Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 11

Revenge Has Interest 8 (11/200)

2023.08.08.

Leah was bedridden with a high fever for several days. If there was a flaw in the beautiful Grace, it was her extremely weak constitution.

Throughout her illness, she kept recalling the memory of walking across a vast prairie.

Leaving the injured Terrence in the cabin, Leah recklessly set out to find a village.

She needed to find a horse or write a letter to the Duke’s residence—anything to help.

‘Why can’t I see a village?’

Why did she keep wandering endlessly across the prairie? No matter how much she walked, a village never appeared.

“Grace.”

Just then, an echo reached her. Leah now responded naturally even when called ‘Grace.’

‘Duke Courtois?’

Following his voice coming from somewhere, Leah waved her hand. Then, someone grabbed her hand, and she opened her eyes wide.

“Are you alright?”

It was no longer an echo. The blurry vision gradually cleared, and she could clearly see Terrence holding her hand.

“Duke Courtois!”

Leah jumped up and looked at him sitting on her bed. For a while, the two of them just held hands and stared at each other.

“I’m so…sorry. I was going to go to the village to find a horse…or at least write a letter to the Duke’s residence. But it turned out like this.”

Leah, still caught in a dreamlike state, babbled incoherently and finally burst into tears.

“You must have been in so much p…pain, right? I feel so useless for not being able to do anything.”

Leah covered her face with both hands and sobbed.

She cried bitterly, feeling guilty for not being able to complete the task.

“Shh! Stop crying, Grace.”

A large hand stroked her hair. Only then did Leah realize it wasn’t a dream.

“We’ve returned safely.”

Leah looked up at Terrence.

He looked clean, but his right shoulder was bandaged.

However, she couldn’t remember how they had returned to the Duke’s residence.

“H…how?”

“Grace went all the way to the village and brought back a horse.”

Did she? Why couldn’t she remember any of it?

Terrence couldn’t forget the bewilderment he felt when he woke up in the cabin.

Grace had wrapped him in a blanket like a baby and disappeared. He wondered if she had been kidnapped by bandits.

He hurriedly put on his clothes, opened the door, and went outside. In the distance, he saw Grace leading a brown horse and diligently climbing the hill.

In that moment, time and space seemed to stop. The only thing moving was his heart. He still remembered it vividly.

[Duke Courtois! I’ve brought a horse!]

The woman, her eyes red with fever, panting and gasping for breath.

Her face, smiling brightly and waving her hand with the joy of finding a horse, unaware of her own pain, was like encountering an unknown being.

‘Is that what an angel looks like?’

He thought he could only see harbingers of hell. Every time he faced death on the battlefield, he saw countless spirits beckoning from afar.

But for the first time in his life, he saw an angel. The thrill he felt then was still present.

“Did I do it?”

Was wandering the prairie just a dream?

Leah asked with wide eyes. Then Terrence nodded.

“That’s a relief.”

Relieved, Leah smiled weakly and collapsed.

Terrence’s shout calling for a doctor and Pauline’s crying as she rushed in echoed in Leah’s ears.

* * *

Terrence, Luke, and James were anxiously waiting for someone in the study. But there was no news, making them frustrated.

“It’s an area between Bern and Basel, and there are many forests where escaped slaves are said to hide.”

Luke had reported the bandit gang to the Lubeck Metropolitan Police.

“Whether they are slaves or bandits, they must be eradicated as soon as possible. You both could have been in serious trouble.”

Butler James vehemently protested. He ranted about how it was wrong to leave with only two people without guards from the beginning and insisted that they take guards from now on.

“By the way, I was surprised by Grace once again. Is it true that you have to experience someone to know them?”

Luke heard from Terrence about what Grace had done at the time and couldn’t believe his ears.

“I need to apologize for scolding her for acting like a child.”

“By the way, why isn’t Doctor Wilson coming? I’ll go check.”

Just as James, who had been anxious, was about to leave the study, there was a knock and the door opened.

Doctor Wilson had returned after finishing Grace’s treatment. Only then did Terrence’s eyes light up.

“How is Grace?”

“She has pneumonia.”

Everyone was surprised and looked at Wilson. This was because Wilson’s complexion was very bad.

“She has a weak constitution, and she overexerted herself and got caught in the rain a lot. It seems tonight will be critical.”

“Critical?”

Terrence jumped up from his seat. He didn’t know what to do and roughly swept back his hair with his hand. Luke and James were just as distraught.

“Do whatever it takes to save her, Wilson.”

“I will do my best, Your Grace.”

“Following Baron Aiden, now Miss Grace? What a bolt from the blue?” [A complete surprise or unexpected event.]

Luke said with a dazed face.

There was a risk that Terrence would have another burden he couldn’t bear.

At that moment, James noticed Wilson, who seemed to have something to say, moving his lips.

“Doctor Wilson, do you have something to say?”

“I’m not sure if I should say this. But it seems that’s the only sure way.”

“A sure way, what is it?”

Terrence glared sharply at Wilson.

“Do you know an organization called ‘Lapa’? It’s very famous even in Levon City…”

“Isn’t that a violent organization?”

Luke asked, puzzled.

Their origins were gypsies, but now they were known for doing anything for money.

“Their leader has every drug imaginable. Among them is a pneumonia medicine smuggled from the Eastern Continent.”

“Is it opium?”

Terrence couldn’t hide his suspicion. If it was a drug handled by a violent organization, it was obvious.

“No. It’s a decoction from the Eastern Continent, and I’ve heard it’s very effective for pneumonia.”

At Wilson’s words, Terrence immediately stood up. If there was medicine, he had to go get it. But he knew it wouldn’t be easy to obtain.

“But the problem is that they don’t give it out easily even if you have money. They say that even the Emperor of Lubeck has to bow his head to get the medicine.”

“That rude thug.”

Terrence retorted coldly.

“How long do I have to get it?”

Terrence glanced at his watch and asked Wilson.

“By five o’clock this evening…”

“I’ll get it.”

As Terrence was about to leave, Luke blocked his way.

To charge into ‘Lapa’ with a gunshot wound on one shoulder.

Terrence didn’t know the reality, but the Lapa members were unimaginably ruthless people.

So much so that even the Metropolitan Police didn’t touch that area at all.

“Luke, bring me my sword.”

“Your Grace!”

He shouted that it couldn’t be done, but all that came back was Terrence’s cold gaze.

“I meant to say that I would go too.”

Luke lowered his tail like a frightened puppy.

‘What? Why is His Grace’s life so turbulent?’

After the war, Terrence’s life was as calm as the surface of a lake without a ripple. It was lonely and boring, and there was no vitality to be found.

It seemed that the change began when Grace turned into a different person. The more unbelievable fact was Terrence’s attitude toward Grace.

‘They’ve both gone mad. Spinning around—’

* * *

Terrence and his soldiers were stationed in the Lapa area on the outskirts of Levon.

Terrence chuckled at the luxurious building that didn’t fit in with the slums.

“Luke, what about the orders?”

“Ready. Just give the signal.”

“Good.”

As Terrence kicked open the door of the Lapa organization, the members rushed at him with weapons.

“I am Duke Terrence Courtois. Bring me your boss.”

At his command, the members stepped back instead. Some nobles came to Lapa, but no one had ever barged in like this in broad daylight.

“I’ll give you three minutes. Bring me your boss.”

The members snickered and laughed at him.

“If three minutes pass, your heads will be rolling on this stone floor.”

Only then did the men who had been laughing at Terrence make serious expressions.

Then, a presence appeared among the members, and the people standing densely parted in two, creating a path. An old man with a cane walked through it.

“Oh my! The war hero of Lubeck has come to such a humble place. I am Lapa.”

‘So that’s the boss’s name.’

An ordinary old man with white hair, deeply wrinkled face, and a bent back, but his eyes were sharp.

Terrence intuitively sensed that the old man was the head of Lapa.

But there was a unique scent coming from him. It smelled like strong spices, and it also smelled like musk. Perhaps because of the scent or the look in his eyes, he exuded an unusual atmosphere.

“I heard you have a medicine that’s effective for pneumonia?”

“You’ve heard the rumors about the decoction?”

Even as he smiled leisurely, the old man’s gaze scanned Terrence very closely.

Lapa had met all sorts of people who wielded power in his life. Except for the Emperor of this country and the Courtois Duke’s family. But to meet one of them like this.

As rumored, he was no ordinary person.

‘A young punk with a lot of nerve.’

Lapa clicked his tongue.

“I need the medicine.”

“Ahem! It’s not easy to give away, you see.”

“I’ll pay whatever you want. If you don’t want that, I can cut off your head. If you still don’t like that, I can erase this place from the map of Levon City.”

At Terrence’s words, Lapa laughed as if he was amused. There was a limit to how much a young man could come and cause trouble with youthful arrogance.

“That’s not the attitude of someone who’s desperate, is it?”

“Do I have to bow my head to get the medicine?”

“Would you do that?”

A tense confrontation continued between the two men. Suddenly, Terrence smirked coldly, raising one corner of his mouth.

“!?”

Lapa felt goosebumps all over his body at Terrence’s smile. It was a sense of threat he had never felt in his life.

“I’ll ask you one last time, are you going to give me the medicine or not?”

“That’s… a bit.”

When Lapa shook his head, Terrence immediately raised his left hand. At that moment, a tremendous explosion rang out from outside, the ground shook, and the building trembled.

“Aah!”

The gathered men screamed in surprise.

“I told you, I can erase this area from Levon City.”