try begging

It was approaching midnight.

Leon parked his car in the square of a ghost town that was still quiet even on New Year's Eve and headed straight for a shabby three-story building on the corner.

When the soldiers on guard on the first floor of the boarding house saluted, Leon gave them a silent nod and went up to the third floor.

I approached the only door with a No Entry sign and inserted the key I took out of my coat pocket. When the door opened with a squeak and a gloomy groan, the sight I saw was no different from yesterday.

A cramped boarding house. A single bed with just a mattress. A wardrobe, a desk, and miscellaneous items.

He went inside and closed the door. The room was so damn small that it was bright even if he just turned on the lamp on the desk. Even if he just stood between the desk and the bed, the room felt stuffy and full.

The room, which had not been ventilated for a long time, had a damp, musty smell.

"Ha... damn it."

It was still unbelievable that the torture chamber was much more comfortable and spacious than the women's room.

I had guessed that she lived at least as a middle-class person, seeing her acting arrogantly, such as when she used the master's bathroom without permission because she hated cold showers or when she was picky about cherries being sour.

In addition, she was a member of the royal family that led the revolution. It was out of place to say that she was treated like this because she was an illegitimate child. That woman was even the leader's fiancée before she was abandoned. So shouldn't she have been treated like a princess at least?

"Ha, what kind of palace is this?"

I never imagined that I would live in such a remote place, in such a moldy boarding house.

This doesn't make sense.

When he first saw this room, and when he read the woman's diary, he felt a strong sense of discomfort.

The life that I inferred by observing the traces of that woman with my own eyes seemed in many ways far removed from that of a 'princess of the revolution' and 'the next queen of the Blanchard dynasty'.

"It's annoying to be treated like a fallen royal family. That foolish woman... I can't believe I put up with this."

Being here made him feel sorry for the cunning woman who had fooled him so many times. Leon looked around the small room again and sighed.

On the dusty floor were only his footprints. Not far from the town hall where she was last seen, she had not come to collect her belongings.

He left the past behind. Without even a shred of regret.

I could fully understand that feeling. It must have been shocking that the people I trusted had hidden the identities of my biological father and mother. It must have felt like even my past was a lie.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that her actions that day were more extreme than expected.

I wonder if my brother told me more than that.

I would have liked to have Jonathan Riddle Jr. sitting at the newspaper table right away, but I couldn't do that yet. The trap was set and waiting.

Leon searched the room again, even though he knew it was meaningless.

I took out the album from my desk drawer and flipped through it. There weren't many photos. I thought he didn't know anything about her except for the photo of her smiling brightly in front of the Abington Beach train station, and something inside me rose to the top of my throat every time I saw Blanchard.

widely.

He closed the album, put it back, and began searching through other drawers. Five ID photos came out of a candy can on the top shelf. Leon stared at them and put them all in his wallet.

The hands that were searching the room became more and more frantic. They were desperately searching for something, but they didn't know what it was.

No, I know, but it's not here.

He didn't know what else he could do to find her. He had done everything he could. It also meant that there was nothing more he could do. He couldn't bear that fact, so he continued his meaningless search.

Then, the moment I opened the old travel trunk that was under the bed, time stopped.

No, maybe time has gone back.

Leon carefully took out the straw hat surrounded by miscellaneous items as if he were unearthing a relic.

Why on earth is this?

Why did he still keep the straw hat he had bought him?

"I really liked you too."

Could it be because of that? No, that's ridiculous.

Leon, who had been denying it, suddenly recalled an old event that he had vaguely remembered when he returned to the mansion after graduating from the military academy.

"What should I do about this?"

The maid, who was organizing his childhood belongings piled up in the storage room, brought out a dolphin doll and asked about it. It was something he didn't even know he had.

At the time, it was just a trigger for unpleasant memories. But instead of telling him to throw it away, he told him to put it back in the warehouse.

Why did we take the path of complete forgetting?

Wheeze. Bang.

He was staring blankly down while holding his straw hat in his hand when he heard the sound of firecrackers. Outside the window, colorful firecrackers celebrating the new year began to color the black sky.

Leon suddenly remembered another day, symbolized by champagne, kisses, parties, and fireworks. It was the night of his engagement, the night that had been the turning point that had brought him here.

bang.

The woman who had turned pale with fear, mistaking the sound of firecrackers for gunshots, and herself who had watched and laughed at the sight flashed before my eyes.

Beyond that welcome, his face reflected in the window was distorted in a miserable way, without a hint of smile. Leon closed his eyes tightly.

At the moment he decided to walk this path, he believed that if he could just get the woman to have a child and let go of her brainwashing, everything would go his way. How foolish he had been just two seasons ago.

"May next year be a more hopeful year than this one. That vain hope is all you have left."

Who on earth are you talking to?

bang.

At a moment when everyone was wishing him luck, Leon hoped for a happy misfortune. That sound was the sound of a bullet hitting me. And this time, that woman would laugh.

In front of him.

º º º

Clink clank clank.

Leon, who had been listening to the sound of the train wheels running along the tracks, opened his eyes when other sounds began to mix in.

As the sunset faded, large raindrops were hitting the window. He stared blankly at the raindrops flowing diagonally, and suddenly he let out a helpless laugh.

It's so dirty.

The train slowed as the familiar cityscape came into view against a sky tinged with gray and red.

I returned to Winsford, exactly one month after the woman disappeared, without her.

Leon scribbled on a napkin on the table with a fountain pen.

One month.

31st.

744 hours.

44,640 minutes.

Converted to seconds, it is 2,678,400 seconds.

I couldn't stop, even though I knew it was a meaningless calculation that only added to the pain.

2,678,401 seconds. 2,678,402 seconds. 2,678,403 seconds... .

"under...."

The sound of a fountain pen being placed on the table with a sigh echoed harshly in the empty first-class cabin.

I had thought of all the possible scenarios, but I never expected that he would return alone. All of those scenarios were planned to prevent him from returning without her.

However, he could not wait indefinitely in the place where the woman disappeared, and there was no reason to do so. Even knowing this, he held out in the North under the pretext of interrogating and investigating prisoners, and left only when the award ceremony was just around the corner.

The royal family's schedule of events was tightly packed for at least half a year. Yet, less than a month after the announcement of the awarding of the title in the New Year's speech, the royal family announced that they would hold the awarding ceremony.

It was clear that he was being used to appease negative public opinion toward the royal family in recent times.

Late last year, ahead of the operation, rumors began circulating in the financial world that the real owner of the joint venture that had won the mining rights to the Briah diamond mine was the king, and they eventually made their way to the tabloids.

Of course, the timing was right, as Leon had spread the rumor with the confidence that the woman would be by his side at this time.

Naturally, public opinion about the royal family's secret investment under another person's name was not good. If they had come forward and denied it, the rumors in the dark would have become established facts in the open, so the royal family used 'anonymous royal sources' to dismiss them as false rumors and engaged in the sinister act of manipulating public opinion behind the scenes.

Then, just in time, he wiped out the rebels and immediately attracted attention.

The king would havebeen grateful that Leon saved him, not knowing that he was the one who haddrowned him.

It was approaching midnight.

Leon parked his car in the square of a ghost town that was still quiet even on New Year's Eve and headed straight for a shabby three-story building on the corner.

When the soldiers on guard on the first floor of the boarding house saluted, Leon gave them a silent nod and went up to the third floor.

I approached the only door with a No Entry sign and inserted the key I took out of my coat pocket. When the door opened with a squeak and a gloomy groan, the sight I saw was no different from yesterday.

A cramped boarding house. A single bed with just a mattress. A wardrobe, a desk, and miscellaneous items.

He went inside and closed the door. The room was so damn small that it was bright even if he just turned on the lamp on the desk. Even if he just stood between the desk and the bed, the room felt stuffy and full.

The room, which had not been ventilated for a long time, had a damp, musty smell.

"Ha... damn it."

It was still unbelievable that the torture chamber was much more comfortable and spacious than the women's room.

I had guessed that she lived at least as a middle-class person, seeing her acting arrogantly, such as when she used the master's bathroom without permission because she hated cold showers or when she was picky about cherries being sour.

In addition, she was a member of the royal family that led the revolution. It was out of place to say that she was treated like this because she was an illegitimate child. That woman was even the leader's fiancée before she was abandoned. So shouldn't she have been treated like a princess at least?

"Ha, what kind of palace is this?"

I never imagined that I would live in such a remote place, in such a moldy boarding house.

This doesn't make sense.

When he first saw this room, and when he read the woman's diary, he felt a strong sense of discomfort.

The life that I inferred by observing the traces of that woman with my own eyes seemed in many ways far removed from that of a 'princess of the revolution' and 'the next queen of the Blanchard dynasty'.

"It's annoying to be treated like a fallen royal family. That foolish woman... I can't believe I put up with this."

Being here made him feel sorry for the cunning woman who had fooled him so many times. Leon looked around the small room again and sighed.

On the dusty floor were only his footprints. Not far from the town hall where she was last seen, she had not come to collect her belongings.

He left the past behind. Without even a shred of regret.

I could fully understand that feeling. It must have been shocking that the people I trusted had hidden the identities of my biological father and mother. It must have felt like even my past was a lie.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that her actions that day were more extreme than expected.

I wonder if my brother told me more than that.

I would have liked to have Jonathan Riddle Jr. sitting at the newspaper table right away, but I couldn't do that yet. The trap was set and waiting.

Leon searched the room again, even though he knew it was meaningless.

I took out the album from my desk drawer and flipped through it. There weren't many photos. I thought he didn't know anything about her except for the photo of her smiling brightly in front of the Abington Beach train station, and something inside me rose to the top of my throat every time I saw Blanchard.

widely.

He closed the album, put it back, and began searching through other drawers. Five ID photos came out of a candy can on the top shelf. Leon stared at them and put them all in his wallet.

The hands that were searching the room became more and more frantic. They were desperately searching for something, but they didn't know what it was.

No, I know, but it's not here.

He didn't know what else he could do to find her. He had done everything he could. It also meant that there was nothing more he could do. He couldn't bear that fact, so he continued his meaningless search.

Then, the moment I opened the old travel trunk that was under the bed, time stopped.

No, maybe time has gone back.

Leon carefully took out the straw hat surrounded by miscellaneous items as if he were unearthing a relic.

Why on earth is this?

Why did he still keep the straw hat he had bought him?

"I really liked you too."

Could it be because of that? No, that's ridiculous.

Leon, who had been denying it, suddenly recalled an old event that he had vaguely remembered when he returned to the mansion after graduating from the military academy.

"What should I do about this?"

The maid, who was organizing his childhood belongings piled up in the storage room, brought out a dolphin doll and asked about it. It was something he didn't even know he had.

At the time, it was just a trigger for unpleasant memories. But instead of telling him to throw it away, he told him to put it back in the warehouse.

Why did we take the path of complete forgetting?

Wheeze. Bang.

He was staring blankly down while holding his straw hat in his hand when he heard the sound of firecrackers. Outside the window, colorful firecrackers celebrating the new year began to color the black sky.

Leon suddenly remembered another day, symbolized by champagne, kisses, parties, and fireworks. It was the night of his engagement, the night that had been the turning point that had brought him here.

bang.

The woman who had turned pale with fear, mistaking the sound of firecrackers for gunshots, and herself who had watched and laughed at the sight flashed before my eyes.

Beyond that welcome, his face reflected in the window was distorted in a miserable way, without a hint of smile. Leon closed his eyes tightly.

At the moment he decided to walk this path, he believed that if he could just get the woman to have a child and let go of her brainwashing, everything would go his way. How foolish he had been just two seasons ago.

"May next year be a more hopeful year than this one. That vain hope is all you have left."

Who on earth are you talking to?

bang.

At a moment when everyone was wishing him luck, Leon hoped for a happy misfortune. That sound was the sound of a bullet hitting me. And this time, that woman would laugh.

In front of him.

º º º

Clink clank clank.

Leon, who had been listening to the sound of the train wheels running along the tracks, opened his eyes when other sounds began to mix in.

As the sunset faded, large raindrops were hitting the window. He stared blankly at the raindrops flowing diagonally, and suddenly he let out a helpless laugh.

It's so dirty.

The train slowed as the familiar cityscape came into view against a sky tinged with gray and red.

I returned to Winsford, exactly one month after the woman disappeared, without her.

Leon scribbled on a napkin on the table with a fountain pen.

One month.

31st.

744 hours.

44,640 minutes.

Converted to seconds, it is 2,678,400 seconds.

I couldn't stop, even though I knew it was a meaningless calculation that only added to the pain.

2,678,401 seconds. 2,678,402 seconds. 2,678,403 seconds... .

"under...."

The sound of a fountain pen being placed on the table with a sigh echoed harshly in the empty first-class cabin.

I had thought of all the possible scenarios, but I never expected that he would return alone. All of those scenarios were planned to prevent him from returning without her.

However, he could not wait indefinitely in the place where the woman disappeared, and there was no reason to do so. Even knowing this, he held out in the North under the pretext of interrogating and investigating prisoners, and left only when the award ceremony was just around the corner.

The royal family's schedule of events was tightly packed for at least half a year. Yet, less than a month after the announcement of the awarding of the title in the New Year's speech, the royal family announced that they would hold the awarding ceremony.

It was clear that he was being used to appease negative public opinion toward the royal family in recent times.

Late last year, ahead of the operation, rumors began circulating in the financial world that the real owner of the joint venture that had won the mining rights to the Briah diamond mine was the king, and they eventually made their way to the tabloids.

Of course, the timing was right, as Leon had spread the rumor with the confidence that the woman would be by his side at this time.

Naturally, public opinion about the royal family's secret investment under another person's name was not good. If they had come forward and denied it, the rumors in the dark would have become established facts in the open, so the royal family used 'anonymous royal sources' to dismiss them as false rumors and engaged in the sinister act of manipulating public opinion behind the scenes.

Then, just in time, he wiped out the rebels and immediately attracted attention.

The king would havebeen grateful that Leon saved him, not knowing that he was the one who haddrowned him.