It’s Kaela. Peon immediately recognized her backside moving in the darkness, even with her head covered by a hood.
Perhaps it was due to the power flowing in his blood. Maybe it was because of that power he only realized he had after dying and coming back to life. Or, it might simply be due to lingering attachment. An attachment no different from sin.
Throughout their marriage, which had neither a honeymoon nor any semblance of married life, he had no interest in what Kaela did and couldn’t even remember it. Yet now he recognized her instantly. Isn’t that too shameless?
She keeps catching his eye. It was instinctual, to the point where even Peon felt disgusted with himself. The image of Kaela dying with her eyes open wouldn’t leave his mind, yet he, the very cause of that death, still couldn’t come to his senses.
‘The night air is cold.’
When she, who had recently collapsed and barely regained consciousness, suddenly hailed a hired carriage, Peon felt dizzy.
No one followed the princess out of the townhouse, and Kaela naturally blended in with the maids, gardeners, and other employees returning home in this wealthy neighborhood. As he hurriedly followed, he saw her fearlessly entering a dangerous street.
He could tell at a glance. She was running away. She was fleeing with her tiny face covered in black soot.
But she couldn’t walk down back alleys where dangerous criminals lurked. Even in Crania Empire’s wealthy capital, Craine, there were places where you’d die the moment you set foot in them. He had no choice but to stop Kaela.
“It’s a place where dozens of people could die overnight without anyone knowing. You can’t go there.”
Peon knew well why she was here. The reason was clear at first glance.
She must have stuffed jewels or gold coins under her hood and worn-out coat that clearly belonged to a maid. It was dangerous for the inexperienced princess to come out dressed like this. Too dangerous.
In the pale moonlight, only her eyes were clear on her face. Kaela recognized him and took a sharp breath, then her eyes grew even more determined.
“Then you can guide me directly.”
She didn’t ask any questions like why he was here or how he knew to follow her. In a way, it was highly efficient, typical of the Lusenford style.
He should have told the princess to go back, even in her terrible state with her head held high. But Peon couldn’t bring himself to say those words.
Telling her to go back meant proposing marriage. He knew well that the dead Grand Duchess from before the regression and the current princess were clearly different people.
Although they were clearly different people, he still couldn’t dare to propose to her. Even with all the political, economic, and diplomatic situations at stake, and even Duke Ostein’s life on the line, he couldn’t say it.
“You can escort me as much as you want. Even if I’m not Lady Ravalley.”
To Peon, women other than Beatrice weren’t even ladies, and especially Kaela, even as the Princess of Ostein, was worse than a maid working in Lusenford Castle.
Knowing he wouldn’t escort her, Kaela spoke through gritted teeth.
It was foolish. Right now, this man was facing her outburst without knowing why. He hadn’t done anything. Not yet.
Kaela, who had never mocked or ridiculed anyone, barely managed to cut off the anger that was about to pour out towards Peon.
If she went any further, some old emotion or lingering attachment inside her would be revealed. It mustn’t happen. She turned abruptly and started walking down the dangerous street.
“Kae…!”
“Kaela” won’t do in these night streets. “Princess” is even worse.
Peon, always cautious of listening ears, wiped his mouth and immediately followed her. With his much longer stride compared to Kaela’s small steps, he could catch up to her in just one step.
But what should he say? His tongue, which worked so well in front of Beatrice and even the Emperor, froze before Kaela. How could he possibly dissuade Kaela, who was going to such lengths to avoid marrying him?
Above all, Peon understood her completely. The princess raised preciously in the warm southern Ostein was completely unsuited for him with all his flaws, and the cold, exclusive north.
That’s why he couldn’t stop her no matter how much she flustered him or acted unpredictably. He couldn’t bring himself to.
A giant man in plain clothes but carrying a long sword, and a woman covered by a hood. Dangerous glances kept flickering towards this mismatched pair in the night streets.
“It’s too dangerous.”
“Did you propose again?”
Kaela raised her head sharply.
“You were rejected, weren’t you? Yes, I thought so.”
Nodding to herself as if she’d known all along, she walked even more earnestly. It was already too much for someone who had just collapsed and barely gotten up to come this far. She was trying to walk with determination, but her steps were already staggering.
But the more difficult it became, the more Kaela gritted her teeth and walked. Feeling her resolve so strongly, Peon couldn’t dissuade her. He didn’t even have the right to.
It felt like being dragged into hell with his limbs bound and his neck forcibly pulled. Kaela, who must have felt even worse, suddenly stopped and looked up at him.
“Why did you love so weakly?”
Kaela, who had endured all sorts of humiliation and performed her role as Grand Duchess to the end despite her husband’s cold treatment, couldn’t understand.
“Why did you make such a fuss, known throughout Crania, over such an inadequate romance?”
If it was about making a scene to show how much one loved, Kaela was confident she could do it better than anyone.
Was it because she was too naive? It was a love that didn’t completely turn away even after hearing that he had contributed to her father’s death. She had loved Peon with everything she had. It was a heart she had protected until the very end.
To have that strong heart ignored because of such a cowardly love. Kaela felt so wronged and furious.
“…I’m sorry.”
The question, which he had never heard before, was full of various meanings. He felt ashamed that he could only say such words in response to such a question, but Kaela seemed to interpret his words as “We have to get married.” She walked even faster.
Peon was lost in thought. Should he tell her to leave?
But unless it was in a way befitting the Princess of Ostein and acceptable to the entire empire, it was obvious that the Ostein ducal family would be dissolved just for the reason of embarrassing the Emperor. Before that, Kaela would surely be caught.
Even if the current Emperor were in his right mind, he wouldn’t have worried like this. Peon hoped she would marry Prince Elkanan of Keruzhan and leave. She had to leave Crania no matter what. Whether through marriage or running away, she had to leave somehow.
“Do you have a plan once you’re out? What about guards?”
Peon, who had been invisibly fending off the street thugs trying to approach, finally asked after walking for a while. Craine’s castle gates were starting to appear in the distance.
“Even if I had a plan, I wouldn’t tell Your Highness.”
Indeed, only a fool would tell. Who would reveal their escape plan to someone who was likely to stop them?
Peon had already given up on the idea of stopping Kaela. If her safety could be ensured, he wanted to let her do as she wished.
He was only worried about Duke Ostein’s well-being, but he could protect that with his life. Either way, he had to take responsibility. Though this new life had nothing to do with the previous Grand Duchess, he still carried guilt.
“You need to get out safely, don’t you?”
He cursed his lack of eloquence. His heart was full, but he couldn’t convert those feelings into words. So Kaela, uninterested in him, stared ahead with wide eyes.
“Ah…!”
Even with her face completely blackened with ash, she was beautiful. Those clear winter sky eyes, without a trace of dark circles, were focused not on Peon but on the gate.
The gate to death was right there. It was also a brutal checkpoint where, due to the current royal edict, absolutely no one without confirmed identity could pass.
The face of someone thinking of breaking a taboo rather than dying without doing anything lit up. At the same time, Peon, with his better eyesight than Kaela’s, immediately stopped her.
“You can’t.”
“Let go.”
“Not now. Please. The Emperor’s administrative officer is there, Kaela.”
He didn’t know why that officer had appeared at the gate now, but that person and all the clerks he brought with him knew Kaela and Peon’s faces.
