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The soldiers who were on the verge of falling asleep suddenly came to their senses as they heard the screams echoing throughout the hallway.
“Huh, what?!”
“What’s going on?”
They quickly looked around with sleepy faces. Elaine stood behind the corner and bit her lip.
The sleep scent lulled them into a comfortably shallow sleep, but it had the disadvantage of them waking them up easily at the slightest disturbance. This would put a damper on her plan to sneak into the storage room without the soldiers noticing.
‘What should I do?’
She debated just knocking out the soldiers and taking the list, but if she did that, it could cause problems.
If the document disappears around the time an outsider came in, the first people to be suspected would be her and Ash. Sooner or later, the others would hear the commotion and make their move. Besides…….
“The lady, the lady…!”
Could it be that something happened to Yulina Lakers?
Elaine left the soldiers behind and ran in the direction where the screams came from. It wouldn’t be too late to get the list later. Of course, it would be more difficult for her to infiltrate the Margrave’s residence separately, but with her abilities, it was not an impossible task.
“My Lord!”
Several employees had already rushed to the front of Yulina’s room. The Margrave was also there as well. He must have rushed over as soon as he heard the screams, as he was wearing a robe. The color disappeared from the Margrave’s face as he looked into the room.
There was no mirror in Yulina’s room. It was to keep her from doing anything dangerous with the glass shards, as she did during the day. For the same reason, any sharp or pointed objects were removed from the room. The windows were tightly blocked for fear of her jumping out. It couldn’t be opened from the inside without a sharp tool, however…
The window was wide open, curtains fluttering helplessly in the cool breeze. Only the rattling and shaking sound of the windows lingered in the empty room. Yulina had disappeared.
“How…”
The Margrave gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Search the mansion immediately!”
He quickly approached the window. A torn curtain was tied like a rope beneath the window. Yulina’s room was on the second floor. There was a high flower bed on the first floor just below the window. If Yulina had used it to climb down, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her to escape.
However, there was a bigger problem than that. The bed sheets were so cold that they couldn’t feel any warmth. This means that Yulina has been gone for quite some time.
At the Margrave’s command, the employees began to move in perfect unison. In an instant, the entire manor was lit up. The silence of night became as loud as daytime.
“What’s going on?”
Ash, who heard the commotion, first found Elaine in the hallway and asked, looking at the employees rushing up and down the hallway.
“The young Lady has disappeared.”
Elaine looked back at him and answered. Ash, who had heard of the situation from her, spoke in a low voice.
“Let’s help look for her.”
They immediately followed the workers and assisted in the search for Yulina. This time the Margrave did not refuse their help. He was desperate at the moment and would need every bit of help he could find now.
Numerous servants carried lanterns and searched the surroundings of the mansion. Just in case, they also searched the inside of the mansion from top to bottom. However, no matter how much they searched, no one could find Yulina.
“Where could she be…….”
Elaine muttered with a serious face.
Where on earth has she gone? Could it be that something happened? The sight of her struggling to die was vivid in Elaine’s memory. She felt even more anxious that something bad would happen.
Moonlight was scattered across the dark sky. Even though it was spring, the northern wind was chilly. A strong breeze brushed against her skin and shook the branches.
It was then.
“That’s…!”
A servant who was searching nearby pointed.
“These are the Lady’s shoes!”
It was the entrance to a garden quite far away from the mansion. A shoe that appeared to belong to a noble woman had fallen among the bushes. And beyond the bush where the shoe had fallen, footprints continued.
The moment Elaine saw it, a memory suddenly came to mind.
‘Sometimes she says strange things…’
‘She was asking what I would do if someone suddenly took something precious from me.’
‘Then what would you do when the item is already broken?’
A question that Yulina asked the maid not long ago. The maid responded that she would get payback and revenge. The maid was worried that the person Yulina was referring to was the Margrave, but when Elaine thought about it, there was a different creature who had really taken her lover away. The nameless monster that caused her misfortune.
The garden where the shoe fell was also connected to the forest where the monster appeared.
‘No way…’
Elaine quickly looked back at Ash.
“We have to go quickly.”
Her eyes met his. Elaine continued.
“It’s possible she went to the forest.”
The forest where the monster first appeared. It was just a hunch, but if Yulina was headed there, she had to find her as soon as possible.
* * *
‘Miss.’
‘That sounds like you’re talking to a stranger. Are you really going to call me that when it’s just the two of us?’
‘Yulina.’
He smiled softly, calling her name in a familiar way.
‘Cesar.’
Her most trusted knight, a friend who was like a comfortable oasis, and a lover she loved with all her heart.
‘Are you going to stay up all night again?’
‘I told you to get some rest.’
‘If I did that, there would be no point in me guarding you.’
His voice, as always, soothing, his words laced with concern.
He was always soft and warm to her. Even the worried nagging that had become a habit of his was nice. He always stayed by her side, and sometimes even listened to her talk about their future.
‘I will not be forced to marry into another family according to my uncle’s wishes. No matter what anyone says, I am the direct descendant of this family, and I am the one who will be the heir.’
‘The elders will definitely oppose it. It might not be easy.’
‘I don’t care. I’ll just have to prove myself with my abilities.’
‘If that is your choice, I don’t mind. I’ll stand by your side no matter what you decide.’
Yeah, that’s what he promised.
‘Yulina, run!’
He shouted, blood pouring out from his body. Red and vivid, it flowed, staining the green field red.
‘Please……. Please don’t come near me!’
She couldn’t forget that moment, even for a second. The moment he was bitten by the monster’s teeth while trying to protect her, who was foolishly frozen in place, the moment he turned into such a hideous figure and cried out.
She remembered his eyes filled with fear. Rather than fear of becoming a monster, he was afraid of hurting her.
She couldn’t forget the moment when he finally turned into a monster, howled, and fell to the ground after being pierced by her father’s sword. Every day she felt like she was going crazy. Even though she was breathing, she didn’t feel alive. She kept thinking about that moment and couldn’t even sleep. She fainted, struggling with the desire to die.
‘My father is the most cowardly man of all.’
Actually, she was talking to herself, not him.
It was because of herself that Cesar became like that. Blaming her father was just an excuse. She felt like she would really break down if she admitted that fact, so she passed the blame on to her father, even though she knew it wasn’t his fault.
If she hadn’t ordered that tree to be pulled down, if she hadn’t taken charge of the forestry development, if she hadn’t decided to take on the position of successor in the first place.
All those hypotheticals filled her heart with regret and guilt. At last her emotions engulfed her. She couldn’t handle staying still anymore.
“Huh, huh…”
Yulina ran through the bushes, out of breath.
Her shoes fell off and her dress ripped. She ran without stopping, even though she was scraped and covered in dirt. She ran to the place where they first encountered that monster. The wound on her palm, which was covered with a bandage, burst open and started bleeding, but she didn’t care.
She gripped the object in her hand tightly. An explosive magic tool with enough power to blow away a forest. She had bribed an errand boy without her father’s knowledge and paid a hefty price for it from a guild in a back alley. To avenge his death with her own hands.
Didn’t they say that no matter how much they searched for it, it wouldn’t appear? It didn’t matter. Even if she can’t find it, that monster must be somewhere on this mountain. All she had to do was burn the whole mountain down. Even if she was swallowed up by the flames as well.
She tripped on a tree root rising above the ground and fell again. As she held the magic tool tightly and hit the ground, a pitch-black shadow appeared above her head, blocking the moonlight.
Kiiiii-
When she looked up, a monster with a single eye as big as its giant head and bright red, as if stained with blood, was staring straight at her. Dozens of tentacles writhed like snakes. It was the same monster that took her lovers life.
The mouth, filled with hundreds of sharp teeth, opened wide. But she wasn’t afraid. She had wanted this moment more than anything.
She smiled brightly.
“Let us die together.”
Looking at the tentacles flying towards her, she grasped the magic tool in her hand tighter. If she could take that thing to hell with this, she was willing to go to hell with it.
She didn’t close her eyes, even as she watched the tentacles rush toward her. As if she could engrave into her vision the death of the monster that killed her lover. It was the moment when she was about to activate her magic tool.
Kiaaaagh-!
With a bright beam of light, dozens of tentacles were cut off.
