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And finally, what I was riding on came to a stop. It was clear we'd been driving on an unpaved road the whole time. My whole body ached.
The bastards who dragged me out sat me down on a chair, sack and all.
I felt my hands being tied behind my back.
A sob escaped.
Was this a pointless thing to do?
My heart was pounding. Damn it, Evelyn. Stupid Evelyn.
I threw myself to save Veronica, but now I thought I might die instead.
Tears flowed on their own. I didn't know it would be this scary.
Still, I believe Cerden will come to save me.
Veronica was a bright person.
She was overwhelmed by the situation, but she was quick to judge, so she'll guess why I disappeared.
That I disappeared in Veronica's place. She's a good person, so she'll feel guilty and I believe she'll never give up on me.
And Duke Spelman.
……I can never trust him.
He was the kind of person who would kill me to erase the evidence.
My mouth was going dry.
Just then, I heard the sound of shoes.
The person who came close to me sighed. A cinnamon-scented cigar smell spread. He must have deliberately blown smoke at me.
"Lady, with just one word from me, you could have been sold off as a concubine to some old noble in the distant south. The fact that I didn't do that is what you call mercy."
My heart dropped at those words.
It was a familiar voice. Full of sarcasm.
"Wouldn't it be much better to protect your honor and die like this than to wither away as an old noble's concubine?"
He was full of laughter. He was sure of his victory.
You stupid bastard! You failed.
"Don't feel wronged that you're leaving like this today. The fact that you've been alive until now was also my mercy."
The thing covering my head was removed.
What I felt was familiarity. It wasn't a memory from my own experience. It was something Evelyn had.
A musty, dusty smell.
Snot mixed with tears flowed down my face. I caught sight of shoes.
I must be a mess, covered in sweat. Goosebumps rose all over my body. Familiar memories slowly surfaced. Evelyn's memories. It was something I had never experienced, so. And the only one who could plant these memories in Evelyn was…….
I slowly raised my head.
Duke Spelman.
"Oh, my daughter."
Duke Spelman muttered as if he was troubled. He recognized my eyes.
"F-Father……."
Duke Spelman sighed and squatted down in front of me. Our eyes met at roughly the same level.
Duke Spelman brushed the hair stuck to my cheek with his finger. He was acting affectionate, but I know there wasn't a trace of warmth in his eyes.
He's calculating.
What to do with me.
My toes curled up and I felt like I was going to throw up my heart.
And I knew what to do in this situation. It was a memory engraved in my body.
"F-Father! Waaaaah! I was so, so scared!"
I burst into tears and thrashed around. Duke Spelman frowned.
"Father came to save me, right! He came to pick up Evelyn! Hicc! Bad mister and…… bad ladies…… Evelyn……."
I deliberately spoke more like a child.
When I was young, I had been locked in dark, dusty, enclosed spaces a few times.
It happened when I didn't listen to Duke Spelman. When the punishment he had given was over, the Duke would come to pick me up himself.
Evelyn had seen Duke Spelman as a god.
The person who had made her despair, but the only one who could save her. She would throw her young body at Duke Spelman and cling to him.
"Is that so, Evelyn."
"F-Father…… let's go home quickly. I want to go home. Hicc! I want to go to my husband!"
I was dripping snot and tears. My body was trembling like an aspen.
The rope binding my body was untied. I leaned my body towards Duke Spelman as it was.
I hugged Duke Spelman tightly.
Please, please. Let it work!
"F-Fatheraaaa."
I buried my face in Duke Spelman's neck and gasped for breath. As if relieved, as if I had been waiting.
As if seeing a god.
"Let's go……."
Duke Spelman hugged my back. At that moment, a sense of relief washed over me.
He believes me.
He thinks I'm still a clueless idiot!
"Yes, we have to go home. With your father."
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them. The tears that had welled up fell in drops. The sound of sobbing mixed with my ragged breathing came out naturally.
I looked around.
It looked like an unfinished construction site.
I know where this is.
The Natural History Museum.
As expected, it was related to that place.
I remembered that there was a place where construction hadn't been completed even though it had reopened. They called it a material warehouse.
I thought that might be the place.
Duke Spelman patted my back.
"This father will punish the bad men."
I knew what Duke Spelman's intentions were. He failed to eliminate Veronica, so he was trying to return to his position. He couldn't just lose without gaining anything.
Even if it was just pretending to be a hero who saved his daughter.
"Yes, yes. Hicc."
I answered diligently, taking in everything in this place. Someday I will repay all of this.
Somehow.
Duke Spelman stroked my back. He took me outside. I confirmed once again that it was the Natural History Museum.
Duke Spelman was a rotten lifeline, but he would save me today.
"Evelyn."
At that moment, my sobs burst out at the voice I heard.
When I turned my head, I saw the person I had been waiting for. Cerden. My husband.
Cerden was approaching us. Cerden opened his arms and I threw myself into them. I clung to him like a cicada and hugged him tightly.
Duke Spelman let me go willingly.
"Husband! Hicc!"
Tears were flowing non-stop. My head was spinning.
"Ha. This troublemaker."
My breath burst out at the softened voice. The scent of wood filled my lungs.
He came to save me. He really came. He didn't abandon me.
That sense of relief washed over me. My impulsive gamble had succeeded. Cerden was here.
I can go back.
I realized how precious the boring and frustrating daily life I had felt was.
Just like that…… my consciousness faded.
* * *
Cerden, holding Evelyn in his arms, stared at Duke Spelman. His frozen, cold gaze seemed to dissect Duke Spelman.
"You've come all the way here, Your Highness. I was going to send her back on my own."
Duke Spelman said with a laughing voice. A sharp gaze swept over Cerden.
Now that he saw it, the kitten had grown into a tiger.
He thought he was hunting, but he was being chased from behind. Oliver Hall wasn't his trap, but Cerden's trap.
He realized that he had been tailed the whole time.
The knights behind Cerden were familiar. They were the servants he had bumped into all day at the banquet hall.
And one more person.
The man who revealed himself wearing a servant's uniform was grinning. He was the guild leader of the annihilated assassination guild.
He was supposed to have disappeared, but he had fallen into Cerden's grasp.
"I see. Still, can I just stand by and do nothing after losing my wife?"
Cerden said coldly.
"I'm so glad you cherish my daughter."
Duke Spelman laughed. Duke Spelman's people appeared from behind him.
"Fortunately, all the criminals have been caught. They dared to kidnap my daughter, the Crown Princess, so they paid the price."
He could see the people who had already become cold corpses.
Spelman's style of erasing traces.
Cerden's gaze returned to Spelman. This time too, Evelyn had fearlessly sacrificed herself. She had thrown herself to save Veronica.
Spelman had failed, but Cerden's strategy had also failed.
He had tried to catch them in the act and put a noose around their necks, but he couldn't.
But he wasn't angry.
Rather, he was pleased with this small body in his arms.
He felt relieved.
Strangely enough.
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