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Chapter 29: Are Your Parents Wilson Baker and Rosalyn Baker?

The kidnappers came in the dead of night, cutting through the darkness.

They were brutal and rough. The children resisted, but it was futile. The idea of stabbing the kidnappers with their weapons and exploiting an opening to escape was nothing more than a trivial childhood fantasy.

Even the ropes Janice had untied using her past-life knowledge seemed to mean nothing to the kidnappers.

"What's this! Weren't they tied up?"

The loosened ropes seemed to puzzle them, but the kidnappers calmly bound Janice and Raymond again, tightly.

Soon after, Janice and Raymond were tossed like cargo into the back of a wagon—like hunted young animals.

To be precise, they were locked in a hidden compartment in the lower section of the wagon.

And the wagon set off.

Again—toward somewhere unknown.

---

The wagon raced without rest. The ordeal only ended after day and night had cycled several times.

After the wagon arrived, Janice and Raymond were carried like bundles and dragged into a building.

"Elder! We've brought them!"

The kidnappers' guide led them to a place cluttered with books and documents piled high, leaving no room to step. They brought the children to an old man buried among the stacks—the one they called "Elder."

He looked like any ordinary grandfather you'd see on the street—not particularly fierce or frightening.

As if to prove that impression, the old man smiled kindly and gestured to them.

"Bring them closer. Yes, closer. A little more!"

Lifting his glasses, the old man scrutinized Janice and Raymond with wrinkled eyes. His gaze stopped on Janice.

"Your name?"

"Pardon?"

"Your name."

"...Janice B. Roman."

Janice hesitated, then gave her name. The old man paused briefly before asking again.

"Ah! Yes. That's your name now. And what about your other name?"

"...?"

"Don't understand? Then let me change the question. Are your parents Wilson Baker and Rosalyn Baker?"

"...!"

Janice's eyes widened in shock at the unexpected mention of her adoptive parents' names.

"Answer."

"...Th—..."

"..."

"...No... Yes."

Janice's mind went blank.

Janice was the Duke's illegitimate daughter, and Raymond was the Emperor's most beloved nephew.

Because of that, whenever they were together, people tended to regard Raymond as more important.

That was common in most noble households. Even in the Ducal residence, Raymond was a guest of honor.

But the "Elder" was different.

He showed more interest in Janice than in Raymond, and judging by his questions, that interest stemmed not from the Duke of Roman, but from the Bakers.

―I ordered a reinvestigation because there were suspicious points... Someone must have caught wind. They ransacked the Bakers' lab, killed someone there, and set the fire.

―So you're saying the Bakers didn't die in an accident either?

―Probably not.

―Those poor people—the Bakers. They were good people. To think they were murdered...

The conversation between the old couple and Garren, never once forgotten, flashed through Janice's mind.

According to Garren, the killers had likely targeted the Bakers' research materials.

Not everyone who knew Janice was the Bakers' adoptive daughter was the culprit.

But the fact that they'd kidnapped her, that they'd bothered to question her first despite holding a heavyweight hostage like Raymond, and that the question was related to the Bakers—meant her suspicions weren't entirely unfounded.

Having reached that conclusion, Janice glared at the old man with eyes that seemed ready to spark.

Meanwhile, Raymond was equally surprised by the old man's question. Ever since the kidnapping, he'd assumed Janice had been dragged into this because of him.

But when the old man asked that question, Raymond realized he might have misjudged the kidnappers' motives.

That was when Raymond noticed Janice's reaction.

"...!"

Glaring at the old man with murderous eyes, Janice clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. Her hands were trembling.

According to Raymond's "common sense," built over a not-so-short time of knowing her, that expression was the one Janice wore right before causing trouble.

Acting smart all by herself, but the moment she gets angry, she throws all reason and intelligence out the window—a troublemaker!

That was the Janice Raymond knew.

In fact, Janice was the only person in Raymond's short life who had ever traded punches with him—the Emperor's nephew, the Grand Duke's only son, third in line to the throne—and fought him blow for blow.

They were surrounded by enemies. If Janice started cursing or lunging at them now, it would be a one-way ticket to a senseless death.

...Oh, damn! The knife!

Come to think of it, Janice had the half-broken knife.

Raymond quickly stepped closer and clasped Janice's fist with his own hand.

"You, what—"

"...I'm scared. I'm really scared. This place is unfamiliar."

Janice tried to shake off Raymond's hand in irritation, but he clung to her desperately.

"Hey!"

"Hey, what do you mean let go? I'm scared. You know I'm a coward."

Janice and Raymond scuffled. Watching them, the old man let out a dry chuckle.

Having observed Janice closely, he seemed to understand why Raymond was clinging to her.

That boy is quite perceptive.

But what surprised him even more came next.

Janice, who had been glaring at him like a boar facing a trap, swallowed her anger after a few glances from Raymond.

Whether she'd truly calmed down or was just pretending, it seemed their relationship wasn't as bad as he'd heard.

...Well, if they really hated each other, they wouldn't have come out together to watch the cavalry parade.

The old man's closed eyes tapped lightly on the table.

The Emperor had formed a special investigative team to find his nephew and had set up checkpoints across the entire capital. If Raymond and Janice weren't found, the checkpoints would spread throughout the Empire.

Pure golden hair, as if woven from gold thread, was rare. It was proof of Imperial blood.

That's why the old man had planned to kill Raymond.

He'd brought them all the way here to avoid giving the Emperor any leads by killing Raymond near the capital. But from the start, Raymond's death had been predetermined. Letting him live carried no small risk.

But the current exchange stirred conflict in the old man's heart.

He couldn't fully judge Janice in just a brief meeting, but to him, she seemed deeply attached to her adoptive parents and, more than anything, unyielding—she might bend, but she would not break.

Young as she was, someone with Janice's temperament would not be moved by threats alone.

And Raymond appeared to be almost the only means of controlling her.

Kill, or spare?

The more he thought, the faster his fingers tapped the table. Then, after a moment, the tapping stopped.

The old man opened his eyes.

"You're fortunate to be alive!"

"...?"

"Frank, take the children to their room. And let them rest today. Give them food too. Tomorrow will be different. ...You there, the Emperor's nephew? You'll have to prove your worth. Or you won't live long."

Having spoken these ominous words, the old man rose before Janice and Raymond could react. They watched his retreating back with unsteady eyes.

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