“Christina Tarten.”
Jung Tae-ui looked the man squarely in the eyes and said the name for the third time.
The man said nothing.
He just stared intently at Jung Tae-ui. From head to toe, slowly. Not so blatantly as to be offensive.
Eventually, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Christina Tarten. You probably haven’t heard that name directly from him… If you don’t mind me asking, under whose introduction have you come?”
“… I came to Dresden for the first time today.”
The man closed his mouth. His eyes narrowed slightly, trying to gauge what Jung Tae-ui was about to say.
“I’m not even sure if this is the right place I came to, I’ve never met Christina, I don’t know what position she holds there, nor with whom she has relationships. Of course, I don’t know what I should say and what I shouldn’t.”
In other words, he couldn’t answer the question. The man seemed to understand this.
After a moment of looking at Jung Tae-ui, the man nodded.
“Understood. I will guide you. Welcome to Tarten.”
With a slightly curved smile, the man spoke with a welcoming light.
Unlike those others, this man seemed not to be hostile toward Christina. After all, Illay also didn’t have bad relations with everyone at UNHRDO.
Jung Tae-ui nodded when the man gestured to the seat beside him and turned toward it, quickly getting into the car.
One of the young men watching from a short distance frowned and shouted,
“Richard! That guy came looking for that person!”
At the shout, Jung Tae-ui shifted his gaze from the young man to the man.
Richard.
Richard Tarten.
A name briefly mentioned in a past conversation between his uncle and Kyle. Said to be promising.
“A guest of Tarten.”
The man spoke calmly to the young man, ignoring Jung Tae-ui’s gaze. The firmness in his tone allowed no rebuttal. Jung Tae-ui realized this man possessed more than just gentleness.
Smiling brightly at the young men beside him, Jung Tae-ui brushed past their rising resentment and entered the building.
Now I am also trapped inside a cage, he thought, looking out the car window.
The grounds were vast. Driving a little further, a mansion appeared in the distance. The dark gray mansion shaped like a “ㄷ” was impressively large even from afar.
Behind it stretched low hills. Though not dense, the green forest growing there glowed with a light that seemed born of both human and nature’s hands. The forest seemed quite spacious—perfect for walks or forest bathing.
“The riding course is well maintained that way. Behind it, the mountain range touches it, so when we have free time, we go hunting.”
The man explained from beside him, perhaps following Jung Tae-ui’s gaze.
“The mansion appears connected, but it’s actually composed of three separate buildings. Behind the main mansion, to the right is the east wing, and to the left, the west wing.”
He explained patiently about this unfamiliar environment, despite not knowing who Jung Tae-ui was. His impression remained good—gentle and kind.
…Come to think of it, Illay called this man a top pervert.
Jung Tae-ui narrowed his eyes and scrutinized the man again.
Up close, the sturdy and handsome southern-type man showed no sign of being a top pervert.
Illay wasn’t marked as crazy either, but whenever he spoke, it showed—this man’s low, soft tone gave no such impression.
“The ones who don’t seem suspicious are the most frightening…”
If so, then everyone should be on guard—but that would be impossible.
Jung Tae-ui muttered quietly, and the man turned to look at him in confusion. Jung Tae-ui hastily waved it off as nothing.
The car drove along a well-kept tree-lined road and soon arrived in front of the mansion.
Seeing it up close, its scale was even more overwhelming, calming his heart a little.
The man approached Jung Tae-ui, who had stepped out and was inspecting the mansion’s exterior. From a distance, a butler-like man approached, his solemn and stern face making Jung Tae-ui suddenly miss Rita.
Anyway, once I find the book and leave, it’ll be over.
Jung Tae-ui looked quietly at the man who stood close by and glanced down at him. He then thanked the kind man who had helped him enter without trouble.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I got in comfortably. By the way, where can I meet Christina Tarten?”
The man silently scanned Jung Tae-ui’s face as if trying to uncover some hidden lie. Feeling embarrassed, Jung Tae-ui scratched the back of his neck, and then the man quietly spoke.
“If you enter the main mansion and inform the butler of your visit, he will notify her. If you are acquainted, you may go directly to the west wing.”
Jung Tae-ui hesitated.
Since he had no prior acquaintance with Christina, normally he should go to the main mansion first and meet the butler, but Kyle said he would contact Christina in advance. Kyle must be quite close to her. Would it be better to go directly to the west wing, name-drop Kyle, and look for her?
However, the process of going to the main mansion, grandly meeting the butler, announcing the visit, and sending a notice seemed cumbersome and annoying. Since contact was probably already made, going directly to the west wing wouldn’t be rude.
“…I will go to the west wing. That building connected to the main mansion on the left is the west wing, right?”
Jung Tae-ui pointed at the building linked to the main mansion’s left side by a small tower and asked. The man was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Soon the butler who had been standing at the main entrance approached and took some luggage from the man, who gave brief formal instructions before turning his gaze back to Jung Tae-ui.
Jung Tae-ui began walking lightly toward the west wing but stopped as he felt the man’s gaze on him.
Right, one last greeting before I go…
Before Jung Tae-ui could speak, the man asked first.
“By the way, may I ask your name, the person who came looking?”
“Huh? Ah… I haven’t introduced myself yet. Are you a relative of Christina?”
Though Jung Tae-ui already knew the man’s name, it hadn’t been officially revealed. Jung Tae-ui smiled gently and extended his hand. The man looked momentarily embarrassed but shook it.
“Ah, I see. I am Richard Tarten. Her cousin.”
“Cousin, huh,” Jung Tae-ui muttered, tilting his head.
No matter how this family was arranged, if Kyle evaluated this man as promising and he was her cousin, he couldn’t be a distant relative. Yet, when asked about her, they couldn’t recall at first—
As Jung Tae-ui was about to reveal his name with vague doubts, suddenly something frighteningly fast came running from the edge of his vision.
“?!”
A horse.
Kicking up white dust, a white horse galloped from the forest behind the west wing toward the main mansion.
Its relentless rush seemed as if it would trample anything in its path, heading precisely toward them.
“…!”
Though there was enough distance to avoid, Jung Tae-ui stared in astonishment.
No matter how large the grounds were, there was no way the main mansion’s front, where cars and people passed, was a riding course.
The man, Richard, glanced toward the horse without surprise and took a few steps back. Jung Tae-ui followed suit.
The horse wasn’t exactly running toward them but rather the path it was on crossed where they were standing.
Without caring whether they moved or not, the horse seemed to glide past at full speed. When it came close, Jung Tae-ui could see there was a person riding it.
The rider wore a pure white riding outfit as spotless as the horse.
Seeing him, Richard shouted in a voice loud enough to be heard but not very big.
“Christoph. A guest has come to see you.”
“Huh?”
Jung Tae-ui pointed at himself with his thumb and looked back at Richard. Richard was looking at the rider on the horse.
The horse, approaching very close, suddenly leapt upward sharply.
A near halt at almost no distance.
Such sudden deceleration, impossible even for a well-trained rider, was executed smoothly as flowing water, right in front of their eyes.
Even Jung Tae-ui, who had almost no riding experience, was impressed by the rider’s magical horsemanship.
The horse, as if it had never run at such a speed, calmly moved a few steps forward. Its breath was not heavy, as if it hadn’t even run.
Looking at the black eyes of the white horse, which carefully watched the unfamiliar faces, Jung Tae-ui heard a casual voice above his head.
“Looking for me…?”
With that voice, the rider flicked the reins to the side twice. The horse twisted its body slightly. Only then could Jung Tae-ui see the rider clearly.
Platinum blonde hair shining white. Deep blue eyes filled with melancholy and boredom. A slender, graceful body.
Jung Tae-ui knew this young man—an unforgettable impression for anyone who had seen him even once.
He had seen him just the day before in Berlin, about 200 kilometres from here, trapped in the pouring rain at a silent cathedral.
The young man seemed to remember Jung Tae-ui as well. A strange light flickered in his bored eyes.
“Uh… you’re…”
The young man leaned forward on his horse and scrutinized Jung Tae-ui from head to toe, as if checking he wasn’t mistaken.
“You said you hadn’t met, but it seems you already know each other.”
Richard spoke from beside him. Jung Tae-ui smiled awkwardly, turning his head away from the young man who only looked at him with his eyes.
“Yes, we met briefly not long ago… but Christina Tarten, perhaps…”
Jung Tae-ui forgot even manners momentarily as the unexpected figure suddenly appeared before him, and pointed at him with his finger.
No sooner had Jung Tae-ui’s words fallen than the young man’s expression changed.
His indifferent, bored face instantly turned icy. A chilling blank expression looked down on Jung Tae-ui.
At that moment, Jung Tae-ui realized he had made a mistake. He didn’t know what the mistake was but knew he had made one.
The young man stared at Jung Tae-ui with a ghostlike expression and muttered to himself.
“Oh, yes… yes… yes… that’s right. That was it. Indeed, that’s the case. So…”
But no matter how many times he repeated those words to himself, Jung Tae-ui could not understand their meaning. Listening to this young man’s strangeness anew, whom he had seen at the cathedral,
“Here for the book?”
The young man suddenly said bluntly. Jung Tae-ui raised an eyebrow.
“…Yes. But Christ-”
“I took it. You said you would send someone else, but it was you.”
Jung Tae-ui stared blankly at the young man before him.
All signs pointed to this young man being the book thief known as Christina. But he was not the gender to suit the name Christina, and here he was called Christoph.