7 There is no room to doubt

Since colt won´t talk despite all our stares, I decided to end this once and for all. There was still much to do tonight after all.

"Hmph. It would have been better for you to say it on your own, but I guess that old brain of yours can´t even figure that out"

"Huh?! The hell you just said?!"

Ignoring his increasing rage I grabbed the piece of paper, and after reading it, I exposed my conclusion.

"These, ladies and gentlemen, are coordinates. Here is the place and time where Colt is supposed to meet with his associates"

"??!!"

Great doubt was shown in their faces.

The idea of these numbers and symbols in my hand meaning what I said was apparently too hard to believe.

The discovery was greater than I expected.

Right... It is only almost at the end of the story when the author says that the people of this world don´t know about the symbology and numerology of geographic coordinates... It´s no novelty that this would result in something more than weird for them...

"Y-You... Ho-How?"

Colt dropped his jaw, his almightiness was replaced by the purest of confusion.

"Do you remember when we met and you told me that under any circumstances, I could not touch those flowers?"

"Y-Yes?"

A mocking grin appeared on my face.

"Well, I touched them. Not only that. I searched for anything interesting in the whole greenhouse. From toes to head, there is no place where my hands haven´t been"

"Y-You disobeyed me!! Why?!!"

It was amazing how this character firmly expected me to follow his orders questionless.

I guess that´s what happens when you´re just a character of a novel.

I wanted to think of it as funny, but it was more stupid than anything else.

"You serious? Anyone with a couple of functional brain cells would guess that you were hiding something. And if that something can harm my lady and her family, then I must stop it"

I made my answer sound more irritating in purpose to piss him over.

It worked.

His eyes turned into knives of deep red color.

"You dirty stray dog son of a- Oagh?!"

His insult was interrupted by the fist that Herion buried in his stomach.

That simple action made me realize that the hit of that man would hurt as much as an iron hammer.

"Boy... You say these are coordinates... Can you read them?"

He was extremely furious. I only needed a glance to know what he would do to the minions of Colt once he catches them.

"Yes sir. I just need a map..."

With that affirmation Herion headed to the mansion. We all followed him as guided by a collective instinct.

"Captain, lock Colt in the pit and get some answers. Send the money to the royal bank and notify the capital guard of what happened, I will go with a group of soldiers to that place"

"At once, my lord"

The captain left with his knights. Colt was dragged somewhere else cursing anything that he could name.

"Father... What will happen to Colt?"

Herion halted his steps and faced Verónica. His wife grabbed my arm and took me away from them.

We didn´t move too far, we were still able to exchange glances, though I wasn´t able to hear correctly what they were saying.

"... My lady?"

"You did a good job Domi. Now let my husband do his part. Besides, you might want to know what pushed Colt to do this, don´t you?"

There was an invisible pressure forcing me to agree with this woman. Both the mind of Dominique and mine agreed that it was better to follow her lead.

"... Yes, my lady"

"Good, now let me see that hand of yours"

Without the capacity to say more, I nodded and placed my whole attention in her words as she healed my hand with the bright-colored bottle that she picked out of her dress.

*

With his hand on her shoulder, Herion said: "Verónica, this is something that all noble families will have to deal with sooner or later. The fact is that this is quite common in the world"

Verónica frowned. That wasn´t good notice worth hearing.

"Being betrayed by the people you trust is normal? Then, what is the point in ever trusting someone?"

"Verónica, human relationships are fragile, but there is always a motive to what happens. Colt is not an exception"

"Not an exception? W-What do you mean by that?"

Herion´s eyes hardened with pain, a good quantity of effort was requested for his throat to let go of the words stuck between his lips.

"Colt´s family... They had debts with one of the noble houses affiliated with the kingdom... A relevant one..."

Verónica´s eyes widened, this information was never revealed to her. At least not that she could remember.

"W-What? When did that happen?"

"You were too young to recall it... The case is that Colt asked us for assistance to save his family, and thanks to my position as duke I was able to reach an agreement... However, a few months later the family of Colt got themselves involved in a clandestine business that dealt with a dangerous drug..."

Verónica was being drowned in a mixture of feelings.

Worries, deception, confusion, hatred.

She wasn´t able to pick one and say a statement.

"My orders and soldiers were the ones to put an end to their lives..."

"No way..."

"I couldn´t defy the king´s orders... And Colt never showed to hold a grudge, so I dared to act as if nothing ever happened. I thought that was what he wanted... But now I see how wrong I was..."

*

"So that is the whole story..."

"We had no other option, Colt´s family were harming the entire kingdom with their actions. If we tried to oppose the crown or showed even the slightest sign of helping them... It would have been the end of our house"

"I see..."

In the original story, Colt says that his treachery took place due to the abandonment of Herion to him and his family.

The author never gave many details about that.

Now things had a little more sense.

That´s what I thought when Delilah told me everything.

I turned to see Verónica, who was discussing with her father. I wasn´t able to listen to them correctly, but I managed to hear her say "What is the point in ever trusting someone?"

That line was more dangerous than it looked.

This event had created certain skepticism in Verónica about trusting people, and that was the first step to becoming the monster that someday will harm the world.

The thing is, her cruel and twisted personality developed precisely due to this distrust. The death of Herion and the depression of Delilah were the flowing rivers of despair.

This could have been prevented if someone had listened to her. If someone had given her advice, love, and attention.

But in this world where only noble titles and false looks matter, a helping hand like that was too hard to find.

By the time Verónica met the heroine and the other characters it was too late.

She was already the bad guy of the story.

Colt and other problematic individuals were the sources of that disaster.

And that is why they must disappear as soon as possible.

A nasty feeling of aggression began to burst within me. I was more than prepared to spill the corpses of my enemies to the cold ground.

"Dominique you..."

The voice of Delilah was a security safe triggered at the right time.

I quickly changed my face and showed a poker face.

"It´s nothing, my lady... I was just thinking..."

"...I see..."

She didn´t believe that, but she also didn´t push the subject. I thanked her in my mind for that gesture.

"That has no sense! They condemned themselves! You gave them your aid! How can he dare to hold a grudge?!"

The shouting of my lady was concerning, I almost run to her aid, but Delilah grabbed my arm, locking my way to my treasure.

"I told you to let him handle this, you must save your strength for the task ahead"

"The task ahead?"

"Just wait Dominique, patience is a virtue. If you want to stay by my daughter's side you will need to have patience"

"..."

Not saying another word, I stayed put with the clever beauty.

"Verónica..."

I silently prayed that Herion would pull her out of the darkness she was drowning in...

*

"They were targeted by the king, and our army had to mobilize... That means they were not a simple group of delinquents... If Colt´s family got involved with something so dangerous, and there´s the history of how you saved them before... Then how can he act like we turned our back on him?! How can someone be that ungrateful and unreasonable?!"

Verónica was being logicall.

There was indeed no logical reason for Colt to betray Herion and the Fotiadis house when they did all they could in the past.

The responsibility was of his family and their mistaken decisions. That should be the conclusion that anyone would reach once the whole story was known.

But people aren´t always as reasonable as one would expect them to be.

Colt was a good example of that.

Herion knelt, facing his daughter with increasing hatred by the butler´s actions.

"My daughter, with time you will learn that not always a person acts using its brain, sometimes, our feelings are so strong that mist our judgment... If somebody threaten or tried to do something to you... There wouldn´t be an end to the pain I would inflict to that bastard"

"Father..."

With that statement, Verónica seemed to comprehend a bit more the essence of the event.

"Just think about it for a second, Verónica. If something or someone tried to hurt the people you hold dear... Would you let that go? Are you certain that you would never want to get revenge? To obtain justice even if it is by your own hand?"

"... I-I..."

She was placed in a predicament.

Once Verónica started to imagine those scenarios, her throat tightened, and a knot appeared in her stomach.

Her face looked as if she had eaten the most gruesome of foods.

What Herion implied was simple.

"We are not that different from him."

"!!"

That final hit did it.

Verónica fell into a deep void of self-despite.

I was about to explode when I saw her like that.

I wanted to rush to her side. To make her feel better. To receive all her curses and pains.

I would do anything to stop that afflicted expression.

But it was not my time to do so...

Not yet...