124. An Unexpected Outcome

“What??”

“Sometimes, if they think they’re the ones being pursued, they might act unpredictably. We’ll wait until whoever kidnapped Her Highness the Empress Consort demands something in exchange for her safety.”

The commander of the knight order stared at the place where they had vanished, then ordered the hall to be cleared and hurried toward Edward’s bedroom.

“Commander!!!”

He stopped and turned, watching two men barreling toward him like madmen. They were Berser and Handelson.

“I heard from Jacob. Is it true you’ve abandoned the pursuit of Her Highness?”

“Yes.”

The commander answered curtly and resumed walking.

“Does that make any sense? Even if the Empress Consort came from a central noble family, would you do this?”

“Why bring that up in this situation?”

“We will give chase.”

“Can you take responsibility for your actions?”

“What responsibility can’t we take? Can you take responsibility for yours, Commander? If anything happens to Her Highness, even you won’t be forgiven.”

Berser and Handelson snorted and leapt onto the horse left by the main palace, chasing after the carriage, but the carriage’s trail wasn’t easy to find. They grew increasingly anxious.

Meanwhile, the carriage that had been racing recklessly had by then reached the outskirts of the capital. The road was rough, and the carriage, unable to bear the jolts from speeding, kept bouncing. Each time it did, Cecile uttered a m*an.

Larael couldn’t think of anything except worry for Edward—her concerns for herself were gone. Why had things turned out like this? Who were these people?

Except for the moment when the woman called Cecile wrapped the severed section in cloth and the cold-eyed man asked if she was all right, the two kept silent. They simply watched the scenery pass by outside the window.

After what felt like a long time, one of the men shouted at the coachman to stop. When the carriage halted, the man stepped out with a dagger, and after a while returned. Larael squeezed her eyes shut when she saw blood on the dagger in his hand.

“Cloud, do you think the Emperor is dead?”

Cecile asked the assassin named Cloud. Cloud didn’t answer; he wiped the blood from the dagger. After cleaning it, he began binding Larael’s hands with leather straps.

More than whether the Emperor was dead, the faces of his fallen companions swam before his eyes.

“Who are you?”

Larael asked in a calm tone. At Larael’s first question, to which she had kept silent, Cecile and Cloud exchanged glances.

“What would you do knowing? You’re going to die soon anyway… I wish I could have killed you in front of the Emperor. I should have seen that face…”

“Cecile, I told you not to kill the Empress Consort.”

“Who told you not to kill me?”

“Shut up.”

Cecile glared at her as he spat the words.

“Let’s kill her.”

“No. We need her alive if we’re to return safely.”

“You’re not from the Kazel Empire?”

At Larael’s question, both of their expressions hardened. Cecile, snorting, struck Larael across the cheek with her remaining arm. Larael collapsed weakly and hit her head on the carriage window.

“Who are we? We are—”

“Cecile!!”

“Hah?”

“Hashiya Kingdom?”

When Larael caught and repeated it, Cloud sighed heavily and glared at Cecile. From his expression, Larael was certain they were from the Hashiya Kingdom.

Larael was confused. This hadn’t happened before she had returned to this life. The Hashiya Kingdom held a grudge and had attempted to assassinate Edward. This had happened because she had intervened in the mana mine issue. Overcome by a rising wave of self-loathing, Larael bowed her head. She wished she would simply disappear from the world.

What had she done?

If she hadn’t lost the magic device that interfered with facial recognition, would Edward have been safe?

Layer upon layer of self-reproach dragged Larael down into an abyss of unknowable darkness.

The two who had bound her stepped out of the carriage. Voices rose in argument from time to time. No matter how carefully Larael strained to listen, she couldn’t catch their conversation and gave up trying to eavesdrop.

Who was the one who’d told them not to kill her? The only person who came to her mind was the one she hated even thinking about.

“Herwen….”

If he was involved in this, she swore she would find him and kill him. Why had she been by Edward’s side in the first place, if this was the result? A sense of emptiness flooded her. She had thought that if she stayed by Edward’s side, nothing like the poisonings of the past would happen to him again.

[Whining to me like this. That ends today.]

Herwen’s words flashed through her mind. For some reason they grated on her. Larael pressed her lips together hard.

The murmuring stopped and the carriage door opened. A hand thr*st in, grabbed Larael, and roughly hauled her out. She was dragged out like a beast being led to the slaughterhouse and fell hard to the ground.

“From here on, you’ll ride on horseback.”

Cloud was detaching the harness and shaft from a horse. Cecile glanced between him and Larael, then bent over the girl sprawled on the ground.

“You’d better not hold out any hope of living. Unlike Cloud, I bear a deep grudge against your Emperor….”

Even if Cecile hadn’t said it, Larael could read the murderous intent in her eyes.

“Cecile, come here.”

Cloud nodded toward Cecile. Cecile scowled, shoved Larael’s head into the dirt, stood, and moved to Cloud’s side.

“Do something with this one.”

One of the horses was unusually agitated. Cloud handed the excited horse’s reins to Cecile—she clearly knew how to handle horses. Sighing, Cecile took the reins and calmed the animal.

Larael frowned and pushed herself up to look at them. Suddenly she heard a faint sound that seemed to be calling her; she turned her head slightly, scanning for the source.

“Your Highness.”

It was so soft she almost thought she had imagined it. Larael glanced toward the assassins and then toward where the voice had come from; her eyes widened. Joy was hiding in the bushes and signaling to her.

Larael looked back at the assassins. Fortunately, they didn’t appear to have noticed. Hiding her shock, Larael lowered her head just a little. She didn’t know how Joy had managed to follow them this far; her heart began to race. Half of her trusted Joy—who had won the swordsmanship tournament—and the other half feared Joy might be captured by them.

Joy was sending her a silent signal.

‘Run… this way?’

Larael couldn’t tell whether Joy meant she should run toward Joy or that Joy would run to her. If she misread the signal, she might ruin Joy’s plan.

She swallowed dryly. After receiving a few more signals, she finally understood: the moment Joy made a move forward, Larael was to run straight for that direction. That way she wouldn’t become another hostage.

A hostage…

If only Larael had dodged sooner, could Edward have handled the assassins without worrying about her? She remembered Edward staggering. As a Swordmaster, he surely could have taken on several assassins. The earthy smell of wine—

At that thought, the fog in her mind began to lift.

“The root of the Hashiya Kingdom’s mendyrein—you used that, didn’t you?”

Larael stood and confronted them.

That earthy scent—she recognized it. A herb used to calm patients and induce sleep. Hadn’t most of it been imported from the Hashiya Kingdom a year or two ago?

Cloud and Cecile both turned to look at her. Meeting their gazes, Larael took a step back. Cecile gave a hollow laugh at her.

“Trying to run now?”

No sooner had Cecile finished speaking than Larael pivoted and bolted.

“You crazy—”

Cecile, who had been laughing, drew a dagger and gave chase.

“Don’t kill her!!”

Cloud shouted from behind Cecile.