Subliminal Wayfarer

Rather, when Carynne’s father was murdered by Tom last time, she felt more of a pang of regret then, realizing that his love for her mother was smaller than she had thought. This time, it’s hard to suddenly feel sad that her father had died again.

It was a strange feeling. Usually, he passed away from an ailment following his business’s failure, but this time, he died because Carynne had disappeared.

So, he’s someone who could die because of me.

Someone who couldn’t even commit suicide for his child had succeeded in doing so when she went missing.

Just… that’s how it was.

It was the end of her feelings. The end.

Did Mother marry Father only for the sake of having a child? Or did Mother choose him for some other reason?

But, either way, it didn’t seem to matter.

Carynne repeatedly denied it.

“I don’t know who that person is. I’m not his daughter.”

Carynne answered calmly, without faltering.

“…You’re joking.”

“Mister Evans. You’re under the wrong impression.”

But no matter how calmly Carynne responded, looking at Verdic’s face, it was clear. He didn’t believe her words. He was convinced that Carynne was Carynne.

“…You’re utterly infatuated with a man.”

“Please refrain from such rude remarks.”

Verdic lashed out at Carynne.

“Why lie? Your father is dead. Do you not understand that?”

“……”

“Miss, please look at this.”

Lind handed Carynne a rolled-up picture. Carynne took it. It was a portrait of herself. Of course, it looked exactly like her.

It was a missing person flyer.

“She resembles me. But I’m not this person.”

“The more you deny it, the more you’re putting yourself in a predicament. We can just bring in more people who know you.”

“Whoever you bring, my answer will be the same. I am not the person named Carynne.”

Carynne answered with an expressionless face. Her continued denial drove Verdic to the edge of his sanity. Verdic grabbed Carynne’s shoulders tightly.

“…Mister Gentleman, it hurts.”

He was already far from being a gentleman.

Verdic, breathing heavily, clutched Carynne.

“Your father died because of you! While you’ve been here, dazzled by Raymond! Every day he worried and cried until he finally hung himself! How could you… even act like this.”

Carynne was speechless. And it even seemed absurd. Who was lecturing whom? What was Verdic even saying to Carynne now?

“Aren’t you even feeling sorry for your father? How could his daughter…”

“Mr. Verdic!”

If they had been alone, Verdic might have beaten Carynne. But suddenly all the servants, including those not belonging to Verdic, had come down and were watching them.

“How can a child…”

How can a child do such a thing to their parent?

But was he, of all people, in a position to lecture her now?

Right now, who’s supposed to judge who?

Carynne knew Verdic well. She knew his malicious nature. He had strangled her several times before.

That’s not all. He was inherently selfish and only interested in his own gains.

Countless times, Lord Hare had been driven to hang himself because of Verdic, and innumerable people had died because of him. Verdic made his money through arms brokering, and she knew he deliberately stirred up conflicts in various places.

One of the reasons the war beyond the White Mountain Range never ceased was that there were more than a few nobles funded by him, and the reason the Saytes Barony fell into his hands was that he sold them defective seeds for the land.

The number of people who died indirectly because of Verdic could be in the hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands.

Yet now, this man was questioning how she could act this way as a child to a parent— why wasn’t she concerned about her father’s death?

“Speak… Carynne Hare.”

“I am not Carynne.”

Carynne decided to continue pushing the narrative that she was Carrie. Whether he believed it or not didn’t matter. Verdic would not get more out of her.

She silently stared into space.

And this was the best Carynne could do.

 

* * *

 

“It seems she won’t open her mouth at all.”

Lind came out from the room where Carynne was bound, shaking his head repeatedly. Verdic had to walk around the hall more than five times to calm his anger. It seemed futile to get any information about Isella from Carynne. She wouldn’t even acknowledge she was Carynne and kept insisting Raymond was a good man.

“Make her admit it. By any means at all.”

“Any means…”

Lind’s voice lowered. He tried to handle things more smoothly than Verdic, but that was only comparatively speaking. Lind was also getting fed up with Carynne’s silence. He made a throat-slitting gesture, but Verdic immediately rejected it.

“No. Not that.”

Verdic retracted his words. His temperament inclined him to use violence to force the woman, who denied being Carynne, to say anything.

But she was clearly Carynne, and Raymond might return and exploit this situation.

‘I just want to kill her.’

But there were too many people involved. Keeping his own men quiet was one issue, but because he had borrowed someone else’s manpower to make the job smoother was another problem.

“Mister Verdic.”

Gale, Crown Prince Gueuze’s subordinate, called out to Verdic. Surprised at his sudden appearance, Verdic was a bit startled. Gale spoke to him with a frown.

“Mister Verdic, it seems it will take some more time.”

“…Searching the mansion, you mean? Even with all these people, do you think it makes sense that it would take this long?”

To Verdic’s reproachful tone, Gale nodded and then responded.

“Apologies. However, the owner of this house has played a few tricks in each room. Nothing lethal has come up so far, but if you’re… suspicious of Sir Raymond, then we need to investigate even more thoroughly.”

“You’re saying you think we should investigate as much as possible before he returns?”

The man looked down at Verdic as he spoke.

“Should we risk so much just based on suspicion? We weren’t informed that it would be this risky.”

Verdic felt rising anger but couldn’t express it further.

These men weren’t his own subordinates. They were lent by Crown Prince Gueuze.

While Gueuze had lent them, if they were injured or killed, it would mean owing a debt to Gueuze. All this was based on mere suspicion, and besides, Raymond was not anymore a child Verdic could manipulate at will.

‘…Damn.’

It was difficult to make a move. Verdic fiddled with his beard. People were watching him.

He had to make a decision.

So, Verdic decided.

“Then we shall stay here until Baron Raymond Saytes returns.”

“…Are you crazy?”

Carynne opened her mouth in disbelief. But Verdic, without looking at Carynne, spoke to the men.

“Hosting guests is the duty of a noble. We returned coincidentally and had no choice but to stay. In fact, when he returns, he should be grateful. After all, we will have taken good care of his house while he’s away.”

“That seems like a reasonable idea.”

“Isn’t it?”

“You’re insane.”

How could he say such shameless things? Carynne looked up at Verdic with such an expression, but Verdic’s familiar subordinates nodded.

“Understood. What shall we do then? The original deadline was a week.”

“I would appreciate it if you could ask him to extend it.”

The men nodded.

And Carynne felt an ominous premonition.

She had almost always been under Verdic’s control during this time of the year. And soon, the period when Verdic posed a danger to Carynne would return.

Could she survive him in this iteration?

Truly, would she be able to avoid that day?