Attachment Knight - Chapter 18

Millicent turned around and frowned.

“Who?”

The man’s greasy face stiffened slightly.

“Haha…. Right. You might not remember. It’s been a long time. Still, I remember I was quite fond of you when you were young, so this is disappointing. I’m Marquis Godom of Sosheu.”

“I don’t remember.”

Led by Marquis Godom, unfamiliar nobles surrounded Millicent. Following the marquis’s boisterous laughter, crude, vulgar laughter spread like a contagion. From the back of the group, voices drifted into Radem’s ears.

“She’s prettier than the daughters of most great nations. I wondered how impressive she was since Don Pisano keeps her hidden in his bedroom and never shows her, but it’s not that special.”

“At the end of the day, she’s just a high-class prostitute.”

Even as they looked down on her as if she were insignificant, none of them could take their eyes off Millicent, creating a strange contradiction.

At that moment, a tall man wearing a hood drew attention. Radem’s eyes narrowed. Long silver hair visible beneath the hood, and sharp eyes like a fox’s tail. Skin like freshly drawn milk and teal eyes gave off a mysterious and distinctive aura.

“….”

For some reason, he felt familiar. Only after searching his memory did Radem realize he was Arnold Esseranto, spoken of as the next cardinal of the Eloem Theocracy, which worships the Goddess Libra of time and balance. That devout believer pushed through the crowd and approached Millicent.

“I do not pity someone like you.”

“….”

“But it doesn’t seem you chose this situation of your own will. I hope the Goddess’s blessing rests upon you.”

The sudden appearance of the man made people whisper.

“Of course, it won’t be easy to get out. There are too many things tempting you. You’ll have to keep choosing and acting without rest.”

By the time the murmuring died down, the man had already disappeared.

Marquis Godom scoffed in disbelief. “What the hell was that lunatic? Trying to play prophet or something?”

“Just ignore him. This place attracts all kinds of crazies.”

While everyone loudly mocked the ‘prophet,’ only Millicent didn’t laugh.

“Don’t pay attention to that unpleasant nonsense. Why don’t you get some fresh air, Miss Millicent? I heard you like alcohol. Would you have a drink with me?”

“Please show us your beautiful dance as well.”

Like a pack of hyenas, they seized the chance again and focused on their prey. Radem stepped forward, but when their eyes met, Millicent shook her head. Her expression showed not the slightest hesitation.

As if to say ‘Don’t worry,’ she even smiled brightly. But her firm gaze stopped him from approaching. Her lips moved silently.

Don’t follow me.

“Marquis, you must have a refined taste in alcohol, right? Fine, let’s go.”

“You’ve got a good eye.”

Marquis Godom naturally escorted her out of the hall. Envious gazes poured toward the marquis chosen by the woman. Godom followed after the woman walking lightly ahead of him, as if enchanted by a fairy of the night.

Starlight scattered over the velvet-like garden. The melody of a fantastical waltz heightened the sweet heat of the night.

Tonight would surely become an unforgettable night for everyone.

***

As time passed, the gazes directed at the knight standing stiffly in the corner of the hall grew more and more blatant. Even the lavish backdrop adorned with gold and silver lost its shine before the man’s striking beauty. His unmoving posture was upright, and his broad upper body and long legs were elegant.

Masked women passed by his side and diligently dropped their fans. Some stirred up strong gusts of wind to waft their perfume, while others pretended to stumble to make physical contact.

In a banquet filled with decadence and indulgence, there was no need to hide desire.

In truth, this kind of atmosphere wasn’t unfamiliar.

Though he wore the shell of a knight, he thought of himself as nothing more than a hound that handled the Rosenbauer family’s dirty work, someone unqualified to possess a knight’s honor or pride.

Radem’s gaze remained fixed in the direction where Millicent had disappeared.

She was a woman who bothered him in many ways, but more than anything, the reason he kept looking back was….

“Miss Millicent can’t fall asleep without medicine and alcohol. She often has nightmares. Having watched that for a long time, I can’t help but worry. She sometimes lives believing the lies she made herself.”

There was a time when he, too, relied on alcohol like Millicent. Because he knew better than anyone the terrible destruction, loss, and disgust it brought, he couldn’t help but worry about her.

Radem leaned his head against a pillar and closed his eyes. When he shut out his vision and silenced the noise, his consciousness carried him back to the most desperate and darkest time when he moved in the shadows as the family’s dog. It was also when he had seen the ugliest depths of the world.

At the time, Radem’s main area of activity was in crime-ridden districts like entertainment quarters and slums. People addicted to drugs whose bodies rotted as they died, children sold through human trafficking, young girls locked in cave-like pits like animal pens and exploited. The weak who were poor, young, and without guardians, Radem couldn’t protect them. Once, driven by guilt, he reached out his hand, only to be captured by the very organization he was supposed to eliminate and nearly driven to death.

Amid the haze of severe beatings, there was one scene he remembered clearly. The girl he tried to save mocked him as he lay collapsed, then took money from an executive and left.

At that moment, something inside Radem broke. It wasn’t anger toward the child, nor betrayal or disgust. She was just a girl who looked barely ten. He simply realized that this world, the reality he belonged to, was deeply and fundamentally wrong.

It wasn’t only mockery. Radem had clearly seen a fleeting hope in the girl’s eyes. The hope that maybe this time would be different, and a rotting loneliness.

Instead of relying on uncertain hope, the child chose a certain reward and betrayed Radem.

A world where order and justice had disappeared.

A world that did not expect hope.

The thought that perhaps he himself was contributing to that plunged him into deep helplessness and exhaustion.

When you think about it, how was he any different from them? He was only kept because his half-blood lineage couldn’t be discarded. He was simply born into a slightly better family. In truth, wasn’t Radem’s life just as much at the bottom as theirs?

“What are you doing in a place like this, Radem Rosenbauer?”

It was his half-sister Brunhild who lifted Radem to his feet while he was dead drunk.

“Not only did you ruin the job out of useless sympathy and end up in that state, now that you’ve barely recovered, you’re also drowning yourself in alcohol? Pathetic. I’ll request immediate punishment from Father.”

With unfocused eyes, Radem stared blankly at his blood relative. It wasn’t a situation to laugh about, yet he found himself laughing. A hollow feeling filled his stomach instead of alcohol, the sense that without even this bottom, there was nowhere left for him to stand.

“Would you like a drink?”

“Shut up. Aren’t you ashamed as a member of the Rosenbauer bloodline? We praised your abilities, and you’ve only grown more insolent and arrogant. Radem Rosenbauer, even punishment isn’t enough for you. Go back and undergo abstinence training again before I start thinking you’re nothing but a disgrace to our family.”

As the proud knight of Rosenbauer, as the exemplary legitimate daughter, his half-sister, who grew up properly in the light without ever knowing shadow, would never understand.

She would never be able to understand it either.

“You’ll never understand.”

The murmured voice, soaked in alcohol, didn’t reach Brunhild. She glared at Radem as if he were some disgusting insect, then backed away as if fleeing from the stench of alcohol and drugs, powder and perfume that filled the pub.

“In Digrotia, where I went to root out heretics who blaspheme against the gods, human sacrifice and cannibalism are carried out like rituals.”

“What did you say?”

“In the underground city of Altera, there are countless children forced to take drugs, living like vegetables because of the aftereffects. Father, the head of the Rosenbauer family, deliberately gives those children more of it and orders them to reveal the headquarters of their leaders.”

“…Do not insult Father! He would never—”

“So don’t look at me like that. To me, this is more familiar than the fresh air of the light. The stale, toxic smell of greed.”

“You… what are you trying to say?”

Brunhild, shaken, raised her voice. It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand her reaction. Only a few in the family truly understood how he was used.

“I’m not the honorable and noble knight you think I am.”

“So drowning yourself in alcohol is your only comfort?”

“Is there any other way? If there is, tell me, dear sister. What am I supposed to do?”

Brunhild curled her trembling hand into a fist. The eyes that had lost their fighting spirit no longer held contempt or scorn. Only deep confusion, born from pure ignorance, swirled within them.

Even that felt a little pitiful.