How many hours had passed since she got in the carriage?

The jolting subsided and the carriage came to a complete stop.

“We’ve arrived.”

Ines raised her head at the coachman’s words. Beyond the window, the dawn sky was just breaking and vast green fields stretched out. This was the Cullaren farm on the outskirts of the capital. It was also where Llewellyn worked.

After getting out of the carriage, Ines paid the fare and made a request to the coachman.

“If you have time, would you mind waiting here for a while? I’m thinking of taking someone with me to Crosand.”

Crosand was the closest entrance to the capital from here. However, it was more than two hours away by distance.

After pondering for a moment, the coachman nodded. He figured it would be better to wait since there wouldn’t be anyone to pick up from this remote location to the bustling areas in the early dawn anyway.

After briefly thanking the coachman, Ines immediately started walking. Though she hadn’t slept at all, she didn’t feel sleepy, probably due to tension.

Ines looked around as she crossed the farm aimlessly.

‘I heard she was staying in one of the farm’s cabins.’

The farm was much larger than expected, and there were quite a few scattered cabins. Just as Ines stopped walking and bit her lip in frustration, an unfamiliar voice called out to her.

“What brings you here?”

Ines startled and turned around. It was a worker who had come out early in the dawn to work. She hesitated about asking the worker about Llewellyn.

‘The Marquis might have his people at the farm…’

But judging it impossible to find Llewellyn alone in this vast farm, Ines finally decided to take the risk.

“…I’m looking for a worker named Llewellyn.”

“Llewellyn?”

“Yes. A woman with red hair who stutters.”

Even as she asked, Ines remained wary of the worker.

“Ah.”

As if suddenly remembering who Ines was talking about, the worker pointed somewhere.

Unlike her concerns, the worker’s expression was indifferent. Just as she was about to feel relieved at the man’s attitude.

“If you go straight up this way, there’s a potato field. You should find her there now.”

Ines’s face brightened at the worker’s words. Seeing the worker leave without hesitation once his business was done, it seemed her worries had been unfounded.

“Thank you.”

Ines repeatedly thanked the departing worker as she started walking. Though the uphill path to the potato field was somewhat challenging, her face was blooming with smiles.

‘First, let’s just get her into the carriage.’

Since she always felt ill after visiting the Marquis’s mansion, the maids usually didn’t come to her room until late afternoon. Though dawn was just breaking, she had to consider the time it would take to reach the city gates.

So, Ines planned to simply get Llewellyn into the carriage. There wasn’t time to pack necessary belongings. If they discovered she was missing from the palace, they would surely come straight to this farm.

Therefore, they needed to leave the capital before being discovered.

‘She’ll surely be surprised.’

It might be shocking for her to suddenly be asked to run away together. However, once Llewellyn learned about everything that had happened, she would ultimately leave this place with her.

With these thoughts, Ines’s steps quickened. Though her body wasn’t in good condition after absorbing Alfredo’s pain yesterday, strangely, her steps were more energetic than ever.

After walking for quite a while.

Finally, a familiar figure came into view at the top of the hill. It was Llewellyn, whom Ines had been desperately searching for.

Having just come out to work, she was heading toward the potato field carrying a basket and farming tools. Moreover, fortunately, Llewellyn was alone. If she had been with someone else, Ines had planned to hide and wait to take Llewellyn away, but since she was alone, they could leave this place together right away.

“Llewel…!”

Just as Ines was about to call Llewellyn’s name with a delighted face, she stopped speaking because of a man who appeared behind Llewellyn.

He was speaking kindly to her, offering to carry the basket and farming tools she was holding.

Ines’s steps toward Llewellyn halted abruptly at the unexpected appearance of this stranger.

‘Who is that man?’

The mother she knew had feared adult men since childhood due to the abuse she received from the Duke. Yet strangely, she showed no signs of fear or discomfort around this man.

And above all.

‘Have I seen him somewhere before?’

Ines squinted her eyes and carefully examined the man’s face. Though it should be a face she was seeing for the first time, it strangely didn’t feel unfamiliar.

While Ines was searching through her memories about the man, Llewellyn, who had spotted Ines from afar, widened her eyes.

“Your Maj… Lis!”

She swallowed the “Your Majesty” she was about to say and called Ines by her childhood nickname instead.

Only then did Ines snap back to attention and look at Llewellyn. Llewellyn quickly approached with a complex expression mixing joy, surprise, and worry.

Of course she would be surprised – her daughter, who should be in the palace right now, had suddenly appeared in such a humble place.

Having regained her senses, Ines also started walking. She realized that the man’s identity wasn’t important right now. She had been so startled by the man’s presence that she hadn’t hidden herself. Given the situation, they needed to leave this place with Llewellyn as quickly as possible.

“Wh-why did you c-come all the way here?”

Carefully watching the distant man, Ines cautiously replied.

“I’ll explain later. First, please come with me somewhere.”

“Wh-what? Wh-what are you talking about? Where are we s-suddenly going?”

“There’s a carriage outside. I’ll explain everything there…”

Just as Ines was trying to persuade the flustered Llewellyn.

“Llewellyn. Is this someone you know?”

Ines looked up at the sudden unfamiliar voice. It was the unidentified man who had been standing at a distance until just now.

And as soon as the man came closer, a certain scent struck her nose.

‘This smell…’

Though she couldn’t remember clearly, it was definitely a scent she had smelled somewhere before.

‘Where did I smell this?’

Just as she furrowed her brow at another unclear answer.

Thinking Ines was wary of the man, Llewellyn spoke up.

“Sh-she’s someone I’ve known since b-before I came to the farm. Lis, th-this is Hans, who w-works here with m-me.”

At Llewellyn’s introduction, the man called Hans extended his hand to Ines as if he had been waiting.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m a colleague working with Llewellyn.”

“…”

Ines silently stared at the man’s outstretched hand without lowering her guard. Judging by the thick calluses, it was the hand of a man who wielded a sword.

‘Why would someone working at a farm handle swords?’

From his appearance, he wasn’t in charge of security here either. Seeing him holding a hoe, he seemed to be just a field worker like Llewellyn. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was strange.

“L-Lis?”

When Ines remained still without any intention of exchanging greetings, Llewellyn urged her. Only then did Ines belatedly come to her senses and took the man’s hand. She needed to act natural, pretending to be an acquaintance who had come to visit Llewellyn.

“…Nice to meet you, I’m…”

Just as she was about to briefly state her fake identity. The identity of the man’s scent flashed through her mind.

‘Yes, that’s right. This grass scent similar to pine…’

It was the scent she had smelled at Marquis Descartes’s mansion. Was it the scent that had permeated Alfredo’s room when she first met him? She had heard it was an herb that had been burned for the son who was steeped in pain.

As she realized this, Ines’s body became rigid.

She stiffly raised her head to look at the man’s face.

“Ah.”

As she stared into the man’s deep green eyes, Ines let out a short gasp. She had seen those eyes before.

That day when she first visited Marquis Descartes’s mansion.

In that room where the gardener she had healed was murdered.

‘It was him.’

The man who had stood beside the Marquis wearing a deeply pulled-down robe.

The owner of the sword that had mercilessly killed the gardener.