Chapter 113: Chapter 113

The man intentionally drove Lard to the wall.

Although the man threw the dagger at Lard’s neck, it was stuck in a frame hanging on the wall. The glass shattered and fell to the floor. Quickly avoiding the man’s dagger, Lard grabbed the back of his hand and held it against the wall.

“Argh!”

Groaning with pain, he dropped the dagger in his hand on the floor.

Lard did not stop there and kicked inside his knee, causing him to bend his knee.

The silver blade of his sword touched the man’s throat.

Looking down at Lard coldly, the man picked up the dagger on the floor. Due to Lard’s movement, it pierced the man’s throat, causing bleeding immediately.

“Why did you come into this house with a dagger? ” Lard asked with a heavy voice.

“… For this purpose? ”

As if he didn’t want to hear the man’s reply from the beginning, Lard put the dagger in his forearm. The muscles on his arm were cut mercilessly.

“Ouch!”

“You will never wield a sword again… It’s not that dear of a price to pay for your actions today. ”

Despite his screaming, Lard twisted the dagger’s handle into his forearm. Miserable screams came out of his mouth.

“From up here…. Did you push her down? Or down there… Did you touch her hand?”

He shivered at Lard’s questions as if he foresaw cruel punishment.

“Whatever it is… you have to pay the price.”

After he said that, Lard kicked the man’s back and pushed him down the stairs. His body rolled down the stairs with a loud noise.

“Huck…! ”

Lard walked down the stairs and pointed the sword to the man’s neck. Then, he lifted the sword as if to kill him.

“Captain!”

The knight standing by Wendy shouted at his boss. Lard looked up at the knight gravely.

He saw her. Seeing her miserable appearance, he stood silently for a while. The masked man’s breathing was now slow and rough. Their eyes were entangled in the air.

Lard slowly withdrew the sword and put it back into the sheath. The sound of the sword rattling into the sheath sounded unusually sad.

Martin Bishop yawned long and rubbed his drowsy face up and down. If only he could take a nap for a few minutes, he would be happy to clean up the training field as a newcomer.

“Whew… It was all because of that damn Scholters family.”

He wanted to blame Altarin Scholters, but Martin didn’t have the nerve to add the word ‘damn’ to the lady, so he just referred to her family. As Martin couldn’t sleep properly because of what Altarin of the damned Scholters family had done to his sister, it was natural that he felt hateful towards them.

Yesterday, Altarin confessed her crime at the order of the crown prince. At the fundraising event held at the Linus Medical Center, which was her last confession session, Altarin’s confession wrapped up the event and drew the attention of those who attended the event. Unfortunately, Martin’s sister happened to be beside Altarin, who became the topic of gossip among the social circles.

Altarin, who went around the fund-raising event with a murderous look, vowing, ‘you’re gonna pay for this!’, happened to pick a quarrel with Martin’s sister.

Although Altarin’s violent temper was notorious in the social circles, Martin’s sister also had a bad temper not to be outdone by her. It all started with a war of nerves between them, but they ended up fighting, even tearing their dresses.

For this reason, Martin had to listen to his sister’s complaints all day long. As he had to make up for his lost sleep due to his night shift, he really had a hard time listening to her constant gumbling.

Even though he shut his mouth, Martin felt so tired. Due to his repeated night shift duty, he felt like his fatigue kept doubling as he couldn’t have a good sleep during the day. With drowsy eyes, Martin looked up at the window next door. As it was already late dawn, the lights in the room went out long ago. His next door was quiet.

“I envy Sir Dowain so much these days.”

He deliberately talked to himself to stay awake. He felt it was much better to sell flowers at a flower shop than spend every night on duty like him. According to Deputy Captain Jean Jacque Simuan, Dowain’s face looked so bright these days. Obviously, Dowain was spending happy days there, making friends with the captain’s “lover.” It seemed like yesterday that he made a mockery of Dowain’s security service for her at the flower shop. Now, he regretted mocking Dowain. Rather, Martin envied him.

“Whew…”

He would feel better if the captain was in the house, but the only guy sticking around inside the house was a young kid named Benfork or Benknife, whose name he didn’t care about. So, he didn’t feel any tense atmosphere while he was staying there.

The shock he felt when his boss, who had a house in the commoners’ residential area, was dating a woman and disappeared often, and he was getting sick and tired of his repeated night shift work.

“He’s late,” Martin took out a small pocket watch and murmured again. He heard that his boss found a suspicious spot presumed to be the source of the explosives installed in the palace. So, he felt it would be difficult for his boss to return home before the moon rose.

Martin stood up with a sigh. He felt he needed to change a little bit of his area of usual activity, which was limited to the first floor railing and parlor. He needed it to stay awake.

He decided he’d have to wash his face first before patrolling his surroundings, so he went into the bathroom. He shut the door behind him. A dull morning was passing like that.

Meanwhile, Lard, who just finished interrogating the suspects until late in the morning, was returning home quickly. He got some satisfactory results after questioning Joseph Yass, the owner of Helen Yass Store, and his wife, Helen Yass.

The Imperial Knights found out the circumstances where the components of the explosives, which had been thoroughly managed by the imperial family, were smuggled and stormed the Helen Yass Store. They found a ledger that recorded the bulk purchases of components such as sulfur, charcoal, and cornerstone: the raw materials for gunpowder.

Joseph and Helen, who vehemently denied the charges until then, had to admit their guilt when they were presented with the specific evidence. Nevertheless, they still refused to reveal who was the force behind them.

But when they demanded Joseph reveal the real mastermind behind them in return for exempting his wife from any charges, he was visibly swayed. Under constant pressure and persuasion, he asked for some more time to think about, and Lard accepted his request.

“Whoa, whoa!”

After riding long at night, Lard reached the commoners’ residential area and left the horse at an inn far from Wendy’s house.

The stableman came out with drowsy eyes and dragged the horse. After realizing that Duke Engre was his potential threat, Lard refrained from bringing Balos to this area as much as possible because he and Balos were easily recognized. If he found it inevitable to bring Balos here, he always left the horse in a distant village.

He also took pains to get out of the official uniform of the imperial knights when he came here.

In the past, he used to frequent this place, dressed in the knight’s suit, so even though it was difficult to completely cover up his identity, he made it a rule to change his clothes.

Luckily, it was easy to find imperial knights anywhere in the capital because of the disturbances of the Montrapi bread price hikes and the explosions in the prince’s palace. So, if the residents here still remembered Lard’s visits in the past, he just hoped that they would regard him as one of the knights commonly seen in this area these days.

Lard was wandering around the quiet alley for a while. In the silence of dawn, his footsteps were soft. There was no sign of anybody shadowing him. Lard went round the corner with a sigh of relief. He heard that Duke Engre’s moles were shadowing him and monitoring his movements to report back to the duke, but he found no unusual movements to worry about Wendy’s safety. Nevertheless, he could not feel at ease.

As Lard dispatched some knights here for her security, it would be the best policy for him to refrain from coming here in order not to attract the duke’s attention. Nonetheless, Lard would come here sometimes due to his fatigue from work.

‘How can I avoid coming over here?’

He couldn’t stand not seeing her. Even before he sat back and thought about the wisdom of coming here, he always found himself already walking toward her house.

In fact, he decided not to come here to protect her from external threats in the past. But he couldn’t stop the crown prince from visiting here. So, he came to the conclusion that it was best to check her safety with his own eyes, which naturally led him to her house.