Shed gave no lengthy explanation. Yet Carlisle and the knights, trained like well-broken hounds, obeyed without question and rushed down the halls.

Werner, roused from sleep, looked far from his usual neat appearance. His hair was tousled, his eyes blinking anxiously.

“My lord.”

“Liana.”

“…Pardon?”

“Liana Serpens is gone.”

“L–Lady Liana?”

“Wake everyone at once. Find out if anyone saw her.”

Shed fastened his belt at his waist, his eyes fixed on the stables outside the window as though glaring at them alone would make the horses rise and ready themselves.

It wasn’t a long exchange, but the seasoned steward read the situation quickly. Werner immediately roused the servants of the manor to ask after Liana’s whereabouts.

But those dragged from their beds at dawn because of one girl rubbed their eyes, muttering irritably.

“I haven’t seen her.”

“Isn’t she sleeping in the back quarters?”

Their half-hearted answers were cut short when a tall shadow swept down the corridor.

“You’re telling me not a single one of you saw her, though she was up late into the night?”

The low, chilling voice made every servant’s eyes fly wide open. The duke himself was demanding the whereabouts of Liana Serpens.

Not one of them had seen her escape—or stopped her. So many eyes in this house, and yet—nothing?

Shed’s gaze swept slowly, one by one, over the disheveled servants. Only then did they realize the severity of what had happened.

“I—I did see her… when we were loading the carriage.”

One footman blurted, recalling Caroline, the head maid’s work.

“Exactly.”

“When, and where?”

“Just past nine, I think… while we were finishing up with the luggage. I saw her passing through the central garden.”

Several others nodded in agreement.

“And after that?”

“I… I don’t know. I assumed she was checking something or moving more luggage.”

They remembered the new maid in her shabby dress, slipping past with the baggage. She had worn a hood over her shoulders, but no one had paid her any mind.

They only recalled what had become of Head Maid Caroline—the one who had dared to lay a hand on her.

The servants had found the new girl unsettling. They disliked her. They thought she had cracked the iron discipline long kept in the Lester household. So they avoided her. They did not speak to her. They did not watch her.

Some of them thought that things might have been better before she arrived.

No one had taken the time to look after the strange maid who had slipped away amid everyone’s busy work. Some had seen her follow the luggage being carried through the front gate, but that was all.

It had been late. No one could imagine a young woman leaving the manor alone at night let alone an injured woman with nothing but the clothes on her back. Besides, Liana Serpens could not have known the Lester lands well enough to survive on her own.

So no one bothered to stop her. Who would risk punishment by meddling in something like that?

At the servant’s report, Shed’s temples tightened painfully.

“So not a single one of you thought to stop her?”

The words were spoken in the same low voice as ever, yet a chill stabbed through the hearts of every servant listening.

Grinding his teeth, Shed cast a scathing glance over the complacent, witless lot.

‘D*mn it.’

He turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him so forcefully that the whole household jumped, startled. The hinges screeched as the door tore loose and crashed to the floor.

Through the fallen frame, they caught a glimpse of their master striding down the corridor, his back rigid. Each heavy step echoed with unrestrained fury.

“I’ve never seen him like this before…”

“D*mn it. All because of that cursed girl—look at this mess!”

Even those who had served the Lester household for years had never witnessed Shed Lester so shaken. Their master, always cold and composed no matter the storm, now looked nearly possessed.

Werner’s vision swam with dread.

‘If we don’t find that woman… we’re all as good as dead.’

Sleep had fled him completely; a cold line of sweat traced down his spine.

Meanwhile, Shed vaulted onto the horse the groom had brought forward.

“She can’t have gotten far. Block the roads immediately. Find her—no matter what.”

The reins jerked tight in his fists as he issued the command.

And in his heart, a grim resolve hardened.

He would have to keep her leash far shorter.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

Liana glanced down at her leg, the bandages already blotched with fresh blood.

The pain had sharpened from walking too long, each step more torturous than the last. Her already slow pace was becoming visibly sluggish.

‘By the time the sun rises, they’ll know I’m gone.’

She dragged her aching leg forward, thinking grimly.

And then, a faint hope stirred.

If Shed decided she was too worthless to bother with, if the fallen lady was beneath even his notice, perhaps he wouldn’t come after her at all.

Liana shook her head, pushing away the fleeting hope. Perhaps it could be true—but clinging to such a slim chance was dangerous negligence.

‘At this pace, they’ll catch me in no time.’

Her pursuers would be on horseback. Walking like this, she would be overtaken in an instant. Worse still, the Lester domain was already within his grasp; being caught was only a matter of time.

She had to escape these lands before dawn. At the very least.

Hiding herself in the shadows, Liana’s hand moved to her collarbone. Beneath the threadbare dress lay the faint birthmark of a crescent moon.

She thought of the curse etched into her body as though branded there.

‘Just once. Please, just this once. Let me escape his hands.’

She closed her eyes, willing her racing heart to steady.

At that moment, a black mist seeped from the wound in her leg.

“Ugh…!”

Liana collapsed onto the grass. A searing pain tore through her body as if it were being ripped apart.

It felt like a punishment for having denied her powers for so long. Using her powers came at a greater price than she had remembered.

Cold sweat drenched her in seconds. Her muscles spasmed and her body trembled violently.

The cheek that had been struck by the head maid burned as though pressed against a fire. Her injured leg throbbed with the same unbearable agony.

Liana bit her lip to stifle her cries and clutched at the grass with her pale, trembling fingers. Blood welled from her lips, only to disappear as the skin knitted back together.

Her leg wounds followed suit, closing grotesquely quickly. The deep bite marks from the dog healed until there was no trace of them. The flesh torn to the bone regenerated flawlessly, as if nothing had happened.

The bruises and cuts that had marred her cheek were already long gone. All within mere minutes.

When the pain finally subsided, she collapsed onto the grass, gasping for breath.

“Haa… haa…”

Lying beneath the night sky, she thought about how monstrous she was.

Her astonishing healing power was not a blessing; it was one of her curses. Liana had no idea how to kill the demon with such a terrifying ability.

She had faced death more times than she could count. But she had never crossed the threshold completely.

It wasn’t the abyss she stared into; the abyss stared back at her from within.

“Urgh… ugh…”

The nausea of old memories surged, choking her.

“Be glad, child. You’ll live forever, Luise.”

The demon that she had not faced for years was more repugnant than words could express. The realisation that she was the demon filled her with such despair that she could scarcely endure it.

Alone beneath the night sky, Liana wept in the suffocating darkness.

She could never tell anyone. The truth she was hiding was horrifying. Why she had to run. Why she feared returning to Ideana.

Shed Lester would one day exact his revenge by killing Louise Ideana. Even if she wanted to give him what he wanted, she could not.

Liana clutched her arms tightly, her stomach twisting from the flood of emotions. She forced down the feelings clawing at her heart, swallowing them again and again. There was no time to wallow in her misery.

Once her disappearance was discovered, Shed would come after her—swift and relentless. She had to leave. Now. Escape his grasp. Escape the Lester Duchy.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

The pounding of hooves split through the night.

The pursuer was ignorant, yet sharp. Relentless. Unyielding.

“She couldn’t have gone far. If we search the area thoroughly—”

The knights’ voices drifted faintly through the distance.

‘No. I won’t be caught so easily.’

But even with the duchy under lockdown and every man sent scouring the land, his unease refused to fade.

Shed’s gaze fixed on the river far away, glowing faintly with the light of dawn.

“The Kelinz River.”

The river marked the border between the Lester Duchy and the Marlhein March. It was too far for an injured girl to reach in a single night.

And yet, he was consumed by an uneasy feeling. He was certain that she was already slipping beyond his reach. She was like sand sifting through his fingers and vanishing without a trace, just as she had once before.

His insides boiled. A fury he could not contain devoured his reason. In that moment, he hated himself more than anyone else.

Eight years. For eight long years, he had lived believing she was dead.

The elation he felt upon finding her alive surpassed anything he had ever experienced. And now, because of his own carelessness, he might lose her again.

If he let her slip away this time…

The reins in his grip creaked under the force of his clenched fist.

He could not, would not allow this cruel reunion to end here.

‘She must have had something to rely on when she ran.’

He knew that Luise Ideana was clever. She was calculating. She always thought ahead. She was not the sort of person to make reckless decisions. If his instincts were right, she would try to cross the river as quickly as possible. Once she did so, she would be beyond his reach.

Within Marlhein’s territory, even Shed Lester would be powerless. Mobilising his soldiers there would require permission, and by the time it was granted, she might already be gone, sailing far beyond his grasp.

‘I have to catch her before she crosses that border.’

He could not rely on the blockade alone.

Driving his mount to the limits, he urged the horse on, hooves pounding until it nearly collapsed from exhaustion, racing straight toward the Kelinz River.

By the time the horizon began to pale with the first light of dawn, he was already closing the distance.