Chapter 176.1

Chapter 176.1

The child, who had first raised his voice in laughter, seemed overwhelmed by the shimmering lake and took a deep breath. He wanted to see the pretty eyes that had grown wide, but there was no time for that.

For the first time, the child laughed out loud, seemed  overwhelmed by the glittering lake and took a deep breath. Yuri wanted to see those wide, beautiful eyes, but he didn’t have the luxury.

He tightened his thighs, leaving behind the fading sound of the music box. He had never crossed this lake so quickly and desperately before. The rough wind scratched at his throat, and his lungs felt constricted.

It would have been better if this moment wasn’t an escape.

Instead of fleeing while carrying the child, he wished they could play, following the swirling lights.

At that moment, a small hand tugged at the back of his head, as if grabbing the reins.

“You can’t go. Not over there.”

“…!”

His heart dropped at the unexpectedly thin and restrained voice. Finally, the child, who had found his voice in front of him, spoke softly.

“We have to go back.”

“It’s okay. Just hold on a little longer. We can’t go back.”

“Shh!”

The child silenced him and gripped his shoulder tightly. The breath that had been crashing against his nape like waves was gone.

The child, who had been excitedly wiggling his bottom, suddenly became eerily calm. Instead, the pounding of a small heart was explosively resonating through their bodies.

Though he couldn’t open his eyes properly against the rapidly blowing wind, he could see a shadow in the distance.

“…!”

At the edge of the icy lake, a hazy smoke rose from the darkness.

Who, who…

The silhouette of a person with their hands stuffed in the pockets of a coat. Maxim Solzhenitsyn’s cold gaze was directed precisely at him. As the music box ended, darkness settled once again by the lakeside.

The moment Yuri stopped, scraping his skates, Maxim pulled his hands from his coat and signaled somewhere.

Then, dozens of headlamps lit up sporadically, and the blinding light made Yuri jerk his head around.

“Da*n, they’re surrounding us,” A low curse lingered in his mouth.

“It’s okay.”

The child whispered blankly, and that was when he began to squirm. The child’s feet, not trembling at all, climbed up onto Yuri’s shoulder.

The child crouched low like a cat, tense and ready to spring out at any angle.

In an instant, he held his breath.

‘No, no.’

Yuri instinctively pressed the child down and began to run backward on the ice. The pounding of his heart felt like it was crashing against his ears.

He couldn’t hear anyone’s shouts, the child’s voice, or anything at all. Only the sound of blades cutting through the ice mixed with his ragged breaths.

Thud, thud! Something arrow-like pierced the ice, obstructing their path. Yuri narrowly dodged them while suddenly feeling a weight hanging from his nape.

“…!”

His graceful movements stumbled abruptly. Turning his gaze at the sudden chill, he saw that the child had swung arms to block all the tranquilizer darts that had come flying, leaving cuts all over the child’s forearms and hands.

“What the h*ll!”

This little thing, who’s protecting whom! His eyes felt hot, and he struggled to breathe.

At that moment, a rope shot out from a grappling gun, crossing the lake and tripping Yuri.

He hit his head on the ice and rolled, but he held the child tightly in his arms.

“Ugh!”

For the first time, he thought it was a blessing to have a mask on. At least the child’s head wouldn’t be cracked open.

The spinning lights of the carousel still twinkled, reflecting off Yuri’s face as he lay awkwardly on the ice.

As footsteps gathered from all sides, Yuri stubbornly clutched the child close

‘No. I won’t lose you to them. I don’t want to go back to the Winter Castle.’

However, unlike the boy’s wishes, his consciousness abruptly cut off there.

“Ah, my grandson has vanished.”

His heavy eyelids didn’t budge. The senses that had been deeply asleep stirred awake like a mistake, only to sink back down into the swamp. It felt as if he were trapped with his limbs bound in a narrow space.

“I turned the house upside down as a test, and sure enough, news has already reached the Kremlin. Just how many bugs are crawling around in my house?”

His hearing awakened before his sight. It was the voice of his grandfather, laced with laughter, but it sounded muffled as if blocked by a thick barrier. Thus, he missed many voices, and his mind felt dull.

“As you can see, when there’s an emergency at the mansion, information flows directly to the Kremlin. Do you understand now? No matter what you do, you’ll be blocked at every turn.”

“P-prime Minister….”

It was an unfamiliar voice. The trembling tone was filled with fear.

‘What kind of drug did they give me?’ Yuri felt like my head was spinning, and each time, his consciousness shattered and pieced itself back together.

He cursed under his breath and let his mind drift away again.

***

Maxim glanced sideways at the room where his grandson was bound and imprisoned.

“I have just one question. Do you really think someone who knows Russia’s secrets can leave this country? Especially while smuggling Russian property?”

“…!”

“And you dare meddle with my wife?”

The man being dragged along trembled with his thin shoulders.

Maxim knew this man well. He had often been associated with Ivan since their days at Moscow University. A Koryo-saram.