Home/I confined you, but I have no ill will/ch 13

13.

Watching Ibelin answer so calmly, Kite made a peculiar expression.

"Please wait a moment."

"I don't like waiting."

"But there's nothing you can do right now anyway, is there?"

Ah—a slip. She had tried to suppress her emotions, but the words had escaped before she could stop them.

"Then just rest."

With that, Ibelin left the room. After taking a deep breath, she went up from the basement to prepare the meal.

She regretted bringing Kite here—but it was far too late for that.

"So I have to save him."

Having gone this far, she couldn't just let Kite die.

"Just hold on a little longer."

Murmuring that, Ibelin took out the ingredients she had bought in advance. This time, she had spent a little more money to buy good meat, taking into account Kite's refined palate.

If only there were a forest nearby.

Then she could have hunted for meat. A young doe, or even a rabbit or wild boar—wild game had a distinctive taste, but with proper preparation, it was excellent.

Ibelin's hands moved quickly as she peeled potatoes and carrots with a small knife. Preparing the vegetables to accompany the meat didn't take long. Now all that remained was to cook the meat.

What about the soup?

She had learned to cook, but all of it was survival cooking done during hunts. Truthfully, how often would a noble lady set foot in her own kitchen? Besides her outdoor cooking, Ibelin had never been particularly interested in the kitchen.

If she had been a commoner, she would have had to cook every day—but she was, after all, a noble. If she didn't want to cook, she didn't have to. For that reason, Ibelin stared at the pot of boiling water.

When eating outdoors, she would throw ground grains and wheat flour into a pot, roughly tear up some jerky, and stew it all together.

"Well, it's probably similar."

Rummaging through the kitchen drawers, she found a cookbook. She had looked at it, but she hadn't understood everything—there were unfamiliar spices. So she substituted those parts with what she knew.

Cooks are truly remarkable people.

After preparing the menu Kite had requested, she was exhausted. She thought she might rather take a gun and hunt a beast.

One day had passed out of the ten—now she only needed to endure nine more. Outside, the capital was bustling with preparations for the upcoming Emperor's birthday. And in the midst of all that, the number of patrolling guards had increased.

Foreign visitors would be arriving in large numbers, so it must be a precaution. Or perhaps they had noticed the Archduke's disappearance.

It's fine. I erased all the traces.

Ibelin had learned hunting properly from her grandfather, and thanks to her diligent practice, she could hunt alone in the forest.

What a lone hunter needed most was the ability to conceal their tracks—and she had proven particularly talented in that regard.

Beasts and humans might be different, but she had hidden the traces of the abduction thoroughly. The chances of someone finding this house were extremely low. Still, just in case, she had to appear as ordinary as possible.

Ordinary.

Thwack!

Ibelin brought the knife down on the cutting board.

---

A day passed, and those whom Seren had asked for help returned to their posts. Emperor Leonhardt had promised cooperation in finding Kite—but given the circumstances, the available manpower had shrunk drastically.

Lucen spoke in a dejected voice.

"So in the end, we have to find His Grace with only our own forces."

"But there are no witnesses, and we found no traces."

Alex's situation was much the same.

"Are you certain Lord Kite left no word?"

Unlike Seren, the two of them doubted whether Kite had actually been abducted—since he often moved without telling anyone.

"He left none."

"Your instincts are usually good, Vice-Commander. What do you feel?"

Seren was weaker than Kite, but he sometimes had an uncanny intuition. It wasn't particularly strange—in the age of magic, there were all kinds of people and races, and their abilities sometimes passed down through blood.

"My feeling isn't bad."

"Then isn't he probably fine?"

"No, relying solely on intuition isn't wise. I also have an odd sensation."

Sighing, Seren shook his head. A bad feeling and a good feeling coexisted—and that was confusing him.

"So let's move."

To Seren, Kite was a lord he could never afford to lose. For his sake, he would do anything.

"Let's shake down the information brokers again."

"We'll start a panic."

"Let them panic."

And so they turned over every information network in the capital. Among them was the man with narrow eyes and a bulbous nose—the very information broker Ibelin had first met.

"Uwaaah! I—I don't know anything!"

The moment he saw Seren, the man was terrified and covered his head with his arms.

"What don't you know?"

He was trembling in fear even before they had laid a hand on him—he would likely spill anything.

"I—I don't know anything."

Thump! Alex struck the man's head hard.

"Get a grip. Has anyone come asking for information about His Grace lately? Tell us everything if there has."

"No—"

"Think carefully before you speak, all right? If you make a careless mistake because you rushed, I'll be very upset. Got it?"

As Alex partially drew his sword, the man's eyes shook wildly.

"There... there might have been."

"There was?"

"Y-yes. It's a bit old, but a woman came once. She asked about His Grace."

At the man's words, Seren's expression hardened. Seeing that, the man cowered and hurriedly made excuses.

"I—I didn't tell her anything! I drove her away!"

"Do you remember what she looked like?"

"W-well, she was wearing a hood. I didn't see her face. I heard she visited other brokers afterward, but I'm sure none of them gave her any information! I swear!"

Ever since Kite had thoroughly beaten them, the information brokers had become docile lambs. They would never do anything to displease him.

"Is this considered progress?"

The other brokers' accounts were much the same. A woman had come asking, but they had not helped. That was all. They had roughed up a few just in case—but they only wept.

"It seems genuine."

"Considering how much they were hit and still said the same, it's probably not a lie."

At Lucen and Alex's reports, Seren sighed out of habit. He had no idea where to even begin to find Kite.

"Who is this woman?"

One of the current Swordmasters was a woman—but she had been spotted in her homeland at that exact time. So it couldn't be her.

"Lord Kite probably went along willingly."

"Who could take him by force?"

"A hidden Swordmaster, perhaps?"

At Seren's remark, Alex said in disbelief.

"Swordmasters aren't that easy to come by. Besides, all Swordmaster candidates are already accounted for by Intelligence. No one moved in the capital on that day."

Yes—they had also visited the Intelligence Department.

"I believe he will return soon. He cares for His Majesty, his nephew, doesn't he? He's disappeared like this before."

At times like this, the two worked in sync. Lucen and Alex took turns spinning plausible stories. No, not plausible—perhaps they were true.

"I hope so."

Seren shook his head.

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