Chapter 4: HDBMLM

Chapter 4

On the way home from Layton Bridge, her head felt numb, as if she had been struck in the back of i.

“You mustn’t forget me, Prina.”

Don’t forget me, he said…

“You mustn’t abandon me, Prina.”

Don’t leave me, he said…

And yet that same man had said—

“If you had met a truly wicked noble, that hand of yours wouldn’t still be attached.”

He threatened to cut off my arm! I was only trying to return the ring!

‘How is this even possible?!’

Even though it had happened barely an hour ago, she still couldn’t believe it.

Was this what it meant?

If someone was going to forget first, it would be him.
If someone was going to leave first, it would be him.

The person she saw today felt like a completely different man.

The way he looked at her, his attitude, his tone—everything.

But then why…

Why did this chill feel strangely familiar?

‘Has something like this happened before?’

Hugo had always been a gentle person, but…

There had been the occasional odd incident.

Like suddenly shattering a cup during one of their dates, or snapping the armrest off a chair without warning. Anyway, he broke an awful lot of things.

“Ah, I’m bad at controlling my strength.”

Did that even count as an excuse?

But Prina—

Wow, Hugo is handsome and strong!

—had sincerely admired him for it. She’d even been a little touched.

Are you an idiot?

“It’s okay, Hugo. I break my glasses sometimes too. I understand. Honestly, seeing you make mistakes like this just makes you feel more human and cute.”

“I think you’re very cute too, Prina.”

Was breaking glasses really comparable to breaking chairs?

Still, Prina had brushed it off without much thought. Why had she been so carefree about it?

Because Hugo was absurdly beautiful.

He was so stunning that being around him sometimes dulled her reason.

Maybe that was why she accepted everything that happened around him so easily.

Well, Hugo could do that, I guess!

She had been completely blinded by love.

Still, it wasn’t as though she had never felt any discomfort at all.

“H-Hugo! I got pickpocketed! What do I do? That was my entire month’s salary—waaaah!”

There had been the day she cried after getting her wages stolen.

But then…

“Prina, the guards said they found your wallet.”

“Really?”

“Let’s go to the guard station together.”

When they arrived at the station, the pickpocket was there with both arms broken, sobbing the moment he saw Prina.

At the time, she’d been slightly horrified by what she thought was excessive force from the guards…

‘But now that I think about it, maybe he wasn’t afraid of the guards…’

Maybe he had been trembling while looking at her boyfriend.

The more strange coincidences piled up, the more suspicious she became.

And so, a year ago, Prina decided to break up with Hugo.

‘But things turned out like this…’

Not only had she failed to say they should break up, she hadn’t even managed to return the ring.

Because Hugo never gave her the chance to speak!

Did he really injure his head during a mission or something?

That thought lingered only briefly before Prina sighed while staring at the ring set with a red ruby.

This wasn’t some trashy melodrama… there was no way.

Still, Hugo had been too much. No matter what, not even giving her the chance to speak was unfair.

Setting aside the fact that she couldn’t properly break up with him, she also failed to return the ring that had tormented her for the past year.

Mmm…

Maybe the ruby was fake?

For a commoner, that was probably more likely.

Maybe that was why Hugo had left without a second thought about the ring.

Just as Prina desperately tried to reassure herself—

“You’re only coming home now?”

Prina hurriedly hid the ring.

A familiar face stood there.

Her landlord…!

He looked heavily drunk as he staggered home. Of all times to run into him.

“Isn’t it dangerous for a young girl to be wandering around this late at night?”

“…Thank you for your concern.”

It clearly wasn’t genuine concern, but there was no point provoking him.

He was a notorious loan shark in this area, and people who displeased him often vanished from the slums without a trace.

“Come to think of it, rent day is coming up soon. You’ve prepared the money properly, haven’t you, Prina?”

Even though he knew perfectly well how tight her finances already were.

Not long ago, the landlord had suddenly raised the rent by twenty percent.

And Prina was in no position to come up with that money.

“Well then, I’ll see you on rent day. Heh heh.”

‘…What should I do?’

Once the landlord decided to squeeze money out of someone, he always succeeded somehow.

Before she realized it, thoughts of Hugo had completely disappeared from her mind.

The capital’s slums.

Beyond Layton Bridge stretched a district where shadow and light seemed to meet.

Rows of abandoned buildings lined the streets, and the stench of rotting wood filled the air.

And this particular abandoned house, reeking of blood, was a place no one visited.

“Dispose of him.”

The black-haired man peeled off his bloodstained gloves and tossed them aside. He walked casually through the pool of blood beneath his feet.

At his feet lay a man covered in signs of torture.

“It seems quite a lot happened while I was away. Even spies managed to crawl in.”

Leaning deeply into the backrest of his chair, he leisurely crossed his long legs.

Ordinarily, he should have been making a glorious return to the capital through a triumphant victory procession by now.

Instead, Declin had entered the capital unofficially.

The reason: to deal with the spy hidden within House Caesar.

“My apologies, Your Grace. This was my failure.”

The aide bowed hurriedly.

“Forget it. We already found out who was responsible.”

Declin’s crimson eyes turned toward the cold corpse that had failed to withstand the torture.

A smile spread across his lips.

Anyone could have been enchanted by such a beautiful exterior, yet the aide felt chills crawl down his spine.

“…And, Your Grace, it seems we’ll need more time to search for the heirloom.”

The ring Declin always wore.

It was an heirloom of House Caesar.

During the conquest of the enemy kingdom’s castle, his memories had briefly gone blank.

He had no idea when the ring he always carried had disappeared.

A shadow fell over Declin’s expression.

“Isn’t it strange?”

The ring engraved to him personally was not something that could be easily lost.

There was no way he could fail to notice it slipping from his finger.

Which meant someone had manipulated his consciousness and stolen it…

“Who could that be?”

Declin stood there deep in thought. For a fleeting moment, his crimson eyes seemed unfocused.

“Hugo.”

Suddenly, the drunk woman who had grabbed him earlier came to mind.

A rabbit-like woman with lovely pink hair.

She had been fairly pretty.

For the brief moment she held onto him, she had been the only thing he could see.

That had never happened before.

The instant he pictured her face, a headache stabbed through him. Declin frowned.

Ever since returning from the war, sharp headaches struck whenever he tried to recall certain things. It was endlessly irritating.

“…To be honest, Your Grace, I cannot think of anyone skilled enough to surpass you. I have no idea how someone could have stolen the ring without your knowledge. My apologies.”

Declin erased the woman from his thoughts and gave his aide a curt command.

“Find it.”