Burgundy

Tonight, the Imperial Capital was destined to be anything but peaceful.

Dark clouds blanketed the night sky, hiding the stars and moon. The pitch-black night made this city shrouded in mist seem even hazier. Only the scattered glow of kerosene streetlamps lit the roads, swaying in the breeze.

Living across the street, young Aibus curiously peered through the window at the villa opposite him. A wall two or three meters high extended outward from the gate on either side.

Everything around it, including the house where he lived, belonged to the villa's owner. His mother worked inside the villa as a maid.

From this angle in Aibus's room, he could see over the wall.

Of course, beyond the wall lay a vast lawn, and the actual villa was still far away. Even so, he could vaguely make out the banquet in the courtyard from here.

His mother had told him that it was the hundred-day banquet for Duke Panacea's son, and many nobles would be attending.

He had already seen them just now. He had never seen so many beautiful outfits or such magnificent carriages.

"Drip~"

The rain, which had stopped for a while, began falling once more. Its earlier pause seemed to have been only to gather strength for another downpour.

Raindrops as large as beans fell from the sky, spreading like black droplets of blood. Amid the rain, someone caught his attention.

The man was tall and slender, draped in a black overcoat and holding a black umbrella as he strolled slowly along the sidewalk. The umbrella concealed his face, making him seem utterly unreal amid the hazy fog and darkness.

There were already few people outside in the Britannia Imperial Capital late at night. On Duke Panacea's private street, his presence was even stranger.

"Wooo! Wooo! Wooo!"

A shrill police siren blared. A squad of secret police in special uniforms, rifles slung across their backs, came jogging over in orderly formation from the other end of the street. It looked as though something had happened.

They brushed past the man and ran straight into the villa behind him.

It was as if they had not noticed him at all.

Aibus frowned. Even as young as he was, he sensed that something was wrong.

But when he turned his attention away from the secret police and looked back at the man in black, his gaze met the man's eyes.

He stood across the street, facing him. The black umbrella lifted slightly, revealing the face hidden beneath it. He was an East Asian man with short black hair, though his features remained blurry beneath the veil of darkness and mist.

What left the deepest impression on Aibus, however, were those dark brown eyes. Even in the night, they remained bright.

Under Aibus's gaze, the corners of his lips curled into an almost imperceptible smile. Then he raised a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture.

An inexplicable terror suddenly flooded his heart, and he cried out in panic.

"Dad! Dad!"

Not long afterward, the door was quickly opened, and a man entered.

"What is it, Aibus?"

"Just now..."

Aibus turned back, only to discover that the man in black had vanished completely. When he tried to recall what the man looked like, his mind was blank, devoid of even the smallest detail.

"What is it?" the man asked gently.

Aibus was about to say something when the man's silencing gesture surfaced in his mind.

"N-Nothing. I just had a nightmare."

While they spoke, Shaya stood on the roof ridge of their house, umbrella in hand, quietly overlooking the villa in the distance.

"That child has strong spiritual perception," Cassifa said.

Shaya did not deny it. His eyes lowered. "It was only a mana-free illusion spell, but being able to see through it does mean he has some talent."

After a pause, he added, "But unfortunately, he was born in the wrong era."

"You could teach him."

Shaya did not answer. Instead, he looked around. It was not just the police—some troops were even heading this way.

In this era, marquises served as governors of the borderlands and were responsible for guarding the nation's frontiers. Of the five noble ranks—duke, marquis, count, viscount, and baron—marquises were the fewest in number, so their importance went without saying. The authorities likely suspected that an enemy nation had some other objective.

Before long, the entire Imperial Capital would likely be sealed off.

None of that had anything to do with Shaya. The face he had used at the banquet was not his own, so the fire would not reach him. Besides, he was not the one who had taken Marquis Os.

He silently lifted a foot and flew several hundred meters north, landing in a more concealed alley before stopping in front of an old timber-framed house.

The alley was so narrow that only a single carriage could barely pass through. Rainwater streamed down from the brick-and-tile eaves, forming a curtain of rain.

This was not the front entrance, but the back door. Shaya approached the carved wooden door, blackened by age and dampness. It was locked and could not be opened from outside.

With a casual wave of his hand, there came a click. The wooden door opened toward him, revealing stairs leading downward. Once Shaya entered, the door shut behind him.

This should lead to the basement.

Heilang had brought Marquis Os in here earlier. He had likely attended university in the Imperial Capital, so naturally, he had a place to live here.

The basement was probably used to store potatoes, so its furnishings were unremarkable. Stone bricks lined all four walls, giving it the feel of a dungeon.

Since a potato storage room needed to be dry, the drainage here was fairly good. Even with torrential rain outside, it was not particularly damp inside, aside from the cold.

"Where is my sister!?"

Heilang's roar, suppressed with fury, came from below the stairs.

Shaya slowly walked to the door of the storage room. The dim light of a burning torch was the only illumination within.

The storage room was small, containing only two people. Heilang, dressed in stealth gear, was gripping Marquis Os by the collar. The marquis had lost all his former splendor; he was filthy, bruised, and blood stained the corners of his mouth.

Neither of them noticed Shaya's arrival.

There was not much fear in Marquis Os's eyes. He bared his teeth in a grin.

"I remember now. You're Heilang Monik, the second son of the Monik Family. You studied in the Imperial Capital. When I sent people to find you back then, you had already gone to the snowfields. I really should have sent more men then and eliminated the problem for good."

"I don't have time for your nonsense!" Heilang snapped. "Tell me where she is!"

"Do you think I'm like those idiots?" Marquis Os grinned. "I killed your entire family. If I told you where your sister was, would you let me live?"

Heilang suddenly calmed down. He released Os's collar and began pacing anxiously around the storage room.

Marquis Os calmly straightened his disheveled collar and continued, "I can responsibly tell you that in this world, I am the only one who knows your sister's whereabouts. I was kidnapped at a grand banquet in the Imperial Capital. This is no small matter. The entire Imperial Capital will be thrown into turmoil over it. Every secret policeman, even the military, will be deployed to search for me.

"Your place is not exactly hidden, so it is only a matter of time before they find it.

"That would not be good for either of us. I think we can make a deal."

Heilang turned around and silently watched him. His face was hidden beneath his hood, making his expression impossible to read.

"You hand me over to the people of the Imperial Capital, and then I tell you where your sister is."

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Heilang asked.

"You have no choice," Os said.

"No, I do have a choice."

Heilang turned to look at Os, then kicked an iron bucket placed on the floor beside him. A dense chorus of squeaks came from inside it.

"I studied medicine in the Imperial Capital, so I kept quite a few white mice for dissection."

Heilang lifted the iron bucket and set it at Marquis Os's feet.

"Several centuries ago, there was a form of punishment. Have you heard of it?"

Heilang stared at Os.

"Several rats are placed inside an iron cage. There is only one opening in the cage, their only route of escape. The executioner seals that opening against the prisoner's abdomen, then heats the cage.

"No matter how it is done, the result is always the same: driven increasingly frantic by hunger and the open flame, the rats can only try to escape through their sole exit. They have to bite through the prisoner's stomach to get out."

Os slowly lowered his head. Around a dozen rats were crammed together inside the bucket, climbing over one another as they tried to escape. But the bucket walls were far too smooth. The scratching of claws sliding against metal, the squeaks, and the swaying rat tails made the hairs on his body stand on end.

The composure on his face vanished. He swallowed lightly, his voice trembling as he said, "N-No, you wouldn't do that. Your sister is still in my hands."

"But you don't intend to tell me, do you?" Heilang stared into Os's eyes. "My time is limited. If you do not tell me, I'll kill you and find my sister myself.

"I can guarantee that you will not die easily."

Os gritted his teeth and glared at him.

Without a word, Heilang grabbed Os and pinned him onto a platform to one side, forcing him to lie flat. He bound him tightly with rope so that he could not struggle at all.

Seeing what he was doing, Os began to panic as well. He immediately spoke.

"What are you doing? Wait! We can talk this over."

"Where is my sister?" Heilang asked.

"She... she is..."

Seeing Os so obviously stall for time, the fury in Heilang's heart was completely ignited. He lifted Os's clothes, grabbed the iron bucket beside him, and turned it upside down directly over his stomach.

The instant he felt more than a dozen rats fall onto his belly and make intimate contact with him, Marquis Os's body went rigid. He struggled as though his soul had exploded, letting out a piercing scream.

"Take them away! Get them off me!"

"Tell me!" There was no emotion in Heilang's eyes.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!" Os screamed himself hoarse.

Most pampered nobles like him had some degree of germophobia. Forget heating the iron bucket—even simply coming into contact with those rats dealt an immense psychological blow.

Using a deft motion, Heilang tilted the bucket and removed it from Os's stomach without letting the rats escape.

Os panted for a while, staring at Heilang with resentment in his eyes. After a pause, he slowly spoke.

"Your sister isn't in my hands."

Heilang frowned, but before he could lose his temper, Os continued.

"A few months ago, a group of mysterious people claiming to be from the banks of the Rhine River came to me. They wanted me to help them find some 'Burgundy' people."

A hint of interest appeared in Shaya's eyes as he quietly listened from the side.