Chapter 93
“Stay here.”
Kirill spoke to Sarin in a quiet and gentle tone, perhaps fearing Gaeyun might wake up.
Sarin nodded, and Gaeyun’s head leaned a bit more on her shoulder. Kirill’s gaze softened as he observed their interaction.
Quietly stepping out of the car, he gave some instructions to the men who had been waiting at a distance. Then, he approached the woman standing in front of the mansion.
“Mother.”
Kirill bowed his head to her.
Her cold face was sharp. Despite seeming somewhat nervous, she was still a beautiful woman, even in her aging years.
She was Russia’s flower, Nikolai’s only daughter and pride. She was a partner that Belov obsessively pursued to the point of madness. Karlena, who always used the excuse of taking care of her health to leave her husband Belov and wander around various country houses, looked at Kirill, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time.
“You found where I am. Even while wandering, it seems you still have ways to hear news.”
“Mother’s whereabouts are obvious.”
Kirill said with a refreshing smile.
Their relationship could never improve. As long as she hated Belov, Kirill would forever remain a stranger. Karlena’s hysteria was something Kirill was accustomed to.
Her gaze focused on Kirill’s expression. He looked a bit thinner than when she last saw him, but he seemed more comfortable. Belov and Nikolai, his father, had been furious at Kirill’s escape. They had lost an heir who would faithfully follow Belov’s footsteps just for the sake of a woman.
Karlena’s lips faintly smiled and quickly disappeared.
“It seems you have something you want.”
If he didn’t want anything, he wouldn’t have come.
Karlena knew that all ties were severed the moment Kirill left. She couldn’t give affection. After giving birth, she left her child to be raised by nurses. The child she loved the most had left this world.
“Dmitry’s brothers are chasing after him.”
As Kirill realized that things had become more troublesome than he thought, he turned towards where Karlena was. He had someone who regularly reported to him about where his mother was and what she was doing.
Karlena clicked her tongue. Her gaze shifted between Kirill and the car behind him, even though there were people inside even in the darkness without the lights on.
“…I owe you.”
It couldn’t be called a conversation between mother and son.
With a cold face, Karlena turned her back. It was thanks to Kirill that she was able to retrieve the remains of her true son and hold a funeral. Ironically, her dead son’s favorite person was Kirill, who was of a different bloodline than his father.
The son she didn’t love had come to collect a debt.
A chilly wind cut between the two. He had traversed the boundaries of life and death, constantly shedding blood on the hands of others, born according to whose bloodline he was. The years of not facing each other had changed Kirill’s face.
Karlena walked towards the mansion first, and Kirill followed without immediately going in. He approached the parked car.
“Get off. I’ll hold her and take her down.”
Kirill opened the door and said to Sarin. She cautiously entered the unfamiliar place at his invitation.
“Is Owen… Is the child okay?”
Sarin asked Kirill as she couldn’t completely enter the warmth and comfort of the mansion, unlike the outside temperature, and approached him.
“You should worry about this side now.”
Owen wouldn’t get hurt. That’s why he entrusted her to himself. Kirill gently held Gaeyun, who was asleep, once again. He never thought of entrusting anything precious to others, so he considered Owen’s actions quite bold.
Otherwise, it would have been a mere illusion that he cherished the woman in front of him enough to entrust her to others.
Looking at Gaeyun’s innocent face, Kirill’s gaze seemed to reveal everything to Karlena. Gaeyun hugged him as she realized everything and was about to open her eyes.
“Kirill. You said you’d only believe what you see.”
Kirill didn’t trust people. He doubted and scrutinized everything. That instinct had helped him survive until now. If it weren’t for Gaeyun’s honesty fully revealed, he would still be living under Belov’s command.
“When that doesn’t work out, trust me. Okay?”
Gaeyun affectionately chided Kirill. He was the kind who enjoyed a fight coming his way. He certainly was before Gaeyun became his everything. Changing direction towards where Karlena was also partly for Gaeyun’s sake.
If he were alone, he might have found pleasure in having a pretext to eliminate the Dmitry brothers he had been taught by himself.
“I don’t like it.”
Gaeyun was annoyed that even she was in this situation. Perhaps she unconsciously thought she might not be able to protect her. If she were alone, it wouldn’t matter, but both Gayeun and Sarin were Kirill’s responsibility.
Gaeyun thought that once Nikolai got Owen in his hands, he would start pressuring Kirill more aggressively, almost like the legitimate heir to the Russian presidency.
“We should choose the side with even a slight chance of winning. Remember what I said? The enemy of my enemy is my ally.”
Kirill’s brow furrowed at the mention of allies. Gaeyun smiled and gently pressed his brow with her finger. Then she winked at Sarin, indicating not to worry.
“Sounds good, having a reliable ally is nice.”
Karlena, who had been standing with her arms crossed near the entrance, interrupted the conversation. Gaeyun’s face, devoid of its usual smile, betrayed tension. Karlena whispered to Kirill to lower his voice, looking displeased.
“Hello, madam.”
Karlena’s gaze directed towards the man who guided Sarin, not Gaeyun.
“I see who’s reporting on me.”
“Kirill is worried about you…”
“Enough. You guys are always knowing yet not knowing.”
Anton grinned coolly. It was the first time they faced each other since they left, and Karlena didn’t seem to trust them to rely solely on Kirill’s one-sided contact.
“Hello.”
Sarin greeted Karlena as she noticed her gaze lingered on her rather than Gaeyun.
“You’re wearing very pretty earrings.”
It was a strange comment. Sarin unconsciously touched her earlobe. The pain Owen had inflicted that day still sliced through her chest vividly. That was the extent of Karlena’s interest in Sarin. As she elegantly turned away and disappeared upstairs, Anton sighed.
“You’ve been sleeping almost not at all lately.”
“It’s nothing new.”
Kirill said nonchalantly as he sat on the sofa in the reception room.
“I’ll show you to your rooms.”
“No. We’ll all stay here together.”
As Kirill tried to lead Sarin to her room, he coldly interjected. In the end, they all ended up sitting side by side on the sofa. All the curtains were drawn, and Kirill and Anton conversed in Russian, their conversation unintelligible.
“It’s the safest here.”
Gaeyun said, holding Sarin’s hand. Sarin hadn’t been properly informed about the sudden change of destination.
“It’s because of me…”
“It was the starting point. It’s not because of you, Sarin.”
Even when Kirill and Gaeyun fled, the Dmitry brothers didn’t personally pursue them, saying they used them meant Nikolai was considering the final means. He was more angry at Sarin and Owen than at them. Sarin quietly nestled her small body against the back of the sofa.
Strangely, the tension didn’t dissipate. She had read the subtle tension in Kirill and Gaeyun’s faces. No matter how she tried to calm herself down with deep breaths, the feeling that something was wrong didn’t go away.
“I’ll go down to the underground storage with Anton.”
Kirill stood up from his seat as if their conversation had ended. Gaeyun nodded at Sarin’s presence alone. He didn’t go to see wine or anything in the underground storage. Gaeyun realized that there was probably the mansion’s armory there.
“Bring what I might need.”
“Ridiculous.”
Kirill ruffled her hair with his large hand as he passed by.
Gaeyun could only explain the situation to her when she was completely alone with Sarin.
“The person we met earlier is Kirill’s mother. She’s from Russia…”
“That lady?”
“Yeah. As you can see, their relationship isn’t good.”
