Chapter 94
A lone horse raced across the plain.
On its back sat two women.
Lenoa and Bibi.
While Leon stalled for time, the two of them made it safely out of the forest. Fortunately, no pursuers had followed.
Lenoa stared out over the open plain. Her hazy green eyes were blank and unfocused.
Then she slowly spoke.
“Where are we going now...?”
“For now, we're planning to run as far away as possible.”
“...Then what about Leon?”
Lenoa asked quietly.
A brief silence followed.
Bibi soon spoke up.
“You mean Sir Leon?”
“If we keep running like this, what about Leon? How is he supposed to know where we went and come find us?”
There was no proper way to contact him.
If something went wrong, they might never meet again.
That was what Lenoa was worried about.
“We'll wait here until Leon comes.”
“Young lady. Sir Leon is...”
Bibi trailed off.
Still in Bibi's arms, Lenoa slowly turned her head. She stared at Bibi with a cold gaze.
“What about Leon? Keep talking.”
“...Before we parted, Sir Leon was thinking about Belmarine. If we wait there, he will come. It would be much better than standing in a field and doing nothing.”
“...That makes sense too.”
Lenoa nodded.
After quite a while on the road, the two of them entered a village.
“Let's rest here for a bit.”
The horse needed rest, and so did they.
Moreover, they'd ridden through a life-or-death chase with their nerves stretched to the limit.
Bibi aside, Lenoa in particular looked worn out. If they pushed ahead recklessly, it could cause problems for her body.
They didn't want to leave any trace, but there was no choice.
The problem was that, after fleeing in such a hurry, they didn't have even a single copper coin on them.
“Miss. If it isn't rude of me, may I take the earrings you're wearing?”
The earrings glittering on both of Lenoa's ears.
Even if they were just accessories a duke's daughter wore lightly in everyday life, they still held considerable value.
Bibi intended to use them as money instead.
Lenoa silently nodded and removed one earring, placing it in Bibi's hand.
The two of them entered a shabby inn with few visitors.
Bibi approached the counter.
The innkeeper looked Bibi up and down. Her bloodied, wounded appearance was suspicious beyond reason.
“One of your best rooms. Some water to drink right away and a hot meal. Hay for the horse, and if you have spare clothes, I'd like two sets.”
She murmured low and slid out the earring. The innkeeper's pupils instantly widened.
“I don't have change for something of this value...”
“It's fine. Think of it as hush money. But if you tell anyone...”
-Whoosh.
Flames shot up over Bibi's hand.
“You won't like what happens.”
“Ah, I understand. I'll keep my mouth shut. How long will you be staying...?”
“We'll stay a few days and leave quietly, so don't worry about it.”
Bibi and Lenoa followed the innkeeper up to the second floor.
The creak of wooden planks echoed.
“You may use this room.”
“Thank you. Is there a well nearby, by any chance?”
“It's behind the inn, so feel free to use it.”
“Understood.”
The innkeeper left.
Bibi sat Lenoa on the bed.
“Young lady, we'll move out at dawn, so please rest up for a bit.”
What she'd told the innkeeper about staying several days was a lie.
They were the ones on the run, and they hadn't gotten far. They couldn't afford to lounge around idly.
They only needed a quick regroup before moving out.
“I'll wash up quickly at the well nearby. Looking like this, I'll draw suspicion wherever I go.”
“Mm.”
“Then, excuse me for a moment...”
Bibi left, and only Lenoa remained in the room.
Silence settled in.
Lenoa looked around the room, turning her head this way and that.
She was sure Bibi had asked for the best room, but what met her eyes was shabbier than the ducal manor's stables.
Stained wallpaper and an old dresser with peeling paint. A cold night breeze slipping through the gaps in the window.
Even the bed taking up half the room was only barely covered by a yellowed sheet.
To Lenoa, everything looked pitiful and everything felt unfamiliar.
It felt unreal.
So much so that it seemed like she was having a nightmare.
Lenoa went into a corner and hugged her knees.
“Leon...”
What was Leon doing right now?
Leon had never once disobeyed her orders, so he would carry this one out perfectly too.
He was surely on his way here after easily handling the Imperial Knights.
If it was Leon, then of course.
***
“Young lady. You need to get up, young lady.”
“Mm... Bibi?”
Lenoa rubbed her eyes and got up.
It seemed she'd fallen asleep without meaning to while resting for just a moment.
“The sun will rise soon. We have to move before then.”
“What about Leon?”
“He hasn't come yet.”
“...”
“Young lady.”
“...All right. I'll go, so stop pestering me.”
Lenoa and Bibi quietly left the inn. They got on their horses and left the village.
They moved at a pace a little slower than yesterday's so they could travel as far as possible.
All the while, Lenoa kept turning her head to look back at the road they'd come from.
It was because she hoped Leon might suddenly burst out from beyond the rising dust.
But cruelly, the road behind them was clear, with no obstacles at all.
Lenoa bit her lip. In the end, unable to hold it in, she spoke.
“Bibi, if the Imperial Knights aren't chasing us, then Leon must have held them off.”
“That's a reasonable point.”
“So maybe we don't need to go any farther? It feels like we're going too far.”
Lenoa kept worrying.
They'd agreed to meet in Belmarine, but she didn't have the composure to go all the way there and wait.
She felt like she wouldn't be at ease until she saw Leon right away.
“If Sir Leon still hasn't been able to join us, he may be in no condition to move right away.”
“So?”
“He may hide for a while and then take another route to Belmarine. We might miss each other, so it would be better for us to reach our destination and wait there.”
Bibi kept repeating the same opinion.
Lenoa knew in her head that Bibi's judgment was absolutely right.
But the weight of anxiety pressing down on her reason wasn't something she could easily shake off.
The two of them maintained a steady pace as they kept moving toward Belmarine.
The sun gradually rose above the horizon. The wind had changed as well.
The distinctive briny sea wind unique to the coast brushed past the tip of her nose.
At that, Lenoa unconsciously lifted her head.
After crossing one last gentle hill, an endless blue sea stretched out far before her, filling her view.
A thick outer wall ran in a long semicircle along the coastline.
Inside it were countless stone buildings, and sailing ships packed tightly at the docks against the horizon.
Belmarine, the south's largest trading port.
“We've arrived.”
“Mm...”
The two of them headed for the checkpoint.
Bibi had cleaned the blood off at the inn and changed into the clothes the innkeeper had given her.
Lenoa was the same. She was now wearing the clothes of a common woman instead of a dress.
Fortunately, they passed through without much suspicion.
“So now we just wait until Leon comes, right?”
“That too, but I think we need to get some money. Then we can get a place to stay and eat.”
“That shouldn't be hard.”
Lenoa handed Bibi the remaining earrings and necklace she'd taken off earlier.
“Young lady, from now on, stay right by my side and follow me.”
“Why?”
“We're going to a pawnshop in the back alleys.”
“We could just sell them to a merchant company.”
“In our current appearance, if we show items of unknown origin like this, they may suspect stolen goods and call the guards.”
Right now, Lenoa was not Lady Lenoa but ordinary Lenoa.
If she carelessly took out top-grade jewels from a noble house, there was a high risk she'd be branded a thief on the spot instead of getting a fair price.
For that reason, Bibi led Lenoa into a deserted back alley.
Rotten fish heads rolled underfoot, and a fishy stench rose from the gutter.
All over the alley, vagrants lay sprawled like trash, men and women alike.
“I think I'm going to throw up...”
Lenoa groaned, covering her nose and mouth with her sleeve.
It was a sight she'd never seen, never smelled, and couldn't even imagine in her whole life.
“Keep your head up and look straight ahead. Don't be afraid even if you meet their eyes.”
The murky eyes lurking in the darkness threw sticky looks at the unfamiliar outsiders.
In particular, all attention was focused on Lenoa.
Even if she threw on shabby clothes, she couldn't completely erase the noble bearing unique to her.
Her well-kept features and fair, delicate skin practically screamed that she'd been raised in comfort.
If anything went wrong, she could end up in a nasty situation.
“...All right.”
It wasn't that difficult a request.
To keep her chin raised, lower her gaze, and maintain an indifferent, cold demeanor as if she were looking at a bug.
For Lenoa, that was a daily habit she'd carried out as naturally as breathing all her life.
Because as an illegitimate child, she had to act like an untouchable noble lady so no one would look down on her.
But then.
“...”
Lenoa forced herself to straighten her back and stepped forward.
But the fingertips she had clenched tightly beneath her sleeve were trembling in tiny, uncontrollable shakes.
Her breathing grew ragged, and cold sweat soaked the stiff, forced cold expression on her face.
The more she tried to imitate arrogance, the more, ironically, her body stiffened.
The reason was obvious.
Because the one who had always protected her from any danger behind her back was gone.
Because the real reason she could look down on the world so confidently wasn't noble blood or her inborn nature.
“Haa, haa...”
It was the moment she realized that.
Lenoa's bravado, which had already felt precarious, collapsed miserably.
Lenoa's legs went weak, and she staggered hard.
“Young lady. Are you all right?”
Even with Bibi's worried question, Lenoa didn't have the strength to answer. She was busy trying to steady her breathing.
“...Let's step out for some fresh air for a moment.”
Lenoa, supported by Bibi, left the alleyway.
At some point, she remembered something Leon had said.
You can't do anything. The only thing you have is me, your slave.
She was feeling the truth of his words painfully, right then and there.
That she really was a useless young lady who couldn't do anything without Leon.
At her own helplessness, revulsion and nausea rose up in Lenoa.
All Lenoa could do was...
‘Leon...’
To pray desperately for him to return as soon as possible.