Chapter 111 : Chapter 111
Chapter 111: Homecoming (4)
“……!”
At that moment, the guard's two eyes, as he looked at Yubin, were tinged with a faint crimson.
At the same time, Yubin's mouth moved slightly, as if whispering something.
“What is it? Why are you just standing there blankly?”
To the captain, who couldn't see the situation directly, it must have looked as if the guard checking the box had suddenly stopped, staring blankly.
“Hey! Is it jewelry?”
When he pressed him, the guard seemed to snap back to his senses and looked back at the captain.
“Yes.”
Nodding his head.
“It is jewelry.”
Then, he gently closed the box he had opened.
“Then let them in.”
Allen, letting out a small sigh of relief, pulled on the rope binding Ibi, and the guard who had finished the inspection began to pull the cart in Allen's place.
“This way.”
And so, one prisoner, four boxes, and two large barrels passed between the guards protecting the high gate and wall, entering the garden where a large mansion was visible.
***
“You are a wolf.”
Her first impression of the man was that he was ordinary.
Just, like an ordinary middle-aged man you could see anywhere.
“Different from the sheep that litter the streets.”
But the girl also knew that this ordinary-looking man, who acted so gentlemanly, was the master of the streets she had lived on, an object of fear that made even the most vicious ruffians tremble at the mere mention of his name.
‘What a bunch of cowardly bastards.’
Now that she was face to face with him, she couldn't help but scoff at their pathetic nature.
The man, who slowly approached the girl, eventually placed a hand gently on her head.
“From today, this is your new home.”
The man who began to stroke her hair, to the girl, still looked like nothing more than an ordinary middle-aged man.
“Evie.”
One who even possessed a kindness she had never felt from anyone else on the streets until now.
Even though she couldn't see properly because of the sack over her head, Ibi gave a bitter smile at the all-too-familiar feeling of the hallway.
“Boss. I’ve brought her.”
The guard knocked on the door carefully, as if not to disturb the person on the other side.
And before long, the door opened.
The guard shoved Allen and Ibi into the room, then closed the door again and stood guard in front of it.
A momentary silence filled the room.
Ibi knew that although no words were spoken, there had been a gesture.
Otherwise, the sack on her head would not have been removed.
As her obscured vision returned, it was, as expected, a familiar scene.
Paulo was sitting at his desk, holding a glass of brandy, just as he always was whenever Ibi visited this room.
He swirled the glass lightly, sniffing its aroma, before taking a small sip of the brandy.
“──You've returned home.”
He then said calmly.
“Evie.”
At Paulo's words, Ibi scoffed as if it was absurd.
“Home?”
Staring straight at Paulo, who was looking at her.
“Anyone hearing that would think I was some runaway daughter.”
At that, Paulo downed the rest of the brandy in one go and stood up from his seat.
“But you don't even have any seed to sow, do you? How can a guy without a junior have a junior?”
He slowly approached her, completely unfazed by Ibi’s taunt as if he were already used to it.
As Paulo stood before her, Ibi stared right into his face and twisted her lips, which had held a sneer, even further.
He had far more wrinkles than when she first saw him in this room, his flesh had sagged more, and his brown hair had all turned white.
But, despite all that, his hand slowly reaching out to her still held that same, unexplainable kindness from back then.
“…Ah, seriously. Get lost.”
Ibi dodged his touch by slightly pulling her head back as if to deny it.
Paulo’s hand, now caressing empty air, clenched into a fist.
And then, he swung it without warning.
──Thwack!
Towards Allen, who was standing next to Ibi.
“I told you time and again.”
Catching Allen as he staggered from the direct hit, Paulo this time punched him hard in the abdomen.
“Ugh…!?”
From the heavy blow, Allen immediately fell to his knees and collapsed, then spat out the blood that had pooled in his mouth from the first hit.
“To stop hanging around with trash like this.”
Damned flock of sheep.
Looking down at Allen, who was still on all fours, unable to get up, Paulo muttered in a contemptuous tone.
Then, shaking his fist, Paulo once again reached for Ibi, and as she tried to dodge again, he forcefully grabbed her so she couldn't escape and caressed her cheek.
“Evie…”
“…Get your hand off me.”
Ibi gritted her teeth and glared at Paulo.
“Why, why…”
Just then, Allen, still on all fours, spoke up.
“Why, me…”
His voice, squeezed out through constant coughing, was laced with a sense of injustice.
“I, I brought you, a traitor…”
“This is how all slum rats are.”
Paulo pointed at Allen, as if telling Ibi to look.
“Let out one shout and they get terrified, not hesitating to sell out their old friends. They don't know the first thing about honor.”
“The guy who lives like a king thanks to those slum rats is talking about honor, my ass. Will you stop with the fucking bullshit?”
Ibi immediately retorted.
“The guy who turns all those slum rats into junkies to make them fanatics who live and die by your word, what? Honor? A passing dog would laugh at that.”
Paulo did not deny her words.
Instead, he pulled a stiletto from inside his clothes.
Even as the stiletto’s sharp blade glinted in the light of a nearby flickering candle, even as the cold touch of the blade was transmitted to her cheek, “What? Struck a nerve, so now it’s you turn to stab me?”
Ibi didn’t bat an eye, didn't tremble in the slightest.
“Then hurry up and stab me, dammit. So I can stop hearing this dog bark.”
As if this was not even a threat.
But Paulo already knew that fact.
That's why he eventually pulled back the stiletto he had placed on Ibi's cheek.
“…Still, you must have trusted this bastard as a friend you grew up with, yet he ended up betraying you.”
Then, he immediately grabbed Allen by the hair.
“Ugh──”
He then proceeded to mercilessly stab the exposed neck, which was tilted back.
“──!”
Allen couldn't even let out a scream.
Soon, he collapsed weakly into a pool of his own blood on the floor.
Seeing Allen die right before her eyes, Ibi's eyes widened in surprise for the first time since she had arrived.
Paulo quietly observed Ibi's reaction for a moment, as if savoring the aroma of brandy.
Then, a satisfied smile spread across his lips as he began to wipe the blood from his hand and the blade with a handkerchief taken from his pocket.
“What the hell…”
After a moment, Ibi asked.
“Why did you do that?”
To this, Paulo asked back as if he couldn't understand why she would even ask such a question.
“Are you asking why I killed the bastard who just betrayed you?”
“…No.”
Seeing Paulo like this, Ibi finally let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.
“I was asking why you went ahead and stole what I wanted to do.”
Hearing that answer, Paulo smiled with satisfaction once more.
But that was also brief.
After wiping away the blood, Paulo threw the handkerchief to the floor and let out a sigh.
“I cherished you, Evie.”
“Never asked you to.”
Ibi retorted immediately.
“Yes, you didn't. But I still cherished you.”
However, even Ibi couldn't deny those words.
Because she herself knew very well that she had, in fact, been cherished.
“Looking at you… reminded me of my old self.”
Paulo wore a bitter smile as if reminiscing about that past.
“The me from the days when I struggled and clawed to survive, no matter what.”
“Oh, is that so? Guess you didn't have parents either?”
“I was abandoned. To be precise, they sold me off just to earn money for drinks.”
It was the first time she had heard this story.
Slightly surprised, Ibi's eyes widened again, but she quickly erased her agitation and jeered.
“No wonder you seemed like you grew up without a parent's love.”
“If I had received love from that worthless trash, I would have just become a vagrant like them.”
So he was rather grateful for it, Paulo said.
“Because they sold me off back then, I was able to rise to this position.”
Just then, Paulo's consistently calm tone suddenly wavered.
“……So, I thought that maybe you, one day, could take my place.”
He was clearly bitter.
“But you betrayed the organization, Evie.”
Paulo, who had briefly turned his head as if to hide that emotion, looked back at Ibi.
“You know well what the end of a traitor is.”
“…Yeah, fuck.”
“I always sent you, didn't I? My most trusted problem-solver.”
Ibi clicked her tongue.
Though she said nothing, it was as if she knew all too well.
“Honestly, when you left my side… I gave the order to capture the traitor, but I thought you would never be caught.”
How did it come to this?
Paulo looked at Ibi standing still with her hands tied and asked as if he couldn't understand.
“Who made you so weak? …Was it, by any chance, those adventurers?”
“…!”
At those words, Ibi showed a noticeably startled expression for the first time.
“Yes, I heard you’ve been hanging around with some guys lately. Did those sheep make you weak?”
Saying this, Paulo approached Ibi again and gently brushed her hair to the side.
“Didn't I tell you you were a wolf, Evie? A wolf, like me.”
He then caressed Ibi's left ear, its tip cut off, which was now revealed.
“Hanging around with such weak-ass prey, this is what you get.”
Ibi jerked her head away as if to shake off his touch and pushed his arm away with her bound hands.
Paulo looked at her for a moment, then finally turned his back.
“…I’m sorry, Evie. It's out of my hands now.”
As if he couldn't bear to watch what was about to happen with his own eyes.
“Now that you've been caught like this, you'll have to be made an example of.”
He then nodded at the guard who had been watching the situation from the door.
Seeing this, the guard nodded silently in return and came up behind Ibi.
“Let's go.”
Ibi knew better than anyone that this meant she would be ‘dealt with’.
And yet, as the guard began to drag her away, she didn't resist at all.
Instead, the corners of her mouth lifted.
As if.
──KABOOM!
She knew from the very beginning that a loud explosion would erupt from somewhere.
“──!?”
Because of it, the guard was startled, but Ibi was not.
Instead, she easily broke the cuffs binding her hands and, at the same time, swiftly snatched the dagger from the guard's waist.
“You go, you bastard.”
Then, without giving him a chance to show his bewilderment, she stabbed him in the neck.