Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 208

Each Person’s Circumstances (1)Denver Hudson’s wife, Liriana, was a peculiar woman.

Her family had been collapsing, and she had been scorned and criticized by countless people. Whenever they sat together at the dining table for dinner, she would always stare blankly at the food laid out before her and become emotional all by herself.

“Our family granary was completely empty once, so we peeled tree roots and made porridge out of them. My asshole nearly tore apart….”

Though she was a noble, no one treated Liriana’s family like nobles. She had even told him that there were bastards who said disgusting things like they would feed her family for a meal if she let them sleep with her.

She was a woman who had endured such a miserable life. Perhaps because she remembered those days, she regularly provided free meals to poor people three times a week.

“It’s miserable to be hungry, isn’t it?”

And that was the problem. The meals regularly provided to the poor.

The meals themselves were not the issue. The problem was the disease dwelling within the bodies of those receiving them.

Several times a day, his wife coughed up blood, growing paler and thinner with each passing day.

“I’m sorry.”

The bacteria were eating away at Liriana’s lungs.

There was medicine to treat it, but the bacteria consuming her lungs had resistance to those drugs. No matter how much medicine she took, her condition did not improve.

“Unless a new medication is developed….”

To suppress the bacteria boring holes through her lungs, they needed medicine the bacteria had not yet developed resistance against.

Right now, no such medicine existed. But they said research was continuing, and someday it would be developed.

“When?! After Liriana dies?!”

At Denver’s furious outburst, the pale-faced doctor spoke with difficulty.

“For now… you must focus on buying as much time as possible.”

They needed time. Time for his wife to endure until a new drug was developed.

“Your expression right now is fucking hilarious.”

“And you can still laugh right now?”

Liriana giggled while looking at Denver’s angry face, only to cough up blood afterward.

That was why Denver needed time. And it was then that the Emperor approached him. It was a visit accompanied by an offer he could never refuse.

‘Connubium.’

The secret art passed down through the Valorn Imperial Family carried the meaning of marriage ceremony.

To use it, the consent of three people was required.

Those three were called the groom, the bride, and the officiant.

Unless the officiant died or released them, the time of the two designated as groom and bride would forever stop at that moment.

In exchange for serving as the Guardian of the Nation until medicine capable of curing his wife’s illness was developed, the Emperor granted Denver Hudson’s request.

Before using Connubium, his wife took a powerful sleeping pill and fell asleep. Denver Hudson spent several days maintaining himself in peak condition.

His wife fell into a deep sleep, while Denver Hudson remained in perfect condition.

And so, the time of the two of them stopped.

“Is it over?”

Before the Emperor, Denver knelt and answered.

“Yes. The Rebel Army has been crushed, and they are scattering and fleeing like a disorganized mob.”

Philip IV nodded with a satisfied expression.

“Things worked out well. Now we just need to capture that bastard Kairus.”

Denver Hudson nodded at the Emperor’s words.

“We have sufficient justification.”

They now had a reason to drag Kairus out after he entered the city. Hand over Irena Kellogg, daughter of a traitor, and Kairus, accomplice to treason.

“If we enter negotiations, those criminal bastards will have no choice but to hand over Kairus.”

“Yes, they will. Conveniently enough, Irena Kellogg belonged to the Scarlet Leaf Order.”

There was now sufficient reason to mobilize Dana Watson as well.

After all, there was nothing strange about ordering her to personally capture the traitor who had come from her own order.

“Compared to Kairus.”

“He won’t be able to win.”

This time, Denver had crossed swords with Kairus for quite a while, so he understood it more clearly than ever.

Kairus could not defeat Dana Watson.

“What if she gets attached just because he belonged to her own order?”

At Philip IV’s remark, Denver answered calmly.

“Her loyalty toward the Empire is genuine.”

“Yes, though the problem is that it isn’t loyalty toward me.”

Dana Watson was a patriot. She loved the Valorn Empire, and whenever it came to protecting her homeland, she cast aside her usual debauched behavior and acted with complete sincerity.

The reason Philip IV disliked her was precisely because that loyalty was directed toward the Valorn Empire, not toward the Emperor himself.

One could argue that since the Emperor was the Empire, there was no difference.

But there was a clear distinction. Even the traitor Simid Kellogg had been someone loyal to the Valorn Empire while remaining disloyal to the Emperor.

In truth, the Emperor had never desired anyone’s loyalty in the first place.

“Even so, there is no one besides Dana Watson.”

Denver Hudson could not leave the Emperor’s side. Part of it was due to his imperfect immortality, and part of it was because the Emperor, who trusted no one, would never send Denver far away from himself.

In that case, under the current circumstances, the only powerhouse in the Empire capable of dealing with Kairus was the Red Comet.

“Two of them have already fallen.”

“They won’t be able to stop him.”

Two knight captains had already been defeated. The Captain of the Azure Order of Knights was dead, and the Captain of the Verdant Pearl Knights had been routed.

Just as Denver Hudson said, there were only a handful of people capable of stopping Kairus now.

“To think the Empire lacks talent to this degree….”

Philip IV muttered displeasedly before closing his eyes. It meant to proceed.

“After completing the investigation into the Scarlet Leaf Order, I will issue the command.”

To firmly establish the connection between the Scarlet Leaf Order and Irena Kellogg, a thorough investigation was necessary. It was a procedure that would require around two to three months.

In any case, the Empire also needed time. Not only did they have to search for and annihilate the fleeing Rebel Army, they also had to deal with the damages and restore order to the situation.

Just as the Empire was entering a busy period, Bennett was also going through a hectic time.

“At least it’s not the worst-case scenario we expected.”

The first person Kairus met upon arriving in Bennett was Cecilia.

“We failed, though.”

“Ah, but that’s the Empire’s problem, isn’t it?”

From the perspective of the criminal organizations that needed to shake the Aylan Republic as much as the Empire was being shaken, the current chaos within the Empire was exactly to their liking.

“For the time being, all the Operations Committee members are going to be busy.”

At the same time as extending their grasp toward the wavering Empire, they also needed to bring about the chaos within the Aylan Republic that had been arranged in advance.

“So?”

The issue was why Cecilia was telling Kairus all this right now.

“Could you tighten up city management for us? Everyone’s going to be too busy to keep an eye on internal matters.”

It was understandable enough. Since they were shaking entire nations, the individual power Kairus possessed had little practical use there.

Instead, while the other organizations were occupied with outside affairs, they wanted him to handle the various problems arising within the city and keep watch so no idiots started causing trouble while the city’s leaders were busy.

“That much is fine.”

It wasn’t a difficult or unreasonable request.

“While you’re at it, I’d also like you to find something for us.”

Kairus made a complicated expression as he stared at Cecilia. With a sigh, Cecilia shrugged.

“Right, I suppose someone of your elevated status isn’t suited for jobs like finding lost items anymore. Still, at least hear me out.”

“… Well, as you said, I can at least listen.”

There had to be a reason she refused to back down even after receiving his glare.

“Sopor, remember it?”

“How could I forget?”

A battle gear that intoxicated people with sleep and made them lose control of themselves. Upon hearing that much, Kairus clicked his tongue.

“You found it?”

“Found it? Hardly. Everyone’s worried because nobody can find it. No idea where it disappeared to.”

If whoever obtained it had tried to sell it, places like Areumdri Pawnshop or Rose Garden would have noticed.

But the fact that its whereabouts were still unknown meant whoever possessed Sopor had not disposed of it.

“We can’t relax until we find it. It means that incredibly dangerous battle gear is still in the hands of someone in Bennett.”

And that, in turn, meant it had become a bomb that could explode at any moment.

“I suppose I’ll have to cooperate.”

“Thanks for that. If nothing else worked, I was planning to handle it myself.”

It seemed everyone was in a situation where they were too busy dealing with urgent matters to spare attention for this as well.

“If I find the item, I’m keeping it.”

At Kairus’s words, Cecilia nodded. It was far safer for someone to locate it and keep it secured than to leave it lying around with no one knowing who possessed it.

So, Cecilia had no intention of getting greedy over the item in a situation like this.

“Please take good care of the city. I’m leaving on a business trip immediately.”

It wasn’t just Cecilia. Quite literally, none of the Operations Committee members would remain in the city for the next two to three months. That was why Cecilia had personally come to ask Kairus for help.

“Seriously, I come back after failing a job and immediately get busy again.”

After muttering that while watching Cecilia leave, Kairus headed toward his office, the Nest.

Because something even more difficult than managing the city remained waiting for him.

“….”

When he opened the door and entered, Irena was sitting there.

“Should I prepare myself?”

Swallowing hard, Irena looked at Kairus and asked in a subdued voice. Her expression was blank, but her eyes were filled with moisture, as though tears would spill out the moment someone touched her.

“Yeah.”

At Kairus’s answer, Irena shut her eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

“Give me… just a moment.”

Kairus gave Irena plenty of time. After keeping her eyes closed for a long while, she finally raised her head and looked at him.

“It’s a will.”

At Kairus’s words, Irena gave a small nod. He had no way of knowing what was written inside.

To begin with, it was not something he was permitted to know. It was Simid’s will left behind for Irena.

After reading the letter, Irena carefully placed the paper back into the envelope, then slipped the envelope into her inner pocket once more.

“To be honest, I have no reason to hate the Emperor.”

The other side had tried to stab him with a blade, so he merely responded in kind. That was the end of Simid Kellogg as viewed coldly by third parties.

The Emperor was never going to hand candy to someone who failed in rebellion.

“But what am I supposed to do? I can’t think about it that calmly….”

But at the same time, Irena Kellogg had just learned of her father’s death. Before considering who was right or wrong, the sorrow inevitably welled up inside her.

Tears streamed down from Irena’s eyes.

“You think you don’t have the right to seek revenge?”

At Kairus’s words, Irena’s body trembled before she fell silent.

“Then you don’t need to call it revenge. You’re simply helping me with my work, because I helped you a great deal.”

It didn’t matter if Irena believed she lacked the right to seek revenge.

Kairus also wanted to kill the Emperor. Irena was simply joining Kairus’s cause to repay the debt she owed him.

“That’s just self-justification.”

“How many bastards in this world actually live fairly and righteously?”

People naturally lived by justifying themselves.

“How many innocent people do you think died because of me?”

Too many to count. Kairus had moved toward his goals while spilling enormous amounts of innocent blood. Naturally, there were people whose wives or husbands had died by Kairus’s hand, and people whose parents or children had died as well.

“If they came to me seeking revenge, do you think I’d say, ‘Ah, sure. You people have the right to take revenge on me,’ and just let them stab me?”

Absolutely not. When receiving food, it was only natural if there was more meat on his own tray, but if the person beside him had more meat, then suddenly it was unfair.

It was the same logic. His own revenge was justified, while revenge directed at him was unjust.

That was how everyone lived. Kairus was no different. So Irena could live that way too.