The road by carriage was long and grueling, but the bright smile never left Annabella’s face.

For one thing, she was free of the sight of Miranda and her daughter, and her spirit was lighter for it. And when they crossed the border, she made her resolution — she would never return to the Crown Prince. With that settled in her heart, everything felt like freedom.

She would not be returning to that ducal estate, either.

“My lady. A little further and we’ll reach the inn where we’re staying.”

She was not entirely free yet, of course. Duke Lates had assigned two knights to accompany his daughter — soon to be Crown Princess — for her protection, and had reserved entire lodgings along the route.

“I hate wasting the time we’d spend at an inn. That same time spent traveling would get us there so much sooner.”

“And then you’d fall ill, my lady. You’re still getting carriage-sick as it is.”

She couldn’t argue with that, so Annabella gave a quiet nod.

Before long, the carriage rolled to a stop in the courtyard of the inn where they were to stay. The proprietor and his wife hurried out at the sound of wheels, bowing deeply and greeting them with great courtesy.

“We are truly honored to have you stay with us. What a privilege.”

Annabella accepted the greeting graciously enough and headed straight inside with Hilda.

The moment they stepped into the finest bedchamber the inn had to offer, there came a light tapping at the window — tap, tap. At the sound, Hilda brightened and threw the window open, welcoming the carrier pigeon inside.

“My lady, a pigeon has come from the Kingdom of Elaise!”

“What? But how could they possibly know we’d be here……”

“Hehe. I sent word ahead of time.”

Annabella’s eyes went wide as she came to Hilda’s side. She opened the letter to find the King’s fine, elegant hand.

[To Annabella and Hilda.

We have always been here, waiting for you. Do not rush — come carefully.]

What a tender letter it was.

“His Majesty the King is truly so kind, isn’t he?”

“Yes……”

Her own father was someone who avoided handwritten letters to an extreme, citing the need to maintain ducal authority. The contrast was striking.

“Would you like to write a reply, my lady?”

“No…… not yet, I think.”

“Then I shall write one.”

Annabella gave an easy nod.

And so, while Hilda threw herself into composing the reply, Annabella sat on the edge of the bed with nothing to do, swinging her feet idly. Under normal circumstances Hilda would have remarked on it, but she was far too absorbed in her letter to notice.

It was the first freedom Annabella had ever known — imperfect as it was. She had no desire to spend it shut up inside a room, and so she took the opportunity to slip quietly out into the hall.

When no one came after her, Annabella stepped out of the inn with a light and eager step and drew in a long breath of the dense forest’s clear air. It carried a cool, almost otherworldly freshness — something utterly impossible to feel in the imperial capital.

She was still taking in her surroundings when a cluster of fireflies began to glimmer along a narrow woodland path deeper in the trees.

“Oh…… how beautiful.”

Annabella was entirely captivated by that lovely light, the likes of which she had never seen in her life. Without quite knowing where she was going, she followed it.

The further she walked from the inn, the darker it grew — and yet the forest’s clean, bracing air only grew stronger around her, and somehow she felt no fear. The breath that rose from the dense canopy of trees seemed to open up her chest, sweeping away everything that had been pressing down on it.

She walked on, and on.

How long had it been?

How long had it been?

The narrow path had vanished somewhere along the way, and Annabella found herself trapped in the forest in the dead of night.

“I’m certain I came from this direction……”

While she had been wandering, the fireflies had scattered too.

She had been far too careless about the forest. Even in broad daylight, a dense wood was exactly the sort of place where one could lose their way in an instant. Every direction looked the same as the last, and in the dark there was simply no way out.

No matter how she looked around her, everything was identical — and only then did Annabella truly understand the danger she was in.

“Grrrr……”

And then, from somewhere in the darkness, came the sound of a beast. Annabella’s heart lurched into a frantic beat.

“Grrrrrr……!”

The sound was louder now than before. Whatever it was, it seemed to be drawing closer through the dark.

Should she run? No — she could never outpace a beast in a night forest.

“Grrk!”

The cry rang out from somewhere very near. Annabella stumbled backwards — and caught her foot on a root, and fell.

“Ah!”

She cried out as she went down, twisting her ankle in the fall — but the pain barely registered. The creature lurking in the dark was far more terrifying than any hurt.

“Grrrr……”

At last the beast revealed its massive form, stepping into view before her.

Just then, the clouds that had been smothering the sky drifted past, and bright moonlight spilled through — enough to see clearly. It was a bear.

Terror seized every part of her body and she could not move. Her mind screamed at her to get up, to run — but she had no illusion of winning against a black bear.

‘This life — the one I fought so hard to get back…… and I’m to die like this, because of my own carelessness……’

Despite every desperate plea within her, the bear kept growling and advanced toward her slowly, as though it already knew she was prey that could not escape.

“Grrrr……”

“Eek!”

When the bear reared up onto its hind legs directly before her, she screamed before she could stop herself.

‘Is this truly how I die.’

Annabella screwed her eyes shut in terror, bracing herself for the moment those great claws would tear her apart.

But time passed — and the bear did not come closer.

“Grrrrrr……!”

‘It’s still making that sound — but what’s happening?’

Curiosity gave her courage. Annabella forced open the eyes she had squeezed shut — and saw a man emerge from the darkness. In one hand he held a sword; with the other, he scooped up a nearby stone and hurled it at the bear.

“Your quarrel is with me.”

The moonlight was bright enough that she could see him clearly. The man was dressed entirely in black — black hair, black eyes to match.

He kept throwing stones, and at last the bear abandoned Annabella and turned toward him.

“Grrk!”

“Because of a woman who wandered into a forest she doesn’t know her way around, I’ve been forced into a needless kill.”

The cutting remark was aimed squarely at Annabella. The very next instant, without a moment’s hesitation, he leapt at the bear and drew his blade across its throat. It was faster than she could have believed had she not seen it herself.

He had struck a vital point precisely — the bear died on the spot. With a heavy thud, the great body crumpled to the ground.

The man wiped his sword on the bear’s hide, then slid it back into its scabbard. All of it had happened in the space of a breath.

“A sheltered young lady wandered into a forest path out of curiosity, and now one innocent creature is dead for it.”

“Th-that’s——”

“If it weren’t for you, that bear would have had no reason to die.”

“But you were in the forest too.”

At her retort, the man let out a short, derisive laugh.

“I know this forest. I can coexist with everything in it. Can you say the same?”

Annabella had nothing to say to that. She pressed her lips together.

“Anyone can talk. But if I hadn’t been here tonight, you would have been torn apart in pieces — what was left of you wouldn’t even have been fit to collect.”

At those grim words, Annabella’s shoulders trembled involuntarily.

“Only frightened now, are you?”

He let out a laugh of pure disbelief.

“If the foolish young lady had been afraid of the forest from the start, none of this would have happened.”

He seemed genuinely put out over the needless kill, and he directed his displeasure at Annabella in a sharp, relentless stream.

“……I am grateful that you saved me. But you are being far too harsh.”

Annabella had never once in her life been spoken to like this — not to her face.

“Too harsh? Surely that’s what the bear who died for no good reason would want to say.”

His low voice pressed into her like a growl.

“You look like a young lady of noble birth — wandering through a forest alone. Were you properly raised at all?”

“I am already sorry and I already regret it, so I would ask you to say no more.”

“I don’t know whose daughter you are, but I take orders from no one.”

He said it without so much as a flicker of expression, and on that final word, he walked straight into the darkness where nothing could be seen an inch ahead. Annabella, afraid that losing him meant losing the path as well, gathered up her skirts and hurried after him, breathless.

“Why are you following me?”

“……Because you know the way.”

“You really did wander into that forest alone. Unbelievable.”

He clicked his tongue, still sardonic — and then something seemed to occur to him, because he turned and looked at her face.

“Were you the one who took over that entire inn back there? Thanks to that, I ended up at the one across the road, drinking the worst beer I’ve ever had in my life.”

“It was arranged in advance.”

“Oh, naturally. When a highborn young lady travels, the convenience of others simply doesn’t factor in.”

“I would have preferred otherwise — but what is one to do when protocol demands it?”

There was indeed an unspoken custom among the capital’s nobility: if a young lady of good family had to lodge at an inn during travel, the entire establishment was to be reserved for her use. The reasoning being the rather foolish notion that an unmarried lady could not sleep under the same roof as strangers.

“Ha. Every bit of that is absurd.”

He said it coldly, then abruptly lengthened his stride, moving to cut through the forest at a pace that left her behind. Annabella struggled to keep up, but the distance between them only grew. At this rate, even his silhouette would disappear.

“W-wait!”

He stopped and turned — and in the moment he did, Annabella half-ran after him. But she failed to see the muddy patch underfoot, and down she went.

Splat. Mud flew in every direction. She was an absolute mess. The single most mortifying moment of her life.

“The bear’s revenge, perhaps.”

‘Awful man.’

Fury surged through her at the sight of him looking down at her without the least intention of helping — but what could she do? Every bit of fault lay with her, for wandering into a forest she knew nothing about.