Attachment Knight - Chapter 8

“It’s comfortable here, but it’s too boring. Sometimes I feel like a canary trapped in a cage. I’ve never once gone outside this place.”

“Does Don Pisano not allow it?”

“He grants most things I want, but when it comes to leaving the island, he never permits it. He scares me endlessly, saying the outside is full of danger. Apellant, the continent of the wealthy goddess, the golden city of Lavreux, diamond mines and glittering social banquets. They’re all stories from books. That’s why I’ve always been curious about people from outside the island.”

I filled the empty feeder with food and hung it back up. The faint warmth left by the birds along the rim felt gentle.

“Of course, festivals are held here too. ‘Spring of Omelas’ will be opening soon.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a festival that opens once a year at the start of the amusement park’s spring season. The quality isn’t very good, but it’s entertaining.”

Don Pisano, an avid patron of the arts, put many performances on stage. Among them, the circus performance titled <Queen of Omelas> was one he personally wrote.

A thorough hedonist, Don raised the intensity of the plays each year to draw audiences. To watch provocative performances that risked lives, people rushed to fill the seats like packs of starving hyenas.

It was the beginning of a cruel festival of blood.

“An audience swept up in madness throws the living into lion cages, drags the innocent onto the judgment stand, tortures them brutally, and takes pleasure in it.”

Strong liquor and a dizzying atmosphere numbed reason and erased the line between good and evil.

“Be careful.”

I perched on the window frame, cigarette between my lips, murmuring as if savoring the words. As the hem of my long, trailing skirt lifted and my calves were fully exposed, the two legs I stretched out the window felt cool.

“This is the third floor.”

Radem looked at me as if I might be blown away by the wind.

“I’m an acrobat. I won’t fall.”

The third floor of a thick, towering fortress rather than a mansion was certainly high enough to kill instantly, but it didn’t frighten me.

“Don’t be overconfident. Even monks fear death. And you don’t need to worry about me.”

His skeptical gaze lingered on my slender frame visible through the silhouette of my clothes.

“Of course. You’re an outstanding knight of Rosenbauer. I was just speaking out of needless concern.”

“If there are behavioral guidelines I must follow here, please tell me.”

His voice was firm and smooth, as if forged from steel armor. It was so transparent it seemed to filter out every ill intent, stirring up a worn-down sense of guilt. At the same time, it made me want to poke at and torment the purity he possessed. It was like a child’s instinct to blacken a pristine white sheet that no one had touched.

“Guidelines? Did you forget what kind of relationship we had?” I asked playfully.

I added, “There’s no need to think so hard. If you don’t know, I’ll teach you one by one. How close we once were, how earnest it was.”

“….”

“How destitute we were, trying to share even the smallest things we had. A piece of chocolate, a discarded toy, an ice cream cone, a single silver coin, even worn-out shoes. We shared everything. Children driven into corners become desperate. Our love had that kind of desperation.”

Resting my chin on my hand, I offered him a cigar. As if entranced, he put it to his mouth. His fingertips trembled faintly. Unfamiliar with it, he soon broke into a cough. He coughed for a long time, as if expelling the hazy smoke that had filled his lungs. As if dragging out all the suffocation and confusion, his chest heaved.

I watched generously as he set the cigar down before even taking a deep drag, then handed him cold water. He drank with a vaguely aggrieved expression. The cup in his hand looked excessively small. The Adam’s apple that moved as he swallowed was sensual, and the moist breath he let out was pale and gentle like a spring breeze.

“How do people in Apellant live? During the social season, do they really wear beautiful dresses and build relationships with various people in splendid palaces? Is there dancing, and tea parties too?”

“It’s not as harmonious an atmosphere as you imagine, but a social season does open every spring.”

“How romantic. I’d be happy if I met my destined partner.”

I reacted excessively like a fervent believer in destiny, constantly talking to him and throwing questions his way. I asked what people in Apellant eat. Whether they raise dogs or ducks, whether they often go to see the sea, whether more than five kinds of fruit grow there. Whether they believe the superstition that purple accessories protect the body. I poured it all out without tiring.

Even if a great deal of time passed, I felt like I wouldn’t grow tired. It was just a feeling like that.

I later realized it was the first time I’d ever talked with someone for so long.

***

The side room next to Millicent’s bedroom was Radem Rosenbauer’s quarters. The room was small, but the furniture and decorations filling it were excellent. The refined bedroom, free of excess, must’ve been the result of Millicent’s taste.

The door closed behind Radem’s back. The thin restraint clasped around his wrist rattled. Whatever trick Don Pisano had used, it was difficult to cut despite its appearance, and even Millicent didn’t know how to remove it.

His entire body felt heavy and languid. Don Pisano had subjected him to mental magic and violence for a long time. Even blocking domination with aura has its limits. As the body breaks down, the mind is bound to collapse.

He met the murky eyes reflected in the mirror.

‘Why am I here?’

Radem tried to remember.

‘What am I doing here?’

He clutched his head.

Right. He is the illegitimate son of the Rosenbauer family, a ducal house of the Apellant Empire.

Rosenbauer, a foremost noble house and the living sword that protects the imperial bloodline. Cold, pitiless air like steel, and towering iron fences. The father who always used him like a watchdog… all of it seeped into his memory like damp sea fog.

He received a secret order and infiltrated the suspicious amusement park, Omelas.

Then he was captured by Don Pisano and met a woman named Millicent.

Hair like it was woven from golden threads, and scarlet eyes that glittered like a sunset.

Leisurely movements and long, white fingers holding a cigar. A faint perfume scent and the silhouette of an excessively slender body sequentially disrupted his vision.

He collapsed onto the bed with his exhausted body.

He couldn’t tell what was going on.

The secret order his biological father had given.

It was probably to investigate the island… but strangely, his entire body, his thoughts, his will felt nothing but lethargy, as if they’d been stripped away.

The heavy drug effect engulfed him.

He recalled the potion Millicent had made him drink in prison. That might be the cause.

Even though he thought he’d found the answer, it was irritating, like he’d forgotten something crucial.

“Have we met somewhere before?”

As if blocking out a sweet demon’s whisper, Radem closed his eyes. He was weak and starving. His body was worn down like a broken machine. He moved toward the window. The window was large and locked from the outside, as if to say pointless actions weren’t permitted. From this direction, only the old, dark backside of the amusement park was visible. Judging by the view, the room was likely on the northwestern side of the castle.

Twilight dyed the edge of the forest red as it flowed downward. Soon, a thick, velvet-like sunset slanted across his body leaning against the window frame, blotting it with uneven patches.

***

“There’s somewhere I want to go.”

Millicent naturally dropped into casual speech. Like people who’d known each other for a long time, without even a hint of awkwardness.

A faint scent of powder and citrus perfume rose from her body, and her golden hair was curled up neatly. When she moved her elbows, white silk rustled, and her plump coral-colored lips were full of life.

“There’s a dessert shop that’s really popular. I’ve only ever ordered from it, but I’ve never actually gone. They say their éclairs are famous, so come with me. Let’s go together.”

Millicent’s room was always filled with flowers, soap, and an indescribably alluring scent. There was a soft carpet that toes sank into, a heavily padded bed, and fragrant food. And there were piles of rich chocolate that lifted her mood, ruffles and lace and skirts strewn about, and colorful puzzles everywhere.

Millicent gulped down alcohol like nectar. She smoked fruit-scented cigarettes and wore high heels with only her underwear. Sometimes she lay on the bed gathering her chest like an odalisque, and other times she perched on the window frame like a small, helpless lark. She dangled her blue-cold bare feet in the air for a long time, then dropped down.

She would shove pills into her mouth, or practice movements in front of the mirror that were hard to tell whether they were ballet or acrobatics, then suddenly scream and throw things.

“I don’t need any of this. I don’t want to do this crap anymore, so I’m quitting! Go tell Don! Haven’t they squeezed enough out of someone with a fear of heights by now?”

Then, as always, Yerenika soothed her in a calm voice.

“Then your usefulness will disappear as well, miss.”

Millicent, who’d been rolling her eyes and having a fit, quieted down.

At that moment, a knock sounded at the door.

“Miss, Don is calling for you.”

At Don’s summons, the woman’s dissipated, languid eyes softened obediently. As if she’d finally escaped boredom and irritation, she straightened her clothes and hurried toward the door.