Chapter 59
Leticia, drenched from the rain, turned her head toward the direction where she heard signs of life. The moment her eyes met the figure emerging through the mist, she knew instinctively—it was the person who had come for her.
“…It seems you didn’t sense the signal.”
The man’s question, tinged with irritation, reflected his confusion. Leticia nodded and stared at him. Despite wearing a similar cloak, he wasn’t wet from the rain. There was a dreamy, otherworldly quality about him, as if he didn’t belong to this world.
“A signal?”
“Oh, so you really don’t know.”
His quiet muttering blended with the sound of the rain. Before she knew it, he was standing right in front of her. Without hesitation, he took off the cloak he was wearing and placed it on her shoulders, pulling the hood over her head.
“Follow me. Don’t fall behind. And leave the horse.”
With that, he spun around and began walking ahead. Leticia, caught off guard, started following him. She trailed behind him through the pouring rain until she suddenly stopped.
“Wait… Shouldn’t I know who you are before I follow you?”
“Quite the timing for such a question,” he muttered, still sounding annoyed. Turning his head slightly toward her, he added with a smirk, “You really are clueless.”
“What did you say?”
“If you can’t tell even by looking into my eyes, I suppose there’s nothing more to say.”
It was then that his eye color became fully visible. Just like hers, his eyes were a brilliant gold, gleaming even in the gloomy weather. Leticia’s eyes widened in shock as she grabbed his hand.
“Could it be…?”
“You got caught in the rain in this condition?”
He grimaced even more and, without warning, lifted her into his arms.
“W-what are you doing?”
“I know it’s not exactly fitting for a queen to be carried by a strange man, but I feel nothing, so just stay still.”
“How dare you say something so rude!”
“Boasting like that with a face that looks ready to collapse any second.”
Leticia’s mouth fell open at the man’s audacity, but, truthfully, her condition was poor. She had been drenched in rain and exhausted from riding for too long. Her body had already reached its limit.
“I-I can walk.”
“No, you can’t. If anything happens to you, His Highness will kill me.”
He tugged the cloak snugly around her, as if telling her to stop talking. Without wasting another moment, he began moving quickly to some unknown destination.
Leticia’s mind was in disarray.
‘Should I push him away and run? Can I trust this man?’
Thousands of thoughts swirled in her mind as her eyelids grew heavier. Her breathing became hot, and her already blurry vision faded even more. No matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes open, it was useless.
As her consciousness gradually blurred, Leticia forced herself to stay focused, concentrating all her senses on his footsteps. Without hesitation or faltering, he kept walking forward.
After walking for a long time, he finally stopped and gently set her down. Leticia slowly raised her head, standing with effort as she braced her legs. Her vision wavered under the heat of her breath, which had grown hotter than before.
She blinked and fixed her gaze on the man standing before her. His silver hair and transparent silver eyes shone elegantly, even in the rain, as if a light illuminated only him, brightening his surroundings.
“You’ve arrived safely,” the Pope said with a bright smile directed at her. It was only then that Leticia truly felt it—she had escaped Brivante at last.
❖ ❖ ❖
Arden awoke, feeling unusually well-rested.
That couldn’t be. He shouldn’t feel this refreshed… Suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu, he opened his eyes wide. The usual throbbing headache and the pain pressing down on his body were gone.
“…I slept soundly.”
But why did he feel so uneasy? Puzzled by the strange sensation, he looked up at the clock.
The clock showed precisely 1 o’clock.
“I slept until now?”
He couldn’t believe it. More importantly, why hadn’t anyone woken him? Raymond should have come by now, yet there was no one around—not even Leticia, who was supposed to be here.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Your Highness, may I enter?”
As if on cue, Raymond’s voice called from behind the door. With Arden’s permission, Raymond entered the room with a cheerful smile.
“You look much better today,” Raymond quipped, as usual. Arden, however, waved him off irritably, frowning.
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
“The queen said you’d wake up on your own by lunchtime. Didn’t you know?”
“…The queen said that?”
Arden couldn’t remember. He had a vague feeling that they’d talked before he slept, but the details escaped him, leaving him frustrated—as if he had forgotten something important.
“So, the queen is awake?”
“Yes? I heard Her Majesty slept elsewhere. She wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to disturb your rest with her coughing.”
Raymond’s expression grew increasingly rigid.
Arden, equally confused, felt a nagging sense that something was wrong.
Could it be…?
No, that couldn’t have happened. She was supposed to be getting better. Wasn’t she?
“Your Highness…” Raymond called to him cautiously. A cold sensation ran down Arden’s spine, as if the blood in his veins had frozen. Holding back the words he couldn’t bear to say aloud, he got up from the bed.
Without bothering to dress properly, he stormed out of the bedroom and headed for Leticia’s room. Raymond and the knights followed in haste, exchanging uneasy glances, sensing that something was amiss.
At last, they reached her room.
Without hesitation, Arden flung the door open.
For a brief moment, relief washed over him at the sight of a figure lying on the bed. But then, startled by the sudden noise, a maid sitting beside the bed turned toward him.
“Gasp! Y-Your Highness!”
The woman, unable to even scream, scrambled off the bed, trembling violently, and prostrated herself flat on the floor.
“Where is the queen? Why are you alone in this room?”
“I-I don’t know what happened… I just woke up,” the maid stammered, struggling to breathe as if she might collapse any moment.
“This is Luena from Count Karten’s family, assigned as the queen’s personal maid,” Raymond explained.
Arden clenched his teeth in frustration.
“Where is the queen?”
“Th-the thing is… please, spare me, Your Highness! The queen said she was going for a walk… and…” Luena’s voice trembled so badly it was almost incomprehensible. Her chattering teeth echoed through the room.
“I asked where the queen is.”
“She said… she was going for a walk, as usual… to clear her thoughts…” Luena recalled the events of the previous night. Though the sun was already up, it felt as if it had only just happened.
Arden’s blue eyes rolled back, and he let out a bitter laugh as her words replayed in his mind.
“I don’t want to live like this anymore. So, don’t try to find me.”
Leticia wasn’t coming back.
❖ ❖ ❖
The palace was in complete turmoil.
Knights scoured the rooms, searching for the queen alongside Arden, but there was no trace of Leticia anywhere.
“No one noticed that the queen didn’t return from her walk? Do you all seriously think this makes sense?” Arden growled.
“They say she left so naturally that no one suspected anything. It also happened during the shift change, which made it harder to notice…”
Arden’s expression grew darker and more twisted with rage.
She had vanished, slipping through his fingers like sand. He had thought of her golden eyes like honey or fields of ripe grain, but in truth, they were like sand—untouchable, fleeting.
If she was going to disappear so easily, maybe he shouldn’t have tried to grasp her. He should have put her somewhere safe instead.
“The queen is gone. Raymond, she can’t have gone far—search the entire kingdom if you have to.”
Arden couldn’t understand how she could escape. There were no visible exits in the palace. Even after retracing her usual walking routes, they found no sign of her.
There were no traces of her at all—she had vanished as if she had never existed.
Did she put me into a deep sleep just for this?
A wave of betrayal surged through Arden, making his body tremble.
“I’ll begin searching for Her Majesty immediately,” Raymond said.
“Send an urgent message to the duke. Even if she didn’t go to the duchy, Duke Castein might know something.”
“I’ll send it at once,” Raymond nodded and disappeared swiftly.
Arden let out a bitter laugh.
When did she start planning this?
There had been a previous failed escape attempt. He had thought she wouldn’t try again—his arrogant assumption, he now realized too late.
