Chapter 110
***
After a brief silence, a pained groan echoed through the middle of the alley. Among the three people tangled in a chaotic heap, Rufus was pinned at the bottom, with the women piled on top of him. They lay there, unable to move for a while.
Hannah groaned as she tried to sit up, but suddenly gasped in shock. When she looked down at her damp palm, she saw it was covered in bright red blood.
"...What is this?"
Her gaze fell downward as if drawn by gravity. A red stain spreading from the back of Rufus’s head was soaking the alley floor. He lay motionless, his eyes closed.
“H-hey.... Are you okay?”
The woman reached out and shook Rufus. His forearm brushed against her calf before slumping limply to the ground. It felt strangely weightless. Her lips trembled. The scent of iron began to rise from the air.
“Ugh... Hannah, are you hurt?”
"...I, I’m fine, but this guy is acting weird."
"What?"
They frantically began examining the collapsed Rufus. Setting aside his lifeless, closed eyes, the spreading bloodstain looked ominous. Upon closer inspection, a sharp rock protruded from beneath his head.
"Get up... Try to get up!"
"...Damn it! This isn’t working, Hannah. Let’s get out of here."
"What? What about this guy?"
"We didn’t even knock him out—why should we care? He looks like a high-class guy, and if we mess this up, we’re in big trouble. Let’s get out of here before we get framed for something we didn’t do."
Hannah was at a loss, wavering back and forth. For a moment, it seemed as though the tips of Rufus’s fingers were trembling spasmodically.
“Wait, wait a second… shouldn’t we at least call the local constable?”
“If you want to call them, you do it! I absolutely don’t want to get mixed up in this!”
Hannah looked up at the woman shaking her head firmly while Rufus lay on the ground, then stood up as if she’d made up her mind. The women, holding hands tightly, dashed away without looking back. Then, footsteps began to echo from the end of the alley.
***
Isabelle opened her eyes in the early dawn as the morning sun began to rise.
She shuddered, hunching her shoulders, then pushed aside the covers and sat up. A rumbling vibration could be heard from far away. At first, it was as vague as a dream, but she soon realized it was the sound of someone pounding on the front door—so loudly it sounded as if they were trying to break it down.
The fact that she and Rufus were staying in this townhouse, located in a secluded area on the outskirts of Borsa, was known only to the Marchioness of Rainworth. However, the Marchioness never set foot here, and even the errand boy who delivered provisions came and went quietly only at set times. So it wasn’t hard to guess who could be banging so violently on the door in the early morning.
‘That wretch…! He’s finally tracked me down here.’
Gritting her teeth, Isabelle hurriedly slipped her feet into her slippers. Her footsteps headed not toward the entrance hall, but toward the bedroom where Rufus was staying.
“Rufus, dear.”
Her voice, calling out to her son in a hushed tone, was urgent. But there was no answer. Rufus was a light sleeper; he should have woken up long ago at the sound of such noise. Growing anxious, Isabelle furrowed her brow, then finally flung open the bedroom door.
“Rufus?”
The bedroom was deathly quiet. The unmade bed was empty, and the window was tightly shut. Rufus was nowhere to be seen.
“...Rufus, where are you! This is no time for games!”
Forgetting that he was supposed to be in hiding, Isabelle raised her voice. That was when she noticed the wide-open wardrobe door. She rushed over and peered inside, but the wardrobe was completely empty. Even the cloak Rufus had draped over himself when he slipped out of Eldenvale was nowhere to be seen.
Isabelle frantically ran out of the bedroom and began searching every corner of the townhouse. She checked the guest room, kitchen, and dining room on the first floor, then went back upstairs and flung open every door she found.
But she couldn’t find her son anywhere. Since the place had originally been used for secret trysts, it contained only the bare minimum of furniture—there wasn’t even a proper corner to hide in—yet her son was nowhere to be found.
Thud! Thud-thud!
At that moment, a familiar voice rang in her ears, accompanied by a pounding on the front door that sounded as if it would shatter the wood.
“Madam!”
There was no escaping it now. Isabelle strode purposefully toward the entrance and yanked the doorknob hard. The person she immediately came face to face with was, as expected, the captain of the guard in charge of security at the Duke of Liberte’s residence.
“Where is Rufus right now? I mean, where did you take my son?!”
Even as Isabelle lunged forward as if to grab him by the collar, the captain of the guard didn’t flinch.
“This is no time for this. You must go to the hospital immediately.”
“The hospital? Why...?”
“The young master has been in an accident.”
Her heart sank. She couldn’t even begin to guess what had happened.
“What do you mean... an accident?”
“We took him to the hospital as soon as we found him, but his condition is critical. Every moment counts, so please hurry.”
How on earth did this happen? Hadn’t Edmund and his group taken him? Isabelle’s mind grew increasingly confused.
She hated Edmund with a passion for calling her only son a coward, but there was no denying the truth of those words.
There was no way Rufus would have gone out alone in the middle of the night. He wasn’t the type to have the nerve to do such a thing. That made the situation even more baffling and only intensified the fear welling up inside her. For her, something inexplicable had happened.
Isabelle asked no further questions and followed the captain of the guard. A dozen or so search personnel stood around the main gate, following the captain, but nothing else registered in her mind. All the way to the hospital, she could think of nothing but hoping her son was safe.
***
The hospital building was one of the largest in the kingdom. She heard someone tell her not to worry, as it was a large hospital equipped with top-trained medical staff and state-of-the-art medical equipment, but Isabelle felt as if her blood were running cold.
“This way.”
The captain of the guard led her to the entrance of the operating room where emergency patients were treated. Seeing the nurses rushing into the operating room and the faint trail of blood on the floor, Isabelle felt as if she were about to faint. Was his injury serious enough to require surgery?
“My son... where is Rufus?”
She felt as if she might collapse at any moment. Just then, a man who stood out for his height among the scattered crowd in the hallway came into view. He was facing a doctor wearing bloodstained gloves, listening to the update with a composed expression.
It was Edmund.
Even as chaos reigned all around, his characteristically unflappable composure sent a chill down Isabelle’s spine.
“You…!”
Isabelle lunged at him and grabbed Edmund by the collar.
“What on earth did you do to Rufus!”
But even as she clung to him, gasping for breath, Edmund remained utterly composed.
“The doctor says the surgery isn’t over yet, so we need to wait a little longer.”
His tone was mechanical, and his low voice didn’t waver in the slightest.
“They say we must focus on saving his life right now. Raising your voice won’t improve the situation, so please calm down.”
“Calm down? My son was perfectly fine just last night—why on earth is he suddenly lying in an operating room! You—you... what have you done this time!”
“It wasn’t me, Mother.”
Isabelle paused for a moment. Edmund blinked slowly and continued, looking down at her.
“It was Rufus.”
“What do you mean....”
“It seems he slipped out of the townhouse while you were asleep. The place the Marchioness of Rainworth arranged for her lover is in a neighborhood with poor security. Didn’t you tell Rufus that?”
The dry question seemed less a reference to Rufus’s ignorance and more a rebuke of Isabelle for failing to protect her son.
“…Are you saying my son snuck out behind my back and met with misfortune outside? At the hands of whom, exactly?”
“Her Ladyship.”
The captain of the guard, who had been listening quietly nearby, interjected softly.
“After an investigation, His Excellency located the hiding place of the Marchioness of Rainworth and immediately ordered a search of the area. It was during that search that we found the eldest young master collapsed in an alley. According to the local constable, there were no signs of a robbery... but in any case, if we’d found him even a little later, it would have been difficult to get him to surgery in time.”
“So am I supposed to thank him now? The man who tried to sell my son into that wretched place and nearly killed him?”
“No. You must wait and hope for a miracle.”
Edmund stated it bluntly. Only then did Isabelle fall silent. Tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed at the tightly closed door of the operating room. As she gasped for breath and staggered, someone standing nearby hurriedly supported her and sat her down in a chair in the hallway.
Isabelle hated Edmund with a passion, but she no longer had the strength to argue. It would be wiser to spend that time praying to God to bring Rufus back safely. She clasped her hands together and steadied her breathing. Just as he said... She really had no choice but to wait.
“His Excellency Liberte, are you here?”
How much time had passed? It wasn’t long before her attention was drawn once more. A doctor appeared leisurely from the opposite end of the hallway and approached, looking for Edmund.
Edmund nodded silently and walked over to him. Though she couldn’t make out any conversation between the two men standing calmly face to face, Isabelle suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. Narrowing her eyes as she stared at him, she grabbed the captain of the guard sitting beside her.
“Who on earth is that doctor? He doesn’t seem to be the one performing Rufus’s surgery.”
“Ah… well…”
He stammered, looking flustered. Isabelle immediately stood up. She would hear the answer directly from the person who wouldn’t evade her.
“Who is that man?”
Edmund turned to look at her. A very brief silence passed, and his lips moved slowly.
“He’s a gynecologist.”
"...A gynecologist?"
Her son was currently teetering on the brink of death—what on earth was this supposed to mean?
“Why on earth is a gynecologist coming to report to you?”
Edmund lowered his eyes for a moment, then looked back at Isabelle. His reply was cruelly matter-of-fact.
“Because my wife is here right now.”
***
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