Chapter Thirty-Five: Temptation

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“Yes, Mr. Chris. Time will prove everything. In the end, we will triumph.” Daniel thought Verak was speaking about the revolutionary organization.

Verak merely answered, “Mm,” allowing the misunderstanding to stand.

Even while wandering about, Verak was not idle. He coaxed more information about the revolutionary organization’s recent situation from Daniel.

Although the organization had several thousand members, workers and students made up a considerable proportion of them. Most of the time, their role was simply to serve as the backbone of the organization’s various demonstrations. People like Chris—men willing to risk their lives who also happened to belong to the elite—were exceedingly rare.

That was only natural. Among those who had already amassed enormous wealth and enjoyed the benefits of the existing order, few were willing to risk their lives opposing the system and commit the foolishness of digging their own graves.

Verak, who was now impersonating Chris and manipulating the revolutionary organization, merely admired the cause they served. He had never considered joining them. He was using the organization only to borrow its strength for certain deeds that could not bear the light of day, while sitting atop this powder keg to ensure that the Thomas family would not dare act rashly against him.

Afterward, taking advantage of his position, he would do everything in his power to amass wealth. Once he had accumulated enough to live out the rest of his life in comfort, he would flee Lezein—and even Brescia itself—to some place where he could enjoy the luxurious life he desired.

“Let’s go back.” After wandering outside for a while, Verak found himself growing bored. With nothing important to do today, he might as well return and study the files a little longer.

“Of course, Mr. Chris.” Daniel turned the car around and began driving back.

“Remember to find a charity gala being held within the next few days. I must attend one by Sunday evening at the latest.” Verak reminded him once more about the gala.

Before giving the instruction, he had considered whether to ask Chloe to organize a fake charity gala. He could donate ten thousand gold crowns himself, and once the money reached the revolutionary organization, it would at least give them a little more strength. But the thought had passed through his mind only briefly. Verak had not pursued it. Even if it were feasible, he was too lazy to expend the effort on something whose absence would have no real consequences.

“Leave it to me. I’ll arrange it for you as soon as possible,” Daniel said.

After returning to the estate, Daniel left. Verak did not see Fletcher and therefore made no special effort to greet him. He went straight back to the bedroom, took out the list of members who had been killed or betrayed that Chloe had given him the previous night, and compared it with the list in the file folder.

After completing the comparison, Verak was shaken.

He had already asked Chloe about the impact of the incident, but she had remained fairly restrained, leading him to believe that the revolutionary organization had not suffered too severe a blow. Now, however, he discovered that although only twelve people had betrayed them, nearly two hundred members of the organization had died as a result.

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Brescia was one of only three countries in the world without the death penalty. Thus, when dealing with these unimportant members, the government openly killed them under the pretext that “the rebels resisted to the death, leaving us no choice but to shoot them on the spot.”

Only leaders like Chris would first be arrested and interrogated for information about the whereabouts of the others before the organization was wiped out in one stroke. Chris had clearly understood what fate awaited him if he were captured. Therefore, during that incident, he had chosen to destroy all identifying information and shoot himself.

From the fact that every ordinary member had been shot dead while the core members had killed themselves before being captured, Verak deduced something about the government’s attitude toward the revolutionary organization.

The government was merciless and brutal, but Verak breathed a sigh of relief.

At the very least, if he were extremely unfortunate and got caught before fleeing with the money, he would not be shot on the spot like the others. Because of his special identity, he would be arrested instead and spared death.

As long as one remained alive, there was hope. Even the worst possible outcome was something Verak could accept.

After updating the membership information, the number of people who had maintained ordinary contact with Chris fell sharply to just over a hundred. Those with whom he had been closely connected dropped from seventeen to six.

Looking at the several pages of names that had been crossed out, Verak sighed inwardly.

There was no good ending to be found in revolution.

He then deliberately looked up Daniel’s information.

Daniel’s father was a carpenter, and his mother worked in a textile mill. Though only twenty-one, he was already one of the revolutionary organization’s longest-serving members. After Francis had organized the workers in a series of demonstrations and succeeded in securing legislation that reduced their working hours, Daniel had begun to idolize him. He joined the movement, contributing his meager strength to the interests of the workers and the realization of equality.

Thinking of Daniel’s guileless, sunny smile and his passionate, ambitious nature, Verak sincerely hoped that the young man would have a good future—that he would not meet a brutal end and deal a devastating blow to his parents.

After putting away the membership register, Verak once again took out Chris’s unfinished On Equality.

The book seemed almost magical. It answered some of Verak’s questions while creating even more, drawing him onward until he could do nothing but continue reading.

Verak turned to the second chapter, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”

[The Brescian Revolution, which took place fifty years ago, aptly reduced the practice of social struggle to these three words: liberty, equality, fraternity... Why these three words? Why not fewer, or more? There is profound reasoning behind this. Every action in a person’s life is a union of three elements. That is to say, perception, emotion, and understanding exist simultaneously... (Note 1)]

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In the second chapter, Chris no longer confined his discussion to equality alone. Instead, he broadened it to encompass what he called the three aspects of human nature, deepening his understanding through these three indispensable qualities.

[In former times, people in their revolutions knew only to cry out for liberty. It was long afterward that they began to proclaim fraternity. But what of it? What use is there in my saying this? The question is whether liberty alone is not without its defects, and whether fraternity alone is not likewise imperfect... While we demand liberty because life requires it, and accept fraternity within our hearts, should our reason not also proclaim equality?... The final word in this slogan answers the needs of humanity’s own understanding, just as the other two answer the needs of the other two aspects of our existence: the need for action and the need for love. (Note 2)]

A long while later, he finally finished reading. It was already well past noon.

Verak put away On Equality and went to the bathroom to wash his face, trying to clear his head.

After finishing the second chapter, he had developed a certain wariness toward Chris and the book. Given the extent of his knowledge and the level of his understanding, it was difficult for him to determine whether Chris’s arguments were correct. As he read, he was torn between agreeing with them and questioning them.

He had originally read the book merely to understand the revolutionary organization well enough to converse with Chloe and the other core members without revealing his ignorance. But now, his purpose seemed to have become something more. He had accumulated many questions for which he wanted answers, and to obtain those answers from the book, he first had to accept what it contained.

“I can’t keep reading.”

That was what Verak thought.

He admitted that Chris had been an extraordinary man. The ideas he had written were shaking Verak’s understanding of the world. If he continued reading, he feared that he too would end up like Daniel, sinking into an abyss from which no hope could be seen.

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Notes 1 and 2: Both passages were adapted from Pierre Leroux’s On Equality.

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