Chapter 47: The Unfortunate Possibility

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On the other end of the line, a servant woke Colin, and Colin answered the telephone. “Chris? What is it? You’re waking me up this early again.”

Virak looked at Carmine and followed his instructions. “I’ve been thinking about traveling soon. I wanted to discuss it with you.”

“Traveling? But weren’t we—”

Colin had no idea that Virak was not alone, and he was baffled by the sudden change in Virak’s plans.

“Come over quickly. This is important.” Virak hurriedly cut him off, preventing their business dealings from being exposed. “I’ll explain why I want to travel once you get here.”

“All right. I’ll come over soon.” Hearing the urgency in Virak’s voice, Colin had no choice but to agree.

“As soon as you can. We’ll talk in person.”

Worried that Colin might say something else incriminating, Virak decisively hung up.

Fortunately, Carmine had not noticed anything unusual. He had even prepared an explanation for Virak’s desire to travel. “When Colin asks why you want to travel, just tell him that once you’ve recovered, you want to get away and clear your head.”

“Understood.” Virak nodded.

Unfortunately, Carmine’s explanation had been conceived from his own perspective and did not fit the current situation. Virak had already agreed to go into business with Colin; how could he possibly leave to clear his head at this critical moment? Once Colin arrived, Virak would still have to think of another excuse to conceal the truth.

“You should go have breakfast first. When Colin arrives, take him straight to your bedroom and wait for me there.” Carmine rubbed the bridge of his nose, seeming somewhat fatigued.

“Understood, Mr. Carmine.” Virak rose and bowed once more in apology. “I’m sorry about this. If I hadn’t gone to the charity gala, none of this would have happened.”

Perhaps Carmine felt that Virak was not truly at fault. Instead of reprimanding him, he offered a word of reassurance. “It’s all right.”

“I wonder how things are going now?” Virak asked, trying to learn more about the situation.

“That is not something you need to concern yourself with. Go.” Carmine saw no reason to explain anything to Virak.

Realizing that he would not be able to obtain any information, Virak could only leave. “Then I’ll be going, Mr. Carmine.”

After leaving the study, Virak went downstairs to the dining room. Mela, Kellerman, and Julia were eating breakfast there. He greeted each of them before sitting down to eat as well.

Virak could not tell whether it was only like this today or whether it had always been so, but he suddenly realized how oppressive they were at the dining table. Part of it was due to aristocratic etiquette, which discouraged them from speaking much during meals. More than that, however, there was a coldness and restraint that seemed almost innate.

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Virak deliberately ate faster, hoping to finish before the other three. Then, while no one else was around, he could go out and contact Daniel to pass along the information.

The aristocracy always ate with leisurely refinement. Virak’s ravenous breakfast therefore drew the other three’s eyes toward him from time to time.

It did not take him long to finish. Virak rose and said, “Mother, Kellerman, I’m going outside to wait for Colin. He should be here soon.”

“Go ahead,” Mrs. Mela said.

Virak left the house and went to the entrance of the estate. After making sure no one was watching him, he found Daniel.

“Mr. Chris.” Daniel opened the rear door of the car for him.

“I’m not leaving.” Virak approached and spoke in a rapid undertone. “Something has happened. I’m afraid I won’t be able to go out for some time. Give this to Chloe, and tell them to be especially careful in the coming days. They don’t need to worry about me.”

Daniel accepted the letter Virak had written the previous night.

“Go,” Virak urged, before turning and returning to the entrance of the estate.

Daniel closed the car door and hurried away.

Twenty minutes later, Colin arrived.

“What’s going on? Why do you suddenly want to travel?” Colin complained as he got out of the car. “And you keep waking me up early every morning. You know what my schedule is like…”

Virak had no desire to listen to Colin ramble. He grabbed him and led him toward the house. “We’ll talk in my room. And remember, don’t mention our business dealings to anyone here.”

“I know. I’m not an idiot. You want to surprise your parents, too, don’t you?” Colin allowed himself to be pulled inside.

In the hall, Kellerman received Colin. After exchanging greetings with him, Virak led Colin toward the bedroom, while Kellerman went to the study to notify Carmine.

“Go on, then. What happened? You hadn’t seen me for a day before coming up with this plan.” Colin sat on the sofa, waiting for Virak to give him an explanation.

Virak had already prepared an appropriate response. “It’s a long story. My sister Kellerman is engaged to Jenos of the Fein family. Now they’ve started arranging my marriage as well, hoping to form an alliance between me and another family. You know I could never accept that, so I want to leave Laizein for a while under the pretense of traveling and lie low until things settle down.”

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This was the best reason Virak could come up with. When Carmine eventually asked Colin about Elizabeth, Colin would naturally assume that it had something to do with Chris’s future marriage. He would not become suspicious.

“Weren’t you with Elizabeth?” Colin asked, tilting his head.

Colin actually knew about Chris and Elizabeth.

Virak immediately decided to draw out more information first. The more he knew, the better he could understand and deduce the situation. “I haven’t seen her in some time, either.”

“I suppose that’s true. It’s been almost a month since you last mentioned her to me. What happened? Did you two have a fight?” Colin asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Virak put on an expression suggesting that he was unwilling to revisit the memory.

Colin became even more animated. “Didn’t you call me here so I could help you think of a solution? Don’t tell me that’s what you two argued about. No, that doesn’t make sense. If it was, why have you never mentioned it to me?”

From Colin’s words, Virak learned that his earlier deduction had been wrong. Four months ago, Chris had not severed contact with Elizabeth completely. Instead, the two had entered into a secret relationship.

Looking back on it now, that might not have been a bad choice.

It allowed them to preserve their feelings while ensuring that Elizabeth would not be implicated if anything happened to Chris.

Unfortunately, it also created a disastrous possibility.

If Chris had cut off contact with Elizabeth four months ago, after Francis sacrificed himself and Chris resolutely took his place as leader of the Equality Association, then he had clearly done so to keep Elizabeth from becoming involved. In that case, Elizabeth would have no idea what Chris was doing.

But if they had remained lovers in secret, Virak could not guarantee that Chris had never told Elizabeth about the Equality Association. If Elizabeth discovered that he was not truly Chris and passed that information on to the Equality Association, Virak would be doomed beyond all hope of escape.

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