Epilogue 4. Mask Parade (2)

‘Yes. The serial killer that Duke Bolshevik mentioned.’

Sierre, furrowing his brow, pushed an extremely thick file toward Einar while naturally pulling another file in front of himself.

‘He’s an exceedingly dangerous individual. If confronted directly, there will certainly be collateral damage. I don’t want that collateral damage.’

‘Collateral damage meaning?’

‘According to the investigation team’s analysis, subduing him would only require one or two knights, but to handle it quietly without commotion…’

‘It’s difficult for knights to move discreetly.’

As Einar nodded lightly in agreement, Sierre, who was clearing away the mountain of documents one by one with practiced ease, continued:

‘Besides, we can’t mobilize the knights on a large scale during the Mask Parade. So…’

Sierre added with the same bright smile he had as a child:

‘I’m asking for your help, Brother.’

After relating this much, Einar added:

“He called me after so long just to give me work. What a terrible brother, isn’t he?”

“He’s excellent. Putting the right person in the right place at the right time is the most important quality for someone in a leadership position.”

“I guess I’m really not suited for the imperial throne. Being here, holding your hand and walking—I just want to keep walking like this endlessly, work be damned.”

As Einar swung their interlaced hands, Riina sighed but swung her hand along with his.

“We can walk together as much as you want once this is over, so let’s finish the job first.”

“All right. Shall we go, then?”

In reality, the two were almost being pushed along, trapped between people in front and behind, but even in that situation, they were carefully examining every corner of the streets.

They needed to find places where the murderer might appear and catch—or rather, apprehend—him before he could commit his crime.

Though they had materials prepared by the investigation team, the killer wasn’t a machine that moved according to a set pattern, so the materials were merely for reference.

“The so-called pattern doesn’t really help much in catching him.”

“Yes. If the victims were still alive…”

“There’s no need to say that.”

Riina, cutting off Einar’s words, narrowed her eyes and looked at an alley a block away.

“Judging by the scenes where bodies have been discovered so far, there were no signs of the bodies being moved, which means the discovery sites are also the crime scenes.”

Einar, following her gaze to the same place, nodded.

“You’re thinking the same thing I am?”

“Yes.”

Without asking or answering what that thought was, the two entered an alley that was somehow damp and dim despite it being daytime.

“What do you think?”

“I can sense a presence, but it’s neither sophisticated nor subtle.”

“Then it’s not here.”

“Let’s move to the next location.”

In the first alley, the two didn’t immediately encounter the murderer as if by chance or fate.

And in the second and third, they couldn’t find any trace of the killer either.

But they neither became discouraged nor gave up, and after carefully piecing together clues one by one and gradually narrowing down the range—

—Crack.

With a sound like a watermelon splitting, an utterly ordinary woman’s figure, her temple smashed against the wall, collapsed face-down on the ground.

“Is it over?”

“Yes.”

As Einar, who had subdued the murderer with an elbow strike to the temple, nodded, Riina looked down at the woman whose complexion was almost corpse-like.

For a serial killer who had sacrificed about ten imperial citizens and disappeared without a trace, she had crumbled surprisingly easily and pathetically, but with Einar involved, such a result was to be expected.

“I heard she was dangerous.”

“Well, for knights, her movements would have seemed almost like those of an assassin.”

“A professional assassin…”

Between the two, exchanging words with the sprawled murderer at their feet like garbage, the words “luck” or “misfortune” never came up.

This was because there was neither the misfortune of accidentally encountering a murderer nor the luck of accidentally catching one.

The murderer who fell into their hands was solely the result of skill—thorough analysis, tracking, persistence, and tenacity.

After handing the murderer over to the imperial knights, as this was a case where Sierre had acted directly, Riina looked at the bustling street and said:

“Now that the job is done, shall we go see the children?”

Einar gladly kissed the back of her hand and smiled.

“Good. I’ll take my reward for completing the task from you tonight.”

“Yet?”

“Not yet!”

The child and the fox-eyed child exchanged what seemed like coded messages as they rummaged through streets so crowded with people that there was barely room to set foot.

Though they had snuck out, they had prepared so thoroughly—perhaps taking after someone—that they were perfectly disguised with ordinary masks covering their entire faces and heads, and clothes that would never suggest they were children from a noble household.

“That looks delicious!”

“It does look delicious!”

The fox-eyed child joined in the exclamation when the child, swallowing her saliva, pointed at butter-grilled corn, and without hesitation, they grabbed one in each hand and began devouring them.

“Amazing masks!”

“Look over there! He’s breathing fire and walking on a ball!”

As they excitedly ate, chewed, and tasted the Mask Parade, the children ran about aimlessly without a specific destination, but curiously, they would turn back whenever they were about to step into a dangerous alley or a place with even slightly suspicious energy.

But at some point, the children, who had been running around tirelessly from place to place, began to look around surreptitiously.

“Um… why did we come here?”

“Yeah. Why did we come to a place like this?”

“Could it be… we’ve been caught?”

To the child asking with a serious expression and furrowed brow, the fox-eyed child closed his eyes tightly, thoroughly examined the surrounding atmosphere, and then shook his head.

“N-no.”

But then he nodded uncertainly.

“I’m not sure. I can’t sense my father’s presence… Back away!”

The fox-eyed child, stopping mid-sentence, pulled the child toward himself and shouted sharply.

It was a moment later that a grotesque mask entered the child’s wide-eyed field of vision.

“W-who are you? Don’t come any closer!”

The child, momentarily frightened, soon lit her eyes like blue flames and raised a sharp sword—which had appeared from nowhere—toward the unidentified person blocking her path.

The fox-eyed child, who had stood beside her in support, soon tilted his head curiously.

Though the face was covered by a mask, the body somehow looked familiar.

—Thud.

“I said don’t come closer!”

Ignoring the child’s warning, the unidentified masked figure took a step forward and reached out.

As the child reflexively tried to swing her sword, the fox-eyed child urgently tried to say something, when—

“I told you to be patient until I returned. As expected.”

“Huh?”

An all-too-familiar voice flowed from beneath the mask.

As the boy removed his bizarre mask, he sighed while gently pressing down on the blade he had lightly grasped, and the child immediately released her grip on the sword hilt and rushed toward him.

“Brother! What’s with that weird mask!”

“Weird? I think it’s quite stylish.”

“It’s weird.”

Even the fox-eyed child gave a definitive answer to the boy’s protest, and the boy smiled brightly and changed the subject.

“You two have really eaten and drunk until your bellies are about to burst. Your stomachs look plump even over your clothes.”

The boy naturally removed both children’s masks and glanced at the fox-eyed child, who was quietly slipping a dagger back into his robe.

If he had removed his mask even a moment later, his back would have been pierced.

“Great! Now that brother is here, we’re invincible! Even if we’re caught, we have a shield—I mean, a brother—so there’s no problem! Let’s go!”

“What do you mean ‘no problem’?”

The boy sighed, but the child didn’t consider the awkwardness of blood relations.

“What are you doing! Let’s go quickly! Today won’t come again!”

The child, forcibly pulling the boy along, froze in place at the voice from behind.

“You all seem to be having fun.”

Between the child and the fox-eyed child who had turned to stone, the boy gave a small bow.

“You’ve arrived.”

“Yes. Lione, good work.”

At Riina’s words, Lione, emerging from the shadows, bowed.

“I’ve removed all dangers.”

Since “all” included not only places and people but also the food entering the children’s mouths, Riina nodded with reassurance.

“M-mother.”

“Duchess.”

The two children, turning stiffly, immediately placed both hands on their waists and bent so deeply their noses nearly touched their knees.

“We’re sorry!”

“We apologize!”

“Good. Then you won’t mind receiving punishment.”

At Riina’s words, the child answered in a dying voice, and the fox-eyed child in a shrinking voice.

“…Yes.”

“Yes.”

Soon, the most severe punishment the two children could imagine flowed from Riina’s lips, and their shoulders drooped.

The children looked at Einar with pitiful eyes, but he just smiled brightly and mouthed:

‘Listen to your mother.’

What an unhelpful father! As the child’s cheeks were about to puff up like a blowfish while grumbling inwardly—

“What’s this? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, why so glum?”

“Your Highness!”

“Crown Prince!”

At the unexpected appearance of a welcome figure, the children rushed to cling to Sierre’s legs.

“You always meet with my brother!”

“We missed you too!”

To the children’s outcry, Sierre replied with a bright smile:

“Then do you want to come and work with me?”

The children immediately changed their attitude.

“I’ll pass.”

“I’ll just keep missing you.”

Sierre burst into laughter at their shrewd responses, while the boy sighed.

After laughing heartily, Sierre waved to Riina and said:

“The matter has been handled. The paperwork can wait for one day. So can we enjoy the rest of the day with excitement?”

Indeed, the ability to accurately choose who to ask for permission from among those present was befitting of the capable future Emperor.

Seeing Sierre’s sparkling eyes, which looked exactly the same as when he first went on an outing, Riina couldn’t help but laugh.

“Of course. Let’s go together once one more person arrives.”

“One more person?”

“I’m here.”

Just as Sierre tilted his head, Lione appeared holding Becky’s hand.

Despite her earlier grumbling, Becky’s shoulders were raised excitedly as she held Lione’s hand tightly, not letting go.

Riina surveyed those who were looking at her longingly and spoke:

“Shall we go?”

The first to take the lead at Riina’s words was neither the child nor the fox-eyed child, but Sierre.

“Let’s go!”

The child and the fox-eyed child, clinging to the Crown Prince’s legs, exclaimed “Wow!” and ran forward, followed by the boy, who shook his head.

Riina was about to follow when Einar caught her and she paused briefly.

“Einar…”

Einar, who had instantly removed the lower part of her mask, lightly pressed his lips against hers and whispered:

“You don’t need this part anymore.”

A smile spread across Riina’s lips as well, and the two emerged from the alley much later than the others.

And so, an ordinary day was passing, like any other, without special luck or misfortune, as they smiled and chattered toward each other.