Time of the Blind Beast - Chapter 64

However, Akenaus had no protector like Madam Serva. Someone who, while technically a subordinate, at times played the role of a mother and held the authority to manage an entire estate.

He did have a nanny who raised him, but unlike Madam Serva, who remained with the Valdemaira family and steadily worked her way up to become a head maid, his nanny had long since been driven out. It was after evidence surfaced that Akenaus and the nanny had engaged in sexual relations during his early teens.

The butler, a man known for his discretion, reported the incident only to Akenaus’s father, and the nanny was quietly expelled.

To be honest, it wasn’t that he felt sexually drawn to the nanny. Given who she was, the butler at the time suspected Akenaus of harboring some kind of twisted inclination, but Akenaus had merely been curious.

As he entered adolescence and his male body matured, he began to need a woman to satisfy his sexual curiosity. However, touching a girl from a good family seemed like it would bring nothing but trouble. So he searched instead for someone who was easily accessible, someone who absolutely had to keep the matter secret and couldn’t refuse his demands. That was the nanny.

“If I’d known it would turn out like this, I wouldn’t have touched her.”

Akenaus regretted it belatedly. He never imagined a day would come when he would long for a reliable supporter like Madam Serva.

How would that bastard show up? Would he sneak in and aim a rifle at him, or use one of his skilled subordinates to flush him out like prey?

After enduring days of nerve-wracking tension, Akenaus finally packed up and took a carriage to the house of one of his mistresses. With his father not on his side and no one in the estate staff he could trust, it seemed better to entrust his safety to a mistress for the time being. Once he checked that no one was following him, he got off the carriage, and the mistress greeted him with a surprised face.

“What brings you here so suddenly?”

“Do we need a reason to see each other?” Akenaus replied nonchalantly.

“Well, usually you do… You only call for me when you’re feeling frisky.”

The mistress glanced sideways at the people surrounding the house and whispered, “Who are all those people?”

“They’re my bodyguards. They’ll only be guarding the outside of the house and won’t come in, so don’t worry.”

“But with that many people encircling the house, it’s going to look suspicious. What’s going on?”

“It looks like that guy is coming back soon.”

The mistress was the first to report the sighting of Ezekiel to Akenaus. She immediately realized who Akenaus was wary of.

“Oh my god…”

Just like that, the mistress ended up living confined with Akenaus in her own house. Akenaus had people strictly control who entered and left.

Even though the place was much smaller and completely enclosed compared to the Valdemaira main house, Akenaus still couldn’t let go of his rifle. Even when he went to sleep after sleeping with his mistress, he kept the cold, loaded barrel of the rifle by his pillow.

“If I roll over wrong in my sleep, aren’t I going to get shot and die just like that?”

The mistress expressed her own extreme anxiety.

“Maybe. Be careful not to touch it.”

“Having a deadly weapon right above my head gives me nightmares. I can’t sleep. I mean, forget sleep… how are you still thinking about doing it every day in the middle of all this?”

“That’s one thing, and this is another. If I’m not going to sleep with you, why would I even be here?”

“I can’t concentrate, constantly worried a bullet might fly through mid-action.”

“No wonder it’s been dry and lacking flavor when I put it in lately.”

“…Fine, I’ll just do it with my mouth.”

Akenaus stayed at that house for exactly a week. Unless he could completely hide his whereabouts, it wasn’t a good idea to stay in one place too long while parading around with a flashy security team.

Fortunately, Akenaus had several mistresses throughout Claris. Excluding the ones who were married or had official lovers, there were plenty of women he could rely on for a while.

However, after staying a few days in this house and a few days in that one, he found that going from one mistress’s house to another also reached its limit faster than expected. Having lived in a place like the Valdemaira estate, where every convenience was at his disposal, receiving subpar service in a house no larger than a palm was enough to drive him crazy.

The slow circulation of information only fueled his frustration. Akenaus tried to gather news of Ezekiel through his mistresses, but the man had vanished like a ghost. Moreover, since the mistresses were stuck with Akenaus and unable to go out, they too gradually became ignorant of worldly rumors.

Although he had left the main estate out of fear of a surprise attack, being away for so long became a burden. He was embarrassed that he might look like a defeated man who tucked tail and ran.

Yes, in any case, it was right that I be the one to guard my place.

Akenaus steeled his resolve and returned to the main house.

It was a sudden return, just like the day he had left.

However, he couldn’t bring the escort force all the way into the estate. A master who feared his brother’s ambush to the point of needing an escort even while moving between bedroom and dining room in his own house—such a thing would be laughable inside and out. Especially in the Valdemaira family, where there were many eyes and ears, gossip would spread fast.

It was fine to be a master who was harsh to the servants. A reputation for being strict and fierce helped establish hierarchical order. But once he started to look laughable in the eyes of those he commanded, that became a serious issue.

Akenaus ordered the escort force to disband temporarily and brought only the rifle he always carried. The luggage in the carriage would be moved into the estate by the coachman.

“But why is no one coming out to see me?”

The door was open as if someone had just come in, but there were no servants in sight to greet or secure the entrance. Akenaus frowned lightly.

“Did I arrive at the same time as Father?”

It happened occasionally. Even among the Valdemairas, the focal point of the family was the father. Whenever he returned home, the servants would rush inside the estate like a tidal wave. So Akenaus had often adjusted his schedule to avoid overlapping with his father.

On the other hand, Ezekiel preferred to come and go alone, avoiding the bother of greetings and farewells.

“Maybe I should’ve called ahead.”

Akenaus stepped alone into the garden.

It was just as dusk began to fall. The trees in the garden cast deep shadows. Looking around, it seemed there were many places to hide if one wished. Perhaps because he had spent the entire time shuttling between mistresses’ homes thinking of Ezekiel, his thoughts naturally drifted that way again.

“Is this how he’s hiding?”

He glanced at the light and shadow crossing underfoot, then stepped into the shade. In hindsight, he’d always been busy watching outward from inside, but never tried seeing inward from outside.

For the first time, he felt like he was sharing that man’s view.

Akenaus stealthily slipped into the shadows. The garden was neatly maintained, but by skillfully using the landscaping elements scattered throughout, it was possible to approach close to the house without being seen.

“From inside, you really wouldn’t notice this.”

Feeling a new sense of vigilance, Akenaus diagonally crossed the garden.

And then, he looked up at the brightly lit Valdemaira estate.

Beyond the wide glass window facing the garden, a remarkably large shadow loomed.

At first, he assumed it was his father. After all, there was no one else in the Valdemaira estate with a build as tall and solid as his father’s. But that thought quickly turned to doubt.

Was Father really that big?

Surrounded tightly by the servants, the difference in physique stood out starkly. Among the uniformly built servants, the man stood out like a giant. Even his silhouette alone exuded a sense of overwhelming pressure.

A sudden chill ran down his spine.

Akenaus instinctively took a step back.

If it wasn’t Father… there was one man in this household with a build that surpassed even his father’s.

He squinted to sharpen his vision. Just then, the man turned slightly, and the chandelier’s reflected light, which had bleached his hair white, disappeared.

A distinct black color came into view.

It was Ezekiel.