Chapter 112

Felix, wearing a pained expression, finally let go of her hand as though he had made up his mind.  

“I’ll see you at your house.”  

“Yes, I’ll wait for you.”  

Elena watched Felix run toward his comrades before gripping the Little One’s hand tightly.  

“Let’s go, Philly. You’re going to run with me.”  

“Yes.”  

Little One, though visibly terrified, obediently started running alongside her. However, the crowd was so dense that escaping the hall was no easy feat. Little One, being much smaller than her, found it even harder to navigate through the mass of people.  

“Philly, come here.”  

Elena eventually lifted Little One into her arms. Thanks to her training in swordsmanship, which had built her strength, and Little One’s smaller-than-average size, she managed to carry him while moving.  

“Excuse me! I have a child here!”  

No matter how desperately she called out, the people ignored her pleas. Instead of moving forward, she was pushed further back by the crowd.  

“Please! There’s a child here!”  

“Mom!”  

Little One clung tightly to her neck, trembling. Her arms began to ache and shake from holding him, but she couldn’t bring herself to put him down.  

She feared losing him in the chaos more than being unable to escape. The thought of something happening to him if they were separated terrified her.  

“Please, let us through!”  

At that moment, someone tried to take Little One from her arms. Instinctively, she held him tighter, wrapping her arms firmly around his waist. Then, the person spoke.  

“It’s me, Elly.”  

“Felix?”  

“Yes.”  

Relieved, she loosened her grip, allowing Felix to take Little One. The child, however, clung to her neck, refusing to let go.  

“No! I want to stay with Mom! With Mom!”  

“Philly, this isn’t the time to be stubborn. Come to me.”  

At Felix’s stern tone, Little One, though crying profusely, reluctantly allowed himself to be held by him.  

“Let us through.”  

With his taller stature and stronger build, Felix easily pushed through the crowd while carrying Little One. Elena followed closely behind him, and they finally escaped the hall.  

Only when they reached the garden did she ask,  

“How did you get here? What about the Knights?”  

“I got permission. When I mentioned there was a child, they let me go.”  

With one arm holding Little One and the other gripping Elena’s hand, Felix strode forward with determination.  

“I promised to get you two out safely and then rejoin the others, so don’t worry.”  

They hurriedly made their way out of the palace. However, a sudden explosion nearby shook the ground. The building trembled, and debris rained down from the ceiling.  

Felix shielded Elena and Little One with his body, taking the brunt of the falling debris. A small groan escaped his lips, followed by a curse.  

“D*mn it! If only I could use teleportation magic.”  

Due to security measures, teleportation magic was prohibited in the palace. An ancient spell disrupted coordinates, making it impossible to predict where one might end up even if the magic were used.  

At best, one might get lucky. At worst, there was no guarantee they’d arrive intact. That’s why everyone was evacuating on foot.  

“This won’t do.”  

Felix set Little One down.  

“Little One, it’s time for you to go back to where you came from. It’s too dangerous here.”  

Elena agreed. It was better to send him to a safe place than to keep him in such an unpredictable situation.  

“Yes, Philly. Go back now. You’ve been here long enough.”  

Little One clung tightly to her waist.  

“No! I want to stay with Mom!”  

“Philly, if you’re not here, it’ll be easier for Elly to escape.”  

“Philly.”  

Elena knelt down to meet Little One’s gaze. He threw his arms around her neck.  

His body felt hot against hers. It was the rebound effect. That meant, even if Anguis wasn’t involved, Little One needed to return to his original place.  

Even if her future self wasn’t there, Little One belonged in his original place, not here.  

“We’ll meet again someday.”  

But that was fine. If she wrote in her diary about wanting to see him, they could meet again.  

Even if they couldn’t be together in the future, they could still see each other in the present.  

However, if something happened to him here, she would never see him again.  

That’s why she had to send him back immediately.  

But Little One remained stubborn.  

“No! No! Mom, don’t go!”  

Tears streaming down her face, Elena pleaded.  

“It’s dangerous here. So please, go back now, okay? I’m begging you.”  

Little One sobbed and shook his head.  

Elena looked at Felix, signaling him to do something.  

Understanding her silent plea, Felix placed a hand on Little One’s forehead and infused mana into him. A burst of light surrounded the child, and his body began to fade.  

“No! No! Mom!”  

“Philly, let’s meet again.”  

Elena hugged him tightly one last time. With that, Little One disappeared.  

“How did you do that?”  

“I disrupted his mana. Without stable mana, the spell unraveled. But we need to go now.”  

“No, Felix. You need to go back. I can go on my own now. I’ll follow the others.”  

When she firmly pushed his arm away, Felix pressed his lips together and ran back the way they had come. Gripping the hem of her cumbersome dress, Elena sprinted toward the exit.  

The sound of footsteps echoed from all directions. She sensed someone running behind her.  

At first, she thought it was just another evacuee. That was until someone pressed a cloth over her nose and mouth from behind.  

“…!”  

She wanted to scream, but no sound came out.  

The cloth was damp—likely soaked in some kind of substance.  

What kind of drug was this? Who was targeting me?  

She struggled, kicking and flailing her arms to fight off her assailant. But she couldn’t overpower their strength.  

Her vision grew hazy, and her consciousness began to fade. Despite her efforts to stay awake, she succumbed to the darkness.

***

When she regained consciousness, Elena found herself in a damp underground prison. The only solace she could take was that she wasn’t lying on a wet stone floor but rather on a bed.  

Her wrists and ankles weren’t bound either, which, if it could even be called fortunate, was a relief.  

“Ah, my head…”  

She clutched her throbbing head, trying to piece together the situation.  

Anguis had attacked the party venue, and she and Felix had managed to send the Little One back to his original world. After that, she had parted ways with Felix and tried to escape on her own, but someone had ambushed her. When she woke up, she was here.  

Perhaps it was the drug she had inhaled at the end, but her head felt foggy, and her eyelids kept drooping. Desperate to stay alert, she slapped her cheeks hard to wake herself up.  

‘Was it Anguis?’  

Since Anguis had attacked, it was likely they were also the ones who had kidnapped her. However, she couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that another faction had taken advantage of the chaos to abduct her.  

‘But why?’  

Whether it was Anguis or another group, the question remained the same. Elena was, in her own eyes, a person of no value. It might sound as though she was belittling herself, but it was the truth.  

She wasn’t important enough to be a target, nor was she a suitable hostage to threaten someone else.  

“Ah…”  

Felix suddenly came to mind. It wasn’t impossible that someone had kidnapped her to use her as leverage against him.  

Part of her hair had been cut, likely as a tool to threaten Felix.  

But the question persisted—what did they want from Felix?  

While Felix’s magical abilities were exceptional, there wasn’t much they could gain by threatening him. If they wanted something magical, targeting the Mage Tower would have made more sense.  

‘Or could it be… they want him to join a rebellion?’  

The thought sent a chill down her spine.  

If she had indeed been taken as a hostage to manipulate Felix, she couldn’t just sit idly by. She couldn’t allow herself to become a burden to him.  

Elena sprang up from the bed and peered out through the bars. Perhaps they thought she was insignificant, as there were no guards stationed outside the cell.  

She decided to make it easier to move by tearing off the cumbersome hem of her dress. The fabric didn’t rip easily, so she picked up a small rock from the floor and used it to fray the material. With a tearing sound, the fabric began to give way.  

She ripped the dress up to her knees.  

Just in case, she tested the door. As expected, it was locked. However, there were no traces of magical enchantments on it.  

This meant she could open it herself.  

Reaching her arm through the bars, she fiddled with the lock while chanting a magic spell.  

A yellow light emanated from her ring, and the lock glowed briefly before clicking open.  

‘Thank goodness they didn’t use magic to secure it.’  

If they had, she wouldn’t have been able to open it with her current skills.  

Grabbing the rock for safety, she cautiously stepped out of the cell.  

The air smelled stale. Puddles of water had collected in the corners of the stone floor, emitting a foul, rotten odor.  

Elena resisted the urge to pinch her nose and carefully searched for a hiding spot behind a wall. In the distance, she saw the faint flicker of a torch.  

Was that the exit? But why had they left me so unguarded?  

Even if they underestimated her, this level of neglect seemed excessive.  

While it worked in her favor, it also made her uneasy. It was as if they were confident she wouldn’t be able to escape even if she tried.  

‘No, don’t think like that.’  

She told herself to stay focused and crept toward the torchlight, careful not to make any noise. At one point, she nearly tripped over a sunken part of the floor but managed to steady herself by bracing her legs.  

It was then that she heard voices.  

“What are we supposed to do with the girl?”  

“We were told not to do anything, just to keep an eye on her.”  

“Who is she, anyway? Why did they bring her here?”  

“They said she has something important.”