Half-step Purgatory

Durin stroked the black cat on the armrest of his chair, sitting on the black leather sofa. Through the glasses perched on his nose, his gaze passed over the long table in front of him and settled on the man kneeling on the carpet:
"I understand, you've made money in Naples, your business has been very successful, and you've led a happy life. You've had those secret police, friends in both the law and the underground, and even the Royal Family speaking on your behalf."
"You don't need a friend like me, I know that. You're afraid of owing me a favor, and you don't want to get involved in troubles."
"But now you come to me and say, 'I beg you, Mr. Durin of the Corleon family, please help me seek justice, so that my life and my family will not suffer and sink into despair.'
Yet, in your eyes, I was nothing more than a second-rate artist involved in movies and music. Even at the brink of death, you still show me such disrespect, not even willing to call me by my title... Keeper of Secrets."

Durin's Diary

First-year student at the Mage Academy in the Capital Circle.


The girl with rare black long hair looked at the thick leather envelope in her hand, somewhat at a loss.


The leather envelope was sealed with the fine wax of the House of Ailish. After opening it, the first page of the thick letter paper bore Durin's handwriting.


"To Karina, this is Durin. I send greetings and apologies on behalf of Eta, hoping you could forgive him just once, even if it's only once.


Durin, a peer she had met just once, was said to have gone to Copenhagen, and now his ally shared a dormitory with her.


But how had he come to know her Eta? One was the heir to a duke, the other... a child of the abyss.


There was never an opportunity to recognize each other, no space to become acquainted.


Yet when Karina broke the wax seal and saw Eta's handwriting, she still pursed her lips—it was his writing, and the pages were filled with apologies, reluctance, and longing.


Chapter 39: Eta's Betty