of her gaze stood Hanbin, smiling softly.
"Penelope has always wanted to make peace with her sister."
"……."
Clarisse's face contorted in a complex, indescribable way. Relief, guilt, and an inexpressible shame all tangled together in a single expression.
"……I thought as much."
But there was no time to be lost in sentiment now.
"Rupert's whereabouts, and the places where Penelope might be held. Tell me all of it."
"Wait."
Clarisse ran to the Study and returned with a map. It was a map of the Rosemore family's territory—recording in meticulous detail even the covert areas that would not appear on any ordinary map.
Clarisse had not been sitting idle all this time either.
She had continued to investigate Rupert in the utmost secrecy all along. With the intention of driving a dagger into him when he finally exposed a weakness.
"Here, and here……."
She dredged through everything in her mind, scrawling quickly on the map with a pen, marking the locations in order of likelihood.
"I wrote them in order of the most probable. Just in case—I've marked every suspicious location as well."
Clarisse held the map out to Jurgen. Jurgen took it and tucked it inside his coat.
"And you?"
Clarisse shook her head.
"If I move, Rupert will grow suspicious."
"You may be in danger."
Clarisse's eyes held the look of someone who had made their resolve.
"I'm not at Hanbin's level, but I am an Alchemist who can look after herself."
Bold and undaunted—a gaze that made one involuntarily think, she's rather like Penelope.
"Please……."
Just as Jurgen set his foot on the Terrace railing and made to throw himself into the rain—
"Do not worry."
He turned back one last time.
"I'll return to you and Penelope the time that has been lost all these years."
His coat billowed for a moment—and then Jurgen vanished, as though he had dissolved into thin air.