Just as Flora set down her packages inside to keep them dry and quickly turned around, her collar was tightly grabbed.

“Flora……! I don’t think you should go.”

Even in the chaos, Mary tried to stop Flora from chasing after the man. Something felt wrong.

“There isn’t much money in there. And something seems…… strange.”

When the man crashed into her, an oddly fishy smell hit her. It could have been the rain, but it sent chills down her spine to an eerie degree.

“I’ll be right back.”

“Wait……! Flora!”

Flora calmly removed Mary’s hand from her collar. Then, ignoring her protests, she ran out into the rain-drenched street.

How long had she been running? Flora stopped at a fork in the road, breathing heavily. Cold raindrops streamed down her flushed cheeks that had grown hot from running.

After quickly wiping her rain-splashed cheek, Flora turned around to look at the blocked wall.

“Where did he go?”

She had lost sight of the man right in front of her when she thought she would catch up quickly. She had clearly followed his traces up to here, but he vanished without a trace at some point.

It was because of the unfamiliar geography. Unlike the main street, the inside of the alley was like a maze with narrow paths branching in all directions, which greatly restricted pursuit.

Moreover, her speed had slowed from navigating unfamiliar alleys and passing through numerous puddles made muddy by the drizzling rain.

“If I’m late any longer, Mary will worry……”

Having lost the money given by the butler, she must be pacing anxiously by now. Thinking of Mary made Flora hesitate to return empty-handed.

Flora lifted her wet eyelids as the rain poured down. She wiped her blurred vision with the back of her hand, but the cold still seeped into her rain-soaked shoulders.

In the chilly air, Flora completely removed her drenched robe and threw it aside.

Thinking she should look from a higher place, she looked up at the space between the old buildings packed tightly together. The dark sky and the deserted alley scene were literally desolate and gloomy.

Only then did Mary’s earlier words about something being strange flash through her mind.

A common thief wouldn’t know how to cover their tracks.

As Flora suddenly recalled this fact and whirled around, shadows emerged one by one from the darkness as if they had been waiting for this moment.

“Well, well, she found her way here perfectly. That platinum blonde matches.”

Three rough-looking men muttered as they sauntered out.

“Thanks to you we saved some effort…… Though we didn’t expect you’d chase us all the way here without realizing the danger.”

From their conversation, Flora realized they had deliberately lured her here. Two more presences could be felt from behind, seemingly intent on completely blocking her escape route.

However, Flora had no intention of playing along with their scheme and calmly extended her hand as she spoke.

“Give back what you took.”

Perhaps finding her bold response unexpected, one of the men casually tossed and caught the money pouch they had stolen from Mary, dangling it in front of Flora.

“How foolish. You don’t even realize you’re about to die over this money.”

Flora’s composed expression twisted slightly.

If money wasn’t their original purpose, she figured they must be human traffickers. But those words confirmed their exact purpose was her life.

At that moment, one of the men who had been snickering while slowly closing the distance suddenly widened his eyes.

His sticky gaze ran over Flora’s body curves, clearly visible through her rain-soaked dress.

“Hey, she’s quite the beauty, isn’t she? Do we really need to kill her?”

The man asked his companion while disgustingly licking his lips, seemingly savoring something. At that, even the other men who had been laughing vilely began eyeing Flora’s figure with gleaming eyes.

“Look at that body. Heheh…… Those br*asts are huge. Seems a waste to just kill her, can’t we have some fun first?”

“Yeah. Who cares if we just tell the client we killed her and make up a story between us.”

They spouted all sorts of vulgar remarks without hesitation, apparently believing Flora was completely frozen in fear.

But Flora was calmly focusing on their mention of a client.

Since one person who targeted the duke had escaped alive, perhaps they had planned to lure her here and eliminate her because of that.

“That won’t work with someone like her. If we’re caught, our lives are forfeit that very day. Let’s just have a little fun and finish it.”

The man who appeared to be their leader concluded to his snickering companions.

I suppose I’ve heard enough.

Flora discreetly moved her lowered hand to her right leg. Her expression immediately hardened.

The sword that should have been there couldn’t be felt.

* * *

Claude heavily lifted his tired eyelids as he leaned back in the plush chair. His gaze fell on Heriot’s face across from him, pressed against the window as he peered outside.

“Are we still far?”

“It’s dangerous to speed up in this rain. Spring rain, huh… it’s really coming down.”

The rain that seemed to be calming started pouring violently as soon as the carriage left the palace. Moreover, the wind was so strong that the carriage rattled several times, creating an ominous noise.

As his adjutant said, the streets beyond the window blurred by the fierce rain were empty. Well, who would be out in this terrible weather.

Just as he was about to look away, Heriot clicked his tongue and spoke.

“There are people walking around even in this weather.”

Something hazy caught Claude’s eye as he looked outside. It was a strange sight of what looked like human figures moving about here and there.

“Stop for a moment!”

He urgently halted the carriage after carefully watching outside. Heriot, who had been sitting defenseless, hit his head and groaned.

“Why are you doing this again? In this weather it’s dangerous……”

As Heriot started to mutter, recalling an identical day like this before, Claude suddenly threw the door open.

Heriot winced at the wind and rain that whipped inside. Then he made an “oh” sound as he saw where the duke’s gaze was directed outside.

“That woman…… isn’t she a maid who works at our mansion? Why is she out here in the rain……”

She looked more like a vagrant wandering the streets than a maid belonging to the duke’s household.

The woman roaming the plaza in the rain was a maid Claude knew well too. Though he didn’t know her name, she was a familiar face he’d seen coming and going. More specifically, she was a maid Flora often associated with.

Claude stepped outside without responding.

“Your Grace, you’ll get wet!”

Heriot quickly opened an umbrella as he followed the duke who was striding toward the maid.

Mary, who had been looking around here and there in the rain, lifted her tear-stained face at the suddenly looming large shadow.

“What are you doing here?”

Mary recognized Claude and burst into tears.

“Your Grace…… please…… help.”

Claude examined her appearance at the ominous sign. Fortunately, though soaked by rain, she didn’t seem to have been roughly handled.

“Tell me what happened.”

“Sob…… No matter how much…… I look…… she’s not here.”

Mary managed to continue speaking between sobs. With the sound of rain and crying mixed together, he could barely make out what she was saying.

With Claude’s patience wearing thin, pressed for an answer.

“Tell me clearly who’s not here.”

“……Flora……”

Mary flinched under the duke’s pressure but managed to respond.

“Sob…… Some man stole my money, and…… she chased after him.”

“What nonsense…… You’re in this state because of that? That thief is probably half dead by now.”

Heriot clicked his tongue in a deflated voice, wondering what the fuss was about. At that, Mary grabbed Heriot’s collar and clung to him as she wept.

“……But…… Flora doesn’t know her way around here. What if she’s lost somewhere. And…… that man seemed strange. There was a smell like blood…… And thinking about it now, he seemed to intentionally bump into me.”

Claude asked in a cold voice.

“When was this?”

“That……”

Mary rolled her eyes as if trying to remember through her sobs.

“Tell me how long it’s been since Flora disappeared.”

“……It’s been over an hour already.”

“Which direction did she go?”

Mary, who had suddenly stopped crying, fumbled as she pointed toward the end of the alley.

Claude’s gaze grew quite sharp as he looked at the dark, narrow alley without a hint of light.

The splashing sound of stepping in a puddle echoed through the alley that was silent except for the rain.

“……Damn it.”

Claude cursed under his breath as he encountered another dead end. The narrow alleys were tangled together, and he had come up empty several times.

“Hah…… hah….. Your Grace, she’ll come back on her own, why are we searching like this?”

Heriot leaned against a building wall and gasped for breath.