Chapter 27
“Aaaah!”
A desperate scream came from near the mansion entrance.
Clatter!
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Then someone, bleeding, threw open Lonas’s bedroom door so hard it nearly broke.
“Count Eisen!! Something terrible has happened!!”
It was Masha, the head maid.
The one who had gone with Alina to buy grapefruit tarts.
Masha looked terrible.
Her hair was disheveled, and her white apron was torn and stained red with blood.
She had been stabbed in the abdomen.
“......!”
Count Eisen’s hand, which had been lowering Lonas onto the bed, stopped.
He reflexively dumped Lonas onto the bed and approached Masha.
“What happened?! The blood... Are you hurt?”
“No... Ah... That’s not important...!”
The head maid sobbed and cried out, nearly gasping for breath.
“M-Miss Alina...!”
The moment that name was spoken, the atmosphere in the mansion froze.
All the color drained from Count Eisen’s face.
“Alina? Where’s Alina?! Didn’t she leave to buy tarts?”
“At the t-tart shop... men in black masks suddenly burst in....”
The head maid collapsed to the floor and wailed.
“They... they kidnapped Miss Alina and took her away in a carriage!!”
Kidnapping.
The moment that word lodged in my mind, the mansion instantly became a madhouse.
“Emergency! This is an emergency!”
“Assemble the guards!”
Shouts and the sound of knights running echoed through the hallway.
I stood in the bedroom doorway and tried to grasp the situation.
‘Kidnapped? Alina was kidnapped?’
My mind was in turmoil.
No matter how deeply I searched my memories of the original story, there had been no episode in which Count Eisen’s daughter Alina was kidnapped.
In the original story, Alina had little presence, being mentioned only once or twice in passing in conversations between Eisen and Lonas.
Even then, her only role was to deepen Kairon’s guilt after Eisen died in his place.
‘Even if Kara’s pregnancy and our staying here have twisted the original story... did that lead to Alina’s kidnapping?’
The causality didn’t make sense.
Had someone borne a grudge against Count Eisen?
Or were they after money?
Then a thought that had occurred to me while waiting for dinner crossed my mind.
The point at which Chapter One of the original novel, 「The Bastard’s Snowflower Path」, takes place.
And the opening scene of Chapter One was....
The heroine, Elysia, began the story already kidnapped.
Then Alina being kidnapped now was....
‘A case of mistaken kidnapping?’
They had either mistaken Alina for Princess Elysia, used her as a diversion for an attempt to kidnap the princess, or something had gone wrong.
Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter.
What mattered was that a child before my eyes—a fragile little girl who had loved our Yeppi—was in danger.
‘How dare they...!’
My body moved before I could think.
I snatched up my axe, 「First Snowflake」, from where it hung on the wall.
As the heavy haft settled into my hand, my thoughts cooled into icy calm.
Shrring!
At the same time, a sharp metallic sound came from beneath the bed.
It was Kara.
She had already drawn 「Frostwind」, one of the swords she and her mother kept beneath the bed.
“What are you two planning to do!”
Count Eisen tried to stop us, his face pale.
“Lady Kara needs rest! Don’t go! This is my daughter. I’ll handle it!”
“Honey, rest. I’ll go.”
I stepped in front of Kara again.
“It’s still early in the pregnancy, so you need to be careful. I’ll definitely bring Alina back....”
“Move.”
Kara cut me off.
Then she raised her head.
“......”
The playful, loving face of my usual wife was nowhere to be seen.
Her sapphire eyes had gone cold and still.
They were the frost-sharp eyes of the warrior she had been when she beheaded the enemy commander on the battlefield during the war with the Bloodfang Tribe.
“How dare they touch my little sister?”
She growled low like a wolf.
“Whoever they are... I won’t leave them alive…!”
The fierce killing intent pouring from Kara overwhelmed even me, not to mention Count Eisen.
A pregnant woman’s need for rest.
Nothing of the sort could be seen in Kara’s eyes now.
Only fury at the enemy who had touched her family burned there.
Just then.
Suddenly!
Lonas, who had been sprawled on the bed like a corpse, shot upright like a released spring.
His reflexes were unbelievable for someone who had been unconscious only moments ago.
“...What did you just say?”
Lonas asked, his hollow eyes flashing.
Disheveled hair.
A wrinkled shirt.
Dark circles hanging down to his chin.
His appearance was that of a complete all-nighter wreck.
But his eyes held nothing of the irritation he showed when wrestling with paperwork.
Cold reason.
And chilling killing intent.
“Alina... was kidnapped?”
“Lonas!”
Count Eisen called out to his son.
The eyes of the father and son met.
There was no sign of the usual bickering son and nagging father.
“Lonas. Seal off the checkpoints around the territory right now. Don’t let even a single rat out.”
“Understood.”
Lonas answered immediately as he straightened his shirt collar.
“I’ll notify every checkpoint and dispatch the second knight squad. Father, search around the tart shop for witnesses.”
“Yes. Mobilize the entire family intelligence network.”
The two men threw on only their coats and left the room at a run, their heels barely touching the floor.
There was no hesitation or panic.
They slipped into the mechanical rhythm of an emergency.
They, too, were nobles and capable administrators who kept the harsh northern Grand Duchy running.
“Let’s go!”
Kara gripped her sword and tried to head for the entrance.
I blocked her path once more.
“Kara, calm down. You’re....”
“I know! I’m pregnant!”
Kara shouted while staring straight into my eyes.
“I’ll be careful. I won’t overdo it. But... Alina is practically my little sister.”
Light reflected in her sapphire eyes.
“That little girl... must be trembling in fear... How can I just stay here!”
I could feel how sincere she was.
But as her husband and the father of our child, I couldn’t send my wife into mortal danger.
And if I forcibly stopped her, Kara would suffer from guilt for the rest of her life.
I found a compromise.
“All right. Let’s go.”
“Really?”
“But on one condition. Absolutely no intense fighting.”
I gripped Kara’s shoulders and urged her earnestly.
“If you absolutely have to go... stay by Count Eisen’s side and protect him.”
“Protect Count Eisen?”
“Yes. Count Eisen and Lonas may look calm, but their hearts must be in turmoil. Besides, they’ll be going into the crowds to investigate. Someone needs to watch their backs.”
The Eisen family did have guard knights of its own.
But giving Kara a role was my little trick to keep her out of the fighting at the front and in a safe position at the rear.
Of course, I had a perfectly valid justification.
“If you protect Count Eisen, he can direct the search without worrying. That’s the fastest way to find Alina.”
“......”
Kara bit her lip and pondered for a moment before nodding.
“...All right. I’m sorry. I got too worked up. I’ll do as you say.”
Kara adjusted her grip on the sword and regained her composure.
Her coolheadedness as both a mother and a warrior had returned.
“Let’s go.”
We rushed into the mansion’s front courtyard with our weapons in hand.
Count Eisen and Lonas were already there, gathering the guards and forming search squads.
Torches swayed chaotically.
“Reporting! The eastern boulevard and south gate are clear!”
“The northern forest trail search party has departed!”
Amid the urgent reports flying back and forth, Count Eisen unfolded a map.
“If it were them, they wouldn’t have taken the boulevard with its checkpoints. They must know Eisengard’s security measures.”
The count’s finger pointed to a spot on the map.
“Then it must be the forest trail. But the terrain is rough, so a carriage would move slowly....”
“They must know a prepared side route.”
I cut in.
“Kidnappers would have secured an escape route. It’s probably an abandoned mine or a route used by smugglers.”
“That makes sense.”
“And I’ll move separately.”
“Separately?”
“Please trust the Winterfang Tribe’s mobility. I can run through forests and rough terrain as though they were flat ground. If the other search parties take the conventional routes, I’ll search the gaps they might miss and any unexpected paths.”
“But... it’s dangerous alone.”
“Alone, I’ll be faster and more discreet. And....”
I grinned and raised 「First Snowflake」.
“With this fellow, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Count Eisen considered my confident attitude for a moment, then nodded.
“All right. I trust your abilities, Mr. Varg. Please... be careful.”
Count Eisen took a signal flare from inside his coat and handed it to me.
“Mr. Varg. I regret making you, our honored guest, take on this task.”
“I’m a father now too.”
“.... Thank you, Mr. Varg.”
I accepted the signal flare and put it away.
Then I looked at Kara standing beside me and spoke.
“Kara will stay by Count Eisen’s side, in case of an ambush.”
“Ah, Lady Kara?”
Count Eisen looked puzzled, but he soon understood my intention from my gaze.
He nodded and looked at Kara.
“That’s reassuring. Please, Lady Kara. I’ll entrust my back to you.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t let even a single bug get near you.”
Kara answered solemnly, her speech somewhat rougher than usual.
The roles had been assigned.
“Mr. Varg too... please be careful. And please... bring our Alina....”
Count Eisen’s voice trembled.
I slung the axe over my shoulder and grinned.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make them pay dearly for daring to touch our Yeppi’s big sister.”
The roles had been assigned.
I turned and glared at the forest covered in darkness.
‘My mobility is just an excuse.’
The real reason I wanted to move separately was something else.
Only I knew it.
In Chapter One of the original novel, <The Bastard’s Snowflower Path>, I knew the secret route the kidnappers had used and the location of their hideout.
That was information only I possessed.
If I carelessly revealed it, I would arouse suspicion, and explaining it would be complicated.
The fastest and surest way was simply to go there myself and wipe them out.
‘Wait for me, you rats.’
At the thought of hunting again after so long, my stiff muscles began to thrum.
* * *
I slung the axe over my back and started running toward the forest shrouded in darkness.
The night air stabbed into my lungs.
My legs did not stop.
Because I liked this sensation.
‘They weren’t after Alina. They were after Princess Elysia.’
That was what my mind was shouting.
If my memories of the original story were correct, the people who kidnapped Elysia at this point were likely professional kidnappers hired by the imperial family or an opposing faction.
And Elysia was an illegitimate daughter.
The imperial family would have kept her identity strictly hidden.
The kidnappers either didn’t know the princess’s face or had attempted the kidnapping based only on a description of someone who looked like her.
‘Even if Alina explains that she isn’t the princess, they won’t let her go until they confirm it.’
No, in the worst case....
‘They might kill her to silence her.’
There was no time.
My footsteps quickened.
The forest trail on the outskirts of Eisengard.
I searched the forest, putting to use the tracking skills I had honed while hunting prey in Norhaim.
Bent grass.
Signs of disturbed soil.
Faint carriage-wheel tracks.
But my mind was even busier, fitting together the pieces of a complicated puzzle.
‘Why was Alina targeted?’
Even if it was a case of mistaken identity, there was no way the count’s daughter could have stood out enough to be confused with the princess.
Besides, there was a considerable age difference between Alina and Elysia, so why on earth....
‘Could it be.... Does Alina have protagonist potential...?’
I sorted through the thoughts that had become tangled over such a ridiculous idea.
But my eyes shone sharply in the moonlight.