Special SS ~ 2
The horse galloped madly. The sky was still pitch black, and to make matters worse, an untimely winter rain drenched Lexion’s shoulders, but he couldn’t care less about such things now.
[Seriniel Helcar has passed away.]
No.
[It’s already been a week, and the funeral is over…]
It can’t be.
It can’t be true!
As he endlessly repeated these words to himself, Lexion’s black eyes swirled with countless emotions, as tumultuous as a raging storm.
The horse finally came to a stop after quite some time.
It was in front of the Helcar mansion.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Lexion leaped off the horse. He strode towards the mansion and began pounding on the door with his fist, veins bulging in his clenched hand.
“Calian Helcar!
Calian Helcar!”
Like a man who knew no other words, as if he had gone mad, Lexion kept shouting Calian’s name.
Before long, a disheveled maid opened the door.
“Who on earth…!”
She couldn’t finish her sentence.
She knew all too well who the man standing before her was.
And she also knew that if she valued her life, she shouldn’t dare to speak rashly.
“Just, just a moment!”
Regardless of what the maid thought, Lexion was unstoppable, with muddy feet, he stepped into the mansion.
“Calian, Helcar!”
“Duke Lexion…?”
“Come out now! Immediately!”
Lexion’s thunderous voice echoed through the viscount’s mansion as he looked around with fierce eyes.
Then he realized.
The garish, extravagant, and vulgar decor.
And the equally gaudy furniture encrusted with jewels.
Nowhere could he feel Seriniel’s presence.
“What is this commotion at this late hour!”
From behind the frozen Lexion, a familiar voice called out.
Lexion slowly turned to face a very startled Calian.
“D-Duke Lexion?”
He had no idea what was happening, but instinctively he could sense certain things.
The fear and dread Calian was feeling right now.
“Why are you here…?”
Calian couldn’t finish his sentence. Lexion’s large hand had grabbed him by the collar.
Lexion glared at Calian as if he would kill him on the spot, and in a very low voice, he spoke through dry lips.
“Seriniel.”
“G-gah…”
“What did you do to Seriniel Verdellete?”
”Answer me!”
Lexion threw Calian with all his might. Calian tumbled to the floor like a bug and looked up at him with a pale face.
“W-why… Duke… Seriniel…”
“If you don’t answer, I will behead you! Right here, right now!”
“S-Seriniel is dead!”
For a moment, Lexion’s fingers trembled slightly.
“She contracted a terrible illness. Numerous physicians came and went from the mansion, but they couldn’t find any cause…”
“Illness?”
“Yes. They couldn’t even identify the disease.”
[Although she was said to have died of illness… it might not be the case.]
Suddenly, the words of the distressed knight echoed clearly in Lexion’s ears.
[There are rampant rumors that Calian Helcar was having an affair with Seriniel’s friend, Leraie Ifra.]
“Even the physicians said they had never seen such symptoms before…”
[But as soon as Lady Seriniel passed away, Calian Helcar has been confined to the mansion, so there is no solid evidence.]
“And so, I was in deep sorrow, locked in the mansion for several days, unable to do anything!”
[Of course, if my guess is correct, he must have planned all this, hoping to wait until things calmed down.]
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but it was I who lost a beloved wife. Why…!”
And at that moment.
“Calian!”
Leraie’s piercing voice echoed through the mansion.
Lexion saw it clearly.
The brief moment Calian closed his eyes when Leraie appeared.
“…Duke Lexion?”
Leraie was equally taken aback by the unexpected situation, but unlike her husband, she was not frightened.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Instead, she approached Lexion and looked up at him.
“No matter how much trust the emperor places in you for your achievements, this is unacceptable!”
“…”
“Not only did you enter someone’s home without permission, but you also wreaked havoc!”
“That’s something Seriniel should have said, Leraie Ifra.”
“What did you say?”
Leraie’s face hardened like stone at Lexion’s unexpected words.
“I’ll ask again.”
Lexion grabbed Leraie’s shoulders tightly, threateningly.
“What did you do to Seriniel Verdellete?”
“Ugh…”
“What did you do to her, I asked!”
“We did nothing!”
Leraie screamed.
“Didn’t Calian, no, the Viscount explain everything? She died of an illness! An unknown disease!”
“…”
“I was worried about the Viscount, who was left alone, as I was Seriniel’s only friend, so I was here!”
“Worried?”
Lexion laughed hollowly.
“I believe Seriniel would be grateful to me! I’m the only one looking after…”
“There are a lot of children’s items in the mansion, Calian Helcar.”
Both Calian and Leraie fell silent as if on cue.
“Did Seriniel give birth before she died of illness?”
“…”
“Unfortunately, I’ve never heard any such rumors.”
“T-That’s…!”
“Are you going to try another cheap lie?”
Lexion’s eyes burned with fury.
“Go ahead and try.”
“…”
“Do it in front of the child.”
With Lexion’s chilling words, Calian and Leraie finally noticed.
At the end of the hallway.
Their son Benny was standing there, terrified.
“He looks about twelve.”
“…”
“He resembles both of you very much, not Seriniel at all.”
“T-That child is not…!”
Whack.
Calian’s head snapped to the side at Lexion’s punch.
“Stop, stop it!”
Leraie screamed, but Lexion didn’t budge. He kept hitting Calian’s face as if he had lost his mind, unaware of the blood splattering onto his own face.
Calian’s front teeth were knocked out and rolled on the floor, blood gushed from his nose, his lips were torn, and his face quickly swelled up beyond recognition.
Despite the beating, Calian couldn’t fight back against Lexion.
“F-Father… Father!”
Benny, who had burst into tears, ran to Lexion, clinging to his arm.
“Please stop!”
“…”
“Please… please… sob…”
Lexion’s blood-stained fist trembled.
He looked down at Benny for a moment and then shook his arm. Though not with much force, the young boy screamed and fell to the floor like his father, and Lexion, biting his lip, stood up.
“Duke Lexion… how could you…!”
Before Leraie could finish, Lexion kicked Calian in the stomach again.
Calian groaned horribly as if he were about to die, but…
“Speak.”
Lexion ignored him and asked, gasping for breath.
“Where did you put Seriniel?”
* * *
Even after leaving the Helcar mansion, Lexion did not return to the Rosenvester estate.
Instead, he rode his horse madly again.
After quite some time had passed…
Lexion arrived at a place with no signs of human life.
A mountain, so infested with beasts and bandits that access had been barred.
More precisely, halfway up a deep, dense mountain where human entry seemed nearly impossible.
There was a solitary grave on a hill, overgrown with grass and trees.
“…”
Lexion sank to his knees in front of the grave, which didn’t even have a tombstone.
