Chapter 67

Nine was entirely preoccupied with work to soothe his troubled mind after his visit to the Blueberry count’s estate. The image of Chacha bursting into tears out of sorrow and the man comforting her kept replaying in his mind, plunging his mood into a slump several times a day.

When he met Chacha, the scene became even clearer, and a fear surged in him—a fear that there would be no affection in her eyes when he met them. Surprised by his own reaction, Nine found it utterly impossible to hold a tea time as before. Even facing her before tea time was extremely difficult.

‘I see. Please take it easy, even if you are busy.’

Yet, he didn’t know why, but despite being the one to refuse the tea time, he felt disappointed by Chacha’s neat withdrawal. He couldn’t understand himself. However, he kept acting in ways he couldn’t comprehend.

“Your Grace.”

“…!”

His body would stiffen and his expression would become rigid just from hearing her voice. Chacha looked surprised and flustered by this unfamiliar reaction, but his tension simply wouldn’t ease.

“Ah, I was wondering if you would like to have dinner together… today.”

“…”

And how did he reply? He thought he had simply answered with a curt, “Understood,” and quickly left the area.

And the dinner they shared that day was carried out in silence, without a single word exchanged.

‘Pathetic.’

It was no wonder the servants of the estate were worried. Nine knew that his actions were causing a rift with Chacha and worrying everyone. But the more he consciously tried not to act that way, the stiffer his body became, and the harsher his words sounded.

“…Ha.”

Nine sighed and pressed his eyes with his hand. He was thinking about Chacha again. He hadn’t checked the time precisely, but it was certain he hadn’t turned a single page of documents for a considerable amount of time.

He felt Norman, sitting at the desk next to him, staring with an odd look, but Nine pretended not to notice and quickly drank the cold tea placed beside him.

Just as he picked up his pen to refocus on the documents.

CRASH!

The office door was flung open violently without a knock. Since this was not a common occurrence, Nine narrowed his brows.

The two people who burst into the room were low-ranking knights. Nine forgot his momentary annoyance and shot up from his seat. They were the knights he had secretly assigned as Chacha’s escorts for her outing today.

Their appearance was a mess. Nine’s eyes quickly scanned the window and the area behind the knights, searching for Chacha. But she was nowhere in sight. His heart began to beat with an erratic, anxious rhythm at the ominous situation.

“What is the matter?”

Before his question was even finished, the knight, whose face was pale with fright, shouted.

“T-The Duchess has been kidnapped!”

“What?! Who on earth would dare, in the middle of the Imperial Capital?!” Norman slammed his desk and asked the knight back. The office was instantly enveloped in chaos.

But the culprit could be found out later; there was no time to lose.

Nine strapped the sword propped next to his desk to his waist and commanded, “The two of you follow me. Norman, immediately summon all the Silver Wolf Knights available now.”

Hearing the command, Norman leaped up, trying to stop Nine. The situation was dire, but his command would cause a massive disturbance.

“This is the Capital, Kalifa! Military action is forbidden! You must either get permission from the Imperial Palace or request the dispatch of the Imperial Knights!”

“That will be too late.” Nine instantly dismissed Norman’s words as unworthy of attention and rapidly strode across the mansion.

The knights desperately followed him.

“The coachman drove the carriage off the road and into the forest, where over a dozen assassins appeared, killed the coachman, and attacked the carriage.”

“Their objective did not seem to be the assassination of the Duchess. Noticing this, the Duchess risked her own life to send us away.”

“We apologize for failing to execute our orders. The Duchess commanded us, but we judged that confronting the assassins was beyond our capability, and reporting to Your Grace was the best course of action.”

Listening to the two men’s report, Nine clenched his jaw at the part where Chacha risked her own life. It was a relief that the possibility of her being killed seemed low, but not being killed didn’t mean she was safe. Nine’s insides were burning with anxiety.

And what if this incident was a political maneuver to curb the expansion of the Eclipse Duchy’s influence?

‘Damn it!’

Nine felt he would never forgive himself for his distance from central politics under the guise of neutrality.

‘Please.’

Muttering a desperate plea to an unknown entity, Nine mounted the waiting horse and immediately left the mansion. Nine, having been told their last known location by the knights, galloped away swiftly.

***

When Nine and the knights arrived at the last place Chacha had been, it was already a dark night, the sun completely set. The place they arrived at was the Bardilin Forest, a hunting ground for the nobility. This area was closed during the social season, making it an excellent location for committing a crime at this time.

He dismounted and checked the ground, but there were no traces left, not even carriage wheel tracks or the coachman’s corpse or bloodstains they had reported.

‘Professional assassins.’

Nine immediately extended his aura sense. Their cleanup was neat, as if they had anticipated a typical Imperial Knight investigation, but it only extended a short distance.

‘Perhaps they didn’t go far.’

Being a Swordmaster, he cast his aura sense over a wider range to search for any presence.

Before long, signs of life were detected in a few spots.

Just then, Kroel, who had led the Silver Wolf Knights, stood before Nine, awaiting orders. Nine confirmed the dozens of knights lined up behind Kroel and immediately gave his command.

There were a total of three locations where a presence was felt. Nine sent ten knights to two of those locations.

“The rest of you, guard all the gates—east, west, north, and south—to prevent anyone from leaving Kalifa!”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

“Kroel, you follow me.”

The remaining location, where he hadn’t sent any knights, had a suspiciously faint presence. Nine judged that there was a high possibility of a strong individual being there and headed toward it with only Kroel accompanying him.

The two tied their horses to a tree and quickly ran, channeling aura into their legs.

As they got closer, an acrid smell reached their noses. He had a bad feeling.

Before long, black smoke could be seen rising against the dark night sky.

A chilling sensation made Nine run at full speed. Kroel, who was following him, did the same.

The moment the two, focused only on running, faced the source of the smoke.

FWOOSH!

A large plank of wood that was part of the roof, completely engulfed in flames, crashed to the ground. Bright fire was consuming the hut, raging fiercely. Even though it was pitch black night, the massive flames illuminated the surroundings.

‘No, it won’t be.’

Nine prayed that the faint presence he felt inside the hut was not Chacha.

He drew his sword, hastily wrapped his body in aura, and plunged into the flames. As much as he wanted to smash his way in instantly, the hut, which already looked old, seemed like it would crumble into ruins along with the flames at the slightest impact.

Nine cautiously, yet faster than anyone, pushed the hut door open and entered.

‘It won’t be her.’

It was a wish he muttered dozens of times in the few steps he took, fighting through the fire.

And finally, Nine found the figure collapsed in the deepest part of the hut. It was Chacha, lying on the floor with her arms and legs bound.

“Chacha!”

Her eyes were unfocused, as if her consciousness was already fading. Nine urgently rushed toward her. Her body flinched, as if she hadn’t completely lost consciousness. A sigh of relief escaped into the heated air.

However, his relief was short-lived; Chacha’s eyes and breath were already becoming faint, as if she had been exposed to the heat and smoke for too long.

“Chacha, Chacha.”

Nine called her name incessantly to awaken her fading consciousness.

Chacha’s eyelids fluttered, as if she were desperately trying to keep her closing eyes open, and she parted her lips. Nine hurriedly leaned in, as she seemed to be saying something.

A voice so small that an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to hear it slowly, barely holding on, whispered out one syllable at a time.

“Nine…”

“Chacha.”

His name, called by her for the first time, was so faint and unfamiliar. It felt like a small spark that could be extinguished at any moment, and he was anxious. If only she had called this name with the voice she usually used when speaking to him.

‘If that had happened, I would have…’

However, his small wish was instantly scattered and gone by the words that followed.

Chacha, whose unfocused eyes gently curved as if trying to smile, said, “…Be happy.”

It was a farewell.