Beast, Blue Blood - Chapter 54

Chapter 54

He noticed a ring on Eugene’s hand that he had never seen before. Although he wasn’t familiar with all of Eugene’s accessories, this ring, which was both poorly designed and made of shoddy material, felt out of place.

Wing.

The sound of a door opening was heard, and a man entered. Heinrich, looking back at him, couldn’t help but give a cynical smile.

“Ah, this is quite something. It feels like we’re back 20 years ago.”

Ivan Ivanov didn’t look a day older than the last time he was seen 20 years ago. Although comparing was meaningless, Heinrich was now unable to move without a wheelchair, while Ivan appeared more confident and radiant than ever.

Ivan answered calmly.

“But we’ve all been through a lot.”

Heinrich smirked.

“Indeed. At least you survived bomb attacks twice. And I fell ill…”

As he spoke, Heinrich looked at Eugene’s body.

“And lost an heir.”

Ivan also looked at Eugene’s body.

“It seems the children married among themselves.”

Heinrich murmured while looking at the ring on Eugene’s hand.

“I had an idea of who might have given it to her.”

There was no one other than the young Ivanov who would give Eugene such an unimpressive ring. Not because his family lacked money, but because of the clueless expression he remembered.

In any case, Heinrich was displeased.

He had always given his daughter only the best—whether it was food, clothing, life, or men.

He had raised her to want the best and to be worth it. But a kid who was merely of good lineage, growing up like a clumsy fool, had influenced Eugene in a way that was unlike her, and she ended up dying.

Then Ivan spoke.

“If it’s all right with you, we would like to enshrine Eugene in our clan’s mausoleum.”

“You have a mausoleum?”

Considering the other party was an immortal being, it was hard not to ask cynically. But Ivan answered calmly as expected.

“Memento Mori. Death is something we must always be reminded of.”

Heinrich paused for a moment before speaking.

“Let me discuss it with the family council.”

But he thought the council wouldn’t oppose it. After all, the Lian family had many children, and the generations had already changed, so it wouldn’t matter much where the daughter of the youngest aunt, who had long since married out of the country, was buried.

And when Leah becomes the heir, the Mavrogiotis side would likely want to erase any traces of Eugene as much as possible.

Heinrich himself would die soon, so it didn’t matter much where Eugene’s remains were. Eugene would be happier going to the Ivanovs.

Until now, Heinrich had thought of Eugene as his daughter who resembled him perfectly, even though he had raised her alone. But it turned out that Eugene was truly Meilin’s child, with a heart that, like Meilin’s, lived and died for love, overly passionate and unnecessary.

“One thing is fortunate.”

Heinrich said as he maneuvered his automatic wheelchair and left the morgue.

“It’s that Eugene is already dead and I no longer have to say that Ivanov is my in-law.”

Cox then politely nodded to Ivan and followed Heinrich out. Left alone, Ivan looked at Eugene’s body.

Reflecting on it, when he first met young Eugene on the cruise, he felt an almost fateful intuition that he couldn’t explain at the time, but in hindsight, it could only be described as fate. Logically, there was no reason for the daughter of Fuger-Dulloch to have any connection, yet he had a premonition that the girl would deeply enter his life.

When Hisha brought Eugene, Ivan had to oppose their relationship for Hisha’s sake, but he had some confidence that Eugene would solve the problem and come to Hisha.

Ivan took Eugene’s cold, lifeless hand and held it. Even though he had experienced countless deaths, he had never become indifferent to death, and this particular death seemed like it would be hard to forget for a long time.

Releasing her hand, Ivan took one last look at Eugene and left the morgue.

* * *

“Hisha? He hasn’t arrived.”

Ha-yeon said to Selena on the screen.

“Did Hisha make a scene? Did he overturn everything?”

Selena’s face was unusually serious.

[Please contact me immediately if the young master arrives.]

“Got it.”

After hanging up, Ha-yeon looked to the side and saw Hisha, looking disheveled, standing there. Next to him was Myung-jin, holding a first-aid kit and looking at a loss.

“Find out about this Lancenum place.”

Ha-yeon couldn’t hide her incredulity at Hisha’s words.

“Hisha, it seems you’re confused because of recent events. You’re not a spy, just a regular student. Just because you’re physically strong doesn’t mean you’re anything special.”

When Hisha merely glared at her in response, Ha-yeon sighed.

“Give Selena some time. If anyone can bring out the ones who killed Eugene, it’s him.”

“How long before you shut up and find out?”

Hisha said through gritted teeth. Ha-yeon was left speechless. Normally, at this point, she would have slapped the crazed kid’s head, but this time, it seemed like Hisha was genuinely losing his mind. Of course, the situation warranted such behavior.

Ha-yeon raised her hands in surrender.

“Alright. I’ll look into it, but first, get your wounds treated. The smell of blood is making me dizzy.”

“It must be the excitement.”

At that remark, Ha-yeon frowned and looked at Hisha. He had an expression as if his pupils were dilated.

Thinking it best not to provoke him, Ha-yeon refrained from saying anything and asked instead.

“What kind of place is Lancenum? You need to give me more information.”

“It seems to be a company that takes requests and does the work in exchange.”

Hisha explained.

“Are you saying it’s a service for errands?”

Hisha shook his head.

“It’s a bit different. It seems they handle more dangerous tasks, like contract killings or bombings.”

Ha-yeon frowned.

“You’re looking into such a place? Are you suggesting that someone targeted Eugene and the hospital was attacked?”

“……”

The CIA might have spread rumors about a virus to catch the pests drawn to it, but it wasn’t simply humans seeking the virus who were the targets. There must have been a bigger game at play, something dangerous enough to warrant bombings if their plans went awry.

Hisha could have shared this, but he didn’t want to involve Ha-yeon in something potentially even more dangerous. So, when Hisha remained silent, Ha-yeon looked at him with frustration before saying unexpectedly to Myung-jin.

“Look into it.”

Myung-jin, caught off guard by this reaction, widened her eyes.

“Really?”

Ha-yeon nodded. Myung-jin, with a worried look, glanced at the two of them and reluctantly sat down at the computer.

“I’ve noticed something strange.”

Her attitude, which had previously been unenthusiastic, now seemed as if she had been waiting for this.

Ha-yeon looked at Myung-jin as if to say, ‘Oh, really?’

“You mentioned Sergei Aleushin told you about Lancenum, right? I found out about it while looking into Aleushin family’s security personnel.”

As Myung-jin typed, a photo of an unfamiliar man appeared on the monitor. He was a Caucasian man in his 30s with a square Marine haircut.

“This is Kendrick Boyd. He’s a former military man who was dishonorably discharged from the Navy SEALs. After joining the Luax, he was recruited by a PMC called ‘Royal Star.’”

“Royal Star?”

Ha-yeon asked. Myung-jin nodded.

“It was quite famous in the industry for a while, but it was disbanded about a decade ago after being involved in an incident. A far-right Luax terrorist group blew up a fortress they used as a hideout, and they lost a lot of their forces in the explosion. Anyway, that’s irrelevant to us now.”

Myung-jin waved her hand dismissively and continued.

“After Royal Star was disbanded, Kendrick Boyd’s affiliation became unclear, but recently, he appeared in the Aleushin family’s security unit.”

Myung-jin then showed a photo of Kendrick in a black suit inside the front gate of a mansion.

“But despite searching through their records, Kendrick Boyd isn’t listed as being part of their team. There are a few others like him. I suspect these people might be mercenaries sent by that ‘Lancenum’ place.”

“Lancenum, is that referring to the rare earth element lanthanum?”

Taking the opportunity, Ha-yeon asked. Myung-jin shook her head.

“No. It’s Lancenum with a Latin suffix ‘um.’ The ‘n’ seems to be a poetic license.”

It seemed the name was based on the fact that the Lancenums had once worked as mercenaries.

“So what’s the connection with Royal Star, which was supposedly disbanded?”

“It’s not certain, but it’s likely that Lancenum either absorbed Royal Star or Royal Star merely changed its name.”

Myung-jin then pointed to a photo of security personnel, including Kendrick, gathered and smoking cigarettes.

“Anyway, it seems Kendrick frequently shows up at a bar nearby.”

Hisha immediately turned around.

“H….”

Myung-jin started to call after him, but Hisha was already leaving through the door. Myung-jin turned to Ha-yeon with a worried expression and asked.

“Is it okay to let him know?”

“Didn’t you see his eyes? He won’t calm down without causing a scene.”

Saying that, Ha-yeon folded her arms and instructed her personal AI.

“Con, call Selena.”

As soon as Selena answered the call, Ha-yeon spoke.

“Hisha was threatened. He’s looking for a place called Lancenum. What’s going on here?”

* * *

After hanging up, Selena made a serious call to someone. As soon as the person answered, she said.

“Captain we need to send more troops.”

Then he slightly shook his head.

“No. It’s to prevent Master Hisha from going through with his plans.”

At that moment, Jerome burst in, shouting.

“CEO!”

Without waiting for Selena to turn around, Jerome shouted again.

“Please, you need to come right away!”

Taken aback, Selena furrowed his brows.

“What’s happening?”

“It’s…!”