Chapter 490

Leonardo’s lips parted slightly. His thoughts had suddenly become tangled. The raw stone of Cardo was a treasure so rare it was nearly impossible to assign it a value. He had expected that plenty of participants in this league would be after it—but to think one of them had been on the same team...

“Oh, that—!”

As if pleased to hear a familiar term, Beatrice pointed at Orca.

“You need that stone too?”

“Bell, you also know of the raw stone?”

“Of course I do. But that thing is ours.”

“Ours?”

At Orca’s question, Beatrice answered as if it were obvious.

“We’re the ones taking it.”

Gillian turned back to Leonardo again. After confirming the real leader’s troubled expression, he tightened his grip on the fork he had been idly spinning between his fingers. Then, without warning, he drove it hard into the dish holding the roasted chicken legs.

Bang!

The force was so great that all the plates lined up on the table rattled at once. Startled, Ero and Orca both turned to look at him.

“That’s why this lady and I entered the league in the first place. That oh-so-amazing item.”

Gillian deliberately drew a line, as if Leonardo had nothing to do with it, isolating it as something between just the two of them. The atmosphere turned cold in an instant. Perhaps it was because the fork that had pierced the cooked chicken bone was now half-bent.

The message was clear—he had no intention of yielding.

Orca’s white eyebrows twitched as he alternated his gaze between the two across from him. Then, with a smooth motion, he gathered the loose sleeve of his robe.

“I see.”

With a restrained, almost ceremonial gesture, he extended his arm and slid a plate toward Gillian.

“This is troublesome. The raw stone cannot be split in half. Were the two of you planning to cooperate from the beginning?”

“Well, something like that. We share the same goal.”

“A loyal pet, then.”

Orca spoke calmly. There was no apparent intent to provoke, yet Gillian’s lips stiffened slightly. It wasn’t outright hostility, but in that moment, Orca had completely erased the earlier looseness brought on by alcohol.

“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of yielding either. The future of my pod depends on me.”

This time, his tone was unmistakably firm. Their gazes collided in midair, tension flaring instantly. Ero, whose eyes darted between them, forced a smile in an attempt to ease the stiffness.

“Uh... so, that raw stone must be something incredible, right?”

As he spoke, he gathered the plates that had shifted from the earlier impact, pulling them inward so they wouldn’t fall.

“With everyone so interested, I can’t help getting curious too.”

“Stay out of it. It’s something on a completely different level. The fate of this country could depend on it.”

“Th-that much?”

Ero’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer. Gillian, who had replied, lifted the fork that still held the chicken leg. The heavy meat came up with it, juices dripping steadily. Beneath it, water and oil that had failed to mix seeped apart through the crack in the split plate.

“That’s just a way of putting it. Though it might actually end up that way.”

Chuckling, he took a large bite of the meat—possibly embedded with shards of glass. Ero opened his mouth as if to stop him but missed his chance. Orca, who had been watching quietly, now turned his gaze to include Morvan as well.

“Why do you need the raw stone?”

Gillian chewed his food, then grabbed his beer mug and drained it in several gulps before answering with a question of his own.

“Why? If our reason convinces you, are you planning to hand it over to us?”

“That is not it. But it seems you have a reason as necessary as mine, and I became curious.”

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Gillian continued casually.

“Tell me this. What if that stone held the lives of thousands—no, tens of thousands—of people?”

“Hmm?”

“Or what if it were the only way to grant peace to pitiful souls who died without even a single line written about them?”

Orca furrowed his brow at the vague premise, tilting his head.

“...So you also need the raw stone for your ‘pod’?”

“Well, you could say that.”

Gillian ended again with an ambiguous answer. The flow seemed to pause briefly, but once he had stripped all the meat from the chicken leg, he spoke again.

“Back then, there were three kids living in a completely white space. From the moment we woke up until we fell asleep drugged, the three of us were always together. We weren’t related by blood, but we called each other brothers. We looked out for each other, protected each other. We had no one else in the world to rely on. That counts as a ‘pod,’ doesn’t it?”

Orca, sitting upright and listening intently, nodded.

“It is clearly a pod.”

“And what if that pod was used by cruel, selfish bastards, then discarded as failed waste and broken? What would you do then?”

“.......”

“Does that answer your question?”

“...Then are you seeking the raw stone for revenge? To harm those who violated your brothers?”

“It’s not solely for revenge, but I do expect that it will be achieved along the way as we accomplish our greater goal.”

Only the occasional clatter of utensils echoed. Outside, it was still noisy, yet inside, even that small sound felt sharp against the ears. At the repeated mention of “we,” Orca turned his gaze to Beatrice this time.

“Bell, do you also seek the raw stone for revenge?”

“I don’t need anything that grand. Even now, I can’t kill them with curses, but I can make them suffer through nightmares every day and drain them dry. What I want is to get back the person I love.”

Suddenly, Bell pulled Morvan into her arms.

“I’m going to put their soul into a doll so they can stay with me forever. But to do that, I need to know the method of sorcery... and I only know half of it, so it’s incomplete. All the sorcerers who knew it properly were killed in witch hunts. I nearly died back then too.”

It was Ero who flinched again at her subdued voice. Conversations of this kind—serious enough to hear maybe once in a lifetime—were being exchanged so casually that he began to wonder if he even belonged here.

“They said they were purging evil spirits and locked me in a mental hospital. Then they destroyed both my darling’s soul and the sorcery along with it. Even though they still use it themselves. Hypocrites.”

“W-witch hunts were banned hundreds of years ago, weren’t they?”

Shaken by the chilling story, Ero asked hesitantly. At that moment, Leonardo—who had been quietly observing—spoke in a calm voice.

“On the surface, yes. But it’s nothing more than a façade.”

This time, all eyes turned to him. Pouring the golden juice from a glass bottle into his cup, Leonardo continued.

“The label ‘witch’ has simply been replaced with another name. Those in power still manipulate public hatred to control the masses and create scapegoats to eliminate obstacles. That fundamental structure still remains. It’ll probably continue into the future, with only the wording cleverly changed.”

He lifted the cup to his lips, took a measured drink, then ran his tongue over them. Resting his chin on his hand with his elbow on the table, he looked past Ero toward Orca and asked,

“Well, enough of these heavy stories. So what if I need it too?”

Gillian, who had been tearing at the chewy chicken skin with his fingers, froze. Beatrice, still in Morvan’s arms, only shifted her gaze. Leonardo curled the corner of his lips into a deliberately alluring smile.

“If I need that raw stone as well, what will you do then? Will you offer it to me as a token of your courtship?”

Watching from right beside him, Ero couldn’t help but freeze. Words coming from lips so beautiful they were almost mesmerizing felt unbearably cruel. To use someone’s feelings like that—right after everyone had just laid bare their deepest desires—didn’t feel right to him.

Perhaps sensing something similar, Orca’s previously steady gaze wavered slightly. His expression darkened as if caught in deep thought. His eyes lowered slowly, then lifted again.

“Why does Lion desire it?”

Their gazes met directly. Golden lashes dipped, then rose again under the dim yellow light. Taking in that artificial brilliance like a false sun, Leonardo brushed his hair back and answered,

“...For all the wishes I carry on my shoulders.”

“Wishes?”

No one could easily respond. His words sounded abstract and grand, yet they carried a weight as if he were staking his life on them.

“For all the freedom that is suppressed in this land.”

His vivid golden eyes gleamed. A faint heat seemed to stir around him. For a moment, an uncomfortable silence settled over the private room.

As the air grew heavy, Leonardo took another sip of juice. Even so, he maintained an outward ease, the curve of his lips unchanged.

“So? Your answer?”

Maintaining his perfectly upright posture, Orca simply blinked slowly. As if carefully choosing his words, he remained silent for quite some time. Then, having reached a decision, he finally spoke with effort.

“I’m sorry, but I still cannot yield.”

“Why?”

Leonardo narrowed his eyes as he asked.

After a brief hesitation, Orca answered,

“Even though my connection with you is important, the lives and home of my pod—built over a long time—are more precious right now.”

“......”

“And.”

Just as it seemed his answer had ended, Orca continued. Leonardo, who had been about to nod in acceptance, paused.

Orca went on.

“In your purpose, Lion... you are not there.”