Chapter 2.9

“Your Highness!”

Adrian had a large slash wound on his left arm. But, driven by the news he absolutely had to hear from the castle, he exerted superhuman strength and cut down five enemies who were right in front of him with a single swing of his sword. His silver hair, which shone brightly as if it held light, harmonized with his sword, creating a chilling and cold image.

Holding the blood-soaked sword, Adrian approached the knight.

“What is it?”

“A… a marriage ban has been issued from the Imperial Palace, and Lady Claire Ianster has been taken away.”

“What? Tell me in detail.”

The knight, overwhelmed by Adrian’s presence, trembled uncontrollably but managed to answer.

“I don’t know the details. I only heard that they would depart for the Imperial Palace five hours after I left.”

Owen thought the look in his master’s eyes was filled with madness. And Adrian mounted his horse alone, without Owen or Cedric. No one could stop him now. He thought they must have already departed from the castle and would be passing through the forest by now.

When he arrived at the forest, he sensed the presence of many knights. He was ready to kill every single knight there, take Claire, and return to the castle. The twelve-year-old him had been powerless, but he was not now.

Adrian concealed his presence and approached the knights. Adrian, who had intended to rush in as soon as he saw Claire, quickly realized that their movements were unusual.

“She’s not on this side.”

“Go the other way. She couldn’t have gone far!”

“Yes!”

“Not a single hair on her head should be harmed. Do you understand!”

The carriage door was open, and the inside was empty. Having assessed the situation, Adrian immediately ran toward the knight who seemed to be the commander and pointed his sword at him.

“Who… who are you?”

The surrounding knights drew their swords at Adrian, but the knight commander stopped them.

“Grand Duke… is that Your Highness?”

Kai Kaylen, the Captain of the First Imperial Knight Order, had never seen Grand Duke Aurelian Quinze-Nouais, but he instantly knew he was the Grand Duke.

“Where is she?”

“I… I, I don’t know.”

Adrian’s presence was so overwhelming that the voice of the Captain of the First Imperial Knight Order trembled uncontrollably.

“You don’t know?”

“…Yes, she escaped.”

“Are you telling me to believe that?”

“It’s the truth.”

“To dare enter the Grand Duchy and kidnap my fiancée from my castle… You should be prepared to die here.”

“But attacking the Imperial Knights is an act of rebellion.”

“Do you think I fear such a rebellion?”

Just then, Owen and Cedric, who had followed Adrian, along with the knights who had fought with them on the battlefield, appeared, covered in blood, and surrounded the carriage and the Imperial Knights. The aura of the warriors who had just killed countless people on the battlefield was something even the best knights of the Imperial Knights could not match.

It was a volatile situation.

“Your Royal Highness, this is not the time for this.”

Owen stepped forward to stop his master, who looked as if he was about to kill the knight commander. Adrian finally took his sword away from the knight commander.

“Owen! You stay here and make sure they don’t move a single step!”

“As you command!”

With that, Adrian remounted his horse and galloped back to his castle.

The sun was setting. Adrian was scared. If Claire had disappeared again… Just the thought of it made him feel as if all the blood had drained from his body.

When he arrived at the castle, an unpleasant silence assaulted him.

Butler Ben ran to Adrian. His condition was visibly bad. Blood was still dripping from his arm, which was covered in a cold sweat.

“Your Royal Highness! No, this blood!”

“Claire?”

Adrian, who scanned the surroundings with cold eyes, panted and asked Ben.

“The young lady… has left. Your Highness, please, let’s treat your wounds first.”

“Haah, haah, no, she wasn’t there.”

“Where are you talking about, Your Royal Highness? Please, you’re bleeding a lot…”

Ben was almost in tears at his master’s unfamiliar appearance.

“Claire! Claire!”

He let out a tearing roar that echoed through the entire castle. The look in his eyes had already gone beyond the bounds of normal.

“Your Royal Highness… she has left. I distinctly saw her get into the Imperial carriage just a while ago.”

“Find her! Find that girl and bring her here right now!”

Ben trembled but tried to approach the Grand Duke. He was afraid to get closer, but he couldn’t postpone his treatment any longer.

“The young lady has left, Your Highness…”

“Hah! Not a single rat better appear in my sight! From now on, I will kill anyone who crosses my path!”

He fell to his knees in the castle lobby.

“Finally, finally!”

He kept gasping for breath, as if he couldn’t breathe. There was no color left in Adrian’s face.

“Claire left with a happy heart, Your Royal Highness.”

A voice that sounded unpleasant in his ears made him look up. Celine was smiling her radiant smile and whispering to him. Next to her, Butler Ben was trembling, unable to either approach or move away.

Adrian, finding it difficult to stand, plunged his sword into the floor and shouted sharply at Celine.

“Celine Ianster… you’re the source of all this. Claire disappears whenever you appear. Hah, ha.”

“How can you blame me for that? Claire left because she wanted to. Everyone in the capital knows about the love story between His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Claire. I heard His Royal Highness left to bring back his fiancée not long ago, did he perhaps come here?”

“Shut up… She wasn’t there.”

“Then it’s even more certain. Claire was worried that you might find her and take her back to the castle, so she hid. Or maybe they hid her.”

“Quiet, Celine. If you utter another word, I won’t care that you share blood with Claire.”

“Oh my, why are you like that? It’s as if you were forcing Claire to stay here.”

“…”

When there was no response from Adrian, Celine clapped her hands and feigned surprise.

“I was right! You were keeping our Claire locked up here. How shameful. What could a Grand Duke of an entire nation possibly be so desperate for to do such a thing?”

But no matter how much Celine whispered like a snake, only one thought came to Adrian’s mind.

‘I have to find her. I have to bring her back. And I have to tie her up. I will brand every corner of her body so she can never run away from me again.’

With that thought, he straightened his body. And holding onto his fading consciousness, he tried to take a step. But at that moment, his body collapsed, and Celine grabbed and hugged him.

“Our Grand Duke must be very tired.”

Her unpleasant cackling echoed in Adrian’s ears like a ringing in his head.

“Gasp, hah, hah… Claire… please.”

Blood flowed ceaselessly from his wounded arm, and he lost consciousness.

 

***

 

Blood soaked through my shoes. A noble lady’s shoes were so useless. I had outsmarted the Imperial Knights and ran through the forest where there were no roads. My clothes were caught on branches, my arm was scratched, and my silk shoes were already in tatters from running through the rough forest. But strangely, no one was following me. I had escaped, but I never thought I would be able to go so long without being caught. I just ran because I couldn’t stand still. The North’s winter night was so cold and dark.

I walked on and on, relying on my instincts. Fortunately, after a few years of living in the North, I was able to reach the Grand Duke’s castle. And the castle I arrived at was eerily quiet. No one appeared even as I passed through the large garden. As I got closer, the pain I hadn’t felt while running started to make its presence known.

As I got closer, a faint light was coming from inside. There was a heavy door that I had never pushed myself before, but I couldn’t dare to call someone to open it for me. If that clever low-ranking knight had delivered the letter to Adrian without fail, he should have arrived at the castle by now.

‘Is he angry?’

With a trembling heart, I pushed open the heavy door. The well-maintained door, considering its appearance, slowly opened with a creaking sound.

The first person I saw was Ben. He was standing there anxiously, staring at something. And soon after, the next thing that came into my sight was the wide back of a man, and Celine who was hugging him. The man I looked at again, rubbing my eyes, was Adrian. He was holding Celine as if he was going to devour her, and unbelievably, she was smiling brightly.

“Our Grand Duke must be very tired.”

Even as Celine stroked Adrian’s back, he didn’t resist at all and just stood there, hugging her. Their silver hair, which shone with the same light, clumped together and swayed.

I was so surprised that I let go of the door, stumbled backward, and fell on my bottom.

And through the closing gap in the door, I saw it clearly.

Celine looking at me. No, not just looking, but smiling directly at me.

I ran back out through the Grand Duke’s garden. The pain in my feet, which had been screaming for help just a moment ago, was no longer felt at all.

“Damn Adrian. Damn author. No matter how much it’s the original story, how could you… so easily…”

The moment I came face to face with the reality I had been fearing, I completely lost my will. This time, there was no one to blame. I could only blame myself for being dropped into this crazy world that day.

With that, I trudged back to the forest. At least walking along the road was easier than before. I thought about just running away, but where would I even go? Even if I were to run away, I had to be prepared. It was so dark. At times like this, I really wanted to escape this world with no electricity and go back to the one I came from.

When I passed the village and entered the forest path, torches were burning brightly, and I could see dozens of men standing there.

“My lady?”

Unbelievably, I heard a familiar voice from a distance.

“…Owen? Owen!”

I forgot my situation and ran to him and hugged him. I had wanted to cry for a while, and it felt like I had met the right person. I cried for a bit and looked up, and I saw the Imperial Knights still standing where I had escaped.

Everyone seemed flustered when I, who had run off somewhere, suddenly appeared and started crying. But that was only for a moment. As soon as I appeared, a dangerous tension started to fill the air between them again.

“We will escort her.”

Owen said, pulling my arm and hiding me behind him.

“No. This is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s command. And the young lady has returned here on her own, hasn’t she?”

I was trying to assess the situation, with Owen’s hand on my wrist. So, Adrian had ordered him to bring me back. Even in all this, he was still being possessive. It was absurd.

I quietly pulled away from Owen. And slowly walked toward the carriage.

The surroundings were so quiet that I could hear someone swallowing. I opened the carriage door.

“My lady! What are you doing?”

“Let me go, Owen.”

“What are you saying? His Grace has been trying so hard to find you…”

He looked resentful of me for wanting to leave.

“But I have to go, Owen. If I don’t go, something terrible will happen. You know that too.”

“But! …His Grace is hurt.”

“What? How badly? He looked fine…”

“You saw His Grace?”

“Yes, at the castle… So let me go. …Even if he’s hurt, Celine will take good care of him.”

“Did His Grace permit this? I cannot let you go without His Grace’s permission.”

“Yes, His Grace permitted it. It’s as good as his permission.”

I shoved myself into the carriage without any lingering thoughts.

 

***

 

Adrian suffered from a fever for a full day. And in his delirium, he dreamed of his past. In the dream, he was in the castle with his mother. It was a time that was both fearful and happy. That day, too, his mother was reading a book to Adrian.

“Do not wait for a time that will never come again.”

His beautiful mother’s voice fell upon Adrian’s head as he lay on her lap. At that moment, the castle, which had felt as if it would suffocate in its stillness, began to grow loud.

In the scene that instantly flipped, Adrian was screaming, his limbs bound.

‘Mother, Mother…’

His mother’s empty eyes. And the man gasping for breath above her.

Soon, a dagger appeared in Adrian’s hand, and without a moment to feel anything, he killed everything in front of his eyes.

Once again in the middle of a forest, a ray of light appeared before Adrian, who had abandoned all his memories, and he met her within that light. Her purple eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“Adrian, come here.”

Adrian couldn’t help but follow the girl who was calling him, as if it was the only thing he was meant to do. And at that moment, as if a lie…

She disappeared.

“Claire!”

He opened his eyes, calling her name, and Ben immediately came to him.

“Your Royal Highness.”

Adrian looked around, gathered his senses for a moment, and sat up straight, giving Ben a command.

“Get ready to leave.”

“Pardon? But… your body hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

Adrian acted as if he couldn’t hear a word Ben was saying and tried to get out of bed. But he immediately felt dizzy and sat back down.

“Go get Owen.”

“Your Royal Highness, please… you’ve lost too much blood.”

“Ben, now.”

At the command, which was given again, he had no choice but to move, and Owen soon arrived at the Grand Duke’s bedroom.

“Owen, how many knights are left in the castle in total?”

“200 inside, 300 outside. A total of 500.”

“Any casualties from yesterday’s battle?”

“All are minor injuries.”

“Then get ready. We’re going to the South.”

Adrian commanded a war as if he were asking for a cup of tea. Owen’s eyes seemed to waver for a moment, but he soon bowed his head. 500 was a ridiculously small number to prepare for a civil war. But if his master said so, then it was so.

As Owen stood up to leave, Butler Ben suddenly knelt before Adrian. Ben’s white hair trembled noticeably. Ben knew how presumptuous what he was about to do was. But he couldn’t just stand by. A civil war was about to break out. Even as someone ignorant of war, he could feel it. If things continued this way, the Grand Duke would be defeated.

After Claire left the castle yesterday, he had rushed to the Grand Duke’s room to handle the situation.

‘What are you doing here?’

In that room was Celine. A woman who gave off an unsettling feeling.

‘Oh my! A mistake. The Grand Duke’s castle is so big that I got lost.’

Celine left the room as if nothing had happened and handed a torn piece of paper to a passing maid she met outside.

‘Please throw this away.’

But Ben chased after that maid and took the paper. It was an act a butler should never do. A butler should never get involved in the private affairs of nobles. As a man from a family that had produced only the best butlers for the greatest families for generations, he had always strictly followed that rule.

But he couldn’t just stand by and watch his master go out of control.

“Miss Claire, that is, your fiancée, did not want to go.”

“What?”

At Claire’s name, the Grand Duke showed emotion for the first time.

“She held out against the knights for a long time. To the very end. She said she wouldn’t leave until you came back, Your Grace.”

As soon as Ben finished speaking, he handed over a piece of paper that was now an unrecognizable mess. It was the letter he had received from the maid last night, which he had meticulously pieced back together.

`’I will definitely come back. …If you want me to.’`

“That is the letter Lady Ianster left in your room before she departed. I reassembled it after a maid tore it up by mistake.”

The Grand Duke stared at the letter for a long time, his expression unreadable. Only Owen knew that his hand was trembling.

“A maid tore it up by mistake?”

Just then, a messenger came from the gatekeeper knight who guarded the Northern territory.

“The message is that Lady Claire Ianster has left the final Northern territory.”

If he hadn’t received the letter from the butler, Adrian would have drawn his sword right then and there. By the time this news was delivered, Claire would have already left the Grand Duchy. He stood up slowly, holding the letter.

“And Your Royal Highness.”

Owen called out to Adrian, who had turned around to stare into the garden, lost in thought.

“Yesterday, when Miss Claire came back to the carriage in the forest, she said she saw you. Didn’t you meet her?”

“What did you say? She saw me?”

“Yes, late last night, Miss Claire returned to the forest. And she said that you had given your permission for her to leave. And… she cried a lot.”

Adrian looked at Ben, but he was just as confused. At that moment, Butler Ben pleaded again.

“I know this is presumptuous. But I will risk my life to give you this honest advice: this is not the time for you to draw your sword, but to buy flowers. The young lady clearly acted without shame as your fiancée, Your Grace.”

Adrian’s brow furrowed.

“Ben, I know why you’re being so presumptuous, so I will let it slide this once, but I will not forgive this a second time. And Owen, put the plan to go south with the army on hold.”

“Your Royal Highness…”

Ben was so touched that the Grand Duke had heeded his advice that he shed tears.

When Claire had suddenly appeared in this castle, Ben was initially displeased. After all, wasn’t she the woman his master had sought for two years, unable to sleep? What’s more, that woman, with her innocent face, had even brought a man into this house.

Then one day, Ben was managing the garden and saw Miss Claire sitting with the window open. Ben clearly read the emotions that appeared on that expressionless face. It was relief… and pure affection. And at the end of her gaze was the cold Grand Duke of the North, Aurelian Quinze-Nouais. As a loyal butler to his master, the only thing he wanted from a mistress was for her to truly love his master. That was all. So he had no doubt that this woman could save his master. And his master, who had always seemed on the verge of losing control, had visibly stabilized after bringing her into the castle.

His master was a person who didn’t know how deeply he had been wounded. So he didn’t have the ability to judge whether what he was feeling now was pain, longing, or anger and fear.

Adrian dismissed everyone and sat down. Last night, as he was losing consciousness, he had to listen to the terrible voice of the woman sitting by his head, stroking his hair and whispering to him endlessly.

“Adrian, let Claire go. She loves the Crown Prince. You know that too.”

He wanted to shut Celine’s mouth, but he had lost so much blood that he couldn’t move a single finger.

And when he opened his eyes, he wanted to bring Claire back, even if it meant starting a war. The thing he feared most was not death. But he wanted to trust her just one more time.

That woman, who had constantly tormented him with her cruelty, had suddenly brought out a memory she had hidden in the deepest part of his mind and then abandoned him and disappeared at the most painful time of his life. The night Claire disappeared, Adrian stayed awake all night, thinking she might return. But Claire never came back.

This time, too, that woman had ended up unlocking the latch on his heart. And at the moment he felt most at ease, she had betrayed him and left again.

Even after acting as if she would never do that again… as if she would never leave him alone again… as if she genuinely cared.

So he decided to return the exact same method the malicious Claire Ianster had used on him.