Andre asked several times. There was a reason Luden had left the other knights to escort the carriage and brought only Andre along. Luden told Andre the story that only he, Annelia, and Anan knew.

“The dragon can sense Annelia’s location.”

“I can’t believe it. Could it be that the lady is actually the dragon’s daughter…?”

“It’s nothing like that. Annelia received the dragon’s grace and has power given to her by the dragon. The dragon said it can sense her location through that.”

Andre’s eyes widened at Luden’s words.

“No one else can hear this, so I didn’t say anything until now.”

“I understand.”

They couldn’t know which of the knights might have been bribed. Andre understood why Luden had come all this way to tell him. Andre nodded and followed Luden.

They weren’t far from the dragon’s lair now.

Luden walked quickly until he saw a massive cave. In front of it stood Sella, Mesriten, and Igol.

“What’s the matter?”

Sella asked Luden casually. Luden approached and bowed his head to Sella.

“I need help. Annelia has been kidnapped.”

At his words, Sella and Mesriten looked at each other.

“What?”

Why would anyone kidnap Annelia? It seemed they needed to hear Luden’s story first.

* * *

I was brought to a dim place where my hands and feet were untied. It seemed like several days had already passed since I arrived here. They gave me just enough food to keep me alive and kept drugging me with sleeping pills to keep me unconscious.

Probably to prevent me from causing a scene when I woke up. Because of that, my memories had gaps in between. I kept sleeping, so my memories remained hazy.

How much time had passed?

“Hurry up and eat!”

They urged me.

As I ate, I deliberately cast magic on the food. Of course, since it was food I would be eating, they wouldn’t shed any tears.

I ate as slowly as possible and prayed. Please let the dragons sense this magical energy.

I remembered what Sella had said—that if I used magic, they couldn’t know the exact location but could sense the direction.

If Sella helped, they might be able to find me.

Luden. I hoped he remembered this too.

I wished desperately.

* * *

“Even though Annelia has been kidnapped, there’s been no contact.”

Sella tilted her head.

“Don’t kidnappers usually demand money?”

Mesriten also agreed with Sella’s words and recalled what Luden had said about Annelia being kidnapped.

“I still don’t know much about Annelia, but either way, she’s the one who named Igol. Let’s help her.”

Mesriten said this and looked at Luden. Luden relaxed with relief, gripping his arms tightly. They could tell how desperately he was holding back his emotions.

“However, just because she uses magic doesn’t mean we can find her right away. We can only sense the direction of her location. If she’s close by, we can pinpoint the exact location, but…”

Just then, Sella raised her head.

“It’s to the east.”

Luden’s eyes wavered.

“You can sense it already?”

“I can feel it very faintly from the east.”

To the east was where Alsellon’s territory was located. Luden frowned and sighed. From here to Alsellon’s territory was incredibly far.

“Annelia seems to be using magic. Let’s depart quickly!”

But at Sella’s words, Luden didn’t hesitate.

“Andre, take the knights back to the Charlot family. Then tell His Majesty that I’ve gone to Alsellon’s land.”

“What if it’s not Alsellon?”

Andre asked, anxious about the possibility. Luden heard this and smiled bitterly.

“I’ll have to stake everything I have.”

The fight with Alsellon had begun again. Before, he had been one-sidedly beaten, but not anymore.

“Tell my mother I’m entrusting the business to her.”

“Understood.”

“Please handle the estate matters.”

“Don’t worry! You just make sure to find Lady Annelia.”

At Andre’s words, Luden nodded with a firm expression.

Now it was time to move and find Annelia.

* * *

Kajiian slowly read through the documents. After thoroughly investigating the identities of everyone who had boarded the ship, there were several suspicious individuals. 

They were people who had disguised themselves with false identities. The problem was that they had all already fled by ship.

“What could they possibly be plotting?”

Kajiian was in a foul mood.

“How did they enter the imperial palace and obtain the seal?”

The head chambermaid only gave it to those with verified identities, didn’t she? Unless someone had intercepted it midway, this couldn’t have happened. Someone inside must have orchestrated this.

“That part is suspicious to me as well.”

At Jerakun’s words, Kajiian clenched his fist. The kidnapping of Annelia, whom he regarded like a daughter, was shocking to him as well.

“Is there no news from Marquis Charlot?”

“We don’t have any good leads either, so what method could he possibly have?”

When Jerakun spoke coldly, Kajiian roughly ran his hand through his hair.

Kajiian wanted to find Annelia by any means necessary. He was barely holding back from wanting to interrogate Alsellon, suspecting he might have orchestrated this since he was practically Luden’s enemy.

Just then, a servant entered.

“A guest has arrived from the Charlot Marquis family.”

“Let them in.”

The servant opened the door and left, and Andre entered. He bowed to Kajiian in greeting, then also greeted Jerakun.

“Should I step out?”

At Jerakun’s words, Andre shook his head.

“No. You may listen as well.”

“Is there any news?”

“Marquis Charlot has requested help from the dragons. They say they can sense the direction of where she was kidnapped.”

“And they agreed?”

“Yes, of course. But the direction was toward the land where Alsellon Charlot’s territory is located.”

At those words, Jerakun’s expression darkened. Kajiian sighed.

As emperor, he couldn’t interrogate Alsellon. There was no concrete evidence. And while they said the direction of Annelia’s kidnapping was that way, she hadn’t actually been found there yet.

“I see.”

Kajiian looked at Jerakun.

“You’ll have to handle things in my place for a while.”

“Ah, understood.”

Jerakun smiled, seemingly having anticipated this.

“Have a safe trip.”

“Your Majesty?”

Andre was surprised by Kajiian’s sudden action.

“You’re going yourself?”

“I must go myself. Wait a moment while I gather the knights.”

Kajiian smiled briefly as he spoke.

“Marquis Charlot is taking the dragons, so shouldn’t I at least take a knight order?”

“Thank you.”

“Annelia is precious to me as well.”

After Annelia was kidnapped, Kajiian recalled the time he had spent with her. It had been comfortable and cozy. He realized once again how precious Annelia was to him.

He had no intention of letting those who kidnapped Annelia get away with it.

* * *

“His Majesty personally led the knights to rescue Lady Annelia.”

“The prime minister stayed behind to conduct a thorough investigation.”

“The Marchioness Charlot is well-regarded, you know.”

“I hope those kidnappers get caught too.”

Wherever people gathered in high society—at salons or social gatherings—the atmosphere heated up with talk of Annelia. They wondered what the kidnappers wanted. 

They especially said it was foolish to touch her when she was well-regarded and had built her reputation through the counseling center, angering the emperor.

Lorina’s insides burned as she listened to their talk. She had certainly handled things so no one would know, but she was still anxious.

The empress had also begun moving under the emperor’s orders. But she wouldn’t know she was involved.

I knew something would happen to Annelia, but I didn’t expect her to be kidnapped so openly on the ship.

Lorina tried to drink but stopped herself. She might confess under the influence that she was involved in this incident.

She wondered how Alsellon would handle this situation.

When they started this, Alsellon had said, “We must wait.”

Time heals all wounds. Those words seemed right, but why did she feel so anxious?

“Really.”

To hide her feelings, Lorina left the banquet hall.

She hadn’t expected her father to step forward like this. Things were really getting tangled.

* * *

I woke from sleep but ended up eating and falling asleep again. They were clearly putting sleeping pills in the food, but I couldn’t refuse to eat. I kept repeating this cycle of sleeping and waking up lethargically.

Could I cast magic over the entire island? I had overflowing power within me.

I thought about it, but even if I cast it over the entire island, it wouldn’t help me escape. I didn’t know where the ship was or where this location was.

For now, I had to wait until Luden got as close as possible.

When I woke up again this time, I ate the tasteless bread and soup. Then I secretly cast magic on my food while the guards weren’t watching.

The magic kept making me tear up.

“How noisy.”

They muttered, watching me sob. But when I didn’t stop, they drew the swords from their waists.

“Can’t you shut up?”

At their shout, I pretended to be frightened.

While eating, I truly thought about many things.

Waiting for him with no promise was not easy.

I felt like I might really cry—not from the magic but from this frightening reality. I covered my face with both hands.

I didn’t want to show them my tears.

“Hurry up and sleep!”

They barked at me.

I missed Luden.

* * *

I flew on Sella’s back. Whenever Annelia’s energy appeared, Sella spread her wings that had been momentarily still. After flying for several days like this, Luden arrived at a mountaintop near the coast where a port was visible.

From here on was Alsellon’s land.

The entire port was his property, so his permission was needed to launch a ship. No, to even enter this place, you needed his letter of introduction.

“I’m certain Annelia is here, but why do you insist on handling this yourself?”

Luden smiled bitterly.

“From here on, I must resolve this. If we just enter without permission, Alsellon might use that as an excuse to do who knows what. That’s why I need to meet him, have a showdown, and set a trap so he can’t escape.”

“We’ll step forward saying we sensed Annelia’s energy around here. But what if he keeps preventing us from investigating?”

Luden bit his lip, thinking of Alsellon.

“Should we break through?”

At Sella’s words, Luden fell into thought for a moment.

“If he doesn’t come out, that might be one way.”

“But if you do that, your position as Marquis Charlot could be in danger.”

Luden clenched his hands.

“Annelia is more precious than the marquis title.”

“You won’t even weigh your options?”

“I can lose the marquis position and regain it, but I can’t get Annelia back again.”

Mesriten smiled.

“That’s the right answer.”

Just as they were wondering how to cause enough of a scene to draw Alsellon out if they couldn’t meet him, Igol turned his head, seemingly sensing something.

“Mm.”

Sella and Mesriten seemed to sense it too.

“It seems like a large number of people are moving in that direction.”

Then Luden asked, hoping.

“Can you see from here?”

“If we go up into the air, we should be able to see.”

“It might be His Majesty.”

He had specifically told Kajiian that Annelia seemed to be in Alsellon’s territory. But no matter how certain his intuition was, that didn’t give Kajiian justification to move.

But if he had come anyway?

Kajiian had thought about many things while leading the knights. If he unconditionally interrogated Alsellon based only on Luden’s word and he turned out not to be the culprit, Luden would suffer a major blow. 

So before going to Alsellon’s territory, he thought he should ask Luden once more whether Alsellon was really the culprit.

He was having a meal at an inn just before Jimen, the port city owned by Alsellon, when the door opened and a man entered. Kajiian turned his gaze to look at the people who entered.

“Marquis Charlot.”

Luden was there.

“So Your Majesty was here.”

“How did you know to come?”

“I borrowed the dragons’ power.”

Then the people standing behind him must be the dragons. Luden wouldn’t have said such things without basis. Kajiian nodded and lightly greeted Mesriten, Sella, and Igol.

“I can sense Annelia’s energy beyond the sea. We must pass through Alsellon’s territory to reach where she is.”

At the dragons’ words, Kajiian fell into thought. He was curious how they knew Annelia’s location, but at least this wasn’t baseless talk.

“If this goes wrong, your position as Marquis Charlot could be in danger.”

Kajiian warned him in advance.

He too wanted to take Luden’s side, but openly confronting Alsellon was that dangerous.

“I know.”

Luden had already prepared himself.

“If I can find Annelia, I can take that risk.”

Luden had desperately worked to protect his title. But he chose Annelia over his title. The scales of his heart tipped toward Annelia without any hesitation.

“What would Your Majesty have chosen if you were me?”

At Luden’s words, Kajiian smiled.

“I would have reached the same conclusion.”

Kajiian also answered immediately.

Luden nodded and headed toward Alsellon’s land together with Kajiian.