Chapter 65

“The empress shouldn’t speak carelessly without proof.”

“If that’s not the case, why would the Saintess’s name suddenly come up?!”

“Well, we’ll know who the client is soon enough.”

The Saintess—yes, if it was the Saintess, that was possible. She didn’t know why the Saintess would want to have her kidnapped, but the Saintess had shown a great deal of interest in the book. Of course, there was neither confirmation from Berman Pasis nor any concrete evidence that the Saintess had ordered her abduction. But since Berman Pasis had taken the book with him, the Saintess—who was the one most interested in it—was the most likely suspect.

Still, does it even make sense to kidnap someone over a book?

Was she really kidnapped just so someone could look at a single book? To Edelis, it wasn’t “just a book,” but she couldn’t imagine it meaning as much to the Saintess.

“You won’t have to wait long.”

Berman Pasis climbed the stairs. A heavy iron door slammed shut. No matter how much Edelis called out to him, the door did not open again.

“Phew… I have to get out first. But how?”

The situation was nearly the worst it could be. All she had in the room was the chair Berman had been sitting on, a table beside it, and a lantern that barely pushed back the darkness. She had made no preparations—she’d been with her guards and thought she’d only be inside the Imperial Palace. Worse, her hands and feet were bound. First, she needed to free herself before she could do anything else.

She considered breaking the lantern to use the glass shards to cut the rope, but then spotted her own hairpin on the ground. It was sharp at the tip to help fix it in place in her hair. Edelis quickly picked it up, snapped it against the stone wall to make it sharper, and scraped it repeatedly against the same spot on the rope. Eventually, a gap began to form, and once there was enough slack, she slipped her wrists free. Her wrists ached, but there was no time to rest—her captor’s “client” could arrive at any moment.

If they kidnapped the empress, of course they meant to kill her.

Kidnapping the empress meant risking their own lives. If Edelis returned safely, Berman would naturally have a bounty placed on his head. But if she died?

They’d just say something like, ‘He tried to protect her but failed…’ I’ve been badly injured before because of him, so they wouldn’t execute him for failing this time either.

At worst, he’d be stripped of his position. Which meant, from Berman’s perspective, Edelis escaping would be the absolute worst outcome.

‘I don’t want to die. I’ve worked too hard to stay alive up to now!’

Once her wrists were free, her ankles were next—she snapped another pin from her hair and cut through the rope binding her feet. Then she turned her mind to the heavy iron door. Even if Lehan realized she was missing and came to find her, she didn’t know where she was—so the odds of that were slim. She had to get herself out.

Better to find my own way out than sit here waiting for rescue.

If someone did come to save her, great. But she knew that trying to open the door right away would only get her caught and bound even tighter.

But I can’t just sit here doing nothing.

After much thought, she came up with a desperate plan: set a fire so Berman would have to open the door himself. There were no windows in the basement, so there was no other way.

Smoke will slip through the cracks in the door—they’ll notice it.

It was risky—she could die in the attempt—but she doubted Berman would leave his precious hostage unattended. The “client” was probably on the way, and if Edelis were rescued and talked, the entire plan would fail. That meant Berman couldn’t leave; he’d have to deal with the smoke himself.

If the client arrived, the door would be opened anyway, but Edelis figured she’d have a better chance of escape if there was only Berman to deal with rather than both him and the client.

She tore off the hem of her dress to cover her nose and mouth, then stripped away the rest of the skirt until she had only enough fabric left to preserve her modesty. She placed the rest on the table and poured the lantern oil over it.

The dress will just get in the way anyway.

Taking a deep breath, she transferred the flame from the lantern to the oil-soaked cloth. She pushed the table as close to the iron door as she could, hoping Berman would notice quickly. The dress caught fire fast, thick smoke billowing upward. Edelis crouched near the stairs, waiting.

The basement soon filled with black smoke, and finally, the iron door creaked open, letting some of it escape. Light from above spilled in but wasn’t enough to cut through the murk.

“Cough—what the hell?!”

Apparently, letting Edelis die wasn’t in the plan. Berman covered his mouth and came down the stairs, fanning the air as he looked for her. The table’s position near the entrance made the heat feel intense right away, so it must have looked urgent to him.

Edelis’s heart pounded so hard she thought it might burst.

If he spots me…

The thought of being brutally killed made her skin crawl and her body tremble.

“Where are you?!”

Berman went straight to where Edelis had been before, but his searching hand touched nothing. At that moment—clang!—the iron door slammed shut. In the darkness, Edelis had climbed the stairs and managed to escape the basement. She hesitated for an instant over whether to close the door, but quickly shoved it shut.

The basement was full of smoke—Berman’s life would be in danger. But his survival put her own life in jeopardy, so she shut the door and piled whatever she could find—chairs, crates—on top of it.

“Damn it!”

From inside, Berman pounded on the door, swearing, trying to force it open. Edelis knew he wouldn’t be trapped for long. She grabbed a dagger from the desk and bolted outside.

Night had already fallen, and she found herself in a dark forest with not a single light in sight.

If there were even a single farmhouse, I could call for help.

She ran in the moonlight, trying to put as much distance between herself and Berman as possible. Even when her breath came in ragged gasps and her feet throbbed, she kept going.

Then she heard voices.

“Find the empress!”

It wasn’t Berman’s voice—it was a low male voice she didn’t recognize.

“Here—!”

She raised her hand to call out for help, but something about it felt wrong, and she crouched down instead.

“She couldn’t have gone far! Search every inch!”

“Yes, sir!”

The voice giving orders was unfamiliar, and their clothing was wrong—dark gray, unmarked garments instead of Imperial or Royal Guard uniforms. None carried proper lanterns, searching instead in the dark. Edelis knew the Imperial Guard well, having met them many times at the palace, but she didn’t recognize a single face.

There’s no way the Imperial Guard would come looking for me dressed like that.

And if they were from the palace, they would say Her Majesty the Empress, not just the empress.

And… “couldn’t have gone far” — far from where? The palace? Or… from where Berman was holding me?

Her suspicion solidified into certainty, and fear rose in her chest.

Lehan, where are you? You promised you’d protect me anytime, anywhere.

Edelis gripped the dagger tightly. It felt unfamiliar—it wasn’t hers—but it was the only thing she could rely on. She had begged her father to let her learn self-defense as a count’s daughter, but the last time she’d been attacked, she’d been too terrified to act. At least then she’d had guards. This time, she was alone.

She didn’t know which way to go when suddenly a shadow loomed over her.

“Found—!”

The man in gray didn’t finish his sentence. Edelis moved faster, plunging her dagger straight into his heart. Shock and fear made her hands tremble, but the man collapsed before he could react. She nearly fell under his weight, but pulled the bloodied dagger free, wiped it on his clothes, and took it back.

Gotta go. Now.

If the body was found, they’d know she’d been nearby—and which way she’d gone. She briefly considered hiding it, but decided running was more important.

Her shock at having killed someone faded quickly, replaced by a rush of relief at still being alive.

“It couldn’t be helped… there was no other choice…”

She stumbled but kept running. Eventually, through the trees, she saw the outline of a stone wall—the city walls. Judging from the crest carved into the stone, she was on the southwest side of the capital. The west was near the monster forest and sparsely populated, so she’d need to head toward the south gate.

Hearing voices again, she ducked into hiding.

“Spread out and find her. Before sunrise.”

“Yes, sir!”

It was a familiar voice—Sir Frache. But Edelis hesitated to reveal herself, remembering his friendship with the Saintess.

Then a cold blade touched her neck from behind.

“Make a sound, and I’ll slit your throat.”

The icy edge against her skin made her tremble.

“You’re doing well. Why’d you have to run and make things so complicated?”

Berman Pasis’s calm voice sent shivers down her spine. And in that instant, she knew: if Sir Frache meant to kill her, Berman wouldn’t be trying to take her so quietly.

Berman stood behind her, holding the knife to her throat, while she crouched low. Her legs felt ready to give out—but she knew this was her last chance.

‘He hasn’t noticed the dagger in my hand.’