Kallion sat at his office desk, glaring at the papers in front of him, but he couldn't focus. He shot to his feet, pacing restlessly in front of the window.
It had been a week since Yuliana vanished.
He had sent out men and searched everywhere, but not a single trace of her had been found.
It was as if someone had deliberately erased all signs of her.
His gaze shifted to the desk.
There lay a letter from Jared.
It was a farewell, saying he could no longer remain with Valdormer.
Looking at that letter, fire burned in Kallion's eyes.
According to the shadow guard he had placed on Yuliana, a man claiming to be Valdormer had interfered with his mission.
And soon after Yuliana disappeared, Jared left nothing behind but a resignation letter—and vanished.
It was obvious. Jared had helped Yuliana escape.
Ever since the orphanage fire, Jared had been devoted to her.
But a question nagged at Kallion.
Was it really only Jared who helped her?
Knock, knock.
A knock at the door.
Kallion turned quickly, almost as if he had been waiting for it.
"Come in."
The butler, Cliff, entered.
Kallion's sharp eyes urged him to speak. Cliff bowed deeply.
"My lord, Lady Yuliana has not returned to the Heister estate."
Bang!
Kallion slammed the desk furiously.
"That's impossible."
His tightly furrowed brow revealed his agitation.
Cliff lowered his head even further, trying not to provoke him.
"We received not only an official response from House Heister but also confirmation from one of our spies there. Both say the same—she has not returned."
Kallion raked a hand roughly through his hair, then gave a bitter, disbelieving laugh.
"They're hiding her and lying. I'll see for myself."
Cliff's eyes widened.
"You mean… to go personally?"
"Yes."
He pulled on his coat, ready to leave at once.
"But, my lord, it is late at night. If you wait until morning—"
"I'll sleep in the carriage."
With that, Kallion strode out of the office without hesitation.
The Heister estate was thrown into chaos by Kallion's sudden, unannounced arrival.
Though technically in a truce, the Valdormer and Heister families had been locked in a cold war for over five hundred years.
When the head of Valdormer's house-in-place showed up at their gates, many thought it was an ambush.
But when the Heister lord saw that Kallion had come alone, he relaxed slightly.
"What brings the Valdormer heir to our Heister estate?" asked Juan de Heister, Yuliana's biological father.
Standing at the gate, Kallion swept his eyes across the grounds and went straight to the point.
"Where is Yuliana?"
Juan frowned.
"I believe we already answered. Yuliana is not here."
Kallion's dark gaze fixed on him.
"I can't rest easy until I see with my own eyes."
He glanced past Juan toward the mansion.
"May I go inside to confirm?"
"How insolent!" Juan's temper flared, flames of spiritual energy rising around him.
Kallion sighed, his own eyes glinting with deep violet.
Though he hadn't shown outright hostility, a tide of shadow energy surged around him, heavy and suffocating.
Kallion had been born with the strongest power in Valdormer's history.
Confronted with that power up close, Juan stiffened, sucking in a breath.
Kallion's voice came low and steady.
"I did not come here to fight with Heister. I only wish to confirm whether my wife is here."
His words were polite, but the overwhelming force he exuded left Juan little choice but to step aside.
"Check, then. But that girl has never set foot here, nor has she contacted us."
Kallion's brow furrowed.
No contact?
Then what were all her suspicious movements before her disappearance?
Of course, if she had truly been in contact, Juan would never admit it so easily.
Kallion forced himself to stay calm and entered the mansion.
He began to search carefully.
Shadows crept from beneath his feet, spreading across the mansion floors.
Juan's face twisted with humiliation.
"Are you insane?!" he shouted.
To release shadow power in the heart of the Heister estate—it was an unforgivable insult.
Even between enemies, there were rules between great houses.
Kallion's actions risked sparking war.
"Do you think you can leave here alive after such insolence?"
But Kallion was past caring.
He hadn't come this far just to look at the outside of the mansion and leave.
Ignoring Juan's anger, he focused his energy. His voice came cold and deliberate.
"Think rationally, Lord Heister. Even if every fighter in Heister attacked me right now, you still could not bring me down."
Juan's shoulders trembled.
Kallion continued, calm but firm.
"I only wish to confirm that my wife is not here. If what you say is true, then nothing will happen. Rest assured."
Grinding his teeth, Juan spat back:
"You can't even control your own woman, and yet you come here raging. That girl left this house long ago—she is no longer of Heister."
His glare hardened.
"Whether she has gone missing or died elsewhere, it has nothing to do with us. Don't drag us into it."
Kallion's eyes turned to him slowly.
He had searched every corner with his shadows—Yuliana was nowhere inside.
And Juan's words were telling. He didn't even regard Yuliana as family, or even a useful pawn.
It meant Yuliana may never have colluded with Heister after all.
Pain shot through Kallion's head. He pressed his forehead, grimacing, then turned.
"I will not hold Heister responsible."
He left the mansion slowly, his steps heavy with confusion.
Behind him, Juan shouted:
"For today's insult, I will demand an apology from the Valdormer head himself!"
But Kallion only boarded his carriage with a dazed expression.
There truly was no Yuliana in Heister.
Perhaps his suspicions of her collusion had been wrong.
If so—
Then where was she?
His chest felt unbearably tight, his breath shallow. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes trembling in anguish.
Trying to calm himself, a sudden thought struck him.
Lloyd de Silverstel.
"Lord Kallion, should we return to the Valdormer estate?" the coachman asked carefully, sensing his master's unease.
"No," Kallion answered coldly. "We go to Silverstel."
At the Silverstel estate, Lionel von Silverstel, the family head, was caught off guard by Kallion's arrival. But he did not turn him away.
The mansion was bustling and disorganized.
Meeting Kallion in the drawing room, Lionel sighed heavily.
"What brings the Valdormer heir here?"
Kallion didn't hesitate.
"I wish to see your second son, Lloyd de Silverstel."
For an instant, Lionel's face showed clear unease.
Kallion noticed it immediately.
After a pause, Lionel sighed again.
"The truth is, Lloyd has suddenly disappeared. Our household is in chaos because he was responsible for so much."
"…Lloyd has disappeared?"
The timing was nearly identical to Yuliana's.
Could that really be coincidence?
But Yuliana had told him they were nothing to each other.
Kallion's hand clenched into a fist, veins standing out as fury and suspicion surged.