Chapter 29
I climbed down the vines to the foot of the wall.
I made it outside.
I had finally escaped the estate after eight days.
But something was strange.
I felt eyes on me throughout the village.
Eyes watched me from every direction.
I hurriedly turned around, but no one was there.
I kept walking, but those eyes continued to follow me.
Yet I could see no one.
I had to get far away first.
Before that, I decided to hurry to the center of the territory and buy necessities with the money Mary had given me.
People crowded the square.
The bustle I hadn't seen in so long felt burdensome instead.
I needed to find a general store quickly.
Just then, as I looked around, someone's words reached my ears.
“Was it Ethan? The newcomer who joined the White Mercenary Corps.”
A familiar word.
Ethan.
“Ah. That ignorant fellow who swings an axe around. I hear he's pretty skilled. Apparently, he's looking for someone.”
Father.
It had to be Father.
The news that Father was alive made my heart pound as if it would burst.
“Excuse me, but!”
I ran toward the men who had been talking.
“Where is that mercenary group?”
“Huh? If you mean those guys, I heard they're staying in Viscount Duchenne's territory, right over there.”
As the man pointed in that direction, his gaze swept over me.
Bare feet.
The brand on my collarbone, not fully concealed.
A robe hiding my face.
“…Did you run away?”
I stepped back.
“No.”
“Wait.”
The man's hand closed around my arm.
“If we return you to your owner, we might get a reward.”
“Let go!”
“Be quiet.”
Another man came over and grabbed me.
I could feel the paper knife tucked inside my clothes.
I was attracting too much attention in this crowded place.
Curious eyes were fixed on this scene from all around.
If I hurt someone here in front of everyone, escaping would become troublesome.
I had to deal with them somewhere no one was around.
If I caught them off guard, I could handle even two men.
The two men dragged me into a dark corner of an alley.
“Please…let me go…”
I was thrown to the ground.
“…A reward would be nice, but how are we supposed to find the owner? Let's have some fun and sell you off.”
One arm was free.
The man tugged at my robe.
I pulled the paper knife from my waistband and slashed the throat of the man in front of me.
At the same moment, I heard something slice through the air.
It was the sound of an arrow.
The arrow was buried deep in the head of the other man beside me.
An arrow from an unknown direction.
I forced my frozen body to move, raised my head, and saw someone on the roof.
The silhouette with the bow was looking down at me.
And then I realized.
He hadn't been trying to save me.
If he'd meant to save me, he should have shot the man holding me first.
Instead, he had shot the man beside me before the one in front of me, who could have harmed me immediately.
As though my safety were of no concern to him.
He had merely dealt with an intruder trying to break his toy without permission.
The thought sent a shiver down my spine.
He wasn't aiming at me. He was merely watching me.
‘A subordinate of Kaelan's. He'd been watching me from the beginning.’
There was no doubt.
He hadn't released me for no reason.
I realized who was behind the eyes that had followed me since I left the estate.
He nodded.
As though telling me it was time to run.
I had to flee immediately.
The hunt had begun.
The moment I emerged from the alley, I ran like mad.
My heart felt ready to burst, and my lungs burned.
But I couldn't stop.
The silhouette on the roof wasn't a watcher but a hunter carrying out Kaelan's will.
He hadn't let me go; he'd merely driven me into a larger hunting ground.
The guards showed little interest in me as I left the territory.
The forest came into view.
I could hide in that darkness, at least for a while.
The moment I entered the forest, I left the path.
I looked back, but no one was there.
Yet I could still feel eyes on me.
I left the road, marked by countless human tracks, and pushed through dense trees and underbrush.
The soles of my feet were pierced by sharp rocks and roots, and blood began to seep out, but I had no time to feel the pain.
I had to lose whoever was watching me.
I was the last soldier left alive.
The middle of enemy territory. Hunger. Cold.
I had endured everything.
I couldn't be brought down this easily.
I had to survive.
I ran straight ahead, then abruptly veered right and scrambled up the steep slope.
Ignoring the twisting pain in my gut from the plug, I ran, gasping for breath.
When I reached the summit, I slid down the other side.
I couldn't let them figure out my route.
When I spotted a small stream, I jumped into the cold water without hesitation.
“Ugh…!”
The impact made the plug shift.
Whenever the fist-sized plug moved, it felt as though my insides were twisting.
I had to endure it.
I gritted my teeth.
Survival came before pain.
The water would surely erase my tracks.
I had to use everything available to me.
I followed the stream upstream for a long while, then climbed out of the water and carefully hopped from rock to rock, taking care not to leave a trail.
How long had I been running?
When I was gasping for breath, I hid behind a huge old tree and listened.
I closed my eyes and focused all my senses.
The rustle of leaves.
The sound of the wind.
The cries of birds and beasts in the distance.
And amid them, the sound of twigs snapping and fallen leaves crunching underfoot.
They reached my ears faintly.
I still couldn't stop.
I began moving again.
I entered the deeper, darker part of the forest.
With every step I took, the plug dug into my insides.
But I couldn't stop.
I'd survived situations like this on the battlefield.
I hadn't had anything like this back then, but I would survive now too.
Thorns in the bushes tore my clothes, exposing my bare skin, but I kept moving.
A narrow gap between rocks.
I found a hiding place that would do.
I squeezed myself inside and covered the entrance with dry leaves.
I listened again in complete darkness.
How much time had passed?
I sensed a faint presence in the distance, as if someone were passing by, but it soon receded again.
At last, everything around me fell perfectly silent, but I had a feeling this wasn't over.
Kaelan's hunt had only just begun.
I had to go to Viscount Duchenne's territory, where Father was staying.
But I didn't know whether I could make it safely out of this forest, or whether I'd be able to meet Father even if I reached it.
But I had to.
Because my exhausted body couldn't keep traversing the mountains, I leaned against the cold rock crevice to rest for a while.
_____
The center of the Count's territory.
The basement of a building.
“…Treason, is it? How interesting. Is the Marquis asking me to defy His Holiness's will? Is the Marquis planning to commit treason against the entire kingdom?”
Kaelan handed the documents to the representative of Marquis Beaufort.
Kaelan concealed his thoughts and feigned interest.
Yet he asked with his usual bored expression.
“It isn't treason. It's about restoring the Kingdom of Lumidia to its proper state. The kingdom is growing sick from the current royal family's reckless wars and the Holy See's overreach, which took advantage of the turmoil. His Excellency the Marquis merely wishes to set things right. And for that great undertaking…a powerful sword like you is essential.”
The marquis, like his father, saw Kaelan only as a convenient tool.
But it didn't matter.
Because it served his purpose.
“So what do I gain? Merely becoming the lord of a count's domain? Then this secret meeting has been a waste of time.”
The fact that the marquis had sent a representative himself to recruit him meant he considered Kaelan important.
Kaelan did not accept immediately; he asked in return.
“Freedom, Sir. In the new kingdom, you will be able to act as you please, without any restrictions. His Excellency the Marquis respects your abilities and has promised you a position and authority worthy of them. He is offering you a chance to display your true art at the heart of the kingdom. Of course, with your precious one at your side.”
The representative answered in a fluent stream, without hesitation.
The marquis had already seen through him completely.
There was no reason to refuse any longer.
He slowly nodded.
A faint, cruel smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Tell the Marquis I find it a very interesting proposal. Tell him I will gladly lend my brush to his work of correction. But my stage must be mine alone. On my stage, I alone will be the conductor and the sole lead actor. I will tolerate no noise or interference.”
“His Excellency will want that as well, Sir.”
The representative met Kaelan's gaze and bowed briefly.
Then came a knock at the door.
“Excuse me. I have a report to make to Lord Kaelan.”
“Oh, my. It seems my subordinate has urgent business. Please excuse me for a moment.”
The door opened, and a man dressed in black entered.
“Aria is on the move.”
“Oh…where?”
Kaelan's eyes gleamed.
“Aria was seized by two men in the market square, and I dealt with them as instructed. Afterward, Aria fled into the eastern forest.”
“Surveillance?”
“Most of it is no longer functioning.”
“Aria must have escaped the estate through the window?”
“Yes.”
Kaelan rose from his seat.
“Then the fragrance on the window frame should still linger. Bring the hounds. Ah, my apologies. Something urgent has come up, so I must take my leave first.”
“…Managing a pet is no easy task, is it?”
Kaelan answered as he opened the door.
“Because Aria will be the finest work I ever create.”