Beast in the Woods, Deep in the Night - Chapter 19.2

Chapter 19.2

“O-only our mother lives here. We’ve never met our father, so…”

“What are your names?”

“I’m Karl. My sister is Iris.”

Unlike his sister, who was trembling with her eyes closed, the boy named Karl answered his questions clearly despite also being a little scared of him.

From what he heard, it seemed that the brother and sister were the children of a maid who worked in the grand duke’s castle.

It seemed that the unnamed maid wasn’t married and became pregnant after a one-night mistake, so she was secretly raising her children on her own in a cabin that was previously used by a now-retired gardener.

Edgar, who had no friends his age to get along with, quite liked the two of them. He also liked the fact that they would follow him around when he was hunting and tell him where and what kind of prey they saw.

Above all, he could forget about his boredom during the time he spent hanging out with the two.

That was why Edgar often went out hunting alone. It was quite fun to hang out in secret with two people unknown to anyone.

It was amusing to see their eyes widening when he brought them a precious snack from time to time, or when they realized that he, who was good at everything, had no talent at all for stone skipping.

For two years, Edgar secretly hung out with the twins. He had the naive thought that when he became the grand duke one day, he would make them work in the castle so that they could see each other often.

But one day in the year he turned seventeen, something unexpected happened.

“E-Edgar… *sobs*, my mother a-and brother…”

Edgar, who had come to the hinterland to take a breather as usual, was greeted by Iris, who was sobbing alone. He sensed at once that something ominous had happened.

“What happened?”

“They were t-taken somewhere. The knights of the castle came and…”

“Richard’s knights took your mother and Karl?”

“Yes. Please… *sobs*, h-help me, Edgar.”

Edgar thought something was off. Raising children in secret in an abandoned cabin was something that would only be met with a stern warning from the head maid.

But the knights took two people away.

Fortunately, Iris remembered how the knights looked, as she watched them while trembling behind some rocks. From the explanation, Edgar also knew who they were.

They were knights that his father especially cared about and used frequently.

Then, was it his father who told them to arrest Karl and the maid?

Edgar went straight back to the castle and summoned the knights. After a persistent interrogation, where even the safety of their families was mentioned, he found out where Karl and the maid had been taken.

‘A research institute on the western hillside?’

He had never heard of any facility in such a place that Grand Duke Richard could be involved with.

So, Edgar took the horse straight away. He felt that he needed to see with his own eyes what was happening in a place he didn’t know about to release his anxiety.

As he approached the hillside in the west, he saw the knights on guard around the place. He had seen all of them at least once or twice in the grand duke’s castle.

“Y-Young Master. You cannot go in there.”

“Will you step aside if I draw my sword? If you die, you won’t be able to point your sword at me.”

“…”

Edgar pushed back the knights who dared to stop him and opened the door to a strange building he had never seen before.

As he did, the smell of blood hit him, causing him to frown, accompanied by a familiar voice letting out horrible screams.

“What the hell is this place…”

Edgar muttered in a weak voice. As the name ‘research facility’ suggested, there were iron cages all over the place. Those trapped inside had become so limp that it was hard to tell whether they were dead or unconscious.

In some cases, a man and a woman were locked together in a single cage. Their bodies were tangled promiscuously, but their faces were distorted with pain and despair.

In one of the iron cages, a liquid that was either blood or vomit was flowing out. A part of it had hardened and sparkled like a jewel.

Edgar scanned the whole place in an instant and suddenly thought of one word.

Chimeras.

Edgar had learned about chimeras before.

If a woman who has not been imprinted conceives a child of the grand duke’s bloodline, not even a quarter of the power will be inherited, and the children born in this way will be called chimeras to distinguish them from the legitimate successors born from imprinted companions.

The grand dukes only take one companion through imprinting, but there are some who, like scoundrels, take other women and have children out of wedlock. He heard that those with impure intentions kidnap these children and conduct repeated breedings with the intention of studying the power of the Wolf God.

For ordinary people, Richard’s power was that valuable.

‘… But I heard that they started regulating chimera research during my grandfather’s generation and that it ended completely in my father’s generation.’

While Edgar was trembling, unable to accept the disparity between the brutal reality in front of him and what he had learned, he heard urgent footsteps and someone’s voice coming from the interior of the research facility.

“It’s been reported that Edgar has questioned about the research facility, so we need to shut this place down immediately. If he knew what was going on here…”

Soon, the busy pace stopped.

Edgar looked up to see who had ordered the closure of the research facility, then sighed.

It was the most affectionate father in the world. Grand Duke Richard.