The next morning.
Chamuka knocked on the door of the inn room where Leticia was staying.
Worried he might have negative thoughts during the night, he had put a mild sleeping pill in the meal sent up yesterday.
The maid who delivered the meal said she saw him eat it before leaving, so he deliberately came late, knowing there was a high probability he would still be asleep if he came too early.
Since last night, as he stayed up all night, dawn was the hardest time to endure.
Chamuka restrained himself from going upstairs and knocking on the door immediately, staying awake through sheer willpower.
And finally, late in the morning, Chamuka went to find Leticia.
But there was no answer to his knock. The atmosphere inside was quiet with no movement.
Is he still sleeping?
Making this judgment, Chamuka stood waiting patiently in front of the door.
Thinking he would go in after waiting a little longer, when he woke up.
However, when the presence felt from inside the room remained quiet until almost lunchtime, Chamuka finally couldn’t wait any longer and knocked on the door.
When there was still no response, Chamuka eventually opened the door.
Under the completely reasonable judgment that it was time for him to wake up and eat something.
“…Leti?”
The blanket on the bed was bulging up. Chamuka quietly approached and reached his hand over the blanket.
But the moment his hand touched the blanket, the bulge collapsed.
At the same time, along with a damp water smell, the blanket quickly became soaked.
Drip, drip…
The water that had soaked the bed fell onto the inn floor.
Chamuka blankly pulled the wet blanket off the bed. There was no one on the bed.
Only a puddle of water remained, just the size of Leti.
Chamuka briefly denied reality as he checked under the bed, under the table, and even opened narrow drawers too small for a person to fit into, before returning to the wet bed.
His hand, tracing the water stain on the bed, soon crushed the bed with a crunch.
Leticia had disappeared.
The 0.6% probability had been realized.
The shocked kind young boy had run away from his family.

***

“There’s a city called ‘Radanta’ near the border between the Grand Duchy and the Empire. Go there, deal with the assassins trying to kill Your Highness, and then return to the castle.”
The wagon bumped along the road.
Inside, Leticia suddenly turned around with an ominous feeling.
Aina, sitting beside her, called out to her as if wondering what was wrong.
“Your Highness?”
“No, I just feel uneasy about something.”
“You left a note, didn’t you? Saying you’d return in three days.”
Aina stared at the brightly sunlit road with hollow eyes from not having slept at all. Her words were tinged with resentment.
“I clearly said we would need at least six days until we return, but you cut the schedule in half, and now I’m dying of sleepiness.”
The wagon driver seemed to have heard this and laughed heartily.
“I’ll wake you when we arrive, so you can just sleep, miss.”
“How can I sleep with all this bumping?”
“The prince was sleeping well. Anyway, we’ll arrive soon, so please bear with it a little longer.”
As the driver said, they soon arrived at the next town.
Leticia thanked the driver as she handed him payment for his trouble.
The driver said he was more grateful and pointed to one side of the town.
“You said you’re heading toward the border, right? If you want to move quickly, it would be best to get horses. There’s a horse market in that direction.”
The driver who worked at the Basilinte main castle seemed to view the current situation as some kind of hide-and-seek game between Basilinte and the prince.
This was because Leticia wasn’t acting like someone who was running away at all.
She hadn’t even bothered to conceal her appearance and had even instructed that if anyone asked where she was going, they should answer honestly, so the driver’s perspective was understandable.
In reality, Leticia didn’t feel much need to hide.
It wasn’t like she was really running away; she was just going somewhere briefly.
It was unfortunate that it happened at such timing, which is why she left a note and didn’t hide her identity.
“You’ll probably be caught quickly if you don’t ride horses.”
Leticia pulled the arm of the dozing Aina and headed toward the horse market.
Having no particular intention to hide her identity, Leticia didn’t bother to cover her face, and as a result, the surroundings buzzed with excitement at the sight of Leticia’s beauty.
The unrealistic beauty of the young boy who suddenly appeared in the town caused frequent collision accidents among those entranced by that face, wherever Leticia went.
Spreading her beauty like that, Leticia arrived at the horse market and purchased two horses on credit. Of course, in the name of Basilinte.
Aina sighed at Leticia’s behavior despite her exhaustion.
“…If you get caught in the middle and can’t reach our destination, I won’t give you any information.”
“No way. We’ve been traveling without a single break.”
They had a day’s head start, since Chamuka would have only discovered Leticia’s absence this morning.
Moreover, from now on, they would be riding horses, so there was no way they could be caught—
“Ah.”
Leticia turned to Aina as if she had just realized something.
“Do you know how to ride a horse?”
“Well, I haven’t ridden for about 10 years, but… I suppose my body will remember once I start riding.”
Aina stretched and mounted the horse.
Leticia watched her intently.
It wasn’t a casually learned posture. It showed signs of having been formally taught by an instructor.
Not only was it unusual for a maid, but even for a spy, she wouldn’t have learned to ride like a noble’s child.
“Were you a noble?”
“No.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Who would assign a noble as a maid to a fake prince being taken as a hostage? Besides, if I were a noble, I wouldn’t have come all the way to the Grand Duchy to work as a low-level spy…”
“You might not be a low-level spy. Perhaps you’re actually a big shot in the spy world.”
Aina’s expression alone conveyed ‘What nonsense.’
Seeing her honest reaction, Leticia explained her statement as she mounted her horse.
“It’s just that you show signs of having been very well trained in horseback riding.”
“I told you before that I once served a sickly princess from a cadet branch of the imperial family. I learned alongside her.”
“You said you entered the imperial palace after that lady passed away, right? Then did you learn about Basilinte’s curse at the imperial palace?”
“You really ask questions whenever you get the chance.”
“I’m diligently fulfilling your request. I should be able to ask this much. Whether you really have proper information or not.”
Aina gazed at the person for whom the title “Your Highness” couldn’t be more fitting.
Perhaps this was exactly what the people of the Empire imagined a Herta prince to be.
Bright golden hair, mysterious purple eyes. Elegant gestures and a kind smile.
As far as Aina knew, such beauty and such character didn’t exist among the actual Herta princes.
That’s why she kept testing the character of this “Highness.”
She asked casually:
“What if I deceived Your Highness without having proper information?”
“You didn’t seem like that.”
“Still, you never know. I might have deceived Your Highness with my excellent acting skills.”
“Speaking as an accomplished actor who has played the same role for 10 years, you don’t have much talent for acting, Aina. And if I have been deceived, well… so what?”
Leticia shrugged her shoulders. Then she added somewhat arrogantly.
“At most, all I’ve lost is three days of time.”
“I could have set a trap.”
“Whatever you’ve prepared, you asked for my help because you thought I could destroy it all. So stop changing the subject, Aina. Isn’t it about time you were honest?”
Aina nodded at her words. Certainly, Leticia had that power.