It Seems Like The Infamous Trash Can is Right Here! - Chapter 72
The third floor was one place even uninvited guests, like those flocking around Vivian, wouldn’t dare to enter.
If I wanted to avoid unexpected and absurd encounters like today’s, I was better off living on the third floor of the main residence than in the annex.
“You’ll need a lady’s maid. Is there anyone in particular you’d like? If not, I can have one chosen from a Luanax vassal family .”
“I’ll leave it to you, Your Grace. As you know, I can’t exactly call upon people from my past.”
At my response, Lionel gently tugged at our intertwined fingers.
“We agreed to use names, didn’t we?”
“…Oh, right. I forgot, Lionel. ”
As soon as his name left my lips, his expression softened into a small smile.
“…Strange. It feels familiar . Nostalgic. ”
“My voice does?”
“Not quite. Hearing your voice calling my name—it feels as if it’s always been there, lingering inside me.”
After saying that, he seemed to be lost in thought, so I remained silent, looking out the window, watching the passing scenery outside the carriage.
As Lionel said earlier, had I… been part of his past life? Had there been a time when I called his name just like this?
A Night of Entwined Serpents had always been so focused on Vivian and her three love interests, that any side characters, including Lionel, had very little presence in the story.
The only reason Lionel had even appeared was because Luanax Mansion served as a key setting where the main characters converged.
But Lionel had never intervened in his sister’s affairs. He had remained a bystander.
Lionel had never once comforted Vivian when she cried over heartbreak, nor had he ever scolded or looked down on her when she indulged herself with two or even three men at a time.
Where was Lionel? What had captivated his attention so much that he was rarely at the mansion?
Clearly, Lionel’s life in this cycle was entirely different from the events of A Night of Entwined Serpents. Now, he had brought me back from the monastery, settled me in the estate, and was even pushing forward with marriage.
Then… could that novel’s storyline have been from one of his past lives ? Or was it something he had long forgotten ?
I wanted to ask him.
If he knew about the twisted fate between Serenia Solen and Crown Prince Axion.
But for that to happen, Lionel would have to reveal it on his own first.
What was his secret?
‘It won’t be easy.’
After all, I carried a similar secret, yet I couldn’t even begin to imagine how to explain it.
By the time I pulled myself from my thoughts, the carriage had already reached the road leading back to the Luanax estate .
Staring absently out the window, I suddenly froze.
“Wait! Stop the carriage! ”
“What’s wrong? What happened?”
Even as he asked, Lionel knocked on the wall behind him, signaling the coachman to bring the carriage to a halt.
“Over there… Vaikal!”
“Vaikal…? You mean Vaikal Solen ?”
Lionel, startled, turned to look out the window as well.
But the place where my brother, Vaikal Solen had been standing, was now empty.
All that remained was a maroon carriage heading in the opposite direction.
Lionel’s gaze sharpened, his eyes narrowing. Then, with a single command, he had the driver follow the maroon carriage immediately.
“How did you recognize him?”
Lionel asked, still watching the distant carriage intently.
“Unlike me, Vaikal Solen is well-known. He can’t walk freely around townhouses without drawing attention.”
“But… it was really him. And he was staring directly at me ….”
“You mean—he looked as if he knew you were in this carriage.”
I nodded.
“Do you think it could be… a trap?”
“I don’t know.”
Lionel thought for a moment before speaking.
“It’s possible he learned of your whereabouts through the information guild and deliberately revealed himself. For now, let’s see where this carriage is headed.”
We tailed it for nearly five minutes.
Then, at last, the maroon carriage passed through the grand gates of a mansion that rivaled Luanax in size and grandeur. The problem was… it wasn’t the only carriage arriving. Several others were also making their way inside .
“This place….”
Lionel let out a low sigh.
“The Ortatum estate.”
The very place where, tonight, Vivian was supposed to attend the masquerade ball.
