Time of the Blind Beast - Chapter 80
Chapter 12: ‘That Woman’
Akenaus, his hand trembling violently, untied the eyepatch that lay slanted across his face.
“…Goddamn it.”
Even glancing sideways at the eyelid, where flesh had haphazardly fused together, took immense courage. He could endure it only because he’d seen it fleetingly. Ever since injuring his eye, Akenaus had never once looked at his own face properly.
It was all because of Ezekiel. That goddamned bastard.
When he fled from the Valdemaira main house, he hadn’t had the presence of mind to grasp the state of his face. He had barely escaped death as it loomed right before him. Of course he hadn’t. It had simply hurt—hurt so much, unbearably, horrifically.
In a daze, having fled from Ezekiel, the first place Akenaus ran to was the home of his mistress who lived nearby. He pounded on her door in the middle of the night. When she, half-asleep, opened the door only to let out a piercing scream, he finally sensed that something was terribly wrong.
That sickening feeling had lingered ever since the men he had hired for protection offered to accompany him—only for him to learn they were soldiers who had secretly infiltrated from Davis.
Everything was fucking terrible.
So fucking terrible he felt like losing his mind.
At first, he had shattered every mirror in sight. He had rampaged through the inns he stayed at. Only after the infiltrators had to repeatedly pay for the damages he caused and left warnings did his violent behavior stop. Breaking mirrors offered nothing more than temporary relief. It had taken a long time for him to accept that no amount of destruction would heal the wound buried deep in his eye.
“Even tearing that bastard to pieces wouldn’t be enough…”
To think someone would aim a gun at the middle of a person’s face—he must have been out of his mind. Are all those military brutes just demons in human skin?
“You want me to fix an eyeball that was blown apart by a bullet? I’m a doctor, not a god. No matter who you bring, no one can touch that eye.”
Even the doctor he had cautiously brought through the spies insisted there was no hope of repair. He hadn’t even tried. Not a hint of effort. Akenaus exploded with fury.
“You are a complete quack! I know someone whose completely blind eyes were restored! If his could be fixed, then so can mine! They damn well should be! Why the hell not mine?!”
After yelling and unleashing his fury on the doctor, Akenaus regretted it. He feared he might have revealed his identity in a fit of anger.
“Young master, maybe tone down the commotion a little.”
Knock knock, someone rapped on the door.
He wasn’t in the mood to see anyone. But before Akenaus could refuse, the person swung the door open and entered.
“There’s a limit to how often we can change lodging. How many times have I told you? We need to move quietly, out of sight. I wish your character matched your pretty face.”
“If you’re going to call me ‘young master,’ then treat me accordingly. Levian.”
He knew that calling him ‘young master’ was mockery, implying he’d been raised pampered like a greenhouse flower. It had irked him at first, but upon reflection, it was better than being treated like a hostage. And truly, he had grown up weak and sheltered within the Valdemaira estate. So it wasn’t entirely wrong.
With his one remaining eye, Akenaus stared at the Davis infiltrator. The man he had first met as a bodyguard had reintroduced himself under his real name—Levian—after Akenaus fled from Ezekiel and made contact with him.
“Really, the variety of your complaints never ceases to amaze me. Only we could be burdened with the honor of escorting you… What’s got you worked up this time?”
“…Just when do I get to hear this ‘good news’ you keep promising?”
The day he revealed his true identity, Levian had stirred Akenaus’s excitement by saying that the Davis spies had infiltrated Astrie to gather intelligence and assassinate key figures.
“Ezekiel Valdemaira is on that list. The moment he steps into a battle, everything becomes a mess.”
Levian had crossed swords with Ezekiel several times on the battlefield.
“It must’ve been an ambush. He was never where we expected. Then suddenly, bullets would rain down from overhead. One time, I nearly got wiped out after stepping into a swamp he had camouflaged with branches and leaves. He’s like a ghost.”
“Are you complimenting him or cursing him right now?”
“I’m just acknowledging his skill. If he were my commanding officer, I could trust and follow him. His unit is especially close-knit and cohesive. That says something about his judgment and his strong sense of responsibility. A commander who doesn’t shift blame onto his subordinates is rare. But unfortunately, we met as enemies, not allies.”
Levian shrugged. “If you remove Ezekiel Valdemaira from Astrie’s forces, even the location of the border might change. We have to take him out.”
He’d instilled hope, as if revenge would be carried out on Akenaus’s behalf, but there had been no sign of them even getting close to Ezekiel. The endless waiting was driving him mad. Akenaus could no longer contain the anxiety he had been suppressing.
“If you’re going to kill him, why haven’t you done it already? Honestly, didn’t you already miss the best chance? Back when that bastard was hiding away blind, what were you doing? Now that he’s fully recovered, you want to go after him?”
“You must’ve never had to crawl through mud, young master. It’s not as easy as you make it sound. Before crossing the border, we had to scrub all traces of Davis from ourselves to avoid suspicion. And by the time we made it over, that so-called King’s Army was swarming everywhere, stopping and searching travelers. We couldn’t even carry rifles because we had to hide our identities, and fully armed soldiers were stationed all over. You have any idea how dangerous that was? Soldiers can recognize other soldiers. You can mask it, but the killer instinct shows.”
Levian responded smoothly.
“And when we were still tracing his whereabouts, we heard he was holed up in the mansion. But then, out of nowhere, he’s calling the army together again. We couldn’t move rashly. He’s just like that. Completely unpredictable. Then, when we tried to carry weapons legally by posing as your guards, everything blew up.”
Akenaus clenched his jaw. Few would dare mention that incident in front of him so openly. Levian, being one of the leaders among the infiltrators, was one of the few who could.
After forcing down his anger, Akenaus snapped, “You could just sneak into Claris and snipe him!”
“Claris is his territory. And it’s the busiest city in Astrie. Where would we hide to take a shot? Especially when he’s always flanked by subordinates and fully armed. Unless we had a guarantee of success, we’d only risk exposing ourselves.”
“If you can’t do this or that, do you even want to kill him?”
Akenaus glared at Levian. That ever-smiling face that always got under his skin—Levian was a disconcerting man. Akenaus had heard countless stories about Ezekiel, the textbook soldier, and meeting someone like Levian had shattered that image. A conniving soldier like him was a surprise. Still, Akenaus needed the spy’s help and couldn’t afford to explode.
“That’s why we need to find a sure method. Speaking of which, is there any weakness we can exploit? Something so outrageous it’ll make him lose his mind. He’s human too. Shake him hard enough and something’s bound to fall out.”
“Why are you asking me for his weakness?”
“You’re family, aren’t you? Among us, you’d know him best. If anything comes to mind, just say it. We’re all in the same boat, aren’t we?”
“You people who ran into him in battle probably saw him more often than I did.”
Frowning, Akenaus muttered without thinking, then suddenly looked at Levian.
Now that he thought about it, there was one useful weakness.
“What? You remembered something?”
“…That bastard has a woman.”
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seeeya
thank you, eternalune! i just love love Lisanne’s sacrifice (altho not rlly sacrifice) and efforts to atone to her past mistakes. her being so selfless so that Ezekiel only has good memories of ‘Rose’