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LOS 25
“Here, sit.”
Albert said as he pulled out a chair for me. Even though I knew this situation was unnatural, I had no choice but to follow his lead. What is he thinking? Does he want us to eat first? But I haven't even taken my luggage down yet...
I looked around the dining car. I had expected a small cabin, but I never dreamed that a massive dining hall would fit inside a train like this.
Lily-of-the-valley-shaped lamps hanging from the ceiling emitted a luxurious glow, and the floor was covered with a plush, high-end mat. Right in front of me was a table draped in a white tablecloth, set with various pieces of tableware.
I sat down and absentmindedly gazed out the window. Most of the passengers seemed to have boarded. The platform had become much quieter. It was just as the porter was pouring clear water into my glass.
I gasped as I spotted a familiar face on the platform. I looked at Albert as if pleading for help. However, he merely shrugged as if asking what the problem was.
“Bertie.”
“Yes?”
“He’s here.”
Albert answered nonchalantly.
“Really?”
“No, I said he’s here! Giles Hessen is here! I think he just boarded this train.”
I could barely even get my voice out, yet he was calmly sipping his water.
“Albert!”
“Anna, calm down.”
“How can I possibly be calm right—”
Albert drew the thick curtains, blocking the window. Thanks to that, Giles vanished from my sight, but it didn't change the fact that he had boarded this train.
“He came to take me away. I'm sure of it.”
“It’s fine. This was all expected.”
“What?”
Albert seemed a bit different today than usual. His kind gaze and smile were the same, but it felt as if a layer of something covering his face had been peeled away. He wasn't the Albert I knew.
“Of course Giles Hessen would follow you onto this train. Given how great his lingering attachment and obsession for you are, did you really think a mere train could shake him off?”
The two fists resting on my lap turned white. I wanted to scream and get off the train immediately, but I knew that I had to remain composed in times like this.
“...Are you in league with Giles Hessen?”
At that, Albert burst into a light laugh, as if he had heard a funny joke. I could no longer trust him. I felt that he was hiding something significant from me.
Just as my gaze shifted toward the knife on the table, Albert picked up a small spoon. He then tapped the glass exactly three times.
Ding, ding, ding. Suddenly, people flocked into the empty dining hall. Travelers dressed in fine clothes and gowns took their seats one by one, chatting with each other like actors stepping onto a movie set.
Not a single one of them glanced at me, yet I somehow felt that they all knew about me.
I was sitting inside a giant set.
The problem was that I was the only one who wasn't an actor.
I glared at Albert. But there was no way Albert would be afraid of someone like me. I truly couldn't understand why he was doing this to me. Was he really someone hired by Giles?
I heard the sound of the train departing. Clang, clang—the massive wheels began to roll along the rails. Now, there was nowhere left for me to run.
“Explain everything. What is this?”
“First, I should apologize to you, Anna. It is true that I didn't tell you everything beforehand. But I had no choice. I knew that bastard was eavesdropping on our conversations.”
“Just tell me one thing. Are you in league with Giles?”
“No. I hid many things from you, but I have never once lied. Giles Hessen is one of my primary enemies.”
Albert leaned back in his chair and sat comfortably. I, on the other hand, could not relax. My nerves were so frayed that even changing my posture was difficult.
“Anna, how much do you know about Giles?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, do you know about his past. What things he has done, why he has so many enemies... Have you ever wondered why he clings to someone like you as if you were his entire world?”
The information I possessed was limited. Giles knew everything about me, but I only knew that he was a revolutionary army officer. The balance between him and me was severely tilted. That was also the reason why I couldn't help but fear him intensely.
“Surely you didn't not know that Giles Hessen is from Beldam?”
“He... was a Beldam person?”
Albert let out a sigh.
“The surname makes it obvious. ‘Hessen.’ It's a typical Beldam surname. You didn't notice that?”
“But he's a soldier in the revolutionary army. He killed countless Beldam nobles. I... I thought there was no way he was actually from Beldam, like them.”
“It's simple. No need to overthink it. He simply betrayed his country and people to save his own life. He handed over all the assets he possessed and took the lead in massacring his own kin to survive. You have no idea how famous he became in Beldam. It's probably hard to find someone now who doesn't know the name Giles Hessen.”
In short, he was a traitor to his country. He was also someone who shared the same roots as I did.
“Was he a noble too?”
To my question, Albert shook his head.
“Not a noble, but the son of a wealthy landowner. He lacked a title, but he enjoyed a life almost identical to that of a noble.”
“But what does him being a traitor have to do with me?”
“If he weren't so obsessed with you, it might have been something that had nothing to do with you at all.”
That damn bastard. In the end, he dragged me into his own problem.
“Now, think about it. Although he is a man with many enemies, Giles Hessen is strictly an officer of this country's revolutionary army. As much as he has committed sins, he has also achieved many merits. He has strong backing protecting him. It was nearly impossible to approach him directly within this country. We had to get him out of Ipswin somehow, and to do that, we had to find a good bait.”
“So you used me? Being kind to me, helping me, all of that was...”
“I'm sorry. There was no malice. I was simply doing what I had to do.”
Of course, he didn't look sorry at all.
“This train we're on... it's not actually going to Vittelsden, is it?”
“Don't worry. Once everything is over, you'll be free. I promise you that much.”
“You put me on this suspicious train and tell me you used me as bait, and you expect me to believe that?”
“We have no interest in you. All we want is Giles Hessen. Once we get Giles, we're done with you. Anna Keating, you must have read the newspapers? Right now, Beldam is in a state of great despair. The glory they enjoyed in the past, the peaceful days... they lost all of it after losing the World War. People have been cast down to the bottom. The air force destroyed every single building they could. It wouldn't be surprising if all order were destroyed right now and society went mad. We must prevent that arrow from being pointed at the government.”
And just in time, a demon appeared who was perfect for absorbing that accumulated anger and despair. A traitor. A despicable betrayer who sold his fellow countrymen to Ipswin to survive. All the conditions were perfect.
Giles Hessen was absolute evil, and he would be enough to make people forget the nation that lost the war.
“So you used me to lure him out of Ipswin?”
“Correct.”
“Even mobilizing a luxurious train like this?”
“To be honest, it didn't necessarily have to be an express train. It was selected because it was suitable for crossing the border secretly without much inspection and could accommodate many people.”
Even after learning that their target wasn't me and that their purpose wasn't to hand me over to Giles, I couldn't feel at ease. I was still essentially a prisoner.
As if reading my inner thoughts, Albert spoke to me again.
“You are not a prisoner, Anna. I am giving you an opportunity. An opportunity to seize freedom with your own hands. Look around. As you've probably noticed, these people aren't travelers. They are just a device to deceive his eyes. I want you to help me. You've always wanted to escape his grasp. If you help me, you'll never have to face him again.”
Albert handed me a small pistol across the table. I took it. It was a real handgun, and it was loaded.
“Our goal is to capture him alive, but if necessary, you may kill him. There's no need to be nervous, Anna. Remember that the entire train is targeting Giles Hessen. Think about it! This whole train is on your side. Your situation has completely changed. Now, he is the rat in the trap, and his life depends on your hand. It's a picture you're very familiar with, isn't it?”
I looked down at the pistol in my hand. The life I had lived flashed through my mind. I had to endure persecution to survive, and after that, I had to flee desperately.
I had never once belonged to the mainstream. Just as he said, I was a rat in a trap. I had lived my whole life that way.
If Albert's words were true, and if the Orient Express was part of a massive project to capture Giles and I had become a part of it... then perhaps there was no longer any reason for me to fear him.
Within this wide yet narrow train, for the first time, I could hold the upper hand over someone. And that someone was Giles Hessen, the man who had held my life in his hands.
I tucked the pistol into my clothes. At that, Albert smiled.
Now, it might be Giles who was in my hands.
But was it really true? Did Giles fall into their clutches this easily? And all because of me? If so, why? Why is he so obsessed with me?
I still couldn't believe it. It didn't seem like Albert was lying to me. But at the same time, it felt as if everything surrounding me was telling a lie.
Giles Hessen is not such a careless person. He is not someone who would blindly board a train where all sorts of dangers lurk just for one woman.
Just who am I to him?
What on earth did I do to you...
Whether they took my act of accepting the pistol as a sign that I would join their plan, the passengers in the dining hall applauded all at once. Hearing that sound, I could feel the fact that this entire train was moving as one.
But still...
I could not understand Giles Hessen.
Were you such a foolish man? The you I know is not that kind of person. If you were someone who would fall for such a trivial trick, I would have had no reason to fear you.
The Giles I knew was intelligent and meticulous. If Albert's words were true, he also possessed a superior survival instinct.
How could a man who lived by striving to survive and putting bullets into the foreheads of his own kin fall for such a clumsy operation?
I wanted to know. I wanted to know what on earth was going through his head, and why he was so obsessed with me. To do that, I had to meet him.
And now, I had no reason to fear meeting him.
After a long time, the moment to meet him again had come.
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