Chapter 29

“It seems like we could eat while waiting…”

But if they left the line, the queue behind them had already grown quite long.

Elodia gauged the distance to the cotton candy stand and spoke to Sierd.

“I’ll go get it.”

“No, I’ll go.”

“It’s safer for you to stay with Cesar. There are so many people.”

Sierd seemed displeased at the idea of Elodia going alone and tried to persuade Cesar.

“…Cesar, should we get cotton candy later?”

Tears instantly welled up in Cesar’s eyes.

“I’ll go! Cesar, just wait a little!”

She smiled lightly and stepped out of the line.

‘It was around here…’

The cotton candy stand seemed to have moved, or maybe it was just hard to spot with the crowd swelling. She located it by the balloons attached to the stand, but the place was even busier than before. After wandering for a while, she finally bought the cotton candy and caught her breath.

She regretted not listening to Sierd, glaring at the cotton candy.

“Huaaaaang!”

Nearby, a child’s cry rang out.

It was hard to hear over the noise of the crowd, but she was certain it was a child crying.

The urgent sound stopped her in her tracks.

“I’ll be late.”

She sighed and started searching for the child.

* * *

Surprisingly, the child was in the downstairs corridor. After much trouble getting there, Elodia handed the cotton candy to the crying child to comfort him.

“Hic, hic, hiccup!”

“It’s okay. There, there. I’ll help you find your mom, okay? Here, want this? It’s cotton candy.”

“……”

The child looked up at her with wary eyes.

Elodia spoke gently.

“Go ahead, you can eat it.”

While the child nibbled at the cotton candy, she asked,

“Which cabin are you staying in?”

Shakes head.

“What’s your name?”

Shakes head.

It seemed it wouldn’t be easy to find the child’s parents.

“All right, let’s just try.”

It seemed best to hand the child to a crew member and check the passenger list.

She took the child’s hand and quietly walked down the corridor. Just then, a woman with tear-streaked cheeks spotted them and cried out in a sorrowful voice.

“Max!”

“Mom!”

Mother and child embraced for a long while. The mother checked that her child was okay, then finally noticed Elodia. Still teary, she bowed her head.

“Thank you for finding my son.”

Elodia, nervous about possible misunderstandings, relaxed and smiled.

“It’s nothing. I just watched over him for a moment. I was nearby. Little one, from now on, you have to hold your mom’s hand, okay?”

“Sniff… Okay…”

After giving her advice at the child’s eye level, Elodia stood up.

“Well, I’ll be off now. My group is waiting for me.”

Just as she rose and met the mother’s eyes, the woman bit her lip and glanced fearfully behind Elodia.

“I-I’m sorry.”

Oh no, she thought.

Suddenly, someone pressed a cloth with a sharp smell over her mouth and nose, restraining her movements.

Her vision blurred and her strength faded.

‘Cesar is waiting…’

The last thing she saw was the cotton candy pressed to the floor, before her consciousness slipped away.

* * *

“Dad, dad, when is mom coming?”

“You got your cotton candy, Cesar.”

“I don’t like cotton candy. I miss mom… Why isn’t mom coming? Hm?”

With Cesar’s repeated questions, Sierd crumpled the fireworks viewing ticket in his hand. He could sense the presence of Elodia’s escort, who had been assigned to her just moments ago. That presence should not have been here, where Elodia had left her seat. The place was already chaotic, and Sierd was focused on Cesar, barely keeping his composure…

Sierd suddenly picked up Cesar and turned around.

“Shall we go find Mom, son?”

The person who appeared before Sierd was Elodia’s escort, who hadn’t yet grasped the situation.

“Ah, ah… Hello. Have you, by any chance, seen the Guild Leader?”

Having gathered all the information he could from the escort, Sierd left without hesitation.

‘He lost the person he was supposed to protect.’

The escort chased after him, shouting.

“Your Grace! Have you seen the Lady?!”

“Your Grace!”

Sierd ignored Elodia’s escort, clenching his jaw so hard it made his chin jut out.

Time was of the essence.

Bang! Bang!

Colorful fireworks exploded above Sierd’s head as he ran with Cesar in his arms.

“Wow! Fireworks!”

It was an environment where something could happen to her at any time, anywhere, and the anxiety surged to its peak.

‘It’s my mistake. I shouldn’t have let her go alone…’

Elodia was the only person the child had grown attached to in a long time. He didn’t want to lose another person by Cesar’s side.

‘…That’s all.’

He tried hard to suppress his anxiety.

While Cesar giggled, Sierd moved quickly through the crowd. Elodia had tried to hide it, but to him, it could never be completely concealed. Elodia was a mage, and Sierd could find her wherever she was.

He closed his eyes.

For a moment, the ship rocked. In an instant, the lights on the deck, the engine, and even the fireworks decorating the sky went dark. As people panicked, the navigator and crew moved, and soon the ship resumed normal operation.

During that time, Sierd opened his eyes and changed direction.

“Hm? The fireworks disappeared.”

“They’ll explode again soon. Should we bring Mom back before that, son?”

“Yeah!”

Toward where Elodia was.

* * *

“Mm! Mmm!”

When she opened her eyes, her hands and feet were bound. It was pitch dark, and she could sense people nearby.

She quickly relaxed her body and listened to the sounds around her.

“Hey, is that the woman? Don’t mess things up again by hurting an innocent woman; check her appearance properly.”

“Hey, last time the client said it was okay to touch, but not this time.”

“That guy said if it’s unavoidable to subdue her, it’s fine to k*ll her, so check again.”

“Yes, yes.”

It seemed the woman they were referring to was her.

Clunk.

Before she could prepare herself, the sound of a door opening echoed. Footsteps drew closer.

To avoid showing her anxiety, she calmed herself by thinking of Cesar.

At that moment, the cloth covering her face was pulled away. Even with her eyes closed, her vision brightened. Rough hands grabbed her cheeks and moved her face side to side.

“Tsk. That’s a pretty face. Did you make enemies because of your looks?”

A man spoke in a sleazy tone.

A voice from farther away called out to hurry him.

“Hey!”

“Yes, it’s her. This hair isn’t treated with chemicals or magic. But this woman… isn’t she a noble? I’ve heard of this hair color before.”

“She’s a noble, but from commoner origins, so there won’t be any trouble. According to the client, today, her husband is supposed to be buried at sea with her.”

It seemed someone had commissioned her kidnapping. And Sierd was somehow involved, too.

‘Is the grudge not against me, but Sierd? Then am I just bait?’

There weren’t many people who could hold a grudge against both Sierd and Elodia, so it seemed one of them was the main target.

“Ah, so should we just leave the woman here?”

“The appointed time is almost up. Let’s get out before we get caught up in something troublesome.”

“That’s too bad. I wish we had a bit more time. I don’t have a hobby of messing with sleeping women.”

The man spoke in a sleazy tone and smacked his lips, then turned away.

The sound of heels receding, the door closing, followed in sequence.

‘Are they gone?’

She sensed no presence, but a trained assassin could easily hide their presence. She deliberately counted to three minutes in her head, then quietly opened her eyes.

“Hng!”

“Pretty lady, you weren’t sleeping, huh?”

Startled, she opened her eyes wide and inhaled sharply.

Short hair, thin, slanting eyes, muscular arms covered in scars—his appearance was anything but ordinary. He bent down to meet her gaze and spoke.

“Whoa, don’t look at me so fiercely, okay? I like those who resist—it excites me more.”

There was a separate client. She confirmed that unless he was ordered, he wouldn’t k*ll her immediately, so even if something happened to her, the longer she could delay, the better. She had sent a signal as soon as she opened her eyes, so Jack would come to find her.

‘It’ll take some time, though…’

“Let’s not scream, okay?”

With a dagger pressed to her throat, the man removed her gag and tossed it over his shoulder. He spun the dagger in the air and then sheathed it at his waist.

“You won’t regret doing it with me. I’m pretty good-looking myself.”

“Ha.”

She scoffed lightly, but the man didn’t seem to care.

Suddenly, she thought of her husband. The man fiddled with her lips with his thumb, and just as he began to pull down his waistband—

‘This is so unfair in so many ways.’

She struggled to free her wrist from the rope to remove her earring and opened her mouth.

“You said you like women who resist?”

“Oh?”

“I can play along. If you just untie me.”

“Puhaha!”

The man burst into laughter and wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

‘Please, please.’

If only she could loosen the rope, she’d punch him right in the jaw.

Approaching her, he grabbed a wooden chair with one hand and said,

“Haha. Lady, you don’t need to play along with me. In this kind of situation, even women like you usually…”

Smack!

“Unbelievable.”

The man’s jaw was struck.

‘…That wasn’t me?’