The operation failed. All that remained was hoping as many people as possible could escape alive.

Taniel decided to buy time. She would be the enemy’s primary target, so as long as they were chasing her, the rest of her allies might make it out safely.

Of course, now that the operation collapsed so catastrophically and everything turned out to be a trap, even this might be nothing more than futile thrashing.

But she had to try something. She couldn’t let them all die meaningless deaths like this.

Taniel rode with everything she had. If things went wrong here, there was a very real chance she would die.

She deliberately sought out the darkness, fleeing toward places with no light so the shadows could hide her, and the world around her was pitch black.

Even so, finding her way wasn’t much of a problem. Taniel pushed her already sharp senses to their absolute limit.

The problem was that the ones chasing her were also skilled at navigating in the dark.

Multiple riders bore down on her in pursuit, and the ground shook with the weight of them. She could hear soldiers mounted on road eagles cutting through the air above.

“Found the rebel! Capture her!”

“Take her alive! No matter what!”

Ah, what do I do? They caught up already.

The last emotion she felt was a hollow emptiness. Then, amid a deafening *ssault, Taniel lost consciousness.

A terrible impact, and she tumbled from her horse. Darkness followed immediately after.

* * *

Minutes, hours, or perhaps days passed. Taniel slowly opened her eyes in an unfamiliar room.

Then she felt the heavy weight coiled around her wrists and ankles, and horror seized her. She was chained to a wide, soft bed.

But that wasn’t the worst part. Taniel was not alone in the room. A familiar face looked back at her.

“Hello, Senior.”

A longed-for dream, a wretched nightmare, the love of her life and a sin she could never forget even in death.

“It’s been a while.”

The black-haired man looked at the brown-haired woman and smiled. Pure as a boy, beautiful as an angel, with an expression that was unmistakably warm.

Taniel could not smile back.