I pretended to be a maid running an errand and slipped out of the room with an empty tray in my hands.
The two knights standing guard in the hallway paid me no attention. They seemed entirely preoccupied with their card game, hunched over a makeshift table fashioned from a storage crate.
They were imperial knights assigned by Kavala along with the maids—ostensibly for my protection, but more likely for my surveillance.
I walked past them carefully and descended the stairs.
Perhaps because the imperial knights weren't deemed sufficient, Callius's knights stood guard on the floor just below. I spotted a familiar shock of red hair among them and approached quickly.
I was wearing Lamia's cloak with the hood pulled up to cover my head and face, but somehow he recognized me immediately. His eyes widened the moment he saw me.
"Your Highness...?"
"Shhh."
I quickly pressed my index finger to my lips, signaling for silence.
"The imperial knights mustn't know."
I grabbed his sleeve without hesitation and dragged him further down the stairs.
Although I had calmed down considerably thanks to Lamia's embrace, my body was still trembling slightly.
The red-haired knight asked quietly:
"What's wrong? You're shaking."
"There's someone suspicious."
"Pardon?"
"The servant who just brought food to my room! You'll recognize him immediately—he has unusually shaped eyebrows."
The red-haired knight looked puzzled.
"I was standing at the landing the entire time, but no one except the maids went up to the floor where Your Highness was staying."
"...!"
I was speechless with embarrassment. I stammered:
"Is there only one staircase leading upstairs? What about a window? He could have come in through a window. Or maybe he was hiding in another room..."
"Aren't there imperial knights stationed upstairs? If anyone had shown suspicious behavior, wouldn't they have stopped them?"
"My escort knights are people I've never seen before. I don't trust them."
To begin with, I'm not even certain they're really imperial knights at all.
The red-haired knight, hearing my words, looked confused. Then he narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, his expression shifting to something that looked uncomfortably like suspicion.
"But where are Your Highness's maids? Why did you come down alone?"
I flinched involuntarily at that look of distrust.
The faces of other people—people from my past life—suddenly superimposed themselves over the knight's features. Their laughter echoed in my memory.
"They say she's gone mad."
"Has she lost her mind?"
"She keeps lying as if she's obsessed with something."
The laughter of those who had gossiped and mocked me. The gazes of people who had pretended to trust me to my face, then shrugged and dismissed me the moment they turned around.
The violence I'd suffered at Viscount Pelsus's hands had been dismissed as hallucinations, delusions, lies.
All those memories crashed down on me at once.
This person doesn't believe me either.
A feeling of utter helplessness spread through my body—the certainty that nothing I said would matter, that no one would listen.
But.
If I simply give up because they don't believe me, I'll only repeat the same miserable life I lived before.
I opened my eyes wide and glared at the red-haired knight.
"Do you think I'm mad, too?"
He looked greatly taken aback by my direct question.
"What? Oh, no—that's not what I meant at all...!"
"Even if you believe I'm insane, I am here now as the Marchioness of Rodrian. As the Marquis's knight, you have no right to take my words lightly."
I gave him a firm order.
"Go to Marquis Rodrian immediately and tell him what I've said."
"Please, calm down for a moment. I'll speak to the captain—"
It was a strange response.
I frowned, glaring at him.
"If you won't tell the Marquis, I'll tell him myself. Where is he?"
Did my intensity seem fierce enough to frighten him?
The red-haired knight, who had seemed quite composed until this moment, suddenly looked distressed—almost on the verge of tears.
"No! That's not it at all! The lord hasn't returned yet, so Bren—no, Viscount Creep—went to look for him. That's why I was trying to report to the commander right away... I absolutely don't think Your Highness has gone mad...!"
"...!"
No matter how young he appeared, he was much larger than me—and I was genuinely shocked to see a man in full armor on the verge of crying.
Did I... misunderstand?
Even though I was standing in this cold hallway, my face felt suddenly hot.
I said, trying my best to act as if nothing had happened:
"We don't have time to waste. Marquis Rodrian could be in danger. Please report this to your superior immediately."
At that very moment, Callius was outside Abene's outer walls.
The blizzard that had started as soon as the sun set was now raging with brutal intensity. The wind howled and shrieked, blocking vision so thoroughly that it was nearly impossible to see even a few feet ahead.
But Callius rode his horse through the snowstorm as if he were accustomed to far worse.
The white horses of Ronheim were enormous creatures, bred for endurance and resistance to the cold. They moved forward through the deep snow without hesitation.
When Callius reached a deserted area far beyond the town's edge, he dismounted with a calm expression—as if he'd simply come out for a leisurely walk.
He reached for the bag he'd secured to his horse's saddle.
At that moment, a long, eerie sound echoed through the air—something that might have been the wind, or might have been the cry of a child.
Aaaaaaaaaa!
Whioooo!
Callius chuckled softly.
"Why did you come all this way just to complain?"
He pulled something from the bag—dried fish, a delicacy that was extraordinarily difficult to obtain in the northern cities.
"Here. A special treat."
He threw the dried fish far into the distance.
Something flashed past—a blur of movement almost too quick to perceive in the swirling snow.
"I'd like to bring you fresh fish someday, but... that will be difficult for a while yet."
Callius muttered to himself as he reached into the bag again, pulling out several more dried fish in one hand.
He was about to scatter them when he suddenly froze.
"...?"
In this place filled with nothing but the howling of the wind, there was a faint alien sound mixed in with the storm.
The sound of footsteps crunching through snow.
The sound was coming from the direction Callius had just passed through.
Three? Four?
It was impossible to believe that a group of people traveling in this terrible weather, at this late hour, in this remote location, was merely a coincidence.
His expression hardened.
He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Heyaaaa!
Niaaaa!
The strange, wind-like cries he'd heard moments ago now echoed all around Callius—circling him in the darkness.
"Allow me to introduce myself properly. I'm Hawick Blago. Alex gave me a briefing—he said you saw someone suspicious."
The red-haired knight who had introduced himself as Alex had hidden me in another safe room and brought the knight commander.
The commander was a man of brutally honest appearance, with hair cropped so short it revealed his scalp.
It feels like a boulder has come to life and started walking.
If a golem—a legendary monster said to be made of living stone—were to transform into human form, would it look like this?
Even the thick cloak draped over his shoulders couldn't hide the curves of his massively muscled body.
"Lord Hawick."
I spoke calmly, trying to project authority.
"I know the man's identity. He's extremely dangerous. I believe he's been following us since the capital. Is Marquis Rodrian still out?"
"Count Creep has gone to find him, so he should return soon."
Hawick's expression was remarkably indifferent—either because he was simply a man who didn't show much emotion, or because he didn't sense the seriousness of the situation.
"Please rest assured. Other subordinates are searching both inside and outside the quarters for the man Your Highness described."
I said forcefully:
"I heard the Marquis went out alone. He might be in danger. Where exactly did he go?"
Hawick frowned, as if troubled.
"Your Highness, the cats are—"
He stopped mid-sentence.
I thought I had misheard, so I tilted my head slightly.
"What did you just say, Lord Hawick?"
"Ahem."
Hawick coughed, clearly uncomfortable, and answered reluctantly:
"The lord went to check on the cats."
"...Cats?"
"Yes. The snow cats."
I hadn't misheard.
Utterly baffled, I asked again:
"By 'cat'... you mean the small carnivore I'm thinking of?"
"Yes, that's correct. A small carnivore."
I looked back and forth between Hawick and Alex, my confusion mounting.
"What cat? Why did he suddenly need to check on a cat? Where is this cat? What kind of cat is it? Did he have to go right now? What happened—did it run off to a friend's house? Is it a stray?"
A thousand bewildered thoughts flashed through my mind.
Hawick and Alex remained calm yet serious, seemingly oblivious to my utter confusion.
The two of them whispered to each other while glancing at my expression.
"The cats must have been starving while he was away, Captain."
"So it seems he went to feed them in a hurry."
Alex looked out the window.
"The snowstorm is incredibly intense right now."
"Hmm."
Hawick nodded gravely.
What—is THIS the kind of conversation we're having right now?!
I was about to lose my temper entirely when Hawick turned back to me and said reassuringly:
"Don't worry. The lord will be perfectly safe."
"Aren't you going to send people to search for him?"
"His Excellency has ordered that the safety of Your Highness the Princess be given top priority."
The knight commander's face showed absolutely no sign of concern for Callius. Alex, standing beside him, looked equally unconcerned.
Even if Callius's swordsmanship is excellent...
Judging by the fact that Hawick had ordered his subordinates to search the inn, it seemed he wasn't completely ignoring my warning.
But why on earth are they so calm...?
[ To be continued... ]
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