Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 8 - Tarten

There was no nameplate there.

No, perhaps there was a nameplate somewhere on the wall. But the wall was too long to circle around and look for one.

“I’ve seen quite a few renowned houses, and Kyle’s house isn’t exactly modest either, but…”

Jeong Taeui mumbled, looking at the wall that, to exaggerate slightly, seemed endless.

Indeed, thanks to his genius elder brother, who was often invited to the homes of high-ranking officials since childhood, Jeong Taeui had seen countless prominent houses himself.

However, the mansion before his eyes was special even among them.

“Who lives in a palace like this… Wow. I can’t even see the building.”

Like a country woman seeing Seoul for the first time in her life, Jeong Taeui blinked his eyes in awe before the wall. Though he could faintly see a building far off through the gaps in the heavy iron bars of the main gate, he couldn’t tell if it was the main building of this house.

Jeong Taeui glared at the note in his hand. The address, written in Kyle’s beautiful handwriting, he had already memorized after looking at it several times.

But he couldn’t be sure if this house’s address matched the one on the note. He had tried to confirm the name by looking for a nameplate, but there was none to be seen.

Right next to the iron gate was a small guardhouse. Two guards in uniform sat inside, giving him suspicious looks. Well, it made sense. Any unfamiliar Asian man loitering near a house—looking carefully for a nameplate—would appear suspicious.

“Nothing’s more certain than asking.”

Jeong Taeui put the note in his pocket and walked over. As he approached, one of the guards stood up and came out of the guardhouse.

Standing face to face with someone across the iron bars felt a bit strange. But then he thought, since he was outside the bars, there was no need to feel strange. After all, weren’t they the ones trapped inside?

“What brings you here?”

The guard asked in a polite but stiff tone. Eyes mixed with vigilance and curiosity came not only from him but also from inside the guardhouse.

“Ah—I’m looking for Christina Tarten.”

“Christina Tarten?”

The guard’s expression turned odd.

A bewildered look appeared on his face as he repeated the name Jeong Taeui had spoken. He tilted his head and glanced back at the guardhouse. The guard inside the guardhouse also gave a slight nod sideways.

It was Jeong Taeui who was bewildered by their gestures, which seemed to imply they knew nothing and had heard nothing.

Although he hadn’t been able to confirm the nameplate, he had thought this was almost certainly the right house.

Kyle had said that since it was such a large house, it would immediately catch his eye if he went near this area. And the only house large enough to stand out in this vicinity was this one. To be precise, this house was overwhelmingly large.

“There’s no such person.”

The guard exchanged a few words with the other guard inside the guardhouse and then returned, speaking firmly.

Jeong Taeui stared blankly at the guard for a moment, their gazes meeting.

There was no hint that he was lying. And there was no reason for him to lie.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head.

“Isn’t this the Tarten family residence?”

“That’s right.”

“…Christina Tarten is…”

“There’s no such person.”

Something was going wrong right from the start. Where did it get tangled?

Just in case, he asked if there was another Tarten family residence nearby, but the guard shook his head with an incredulous look.

“This is troublesome…”

Jeong Taeui mumbled with a sigh. It seemed he would have to contact Kyle.

Tarten.

It was a name he had heard several times recently.

When he heard that the person named Christina had the surname Tarten, Jeong Taeui finally realized why she was a guest difficult to dismiss lightly. If she was a person from a family that had maintained relations for over a hundred years, it made sense. Only then did he finally understand why Ilay could have a childhood friend.

He had come prepared for a hard time meeting this formidable person, having only heard descriptions, but he never expected things to go awry even before meeting her.

Well, for now, he should contact Kyle and reconfirm…

Just as Jeong Taeui was about to step back from the iron gate.

A dark blue sedan, presumably visiting the mansion, approached and stopped in front of the gate. Seeing the car, the guard identified the person in the driver’s seat and began to open the gate.

While the guard was opening the gate, the car window rolled down, perhaps wondering about the unfamiliar Asian man standing idly beside it. Inside the car were three young men who appeared to be of similar age.

The young man in the passenger seat spoke to Jeong Taeui lightly, as if playing a prank.

“Who are you looking for?”

Judging by the slight resemblances, the young men seemed to be family or relatives. If such relatives came in a group, it was highly likely they were blood relatives of this household.

Perhaps they might know the name of a distant relative whom the guard didn’t know.

“I’m looking for Christina Tarten.”

Jeong Taeui answered, filled with expectation, and smiled as amicably as possible.

But unfortunately, the young man’s expression, as he repeated, “Christina?”, was not much different from the guard’s earlier. Jeong Taeui inwardly clicked his tongue in bitterness. It really seemed like he had to contact Kyle.

However, just as Jeong Taeui was about to take a step back, the young man in the passenger seat, who had been mumbling Christina’s name, suddenly stiffened his expression.

…Aha. Bingo.

Jeong Taeui stopped his retreating steps.

Not only that young man, but the others in the car did too. With a time lag, their expressions changed one by one as if they remembered the name.

But… while it was good that it was a bingo, why did their expressions seem to be…

Jeong Taeui furtively observed the atmosphere inside the car.

Their expressions were not merely surprise or astonishment. They clearly held vigilance and hostility, sharply scrutinizing Jeong Taeui.

He knew he had stepped on something wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what it was, so Jeong Taeui tilted his head askew. It felt as if he was about to get beaten up.

“Who are you?”

Even their tone instantly turned hostile.

“Ah… I’m just a messenger.”

“What are you here for?!”

“At a friend’s request, I came to retrieve something that was lent out.”

Jeong Taeui answered calmly as if nothing were amiss, steadily observing them. Hostility blatantly flared from the gazes fixed upon him.

It seemed these young men had quite a bad relationship with Christina.

Well, anyone who could be friends or colleagues with Ilay—who could possibly get along with them? It would be impossible unless they were birds of a feather.

In that regard, it was clear that these young men were not of that sort. That was fortunate for them.

“So, is Christina home right now?”

When Jeong Taeui asked, a brief silence was followed by a rough shout.

“There’s no such person!”

After asking so much, what was he supposed to do if they said there was no such person now?

However, before Jeong Taeui could wipe the dumbfounded look off his face and say something else, the young men spat out the window, glared at Jeong Taeui, and then threw another question.

“Who sent you?! What’s this ‘lent item’ you’re talking about?”

…They were very curious about someone who didn’t exist.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue and sighed.

There was no point in talking to these guys any further. It seemed better to just send them away quickly and find another solution.

“If there isn’t, then fine.”

Jeong Taeui stepped back from the car and waved his hand, telling them to go quickly. The gate was already wide open, and from inside, the guard was observing the situation with a curious expression.

Wait a minute…

The guard didn’t know her. And these young men, though they clearly knew her, initially couldn’t recall the name when it was spoken. Kyle had given him this address as hers.

Then…

Jeong Taeui tilted his head askew, gathering the circumstances one by one. But no fitting conclusion came to mind, so he frowned, saying, “Hmm,” when he heard a rough shout calling him from behind.

He turned around and saw that the young men had no intention of going inside. Moreover, it seemed they had no intention of letting Jeong Taeui sort out his thoughts in peace.

What the hell. Why was it like this from the beginning?

“Hey! Who sent you?! Are you not going to answer properly?!”

Perhaps it was the resentment they held for Christina, but they seemed determined not to let Jeong Taeui, who had uttered her name, go easily. One of them even opened the back door and got out.

Jeong Taeui, who never liked fighting from a disadvantageous position, eventually allowed himself to be grabbed by the collar.

He had been told that finding the book wouldn’t be easy, but he hadn’t imagined that the pre-meeting stage with Christina would be included in the process of finding it.

“Why are you looking for that person, huh?!”

The young man holding Jeong Taeui’s collar barked aggressively. Seeing that the guard was hesitating but ultimately not coming over, it seemed he would just watch until the end. So Jeong Taeui had no choice but to get himself out of this situation.

Jeong Taeui pondered, shaken by his collar, that if he were to hit this guy and run away, there would likely be considerable trouble later.

Just then.

Behind their car, which was blocking the main gate, another car approached.

The black sedan silently pulled up behind them without even a single honk. The back window rolled down.

“What’s going on at the gate?”

It was a gentle yet stern voice.

As soon as that voice was heard, the young men surrounding Jeong Taeui instantly fell silent. And Jeong Taeui turned his head in the direction of that somehow familiar voice.

“…Ah.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled without realizing it.

Jeong Taeui had seen the man sitting in the back of the sedan, looking out.

It was him. The man who had visited Kyle—or Ilay—the other day. The one with the pleasantly smiling, calm face. Yes, he was the man who had requested something from Ilay.

Why was he here?

But without Jeong Taeui even realizing his question, the man, upon making eye contact with him, tilted his head with a curious expression.

“Do we have a guest?”

When the man asked quietly, the young man who had been holding Jeong Taeui’s collar hastily let go. Then, as if arguing against his own behavior, he quickly exclaimed,

“He’s not a guest! This kind of…”

Embarrassed to have shown an unseemly appearance in front of the man, the young man stammered out excuses, and Jeong Taeui silently dusted off his collar area before looking at the man again. Their eyes met.

The man carefully observed Jeong Taeui and then asked politely,

“Who are you looking for?”

Jeong Taeui looked at the man for a moment instead of answering.

The guard didn’t know the name, and these young men had shown hostility towards it. So this man… surely he wouldn’t just throw punches without warning.

“Christina Tarten.”

Jeong Taeui looked directly at the man and spoke the name for the third time.

The man said nothing.

He simply stared intently at Jeong Taeui. From head to toe, slowly. Not overly blatant, so it wasn’t offensive.

Eventually, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Christina Tarten. You couldn’t have heard that name directly from him… If you don’t mind, may I ask who introduced you?”

“…I arrived in Dresden for the first time today.”

The man fell silent. His gaze narrowed slightly, trying to gauge what Jeong Taeui was about to say.

“I don’t know if this is the right place I came to, I’ve never met Christina, I don’t know his position within this house, and I don’t know what kind of relationships he has. Of course, I also don’t know what to say and what not to say.”

The man seemed to understand the meaning embedded in those words: that Jeong Taeui couldn’t answer his question.

The man looked at Jeong Taeui for a moment, then nodded.

“I understand. I will guide you. Welcome to Tarten.”

The man said, his eyes curving slightly in a welcoming smile.

This man seemed to be someone who hadn’t fallen out with Christina, unlike the others. After all, Ilay hadn’t fallen out with everyone in UNHRDO either.

Jeong Taeui saw the man pointing to the seat next to him, nodded, and quickly got into the car.

One of the young men who had been watching them from a distance frowned and shouted,

“Richard! That guy is here for that person!”

At the shout, Jeong Taeui shifted his gaze from the young man to the man.

Richard.

Richard Tarten.

A name that had briefly come up in a conversation between his uncle and Kyle. Someone Kyle had called promising.

“He is a guest of Tarten.”

The man said calmly to the young man, disregarding Jeong Taeui’s gaze. In his firm tone, which allowed no rebuttal, Jeong Taeui realized that this man was not only gentle.

Jeong Taeui, sitting next to the man, gave the young men a bright smile and then passed through the gate, ignoring their exasperated looks.

Now I’m also trapped behind bars, he thought, looking out the car window.

It was a vast estate. After driving a bit further, a mansion came into view in the distance. The dark gray, U-shaped mansion was dauntingly large even from afar.

Behind it, low hills continued. The forest, though not dense, was lush and green, imbued with a light that seemed to be a blend of human care and nature’s touch. The seemingly wide forest looked perfect for a stroll or a forest bath.

“There are well-equipped equestrian courses over there. Beyond that, it touches the mountain range, so when there’s time, we sometimes go hunting.”

The man next to him explained, as if following Jeong Taeui’s gaze.

“The mansion, though it looks connected, is actually made up of three separate buildings. The right wing faces the main building, and the left wing is the west wing.”

This man, who explained his unfamiliar surroundings so calmly and gently, without even knowing who Jeong Taeui was, still made a good impression upon seeing him again. His demeanor was gentle and kind.

…Come to think of it, Ilay had said something about this man. That he was a pervert.