I Became a Slave to the Man I Abandoned Novel (Completed) - Chapter 150

“You, what are you saying right now…?”

Khalid’s eyes weren’t looking at Nox before him.

They were gazing much farther away.

He was looking at what he should have done long ago.

“…A path for you to find happiness.”

I feel like I can finally walk that path now.

Khalid Via rose to his feet. He slowly approached Nox’s door. He glanced back at Esterion.

Yes, it was better that this man was here. Khalid Via left Nox’s room and descended to the first floor.

The butler cautiously followed behind him. Khalid Via said nothing to the butler trailing him until just before he exited the mansion. Then, he spoke.

“You no longer need to report to me.”

“Yes?”

“Just work for him.”

“What does that mean…?”

“All of you… your ties have been cut.”

Khalid Via curtly uttered those words, then got into his carriage and vanished. Only the butler remained standing in front of the mansion, watching the carriage disappear into the distance.

“…”

It felt as though something significant was about to happen.

***

Marquis Andelass had all his senses keenly focused on the Imperial Palace. Other nobles were likely no different.

Whispers about the serial murders of pro-Emperor nobles, which had stirred up the capital, constantly debated whether the culprit was truly Nox Rainerio.

In fact, Marquis Andelass himself didn’t know for certain if Nox Rainerio was the true culprit of the incident. He was a man with too many secrets.

However, if he used an immunity writ to leave the Imperial Palace, it would be tantamount to confirming he was the serial killer of nobles. But then.

“He is said to have only emerged this morning.”

“This morning?”

“Yes.”

If he had used an immunity writ, he wouldn’t have needed even a single day. Nox Rainerio was not a man to leave unnecessary loose ends.

Does that mean he truly wasn’t the culprit? And it took time to prove it? He couldn’t speculate much.

“I’ll have to send a letter to the Rainerio family. Bring me some writing paper.”

“Yes.”

Marquis Andelass immediately penned a letter to the Rainerio family. Though he had many questions—about Nox’s well-being, whether he was truly the murderer, and what had happened that night—Marquis Andelass knew how to be patient. He simply wrote a single line:

[A ship cannot move forward alone.]

That one-sentence letter was delivered to the Rainerio mansion.

In his room, Nox Rainerio tore open the letter.

He stared at it for a moment, then pulled out some stationery from his desk drawer and scrawled a rough reply.

“Esterion.”

“Yes.”

Esterion, who had not left Nox’s side since the incident, immediately responded. Nox folded the hastily written letter and handed it to him.

“Deliver this to the Marquis Andelass.”

“…Understood.”

Esterion took the letter and, instead of leaving the room himself, called a servant to deliver it. He then remained by Nox’s side. Compared to yesterday, Nox seemed very stable.

After that, there were no more seizures, no struggles to breathe, no weeping or desperate cries. Instead, he had become calm.

He acted as if that day had never happened, completely unfazed. However, to Esterion, this demeanor felt even more precarious. He moved as if someone were forcing his body.

His expression lacked any will, and there was no strength in his fingertips. He mechanically carried out his usual routine, as if tied to invisible strings, manipulated. Esterion tried to persuade him, to soothe him, but nothing worked.

“Should I bring some tea?”

“No, thank you.”

“You and Angela, your tea doesn’t really suit my taste,” Nox muttered.

Esterion pressed his lips together. Nox, oblivious to Esterion’s mood, unemotionally commanded, “Call Jemeil.”

“Ah, you mean the Young Master?”

“Yes. I have something to tell him.”

Esterion nodded. He decided it would be best to go and fetch Young Master Jemeil himself.

“…Please, remain calm.”

“I’m alive, so I even have to listen to my aide tell me to stay still.”

“I’ll be back shortly.”

Nox waved his hand as if nothing was wrong. Esterion watched him with uneasy eyes for a long time, then slowly left the room. Nox leaned back in his desk chair, letting his body go limp. He stared blankly at the ceiling.

It wasn’t that the impulse to jump from anywhere didn’t arise, but Nox was not a man who lived by impulse.

He had responsibilities.

Jemeil, his only blood relative.

And Esterion and his sister.

He had promised. He had to keep that promise.

His eyelids felt heavy, but sleep wouldn’t come.

Just a few minutes of staring blankly at the ceiling with open eyes, and then Esterion returned with Jemeil.

“Brother…!”

“Jemeil.”

Nox offered a faint smile. Jemeil couldn’t have been unaware of yesterday’s commotion. But the boy approached Nox, smiling brightly as if he knew nothing.

“You look much better.”

“Of course. These days, I do nothing but eat and play.”

“You still practice swordsmanship, though.”

“That’s just like a walk.”

Jemeil exaggeratedly feigned cheerfulness. Nox decided to let the clumsy consideration go unnoticed.

“But why did you call me suddenly? You’ve never called me to the office before.”

Nox tilted his head weakly, looking at Jemeil. Still, he had been well-fed and well-clothed lately, so he seemed to have grown quite well.

“I was thinking of passing the ducal title on to you.”

“Oh, right. I knew that.”

But Jemeil thought the way Nox ended his sentence was strange. He ‘was thinking’? Jemeil sensed something was amiss and fiddled with his fingers, but Nox smiled faintly, as if to tell him not to be nervous.

“Not interested in a higher position?”

“Huh?”

Jemeil’s eyes widened. Nox, reflected in the boy’s eyes, was smiling with a weary face.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“It’s okay if you don’t.”

Nox waved his hand dismissively.

“I just wanted to ask that, so you can go back now.”

Jemeil looked at Esterion with uneasy eyes. Esterion shook his head. While his nerves were indeed on edge, he didn’t think Nox was losing his mind and spouting nonsense.

“O-okay. Got it. I’ll think about it. Even though I don’t really understand what you mean.”

“Alright. Eat well tonight.”

“Okay, bro-brother…”

Jemeil returned to his room, his eyes troubled. Esterion stood silently in the quiet room, now just the two of them, keeping his mouth shut. What Nox desired now wasn’t to be questioned. However, Esterion had something he wanted to confirm.

“Can my sister remain unharmed?”

“Yes.”

Nox Rainerio answered without a moment’s hesitation. Esterion wondered how many thoughts were swirling inside that small head. But he couldn’t just cut it open to see. He sighed and appealed once more.

“I’ll bring some tea.”

“…Do as you please.”

While Esterion was briefly absent, Nox turned his gaze toward the terrace. From this highest floor, perhaps he could die if he jumped. But as the fear, anger, despair, and the myriad of inexplicable emotions subsided slightly, he saw the things he had to protect. And then.

“…Feltion.”

His murderous intent towards Feltion didn’t subside. It kept bubbling up from a corner of his chest, sometimes making him feel so stifled he wanted to vomit.

‘I will kill you.’

Nox remembered Khalid’s parting words and turned his gaze to the desk. Khalid Via. What decision have you made? Nox Rainerio smiled crookedly.

“The best thing you can do for me.”

If you’ve realized what that is…

“I might be able to grant you forgiveness.”

He let out a hollow laugh.

“Though not while I’m alive.”

Nox quietly turned his head from the terrace. Nox himself knew exactly what he had to do in this situation. It was time to cauterize his profusely bleeding wounds and move forward. He had no time to wallow in his own pain.

He didn’t have much to prepare himself. He had already sent the letter to the Marquis, so he would handle the basic affairs. There was a specific reason why Nox had drawn in the former leader of the noble faction.

“If there’s a just cause, I can pull them in as much as I want.”

Nox’s eyes glinted darkly.

At that very moment, Marquis Andelass, who had received the letter from Nox, widened his eyes at its contents.

Just one line, like his own letter, a single sentence written on it was of a nature that no one dared to see.

He burned it with a candle, lest anyone see it. Then he leaned on the table and began to ponder.

“If this is real…”

The Marquis gripped the table tightly.

“Bring me all the stationery. All of it!”

“Yes, understood.”

His mansion became a flurry of activity. The Marquis’s letter began to be delivered to every noble affiliated with the aristocratic faction. It was done secretly and cautiously.

Nox simply received updates on the clandestine movements from Angela, lightly sipped his unpalatable tea, and set it down.

“You don’t like this either?”

“No.”

Angela and Esterion looked despairing. In Nox’s hand was a letter that had just arrived from the Via ducal family.

“What will you do with that letter?” Esterion asked.

Nox frowned, savoring the lingering sweet tea scent in his mouth. The letter’s content was very simple:

[On His Imperial Majesty’s regular council meeting day. Everything will end.]

An ambiguous tone, neither a request nor a command. But instead of scoffing, Nox gently slid it onto the table.

“He’ll end everything.”

“Everything?”

Nox didn’t elaborate. Two things he would end. Nox etched those two things into his mind, tapping the table.

Until the next regular council meeting:

5 days.