Chapter 85

He caught Theor and dragged him away.

“No!”

Theor shouted.

Another man said,

“Handle that kid carefully.”

Then the man covered Theor’s mouth with a cloth.

Suddenly he could smell a strange smell.

But his memory ended there.

As he recalled the memories of last night, Theor bit his lip to keep from crying.

Judging from the situation, it seems that he has been caught by these people.

He must have been kidnapped.

I know what kidnapping is.

I’ve seen it in children’s books or plays.

Bad people were kidnapping children or ladies.

I know up to that point, but I don’t know what happens after that.

In fairy tales, someone comes to rescue the kidnapped person, but he understood to some extent that reality and fairy tales are different.

‘But where am I going now?’

The carriage was still going fast.

I wondered where I was going, but the men in front of me didn’t seem willing to tell me.

‘Where is my Grandpa?’

I realized that I hadn’t seen my grandfather since I went into the closet last night.

The violent noise from outside the closet also came back to my memory.

‘Did my Grandpa get hurt?’

Rather than the fact that he was kidnapped, he was afraid to think that his grandfather was injured.

“Sob……”

Theor began to cry as he sniffled.

Seeing Theor crying, the man on the other side got angry.

“Do not be noisy. A crying child is disgusting,” said the man who talked to Theor from the very beginning.

Theor was forced to hold back his tears.

Another man, who was sitting still, said,

“Don’t be rude. He is a precious young master.”

He opened the carriage drawer and took out a small paper box.

Inside the box was a bite-sized biscuit.

It smelled like butter.

“I’ll give you this, so don’t cry.”

Theor looked at the biscuit box with tears in his eyes.

He wasn’t in a situation where he wanted to eat something like a biscuit, but he was taught not to turn down a gift from an adult.

Theor barely stopped crying and took the biscuit the man gave him.

And he politely bowed his head.

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to say thank you like that.”

At his blunt answer, Theor raised his head and looked at the man.

Upon closer inspection, he looked older than the man beside him.

He had eyes that looked nicer than the man beside him who kept talking.

The moment their eyes met, the man’s eyes widened in shock.

“You……”

“Yes?”

The man grabbed Theor’s shoulders and pulled him closer.

Then he looked into Theor’s eyes with a surprised expression.

His eyes were trembling in shock.

Theor didn’t understand why he was surprised.

Theor, who just blinked his eyes, realized it then.

That he had not dripped eye color changing medicine since last night.

***

The study door swung open.

The Duke of Reston, who was sitting in his study, frowned at his son, who entered the room without knocking.

“What’s going on?”

“Seriously? Are you asking because you don’t know what’s going on?”

Fritz looked at his father with a contemptuous look.

“You were the one who attacked my grandfather and kidnapped Theor, right?”

The Duke looked up at his son with a puzzled look.

The people sent to pick up the child had not yet returned to the capital.

How did Fritz, who was only in the capital, find out about it?

‘Was he trying to bring the child too?’

Fritz seemed to have planned on taking the child to protect him.

‘Seeing you get angry, you must have been one step late.’

The duke pretended not to know and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Although he expected it, he was angrier when his father blatantly denied it.

“I know you’re behind it all.”

As he leaned leisurely on the back of the chair, the Duke asked,

“Do you have any evidence?”

“My grandfather said he saw your men.”

Astelle asked Fritz to protect Theor and the Marquis.

After that, Fritz immediately sent his men to the East.

He ordered his men to find Theor and the Marquis, escort them home, and report to him once they got home safely.

However, it seemed that his men were one step behind the Duke’s.

By the time they found the inn, Theor had been kidnapped.

His maternal grandfather was found lying in the inn room after being attacked and injured.

Fortunately, his maternal grandfather was not seriously injured.

After his maternal grandfather confirmed that they were Fritz’s men, he told them who had attacked him.

Although their faces were covered in masks, they were clearly the Duke’s men.

“He must have seen it wrong.”

The duke denied his son’s words with a smile.

“Your maternal grandfather hasn’t been here for a long time, so how could he recognize my people?”

“After my subordinates investigated, they said that there are your people near the inn.”

“My people are free to go anywhere. Just because they were near the inn, can that be used as evidence?”

“Father, I didn’t come here to play pun,” said Fritz, holding back his anger.

He continued, “My grandfather was injured and Theor was missing. Where did you hide him?”

Fritz felt ashamed of himself.

‘Astelle asked me for help, but……’

The fact that Astelle was Theor’s biological mother was revealed at the ball.

After the ball, Astelle was locked up in the mansion and couldn’t come out without the Emperor’s permission.

Now Astelle is a princess who gave birth to an illegitimate child, and is the hot topic of gossip at the moment.

Fortunately, Theor and the Marquis had left first.

Poor Astelle called Fritz and asked him to help them get home safely.

This was the first time Astelle had asked for help directly from him.

He definitely wanted to help.

‘But I can’t even help her.’

He was pathetic.

He couldn’t even listen to his only sister’s earnest request.

He was a really pathetic brother.

Even his maternal grandfather, the Marquis of Carlenberg, was injured because he was late.

Fritz, who had been blaming himself, decided to find Theor and bring him to Astelle no matter what.

“Father, tell me where Theor is.”

The Duke still pretended not to know.

“Well, no matter how many times you ask, I don’t know where her illegitimate child is.”

Fritz couldn’t stand his father’s attitude, so he brought up Kaizen’s name.

“Can you say that to His Majesty?”

“Kaizen?”

“His Majesty had also sent knights to the East to find Theor.”

According to reports of his men, the knights sent by the Emperor had arrived just before they left.

After hearing that the Emperor had sent the knights, the Duke’s brazen smile slowly disappeared.

“Why did the emperor look for him?”

“How would I know that?”

The Duke pondered for a moment.

He seemed to be contemplating what the Emperor’s intentions were.

However, his worries did not last long. The Duke smiled calmly again and said,

“No matter what the Emperor asks, my answer remains the same. I don’t know where the child is.”

Fritz gave up talking to his father.

There’s no point in talking to him.

“All right.”

He gave the Duke a look of contempt and made a cold declaration,

“I will find him myself.”

Fritz has already searched every nook and cranny of the mansion and his father’s villas.

But Theor was nowhere to be found.

‘He probably hasn’t arrived in the capital yet.’

Father will surely bring Theor to the capital.

Theor was the key to blackmailing Astelle.

Father will try to keep him close by.

Fritz thought that if he kept an eye on his father, he would be able to find Theor’s whereabouts.

Fritz walked out the door without saying goodbye to his father.

He returned to the west mansion where he lived and gave orders to his men,

“Keep an eye on this mansion and my father, and whoever he meets.”

***

The smile disappeared from the Duke of Reston’s face as soon as Fritz closed the door.

The duke in the study realized what his son was thinking and clicked his tongue.

‘He’s going to spy on me.’

Fritz was his biological son and heir to the family.

Of course, he knows all the villas in the capital.

He must have thoroughly grasped the radius of his father’s actions.

‘Do you think you can beat me?’

The Duke suddenly remembered his son’s words.

‘But Kaizen was also looking for him……’