71 – Cypress Mosaic

“The ​exterior ​is ​one ​thing, but the ​interior ​is ​quite ​classic ​as well.”

“I’m not particularly ​fond ​of flashy things.”

“You ​mentioned that you ​use ​this ​car ​when ​you ​want to drive ​yourself, ​right?”

“That’s ​right. It’s an ​owner-driven model. It’s not ​the kind ​of car ​I’d choose ​when I ​need ​to ​sit in the ​back and ​review documents.”

“Then, I imagine ​you don’t drive it ​often.”

“That tends to be ​the case. ​However, ​it’s not good for the car ​to be left idle ​for ​too ​long. ​Since ​it’s such a ​heavy vehicle, ​the ​tires can flatten ​and ​deform. I start the engine ​and air ​it ​out once a ​week. ​And ​I ​try ​to take ​it ​out for ​a drive at least once a month.”

Perhaps ​because he thought ​Elian was interested, ​he visit our siteprovided [unauthorized copy]a [Read on Read BL Novels]fairly ​detailed explanation.

Sitting ​directly behind the ​driver’s ​seat, Elian gazed ​intently at the ​back of ​Lorenz’s ​head. Even ​while ​driving, his ​posture—with ​shoulders and ​back ​held ​straight—was impressive. He ​possessed ​an innate ​confidence, ​the ​kind ​that suggested he had never once felt intimidated by anyone in his life.

Have you ever been to Wisconsin in this car? For a moment, a strong urge to ask that question surged within him. But, of course, he did not do anything so reckless. It was far too direct a question.

To obtain meaningful evidence against the Lockhart family, an individual had to invest time. Elian sometimes felt that time might be the only weapon he could truly wield.

Up until now, he had been very careful to explore various parts of the mansion without raising suspicion. However, he had not found a single item related to the ‘crescent moon’ anywhere. Not a painting, not a badge, nothing.

That didn’t mean Lorenz Lockhart was innocent. For one, the Upper East Side mansion was his father’s house, where Lorenz was merely residing temporarily. Furthermore, he hadn’t yet checked every secret corner of the estate.

For instance, the dressing room he had never entered, or the listening room.

Lorenz, or Joshua.

The probability remained 50% for each.

As of now, the needle hadn’t tilted toward either of them.

“Do you know how to drive?”

Elian, who had been staring at the back of Lorenz’s neat head, snapped back to attention at the sudden question.

“I do.”

“I suppose. Except for New York, it would be inconvenient to get by in the U.S. without knowing how to drive.”

Keeping his eyes on the road, Lorenz rested his left arm diagonally across the window frame. In the center of the black leather steering wheel held by his right hand, the Lockhart family crest was embossed instead of the symbolic Rolls-Royce monogram. Glancing at it over those broad shoulders, Elian deliberately steered the conversation in that direction.

“The crest is beautiful.”

“The crest?”

“Isn’t it the Lockhart crest? On the steering wheel.”

“Ah…”

“That animal is a griffin, right?”

A creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

Looking down at the familiar symbol, Lorenz nodded. Then, he posed another question to Elian.

“Do you happen to know the meaning of the griffin?”

“Power, courage, guardianship, leadership… that’s what I understand it to mean.”

“As expected. You truly are the genius who managed [Read on Read BL Novels]to both enter and graduate [Read on Read BL Novels][Read on Read BL Novels]at the top of your class.”

It took a beat for Elian to realize that Lorenz was attempting a joke in his own way. Letting out a belated, awkward, and dry laugh, Elian swallowed hard, making sure not to let it show. Now it was his turn to ask a bolder question.

“Does the crescent moon… signify wisdom?”

He wanted to see his reaction to the mention of the crescent moon.

“Usually, yes. It can also mean a new beginning or hope. Since it’s a moon that can only be seen at dusk, rather than in the deep of night. It is a very special moon.”

Special…

Just how special did he mean?

Was it a kind of specialness that would lead someone to become obsessed with it and make it the symbol of a company they operated in secret?

Tension washed over him, and he unconsciously gripped stolen contentthe fabric of his trousers. Lorenz, in the Read on Read BL Novelsdriver’s seat, wouldn’t be able to see it anyway.

After a brief silence, Lorenz suddenly added one more thing.

“At the same time, it can also carry the meaning of deficiency or incompleteness. Because it is a moon that has not fully waxed.”

“Deficiency… incompleteness… I suppose so.”

Elian’s voice grew small instinctively, as he tried not to let his tension and trembling be detected.

“Perhaps that’s why I’ve always been drawn to that meaning.”

“……”

Elian couldn’t even find the words to respond to what Lorenz said next. The confession that he had always been drawn to the meaning of the crescent moon was certainly significant.

Slowly rubbing his mouth with the hand resting on the window visit our sitestolen contentframe, Lorenz whispered in a dry, raspy voice.

“Because I’ve felt incomplete my entire life.”

Vroooom—

A massive freight truck, speeding terrifyingly from the opposite direction, roared past Lorenz’s sedan. Even though he knew they wouldn’t collide, Elian had to squeeze his eyes shut for a moment.

After passing through the iron gates at the entrance of the villa, the car continued up a gravel road that curved gently. The private property began even before the building came into view. Perhaps due to the rattling of the gravel road, Lucas woke up from his slumber and looked around with a bewildered expression.

“Lucas, we’re here. You’ll see the villa in a moment.”

The half-asleep child blinked in the direction Elian’s finger was pointing.

The building, situated atop a gentle hill, soon revealed itself. With its dark brick exterior, steeply pitched gable roof, and heavy wooden front door, it followed the typical English manor house style. Ivy covering the walls had turned red with the colors of late autumn, and smoke drifted from the high chimneys. It was a scene straight out of a fairy tale.

“Look at that pointy roof. Doesn’t it look like a real cottage?”

At Elian’s voice, Lorenz let out a quiet, barely audible chuckle.

Calling a manor house with over a hundred acres of forest and gardens a ‘cottage.’ It was likely a comment meant to match Lucas’s perspective, but it couldn’t help sounding like the words of an innocent child.

Mr. and Mrs. Miller, who lived on-site to manage the villa and the grounds, were there to greet them. They were accompanied by a dog with slightly folded ears. Excited by the visitors after such a long time, the dog was already running wildly around the driveway. Seeing the dog, Lucas’s face brightened even further from the backseat.

“Mr. Lorenz, we have been waiting for you.”

“Welcome.”

“You’ve been well, I hope?”

Lorenz shook hands with the couple.

The Millers had looked after this place for decades, even before Lorenz was born.

“Of course. In fact, I was thinking it would be lovely if you could visit once before autumn passed.”

“The autumn leaves are exceptionally beautiful this year, so I really wanted you to see them.”

Mrs. Miller pointed toward the forest behind the villa. Lorenz, Elian, and Lucas all turned around at once. The lush forest stretching along the gentle slope was magnificently dyed in various shades of reddish-brown and gold.

“Perhaps they were waiting for you, Mr. Lorenz; the leaves are falling a bit late this year.”

Lorenz couldn’t give a particular response to Mrs. Miller’s kind words and awkwardly averted his gaze. He knew that the couple looked forward to his visits as if they were waiting for a grandson. The guilt of not being able to meet those expectations settled heavily within him as an uncomfortable lump. It wasn’t that he disliked their affection and kindness; he simply didn’t know how to react, so he ended up turning away.

“Mr. Belloti, let me introduce you. This is Mr. and Mrs. Miller, who manage the villa.”

“Welcome, Mr. Belloti. It brings such vitality to this lonely place to have Mr. Lorenz visit with someone else after so long.”

Elian responded to the welcome with a warm smile as he shook hands with the couple.

“Thank you for the welcome. I am Elian Belloti. I am Lucas’s counselor.”

“Yes, we heard about you from Mrs. Margaret. She said it was thanks to you, Mr. Belloti, that we were able to come to Tarrytown.”

“Not at all. It was thanks to everyone at the mansion working together.”

Standing close to Elian, Lucas’s large eyes were stealing glances at the Millers. Behind his rapidly blinking eyelids, the child seemed to be gauging whether they were dangerous people.

Lorenz knelt down to match Lucas’s height.

“Lucas, do you want to say hello to the dog?”

At the mention of a dog, the child reacted immediately and nodded.

“This fellow is Toby.”

Toby. As if repeating the dog’s name in his head, the child nodded seriously.

“Do you know why his name is Toby?”

The child shook his head vigorously. His face was full of curiosity, eager to know the reason.

The dog, wagging its tail, approached while maintaining a proper distance so as not to startle the child. When Lorenz held out his hand as a signal that it was okay to approach, the dog immediately came over and rubbed its head against his large hand.

“A long time ago, this fellow’s great-great-grandfather was also named Toby.”

Lorenz skillfully scratched the dog’s neck and behind its ears. Lucas looked at Lorenz with eyes full of admiration and longing.

“Touch him. It’s okay.”

The child hesitated. Lorenz held out his hand in a lightly clenched stolen contentfist. [stolen content]Once the dog stolen contentsniffed his hand, he opened his fingers and gently stroked its neck, demonstrating for the child to follow.

Lucas also clenched his small fist and hesitantly held it out.

“He won’t bite. He’s a very clever and good boy.”

When his hand touched the dog’s moist nose, the child looked up to find Elian. After confirming that soft blue eyes were looking down at him, the child gave a shy smile.

While the child was befriending the dog, Lorenz looked around the villa grounds with a fresh perspective. Though it had been a long time since his last visit, everything remained the same except for the change in seasons.

A place where the healthiest and happiest memories of childhood coexisted with the most terrible and shocking ones.

Lorenz’s gaze, which had swept over the Hudson River below and the sturdy brick building, finally rested on Elian. Standing against the backdrop of the forest, the man was observing the surroundings with a curious look, much like Lucas.

Lorenz calculated in his head how far he had brought this man from Manhattan. About 25 miles. It wasn’t an exceptionally long distance. However, not a single fragment of Manhattan could be found in the surrounding scenery. It felt as if he had come to the other side of the world.

Joshua, Vincent Belloti, the issue of succession, and even marriage—everything felt Read on Read BL Novelsdistantly far [stolen content]away, becoming problems that no longer mattered.

“Lucas, where would you like to go first? Since we’ve just arrived, shall we go inside the villa and rest for a bit?”

It was a suggestion made out of consideration for the child, who was stepping into the outside world for the first time in several months. However, as soon as Lorenz finished his question, the child pointed somewhere with his fingertip. It was an unhesitating motion, as if he had thought about what he wanted to do here many times over.

Elian and Lorenz turned their heads following the child’s finger. The tip of the small finger was pointing toward the lush forest stretching out behind the manor house.