“What? What do you mean Karin—?”

Julian snapped sharply.

Anton hurriedly explained what had happened. Intruders had broken into the Rosenquai estate and abducted Karin.

“What kind of absurd nonsense is that? Where were the guards?”

“I don’t know. A maid witnessed it on her way back from an errand. We’ll need to verify the details.”

It felt unreal.

Karin had been kidnapped? If she had escaped on her own, that would be one thing—but abducted? By whom, and for what purpose?

Julian’s vision went dark.

Before he realized it, he was already storming out of the waiting room.

“Y-Young Duke—the ceremony—!”

Anton called after him, but Julian didn’t hear a word. Gritting his teeth, he ran down the corridor—not toward the ceremonial hall, but straight for the exit.

***

“Where are you taking me?”

Karin asked in a trembling voice.

The brown-haired man answered curtly.

“To where your brother is.”

“…….”

She couldn’t believe it.

After all this time with no word at all, Everett suddenly sent people—yet how had he even known she was here?

Fear crept in, cold and suffocating.

What was going to happen to her now?

A sudden wave of nausea hit her.

As it was, she’d been feeling queasy since morning, as though she’d eaten something wrong. Karin instinctively clapped a hand over her mouth and bent forward.

“Ugh….”

The urge to retch surged up. Before she could even try to fight it, everything churned up from her stomach and spilled out.

“Ugh—what the hell?”

The black-haired man spat out a curse in an irritated voice.

“D*mn it, that’s disgusting…!”

She was mortified and humiliated, but she couldn’t stop. With tears welling in her eyes, Karin vomited onto the floor of the carriage. It felt as though her insides were being violently turned inside out.

The brown-haired man clicked his tongue. He pulled out a handkerchief and held it out to her.

“Here. At least wipe yourself up.”

But Karin couldn’t even bring herself to take it. The nausea kept rising, and her vision began to spin.

‘What’s wrong with me…?’

Had she really fallen ill with something? If she’d known this would happen, she should have just asked them to call a doctor back then.

“Ugh…!”

Another bout of retching surged up.

“Ah, for f*ck’s sake!”

“Hey—try to hold it in, will you?!”

The carriage came to a stop by the roadside. The black-haired man opened the door and climbed down, muttering curses as he wiped off his shoes.

Soon, the brown-haired man followed him out of the carriage.

“What should we do? We can’t exactly take her like this….”

“…….”

At his words, the brown-haired man frowned and turned his gaze back toward Karin.

She was still bent forward, dry-heaving over and over. It seemed there was nothing left to come up.

Their employer had instructed them to bring Karin into the ceremony hall in a “presentable condition.”
But as things stood, her ashen face was anything but presentable. Even at a glance, vomit had splattered onto her dress—she looked like a complete mess.

‘D*mn it.’

The brown-haired man raked a hand through his hair.

“Once she settles down a bit, let’s head back to the ducal estate. After we get there, we’ll clean her up nearby or change her clothes—whatever it takes.”

“Yes.”

The black-haired man knocked his dress shoes against the ground a few times, then spat. Then, as if something caught his eye, he glanced toward the carriage—and his eyes flew wide open.

“Boss—the woman…!”

“What?”

The brown-haired man turned around.

Karin, who had been inside the carriage just moments ago, was nowhere to be seen. The door on the opposite side stood wide open.

The two men split up, scanning their surroundings.

Not far away, they spotted Karin—limping as she fled.

“There!”

The black-haired man pointed straight at Karin. Both men broke into a full sprint, chasing after her. Karin ran with everything she had, but there was no way she could outrun them. In no time at all, the black-haired man grabbed her arm.

“Are you kidding me right now—this isn’t a game!”

“L-Let go of me!”

“Miss Pantzner. What did I tell you earlier? Do you really want things to get ugly?”

The brown-haired man threatened her in a low voice. But Karin struggled wildly and began to scream.

“Help me! Please—someone, anyone, help me!”

The attention of passersby along the street was drawn to the commotion. Yet not a single person stepped forward.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

As the scuffle dragged on, one man finally spoke up, hesitantly.

“If you don’t want your face smashed into the ground, you’d better stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

At the black-haired man’s threat, the speaker flinched and retreated a step.

“She’s a woman from our shop. She ran off with the money, so we’re taking her back,”
the brown-haired man said.

Karin shook her head frantically.

“That’s a lie! It’s a lie—mmph!”

“Shut it! You really want to get hit?”

The black-haired man clamped a hand over Karin’s mouth, threatening her. Dragging her along as she struggled, he began hauling her back toward the carriage.

“All right, show’s over. Everyone, move along,”
the brown-haired man said to the onlookers.

That was when it happened.

“Officer! Over there!”

A sharp female voice rang out. Turning around, they saw two uniformed policemen approaching. One of them brought a whistle to his lips and blew it sharply.

“Hey, you two! Let the woman go!”

“…….”

The two men exchanged a quick glance.

The black-haired man hoisted Karin over his shoulder and bolted toward the carriage.

“Hey! I told you to stop!”

The brown-haired man scooped up a stone from the roadside and hurled it at the pursuing officers. In that instant, the black-haired man shoved Karin into the carriage.

“Go! Now—move!”

The brown-haired man shouted at the driver as he jumped in after her.

“Hyah!”

The carriage lurched forward with a jolt.

“Stop! Stop right there!”

The officers kept up the chase, blowing their whistles again and again.

“What do we do? We can’t head straight for the ducal estate like this,”
the black-haired man said, peering out the carriage window.

“The ducal estate? Did you just say the ducal estate?”

Karin demanded. The brown-haired man frowned and shot the black-haired man a sharp look. The latter visibly shrank back.

“Answer me! What do you mean, the ducal estate? You said you’d take me to my brother—agh!”

Stars exploded in her vision. The black-haired man had struck her across the cheek.

“Will you shut up? Do you have any idea who caused this whole mess—!”

“Are you insane? How could you hit her in the face?”

The brown-haired man barked, his expression dark.

“But this woman—”

At that moment, the carriage jolted violently.

“Ugh—what now?”

The brown-haired man leaned out toward the driver’s seat—and saw two mounted officers blocking the road ahead. From behind, the earlier officers were closing in at a run.

“D*mn it. What do we do?”

“…….”

The brown-haired man clenched his teeth. No matter what, they couldn’t get into a lethal brawl with the police in broad daylight.

“We split up. Run and don’t look back.”

“Then what about the woman—”

“Is the woman really the problem right now? If we get caught, it’s all over!”

Cursing viciously, the black-haired man kicked the door open. The men leapt out, splitting in opposite directions and disappearing into the narrow alleys.

“Stop right there!”

The officers chased after the men, whistles shrilling.

Inside the carriage, Karin curled in on herself, clutching her cheek.

“Ma’am, are you all right?”

One of the officers leaned into the carriage and asked. Karin was trembling too badly to answer.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

She sensed the officer moving away. Slowly, Karin lifted her head.

The ducal estate.

They had definitely said they were going to the ducal estate.

There was no way Julian had ordered her brought there. If he had, there would have been no reason to harm the guards or the servants.

Then that meant…

‘The Duke of Stautte…?’