For five days, a dreary rain had not let up. Eliana Croud sat inside a carriage that had been stopped for over thirty minutes now, nervously chewing her lip as she watched the raindrops trail down the window.

“D*mn it, did someone punch a hole in that godforsaken sky?”

The coachman, struggling to pull the wheel free from the mud, cursed without pause. Eliana wondered whether she should climb out and lend a hand. But the rain was growing heavier by the minute, and the road had turned into a muddy swamp. She couldn’t bring herself to step out.

Then it struck her as almost funny, that she was worrying about getting her clothes dirty in a situation like this. She felt pathetic for hesitating over something as small as stepping outside a carriage, and yet the thought of what lay ahead frightened her.

The moment she reached for the door handle with trembling fingers, the carriage lurched violently.

“Eek!”

“Ugh, finally got it, you wretched thing.”

The coachman had wrenched the wheel free from the mud and was grumbling as he took up the reins again. His face, already rough as a bandit’s, looked even more menacing now.

“Um, excuse me… how much longer do you think it will take?”

Eliana cracked the window open and asked in a voice that barely carried. According to what Bron had told her, they should have arrived at their destination by now.

“Road’s in this state, that’s why. Alderon’s not that far, though.”

“I really need to get there before sundown…”

“Well, look at this rain. Fine, I’ll drive as fast as I can, so don’t complain if it gets bumpy.”

The coachman cracked the whip hard before the words were even out of his mouth and sent the carriage lurching forward.

Aside from the one or two times a month she went to volunteer at the convent, Eliana had almost never left the Croud estate. This was her first time riding in a carriage driven with such reckless force.

Her body was already stiff with tension, and the carriage throwing her this way and that made it nearly impossible to collect herself. On top of that, thick dark clouds packed the sky so densely she couldn’t even tell where the sun was.

She lost track of how long they had been riding. The carriage, which had been shaking wildly, gradually settled and came to a slow stop.

“We’re here. Get out.”

The coachman rapped on the carriage door. Eliana pressed a hand to her churning stomach and climbed out. After being tossed around in the carriage for so long, the ground felt strange beneath her feet.

“Is this Alderon?”

The coachman picked at his ear as though her question was a bother and answered.

“Head straight in the direction where you can see the windmill over there, and you’ll hit the town square. The sun looks like it’ll set soon, so you’d better hurry.”

Eliana gave a quick nod and set off at a brisk pace in the direction he had pointed.

The rain had stopped at some point, but the air was heavy with moisture and hung thick and damp. She reached a small square before long and caught her breath, recalling what Bron had told her.

‘There’s a flower vendor near the fountain in the square. Buy one red anemone there and head to the clock tower. I’ll send someone to meet you.’

Eliana took a deep breath and looked around. The square was not a lively place. Shops here and there had their doors firmly shut, and the few people passing through all wore the same worn, exhausted look.

Bron had urged her over and over that Alderon wasn’t safe and that she had to arrive before dark. Remembering that sent a chill crawling over her skin.

After searching for a while, Eliana spotted a fountain, cracked and chipped in places and looking rather sorry for itself. Beside it stood a shabby little flower stall. She hurried toward it.

But when she actually met the vendor’s eyes, the words wouldn’t come. She had never once bought anything on her own in her life, and she had no idea whether she was supposed to ask for something first or wait for the vendor to greet her.

“Looking to buy some flowers?”

The young vendor had been sizing her up as she stood there blankly, and she spoke first, twisting a strand of hair around her finger.

“Oh, yes, yes. I’d like to buy one red anemone.”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, Eliana fumbled through the motions of looking over the flowers. But there wasn’t a single red flower to be found, let alone a healthy one. Every last one was wilted, and some even had tips that had dried out. Yet the vendor gave an unexpected answer.

“Ah. A red anemone, you said? Of course, I have one.”

Eliana stared at her with a puzzled expression, but the vendor’s face brightened and she reached into the back of the stall and handed something to Eliana.

“One red anemone. That’ll be one teron.”

She almost doubted her own ears. The emergency coin purse she had taken from Cecilia when she left the estate held only kron gold coins, worth far more than a teron.

Flustered by the unexpected situation, Eliana quickly reasoned that whether it was terons or anything else, what mattered right now was buying that red anemone and meeting the person Bron had sent.

“I’m afraid all I have is kron coins. Please keep the change. Thank you.”

She thr*st the money into the vendor’s hands and walked away without looking back. Even as sheltered as she was, she knew that a woman carrying a large sum of money and wandering alone without an escort was asking to become a target.

She climbed the steps without stopping and finally reached the clock tower, then collapsed onto a nearby bench, gasping for breath. Her legs, which had never been put through anything like this, trembled uncontrollably.

“Haah…”

She let out a long, weary sigh. The light around her was slowly fading, as though the sun truly was going down at last.

By now, her father and the rest of the household would have noticed she was gone. The thought made her chest seize up. Unease crept over her, slowly tightening around her heart.

She bowed her head and absently turned the petals of the anemone she had just bought between her fingers. Against the cheap wrapping paper, the red petals looked all the more vivid.

“That’s an anemone, isn’t it?”

Eliana startled at the sudden voice and looked up. A man with dark brown hair loosely tied back was watching her with a small smile.

“You took so long I thought you’d been kidnapped or something.”

She stared at him blankly for a moment before realizing he must be the person Bron had promised to send, and she scrambled up from the bench in a fluster.

“Oh, hello. I’m…”

She hesitated, searching for what to call herself. He seemed to read the look on her face as she wondered how much Bron had told him, because he gave an easy laugh and said,

“Ash-blonde hair with a hint of gray. Light violet eyes. A woman holding one red anemone. That’s all I was told, so there’s no need to explain. Come on, let’s go. It’s late.”

The man grabbed her wrist and pulled her along without warning. Eliana was caught completely off guard, but she did her best not to show it as she followed after him. The man, who introduced himself as Pito, led her back down the stairs she had climbed with such difficulty and across the square.

The vendor who had sold her the anemone was already gone, the stall packed up.

* * *

“What on earth is the meaning of this?”

At a time when he would ordinarily be in his study reviewing documents, Marquis Roger Croud stood with his face set cold and hard, pressing his steward for answers.

“The coachman is certain he dropped Miss Eliana at the front gate of Helio Convent. There are apparently people at the convent who saw her, so it seems he isn’t lying.”

“Then where did she disappear to? Are you saying she was kidnapped from the convent?”

“No one witnessed her leaving the convent grounds, so we are currently searching the convent and the surrounding area, however…”

The steward glanced at the marquis and added,

“Miss Cecilia’s emergency funds have gone missing as well. And the marriage vow document was left on the bed…”

He held out a crumpled wad of paper and could not bring himself to say more, his clasped hands rubbing together miserably. Marquis Croud felt a dull ache spreading through the back of his neck.

“That sounds very much like you’re telling me Eliana has run away.”

“…I am deeply sorry.”

“Search the convent and every nearby village thoroughly. Interrogate the convent staff as well. If she truly has run away, someone must have helped her. There is absolutely no way she could have managed something like this on her own.”

The marquis let out a long breath and slowly closed his eyes, then opened them.

“It’s already been ten days since Duke Carlyle set out. He should arrive here the day after tomorrow. She must be found before then.”

“Yes, understood.”

The steward left, and the marquis leaned against the window and pressed a hand to his forehead.