The Only Way to Break the Curse is Through Contact with You - Chapter 69

#69

“How did this happen?”

“He chased after us, so we caught him. He looks half-decent; he’ll fetch a high price.”

Adelia’s question made the men chuckle. Her expression stiffened as she recognized Jarvis’ face. She realized he was the crown prince.

“Are you crazy! Why did you bring that person here?!”

“What does it matter who he is?”

The men shrugged nonchalantly and tossed Jarvis aside. Despite the impact, Jarvis didn’t open his eyes. Adelia anxiously bit her nails behind the men who were tying his arms and legs.

This wasn’t normal, not when they were kidnapping the crown prince of this empire.

“Did he see your faces?”

“Of course he did. We didn’t even wear masks.”

Adelia, who had been rolling her foot in frustration, left with the men. I heard the sound of the door being locked with a clang from outside. Finally, Crown Prince Jarvis, who had one eye open, suddenly sat up.

“They could’ve thrown me more gently. I almost screamed in pain.”

Even in this situation, his carefree voice remained unchanged. I felt somewhat relieved by his consistent attitude.

“What happened?”

Setting aside my own situation, I wondered how Crown Prince Jarvis had been captured.

“I followed you to make sure everything was okay when someone suddenly appeared and kidnapped you. So I chased after them.”

“Did you inform anyone?”

I sighed in relief, worried that they might still not know that I had been kidnapped. By now, the Wheatons must have been informed, and together with the Imperial Guards, they should be following behind us.

But Jarvis’ expression was strange. I asked, hoping it wasn’t true.

“You didn’t just blindly follow me without informing anyone, did you?”

“The situation was too urgent… I couldn’t afford to lose you.”

“Damn it.”

You’re not being helpful. I thought resentfully as I glanced at Jarvis. He smirked as if to say not to worry.

“My Imperial Guards would have informed them by now.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I told them to return with the maid who fell off the carriage and report the situation.”

“Lily… thank goodness.”

I was worried about what would happen if something went wrong when she fell off the carriage. Thank goodness she was safe. Now all we had to do was wait for Diart and the Imperial Guards to come and find us. The tension that had been building in my body finally eased.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. And Your Highness?”

“I’m fine.”

He’s fine. But the person I saw only had injuries on their face. But the two guys I saw earlier, even though they are robust, why are they so heavily wounded? Don’t royalty, especially heirs to the throne, learn basic martial arts? When I looked at him quizzically, Jarvis took the lead and explained, 

“Not all imperials learn martial arts.”

“Isn’t it necessary for the emperor to have both literary and martial arts skills?”

“I’m particularly fond of literature.”

…If you can’t say anything, then there’s no point. He’s as good as Diart in terms of size, but he’s useless. I turned my head uneasily. Nevertheless, having someone to talk to like this next to me made me feel much more at ease.

I wish Diart would hurry up and find me.

* * *

The forest was on the brink of chaos. They searched the entire forest all night long but couldn’t find Crown Prince Jarvis. If he had been attacked by monsters, there would have been some traces left behind, but they seemed to have disappeared completely. Rumors began to spread that Duchess Wheaton and Crown Prince Jarvis had escaped together. If that were true, there might be a war between Duke Wheaton and the imperial family. The current situation already seemed like Duke Wheaton was plotting against the emperor.

Everyone was restless, and Leticia, who had been waiting anxiously for Roeni and Jarvis all night long, approached Diart. He stood there all night long in the same position as when he first came to find Crown Prince Jarvis.

“Um… Duke Wheaton.”

Even though Leticia was afraid of the cold aura surrounding him, she took a step closer.

“Roeni couldn’t have escaped with my brother. Although she didn’t say it, but Roeni clearly wanted the duke…”

Shut up. Diart thought.

‘The moment you take your eyes off her, she will run away.’

That damn fortuneteller was right. He had only looked away for a moment, and she had run away. But it was probably not her own will. Roeni, who had said she wanted a divorce just a few hours ago, could not hide her liking for him in her eyes. The woman who had held hands with him and smiled just a few hours ago could not have suddenly run away.

Diart clenched his fists to cool his boiling head.

Then there were two possibilities. Either Crown Prince Jarvis had kidnapped Roeni or someone else had taken her. Given that Crown Prince Jarvis disappeared with her, the former was more likely. If that were the case…

Diart stared at the emperor, who was paralyzed with anxiety and fear. His eyes were devoid of any warmth, and Leticia instinctively flinched back. 

“Lambert.”

For the first time in hours, Diart spoke up. Lambert, who had been standing by his side with a stiff face, answered quickly. 

“She couldn’t have gone far. They’ve sealed off the area near the capital and stationed knights at the castle gates…”

He was giving orders with a cold tone. All eyes turned toward the source of the commotion.

A guard knight was weaving his way through the throng of people, and a disheveled Lily was hanging on his back, visibly not in good shape. Diart approached them with faster steps than anyone else.

“What happened?”

A sense of urgency was evident in response to the cold inquiry. Instead of Lily, who was nervously blinking to answer, the guard conveyed what he had witnessed directly.

The Duchess had been kidnapped by assailants in the forest, and Crown Prince Jarvis chased after them. After hearing his words, everyone swallowed a sigh with relieved expressions. There was no imminent war within the empire, at least for now.

“Where did they go? In which direction?”

“It was towards the Duchy of Midas.”

As soon as he heard the answer, Diart turned his body, mounted his horse without waiting for the accompanying guards, and hastily started to give orders. With a stern face, Duke Feischer followed suit without delay.

Duke Wheaton sighed, left alone. Now that their whereabouts were known, it was already over. It was his son’s responsibility to find his daughter-in-law, and his remaining task was to handle the aftermath.

It wouldn’t be easy to clean up after him, now that he’d dared to oppose the emperor in front of the nobles. It was unfortunate that such an incident occurred in his presence. Duke Wheaton lowered his tense head. While he didn’t know who dared to kidnap his daughter-in-law, if he encountered them, he wouldn’t let the matter rest.

* * *

Damn.

If I sit here and wait any longer for Diart to find me, I might die of the curse or starve to death. Or I’ll get beaten to death. It had already been three days, but there was no sign of Diart, let alone the members of the Imperial Guards. This much-unchecked travel meant this was a route only the kidnappers knew, and if that was the case, there was no telling when they would be discovered.

I took out the last piece of chocolate from the box that Jarvis had given me before the kidnapping and split it in half. I put one half in my mouth and fed the other half to Jarvis.

“You said you couldn’t receive my love.”

“Well, I have to stay alive for now.”

I helped Jarvis, who was lying on the ground, to sit up.

“It must be unsightly to see me like this, and yet you’re not being so different.”

“It’s not much different from usual.”

“You’re being too harsh.”

Jarvis weakly laughed. Despite his calm response, his condition was not good. Adelia was quite violent. Since Jarvis had protected me from her outbursts, his body was covered with wounds. If things continued like this, it seemed like something significant would happen.

“Get yourself together. We have to escape now.”

Now that everyone was asleep, it was the best time to run away. Supporting Jarvis as he tried to put strength into his legs, I cautiously moved forward. It wasn’t hard to get out the door, which they hadn’t locked because they didn’t think we’d be able to escape from the mess we were in.

I don’t know how long it has been since I last saw sunlight. As I raised my eyes to the dazzling sunlight, I realized that this wasn’t the right time and hurried my steps into the forest in front of me. But before I could escape further, there was a commotion behind me.