Chapter 14.6

“How far along is the delivery?”

At the Duke of Bannon’s question, the secretary checked the clock.

“There’s been no news, so it should be arriving soon.”

“I see.”

Leaning deep into his chair, the Duke of Bannon looked out the window with cold eyes.

“Finally, this day has come. How delightful it is that everything is proceeding according to plan.”

“…But Your Grace, are you sure this is alright? I worry you might be exposed to unnecessary danger because of this.”

The secretary, who usually obeyed the Duke without question, surprisingly expressed his opinion.

The Duke slowly turned his gaze to the secretary and asked,

“How likely do you think this plan will succeed?”

Indeed, as the secretary worried, dealing with the Ford family’s daughter without trouble was no easy task.

But now that Derrick Harrington had been exposed, there was no time to hesitate.

Even if Derrick kept his mouth shut for now, no one knew when he might change his mind.

The Duke gripped the armrest of his chair tightly.

<I’m sorry. I lost the woman…>

If only that person from Roeta had handled things properly then.

The fool who begged for his life had succeeded in collapsing the center of Roeta one step at a time, just as the Duke had planned.

But in the end, the final goal was not achieved.

Though the Duke had ordered him to assassinate the Ford family’s daughter after stirring up Roeta, he had returned empty-handed.

After that day, the Duke prepared an even more perfect opportunity.

A chance to eliminate that child with his own hands.

“…Honestly, I’m not sure.”

The secretary couldn’t answer the Duke’s question and bowed his head. But the Duke could understand.

“I’m staking everything on this plan. Opportunities to get rid of that child and Young Master Belif together are rare.”

Who could have imagined?

The Duke smiled, thinking of Duke Belif’s face.

If, as rumored, Duke Belif handed the family head position to his son, Herace Belif would become a formidable rival for Bannon.

So, with Roeta in turmoil, everything must be dealt with now.

He had spent so long perfecting this natural course of action.

It was then that the Duke’s chair by the window turned.

His cloudy eyes landed on Kaiden, who was kneeling in the middle of the room.

“How does it feel to repay the kindness of being raised by trying to harm your father and ruining everything?”

Looking at his son’s bruised face, the Duke clicked his tongue. The wounds had been inflicted while bringing Kaiden to Rontiano, as he resisted being taken quietly.

Kaiden’s dark blue eyes, full of despair, wandered the floor.

At the sight of such a perfect loser, the Duke sneered.

“Today, you will lose both love and friendship.”

A strange light flickered in the Duke’s eyes.

“Watch closely the consequences brought about by your foolish greed.”

* * *

At that time.

“Hey, be careful not to drop that!”

“Move quickly!”

Brienne held her breath quietly, waiting for the timing Winor had told her about.

It had been a long time since the ship stopped, so there couldn’t be much left before she was transferred to the carriage.

The voices of the men bustled around, growing distant and then close again, repeating over and over.

Finally, footsteps were heard.

Her body was suddenly lifted and dropped somewhere with a thud.

Before she could wince from the pain, another load was thrown on top of her.

“Come on, let’s hurry!”

Soon, the sound of the door closing was heard.

As soon as the carriage started moving, Brienne pushed her head out of the loosely tied sack.

She shoved aside the piles of cargo carelessly stacked on top of the sack, and finally saw the inside of the carriage.

The smell of old dust tickled her nose.

The large freight carriage looked, at a glance, like it was just carrying miscellaneous goods.

Brienne checked to see if there were any other sacks and slipped out of hers like shedding a skin.

She massaged her numb legs and stood up. Her body felt stiff after being trapped for hours.

Brienne climbed onto a large box and tiptoed to peer out the carriage window.

A familiar road came into view.

‘…To think I’d return to Rontiano like this.’

Brienne soaked in the scenery of her homeland, wiping her damp palms on her clothes.

She knew she couldn’t let her guard down from now on.

She couldn’t relax until she rescued Herace, who was likely in another carriage.

Brienne recalled Winor’s words.

<I’ll try to get you loaded into the last carriage. That man will be in the one ahead. I can’t promise, but I’ll do my best.>

If Winor was right, Herace would be in the carriage ahead.

Brienne focused on the sounds outside the window. Thankfully, she didn’t hear any noise following behind this carriage.

<But what if Herace wakes up? He’ll come looking for me too.>

<That won’t happen. You only woke up because I adjusted the dosage in advance. That man will probably be half-dead for about a day before coming to.>

Brienne took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She was so worried about Herace, who would supposedly wake up half dead, that she felt she might go crazy, but there was no way to jump out of a moving carriage and catch up to the one ahead.

A sigh escaped her lips.

She planned to wait until the carriage stopped and look for an opportunity, but she was growing more impatient.

‘Stay calm.’

Just wait for now.

She had magic, after all.

Brienne practiced her magic just in case, waiting for the carriage to stop.

After a long while, the carriage slowed down in a deserted forest.

Brienne lowered her presence and jumped out of the carriage. She rolled on the ground a few times and looked up to see the carriage she’d been watching stop in the distance.

Hiding herself in the woods, Brienne ran toward the carriage she’d marked. Before people could get out, she opened the door and searched inside, finding a large sack.

“Herace…!”

Seeing the sack in a much worse state than the one she’d been tied up in, Brienne was startled and hurriedly untied the knot.

But—

“…Miss Ford?”

It wasn’t Herace in the sack.

Disbelief filled Brienne’s eyes.

‘Melosi Bailey…?’

Brienne was frozen, unable to say anything. Melosi, trembling in fear, scanned Brienne’s face.

Melosi scrambled to her feet.

“W-where is this? Why am I here?”

Melosi asked, looking around anxiously. Brienne sighed. That was something she wanted to know herself.

“I don’t really know where we are either.”

“Did you come to rescue me, Miss Ford?”

“No, I wasn’t exactly planning to…”

Brienne, untying the rope behind Melosi, was about to tell the truth, but decided not to.

She was already helping Melosi Bailey, and honestly, telling the truth wouldn’t help anyone.

Just then, she heard people outside.

“Mmph…!”

Brienne quickly covered Melosi’s mouth just in case.

“Shh, please be quiet for a moment.”

Brienne stepped back, pressing Melosi against the wall. Standing on tiptoe, she peeked out the window and saw people getting out of the lead carriage.

Men rolled up their sleeves and opened the freight carriage, starting to unload cargo.

‘This is bad. At this rate, I might miss Herace.’

Brienne frowned and released Melosi’s mouth. She found a dagger among the scattered junk and pressed it into Melosi’s hand.

“Miss Bailey, I’m sorry, but please wait here for a moment. If anyone comes, scream.”

Just as Brienne was about to slip out of the carriage, it happened.

“N-no!”

Melosi grabbed her arm tightly.

“Don’t leave me alone…! I’m too scared.”

Brienne frowned at being stopped from sneaking away.

Time was of the essence.

“Miss Bailey, I’m sorry, but you should be grateful I got you out of the sack. I have a lot to ask you anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

Melosi looked flustered by Brienne’s colder attitude than before.

But Brienne didn’t hesitate and shook off her hand.

“I heard from Derrick. He said you were the one who ordered my kidnapping.”

At that, a strange look flashed in Melosi’s eyes.

Brienne gave a cold smile.

“I thought I should help you, Miss Bailey, not knowing that. Even now, I’m unintentionally helping you.”

“…That’s… Derrick lied!”

“Maybe so.”

Brienne shrugged at Melosi’s desperate protest.

“But what matters is that I’m not interrogating you about that. Understand? Please, just wait here until I come back.”

With those words, Brienne turned her back on Melosi.

At that moment—

“Ah…!”

Brienne’s skirt was yanked, and she tumbled backward. She looked at Melosi in shock.

Their eyes met—Melosi was staring down at her, tightly gripping her skirt, with pale blue eyes.

Brienne raised her voice slightly.

“Miss Bailey, what are you doing…! Let go of me now.”

“No.”

“I said let go!”

“Why should I?”

Melosi, who had always worn a gentle expression, now smirked.

Squatting in front of Brienne, Melosi’s eyes glinted.

“If I let you go, you won’t come back. You’ll tell me to wait and then abandon me.”

No way.

Brienne intended to return after finding Herace.

No matter how much she disliked Melosi Bailey, she couldn’t leave her in a dangerous place like this.

But Melosi doubted Brienne’s promise to return. The absurd, outrageous suspicion made Brienne dizzy.