Rumors

The cold, damp alley reeked of rot intertwined with despair.

Blake's heart felt as though an invisible hand had seized it in a crushing grip, each contraction pumping out searing regret that threatened to burn him to ashes.

Bella Isabel-that pale little flower struggling to bloom among thorns, that girl who had suffered life's abuse yet still retained a trace of purity.

She had been the first spark behind his decision to betray the Mountain Viscount and find a way for the mining district to survive, and the only light of redemption he longed to protect in the dark years he had left.

I'm a complete and utter fool! he roared silently.

Unbidden, his mind filled with the gazes lurking in the slums' shadows-greedy criminals, traffickers without a shred of conscience, and drunks whose humanity had been utterly destroyed by alcohol...

To those hungry, wolfish eyes, Bella's exquisitely delicate face beneath her hat brim was like the only light in the darkness, radiating a deadly, dangerous allure.

Here, for people at the bottom, astonishing beauty was never a blessing, but a lethal poison!

He nearly dropped to his knees in the filthy mud, pressing his forehead against the cold ground to beg any gods that might exist for protection.

Right, that's right! Glass! At last, he caught hold of a lifeline amid his chaotic thoughts. He's working as a spy here. He must have contacts and informants of his own!

A faint thread of hope forced him to pull himself together, but in its wake came an even deeper, heavier wave of self-reproach.

He remembered how, back at the mine, while everyone sweated for their meager gains, little, scrawny Bella always ignored their attempts to dissuade her and stubbornly crouched on the ground, picking up scattered, worthless fragments of ore one by one with hands that should have been soft and young, but were now covered in tiny scars and calluses.

Ever since her poor father had died horribly deep in the mine, the child had been heartbreakingly sensible. On so many nights, she had sat alone on a cold boulder with her knees hugged to her chest, gazing up at stars blurred by the mining district's smoke and dust, her small figure steeped in an inescapable desolation and loneliness.

Blake had seen it all, and it had pained him deeply. It was that tenderness that, when he resolved to find a way forward for the mining district and risk sneaking into the Royal Capital, had inexplicably led him to bring this endearing child along, hoping to let her see "the outside world"...

If only... if only I hadn't brought her... if only I'd kept her firmly by my side... Endless possibilities gnawed at his reason like venomous snakes.

At their agreed meeting place, a corner piled with discarded barrels, Blake finally made contact with the lean, sharp-eyed Glass.

Without wasting time on greetings, Blake practically lunged at him, describing Bella's appearance and disappearance in a trembling voice.

Seeing him on the verge of collapse, Glass immediately understood the gravity of the situation. He nodded, turned swiftly, and vanished into the tangled network of alleys like a drop of water merging into the sea, drawing on every channel he had to gather information.

Every second of waiting was torment on a searing branding iron.

Blake paced back and forth inside Glass's cramped, dim temporary hideout, clenching and unclenching his fists, oblivious even as his nails dug deep into his palms and drew blood.

The slightest noise outside the door made him jerk his head up like a startled bird.

After an unknown stretch of time, the wooden door finally creaked open. Glass slipped inside and shut it behind him, his brows tightly knitted as though weighing how to speak.

"Any news?!" Blake shot toward him like a cannonball, clamping both hands around his arms like iron pincers. The urgency and fear blazing in his eyes nearly set Glass alight as well.

"Stop shaking me! I have news!" Glass pulled free of his grip and quickly delivered words that eased Blake's mind. "The good news is, Bella wasn't abducted by those scum."

At those words, Blake's body, taut as a bowstring, instantly lost all its strength. His knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. Glass reacted quickly and caught him.

"Then... then where is she now? Is she all right? We... we need to go get her!" Blake sounded drained with the relief of surviving a disaster, like a drowning man clutching his only piece of driftwood.

But Glass's expression grew more complicated. He drew a deep breath and lowered his voice. "Actually, Blake, no one 'took' Bella. My friends in the slums told me that not long ago, an exceptionally pretty little girl wearing a linen hood willingly followed... the person you came to the Royal Capital to meet, that 'White Calamity,' and... flew off with him toward the city center."

The "White Calamity"... Aaron Ball!

In an instant, every terrifying rumor about the man surged into Blake's mind like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

Some said he was a brutal sexual predator who had wantonly violated noblemen's wives and daughters in the Silver Capital, right before their families' eyes;

Some said he was a capricious, hypocritical demon who decided the fate of anyone he encountered according to his mood that day-he might crush someone alive into pulp beneath a heavy block of metal in full public view, or casually give a stranger an enormous fortune that could change their fate...

But all the rumors shared one underlying theme: he possessed unfathomable power, like a natural calamity.

"...He's a noble." Blake's dry lips trembled as he uttered the word like a curse.

In an instant, the image of Bella, broken like a doll discarded after being ruined through play, appeared vividly before his eyes once more.

That was how she had looked when she was first rescued from the previous noble's clutches, her eyes empty, her body covered in bruises and wounds... It was a nightmare he could never escape.

And now, that nightmare seemed about to repeat itself, only with an even stronger, more unpredictable "monster"!

"No!!!" Blake let out a low, stifled roar, his eyes bloodshot. "Glass! Listen! We have to find a way! We have to save Bella from that monster! Now! Right now!"

His fingers shook uncontrollably with overwhelming fear and rage as he pointed toward the door.

"Calm down, Blake!" Glass pressed hard on his agitated shoulders, his voice stern,

"You'll only get yourself killed! Never mind how we'd get past all those guards to see that damned noble-even if we did, what could you do if he refused to let her go? Fight his ability to control metal, fly through the sky, and burrow through the earth with your fists?"

"So I'm supposed to just sit here and wait?! Wait for Bella to be... Every minute feels like I'm burning in the fires of hell! Like I'm being fried in a pot of boiling oil! Don't you know what nobles are like?!"

A desperate sob threaded through Blake's roar. Rage and remorse devoured his heart like two entwined venomous snakes.

"Listen, Blake!" Glass stared hard into his eyes, trying to instill a shred of reason in him,

"I know you're scared! I admit there are enough rumors about Boer to drown a man! But think carefully-at least so far, he hasn't gone out of his way to hurt a single commoner! I swear to you, I saw him use his powers to build sheet-metal houses to shelter the homeless from wind and rain, and he did it for free! He... perhaps, perhaps he won't do that sort of thing to Bella. Besides, according to the witnesses, Bella approached him first, and only then left with him..."

"Bastard! What the fuck are you trying to say?!" As though those words had struck his rawest nerve, Blake abruptly seized Glass's collar again, spittle nearly spraying his face as veins bulged on Blake's forehead.

Just as their heated argument brought them to the brink of losing control completely, a gentle voice with a hint of languor drifted down from above their heads like a ghost:

"Sorry, gentlemen. I don't mean to interrupt... but shouldn't adults show a little decorum and mind how they behave in front of a little girl? Don't you agree?"

As the voice fell silent, a shadow covered them. Blake and Glass jerked their heads up to see Aaron Ball descending slowly through the air as though weightless, landing with grace and composure.

His towering figure, nearly two meters tall, cast an oppressive shadow across the narrow alley, while a faint, unreadable smile rested on his face.

And beside him, seated in an exquisite conveyance made of flowing metal that resembled a baby chair, was the very Bella they had been searching for so desperately!

Blake's mind went blank, and his body moved before conscious thought-he lunged forward, lifted Bella almost roughly out of the metal chair, and pulled her firmly behind him, shielding her completely with his body. Then, like a lion defending his cub, he fixed Boer with a hostile, wary stare, every muscle taut as though ready to pounce and fight for his life.

Sheltered behind him, Bella seemed entirely oblivious to the charged atmosphere.

She clumsily opened an exquisite metal box in her hands, filled with candies that gave off a milky fragrance.

Holding the box high as though showing off a treasure, she stretched her little hands toward Blake and spoke cheerfully in her clear, childish, larklike voice:

"Uncle Blake! Look! Milk candies! Lord Boer gave Bella milk candies! They smell so good and taste so sweet! Try one!"

The afternoon sunlight struggled into the narrow alley, cutting patches of light and shadow across the moss-covered ground.

Boer stood in the glow with his hands slightly raised to show he meant no harm, the enigmatic smile on his face seeming even deeper in the contrasting light and shade.

Facing him stood Glass, so tense that sweat beaded on his forehead and his body had gone rigid, and Blake, who stood like a wall in front of Bella, his face filled with hostility and resolve.

In the almost frozen tension, only Bella's soft, cheerful voice continued to flow. Tilting her little face upward, she announced with innocent pride:

"Lord Boer has already promised to help us! He'll bring everyone medicine, food, and warm houses! Uncle Blake, it's all thanks to Bella!"

At those words, Blake felt something wrench his heart hard, leaving it aching and bitter.

He slowly crouched, still maintaining his defensive posture, and gently cupped Bella's pale yet delicate little face in both hands. His gaze moved like the finest probe, urgently searching her eyes, her cheeks, and every inch of exposed skin, missing no possible sign of abuse.

Only after confirming that her eyes were clear, her smile genuine, and her body free of any new injuries-and that even her spirits were much better than they had been at the mine-did his heart, suspended at the edge of a bottomless abyss, finally settle a little.

He released a long, trembling breath he had held for far too long.

Then Boer's voice rang out again, carrying a hint of teasing as it broke the silence:

"Hey, hey, Mr. Blake, that expression and those movements just now... what was that supposed to mean? I've never been some man-eating demon, you know."

He spread his hands in a relaxed gesture. "I believe we still have plenty of details to discuss about helping everyone at the mine, don't we, Mr. Blake?"

Sunlight brushed his slightly upturned lips and illuminated the elusive gleam in his eyes. Was it goodwill, calculation, or both?

Blake looked at him, then lowered his head to Bella, who was carefully placing a milk candy into his rough, large hand. His heart filled with immense bewilderment, and a faint yet impossible-to-ignore trace of... hope.