𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟏: 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫
[𝘖𝘵𝘰𝘶-𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘢, 𝘖𝘬𝘢𝘢-𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘢, 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘯. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴’𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.
𝘐 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩, 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘐’𝘮 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘸.
―𝘌𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯]
Anticipating being captured by defeated soldiers or bandits, I prepared a change of clothes, some food, all the money I have, a set of medicines and poisons in a separate building without carrying anything that could identify me. I put my belongings in a backpack and hid it in the bushes before heading to the stable.
“I’m going to take a horse for a run.”
“Then I’ll call for a guard.”
“Sorry about that. Well, I’ll be waiting.”
Without waiting for the arrival of the guard, I casually walked the horse and took out my luggage from the bushes. I made an unreasonable excuse to the gatekeeper, “I’ll be back when I get there,” and quickly left, leaving the gatekeeper behind who was saying something.
“I’ll be back when I get there,” I said, but as soon as I turned the corner, I ran the horse. “Ha! Ha!” I urged the horse. My horse is young. It doesn’t get tired easily.
(Stephan, be alive. I’m coming to get you. No matter what you look like, just be alive)
After running for about an hour, I reached a river. I let the horse rest and gave it water. I also drank water.
“Phew.”
As I was sitting on the grass to rest my legs, I heard the sound of a horse’s hooves. I had a bad feeling and when I turned around, it was Baulder, the captain of my guard.
“I thought it would be something like this, Ellen-sama. Don’t make such a displeased face!”
“Go back and pretend you didn’t find me. I’m going alone. I know more about those mountains than you do.”
“I’m worried about Stephan. It’s just a coincidence that I’m going in the same direction as you. Oh, did you just click your tongue? A lady of the Marquis family.”
“I feel like clicking my tongue. If I had a guard with me, I couldn’t pretend to be a commoner if I was caught. Besides, didn’t Baulder just come back from the war? If something happens to you because of me, I won’t be able to face Baulder’s wife and children.”
“I’ve already talked to my wife and children last night. My son is already fifteen, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“. . .”
“I’ve been serving you since you were in diapers, Ellen-sama. I can see through your thoughts. Don’t underestimate the intuition of a veteran servant.”
“Sigh. . . If I let you accompany me, I’ll be a foolish daughter who bothers her servants.”
“You should be prepared to be called a foolish daughter when you sneak out of the mansion. It’s too late now.”
“Well, I guess so. But Baulder, I’m going to search for Stephan until I’m satisfied.”
“What a coincidence. I feel the same way.”
From then on, we hurried on together. We camped out at night, wrapped in blankets. We arrived in two days on a road that would take five days by carriage.
“Is it around here?”
“There should be a rock shaped like a white eagle about the height of a person nearby. It seems that Prince Ehrlich saw it.”
From there, we walked, leading the horses. We moved forward, clearing branches for the horses. After a while, we arrived at the location of the eagle-shaped rock. I had to come here because I couldn’t explain this place in the depths of the mountains in words.
“It seems he ran down the slope a little from here.”
“Did the royal army search for Stephan?”
“They are soldiers to protect the prince, they wouldn’t do such a thing. It seems they returned to the palace as soon as they found the prince.”
When I left the palace, I checked there.
Although it has faded a lot due to rain and wind, there were traces of people passing by. It’s not just one person’s trace. As we were going down the slope for a while, Baulder spoke to me.
“Ellen-sama, you can track. That’s surprising.”
“I go mountain climbing to look for medicinal herbs and venomous snakes. It’s part of my job to distinguish the traces of mountain creatures to protect myself. Stephan taught me when I was a child.”
“I see.”
Eventually, we reached the river. Eight enemy soldiers’ bodies were scattered around. Stephan’s body was not among them. I tried not to look at the gruesome bodies as much as possible while searching.
We split into two groups to search the area near the river where there was soil. However, there were no continuing footprints on this side. It seemed that they had indeed crossed the river.
We crossed the river and passed through the sparse trees. There were more signs of people having walked here. This time, there were two sets of footprints. Moreover, one set of footprints was small. I wondered what this meant.
As we continued to follow the footprints, we smelled smoke. This meant there were people nearby.
We moved forward, relying on the intermittent smell of smoke and the direction of the wind. We proceeded carefully so as not to be discovered by the defeated soldiers who might be producing the smoke. Eventually, the smell of smoke became stronger.
There was a crumbling charcoal hut. The smoke was rising from there. Baulder and I exchanged glances and retreated back into the mountains.
Many days had passed since Prince Ehrlich said he had parted ways with Stephan.
(I won’t have excessive expectations. But I won’t give up.) I kept repeating this to myself.
・・・
『”ᴀᴡᴇʙsᴛᴏʀɪᴇs.ᴄᴏᴍ” – ᴅɪsᴄᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴀ ᴄᴀᴘᴛɪᴠᴀᴛɪɴɢ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴏғ ʟᴏᴠᴇ, ᴘᴀssɪᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ, ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄᴀɴ ɪɴᴅuʟɢᴇ ɪɴ ᴀ ᴄᴏʟʟᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʀᴀɴsʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs ᴡɪᴛʜ “ᴅᴀɪʟʏ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇs” ᴀɴᴅ ᴇxᴄʟᴜsɪᴠᴇ ᴀᴄᴄᴇss ᴛᴏ “ᴀᴅᴠᴀɴᴄᴇᴅ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs”.』
・・・
“That hut is drawing water from the stream. If there are enemy soldiers, we’ll put paralyzing drugs in the water at night.”
“Do you have any?”
“Who do you think I am?”
“Wow, your smile is dark.”
We kept watch on the hut.
After a while, a thin girl about ten years old came out. She was walking towards the mountains. She had a bow and arrow, so she was probably going hunting. We approached the hut after confirming that the girl was out of sight.
We got close to the window of the hut and listened carefully. There were signs of people. Maybe one or two. Baulder and I exchanged glances and headed towards the entrance.
Baulder drew his sword, forcefully opened the door, and jumped inside. No one made a fuss. So, I also peeked inside through the open door.
Stephan was lying on what looked like a crude straw bed.
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