By Zephyria 
Am I dreaming?
Chrissy wondered vaguely. It felt entirely surreal. The sight before him—no, that man—could never have appeared here, in this place, looking like that.
The platinum blonde hair, which had always been neatly combed without a single strand out of place, now fell over his forehead, fluttering around his thick eyebrows. The purple eyes that usually looked down on people with disdain were stained darker than usual, shaking violently, and his broad shoulders heaved noticeably up and down. With his tie crooked, his white shirt wrinkled, and his suit jacket left wide open without a single button fastened, he was gasping for air. As if he had run here. Even though that seemed impossible.
That man isn’t Nathaniel Miller.
Chrissy thought vaguely. I must be seeing a hallucination. Why is he looking at me in such a mess, instead of being his usual perfect self? While it was incomprehensible, that was precisely why Chrissy believed this wasn’t reality. There was no way that man, that Nathaniel Miller, would show up in such a state. Yes, it’s an absurd fantasy. A hallucination hastily created by my mind, which desperately wants to deny reality.
…But then, why is he looking at me with such a deathly pale face?
A man who had followed behind the frozen, motionless Nathaniel said something. It took a few seconds for him to react. Nathaniel slowly turned to look at the man. Chrissy, and everyone else, thought he was about to say something. However, they were completely wrong.
“…!”
Almost simultaneously with someone’s sharp intake of breath, Nathaniel swung the cane he held in one hand and struck the man squarely in the head. With wide eyes, Chrissy could only stare blankly at the droplets of red blood scattering like foam. The men recoiled in shock at the sight of the fallen man, but it didn’t end there. Without hesitation, Nathaniel continued to batter the fallen man. Every time the cane struck the man’s body, he screamed, vomiting blood. Startled by the sudden violence, the men panicked, not knowing what to do, before finally shouting protests from all directions.
“Mr. Miller! What—what are you doing right now?”
“Why on earth are you doing this? What’s going on?”
“Stop it! Damn it, stop it!”
“What is wrong with you? Why did you suddenly come here and do this! You crazy…!”
Screams and curses erupted from everywhere. Chrissy remained slumped on the spot, merely watching as the men who rushed Nathaniel were helplessly knocked aside. The dull thuds and screams that rang out every time a man was struck by the stick felt distant, as if they were coming from somewhere far away. Blood sprayed into the air, and large bodies collapsed limply. The mansion’s guards rushed in urgently, and after seeing one of them collapse from a blow to the head, Chrissy lost consciousness.
9 |
“What on earth happened?”
A middle-aged man with thinning white hair raised his voice, sounding thoroughly enraged. Standing across the bar table, Nathaniel silently pulled out a bottle of whiskey, frowned briefly upon seeing that there wasn’t much left, and quietly poured the liquor into a glass. The man, seemingly further infuriated by Nathaniel’s reaction, spat out harshly:
“What do you expect me to do when you just barge in there alone? You should have contacted me beforehand! Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? Damn it, is this really the time to be drinking!”
Eventually, the man let out a loud curse. Nathaniel, who had slowly swallowed the half-filled glass of whiskey, set the empty glass down on the bar table. His face was as expressionless as ever, but the man clearly saw a slight crease form between his brows. Under a gaze that seemed to challenge him to say whatever he wanted, Nathaniel let out a short sigh and finally spoke.
“Didn’t I tell you it was unavoidable in order to save the children?”
“Ha.”
The man let out a scoff of disbelief, then glared with wide eyes, grinding his teeth.
“Nathaniel Miller, the reason I thought you were the right person for this job is because you are a cold-blooded monster without a drop of blood or a tear in your heart.”
He continued to speak ruthlessly.
“You don’t even blink when others die. If a little match girl were in front of you, you’d be thinking about how to take those matches without paying a dime; you’d never think of buying them to help the girl. And now you’re saying you jumped in because you felt sorry for the kids? Do you think I’ll believe such bullshit? Huh?”
The man was criticizing Nathaniel mercilessly, but Nathaniel himself seemed completely unfazed, responding with a nonchalance that bordered on brazenness.
“My, it seems you didn’t find those children very pitiful.”
“Bullshit! Of course they’re pitiful! I felt like I was going crazy too! You think we were fine? I’ve been enduring this, feeling several times, thousands of times more resentful and agonized than you! I gritted my teeth and held on to save more children, to ensure there would be no more victims in the future, and you’re saying what? You’re actually spouting that right now? What do you know, you money-grubbing lawyer!”
The man’s face turned beet red, as if he were about to explode from anger. Nathaniel noted inwardly that while he was the one drinking, the other man was the one with the crimson face, not knowing what to do with himself. With a bored expression, Nathaniel watched the man pace back and forth like a bear trapped in a cage.
“Did you retrieve the child who went to the police station?”
At the indifferent voice, the man stopped walking and spoke dismissively.
“Ah, that boy named Scott. Of course. He’s being protected along with the other children. My, what a sweet lawyer you are, worrying about the children like this.”
He was blatantly sarcastic, but Nathaniel, seemingly uninterested, asked something else.
“So, are those children going home now?”
That bastard.
The man glared resentfully at the smooth face of the man who kept talking about other things, but he had no choice but to answer.
“We can’t send them back yet. We haven’t identified who the ‘Child of the Moon’ is.”
At those words, Nathaniel murmured as if to himself.
“Oh dear. The prosecutor will be disappointed.”
The man frowned and looked at him as if asking what he was talking about, but Nathaniel ignored him and asked while pouring more liquor into the empty glass.
“Then is it an unknown variable as to when the children will return home?”
“It can’t be helped; things have turned into this mess.”
The man glared fiercely again, grinding his teeth. As if the more he thought about it, the more infuriating it became, he ruffled his hair violently with both hands and spat out curses.
“That’s why you should have waited. …Damn it, we were almost there. Do you know how many years we wasted? If we fail here, everything is for nothing. We’ll have to start all over again from the beginning!”
Unable to contain his rage, the man breathed heavily, clenching and unclenching his fists.
“Listen carefully. This was a massive blunder. If we can’t make up for this, all the effort we’ve built up will be in vain. You will have to take responsibility as well.”
“My, how terrifying.”
Nathaniel gave a thin smile and raised his glass as if making a toast.
“May God be with us.”
“Hah.”
The man let out a short, exasperated breath. Eventually, as if exhausted by his own anger, he simply watched Nathaniel empty his glass in silence before speaking in a somewhat deflated tone.
“So, what are you going to do now?”
Nathaniel set down the half-empty glass and gazed at him.
“I don’t know. Planning is your job. I just follow.”
His tone was leisurely as usual, but the man’s expression hardened as he glared at Nathaniel.
“Don’t act so carefree. It’s your fault that things have become such a mess.”
In short, he was telling him to take responsibility. Of course, it wasn’t that Nathaniel had acted without thinking. As the man said, he had committed the act despite anticipating the current situation.
“Give me some time.”
Nathaniel spoke slowly, as he always did.
“I will clean this up. However, I need time, so please wait.”
The calm tone sounded so routine that it conveyed an absurd level of confidence. Is it true? While the man wondered, he knew his heart was already leaning toward believing him. Along with the groundless faith that ‘Nathaniel Miller wouldn’t have caused such a scene without a reason; he must have calculated the aftermath.’
“…Fine.”
Clearing his throat, the man continued with a feigned sternness.
“Their families are waiting, so we can’t keep the children for long. Contact me as soon as you find out. You absolutely must not act unilaterally like this again.”
Thinking the man would leave after one final warning, he started to turn away but stopped, adding with a frown:
“Wipe the blood off. It looks unsightly.”
Of course, it wasn’t Nathaniel’s blood. Leaving behind the man who gave a thin smile while bringing the glass to his lips in silence, the man grumbled and walked outside.