Chapter 3
The road to Maese was rough. They had to cross mountain passes and traverse rivers. Lying inside a large black box in the cargo bed of the rattling carriage, Chloe had lost consciousness as if oblivious to day and night.
They managed to pass through two checkpoints safely thanks to Mary’s quick wits.
With a thick bundle of clothes stuffed under her dress, Mary screamed as if she were about to give birth on the spot, so the Emperor’s soldiers didn’t even dare inspect the back of the carriage and let them through.
After getting off the carriage and barely managing to push and pull it up the mountain, the small port city of Maese came into view below them.
Redmon spoke softly toward the back of the carriage.
“Lady. We will arrive in Maese shortly. Please hold on a little longer.”
The unconscious Chloe couldn’t even answer.
It was right then. A group kicking up a cloud of pure white dust was spotted coming from below the hill.
Instinctively, the hair on the back of Redmon’s neck stood on end. He immediately signaled to Mary with a look.
It was a group wearing silver armor that sparkled so brightly in the sunlight it was dazzling. The man leading at the very front was as massive as a house, and even the horse carrying him was extraordinary. They were a group without any family crest.
Knights moving in secret without a flag?
Thinking she might need to act again, Mary pressed a hand to her stomach and scowled.
Fortunately, the knights, who were riding at a frightening speed, passed right by their carriage.
“Whoa, whoa!”
However, the fierce cry of a horse burst from the group of knights, and as the black horse at the very front stopped, the knights following behind came to a halt as well.
Even so, Redmon pretended not to notice and did not stop the carriage.
“Ugh!”
Tristan clutched his chest, feeling the pain hit him once again.
“Your Grace!”
It was the first time since last night’s dream. She had crossed his mind again, and an agonizing pain assailed him in the exact same places as her wounds.
“Are you alright!”
Simon rode up beside him.
“I don’t know the cause. It feels as though I’ve been stabbed with a sword…”
At the end of his words, his gaze settled on the carriage.
Soon, Tristan gave a slight nod toward Simon. Crimson blood was visibly trickling down through the floorboards of the carriage.
“Halt!”
Simon rode his horse toward the carriage.
“State your identity.”
Redmon lowered his eyes, intentionally trying to appear foolish and simple.
“My wife is in labor, so we are heading to a physician in Maese.”
Right on cue, Mary grimaced, complaining that her stomach hurt.
“What is inside that black box loaded on the carriage!”
When Redmon hesitated, one of Tristan’s knights dismounted.
“Your Grace. It’s human blood.”
“Oh my, human blood? How could that be!”
Mary raised her hands in horror and waved them around.
The knight approached and yanked the black box open with force.
“Ugh!”
The knight covered his nose at the stench of blood.
“What is this!”
“We slaughtered a pig. When we reach Maese, I plan to sell the pig to pay for my wife’s medical bills.”
Inside the box lay a dead pig, dripping with bright red blood.
Satisfied that it was enough, Tristan turned his horse around.
“Ugh…!”
Tristan’s groan echoed once more.
“Your Grace!”
“I am fine. Hurry, let’s make haste.”
Delayed by the brief incident, Tristan’s knights turned their horses toward Montfier.
As they moved further away from the carriage, Tristan’s pain began to subside.
“Redmon, hurry and drive the carriage! It’s the mistress’s blood!”
“I know. I’m already going as fast as I can. If I go any faster, the carriage wheels will pop off. So please, just hold on a little longer.”
“The mistress is going to die like this!”
Thanks to placing a wooden board over where Chloe lay and putting the dead pig on top of it, they were able to safely evade the men clad in silver armor.
From that point on, they had no idea how they managed to navigate down the mountain path in their frenzy. By the time the carriage arrived at the house of the Maese physician, Louis, the sun had already set and it was dark.
Redmon surveyed the surroundings and quietly knocked on the back door. The door opened, and a young doctor placed a finger to his lips. Grabbing his medical bag, he stepped up into the carriage.
“The Emperor’s soldiers barge in several times a day. So, it is dangerous here. I know a safe place. Let’s go there.”
Thirty minutes later, the carriage entered a quiet forest. Heading toward the spot Louis pointed out, they pulled up in front of a small cabin.
“No one knows about this place. Quick, let us move the Lady inside.”
Mary walked toward the black box, fighting back tears.
“Miss, Miss… sob.”
After Redmon and Louis cleared away the dead pig and lifted the wooden board, Chloe was lying there as if dead.
Louis placed a finger near the tip of Chloe’s nose and said urgently,
“Her breathing is weak. Quick, let us move her inside.”
Bursting into tears at those words, Mary grabbed the food basket and ran to the cabin.
“I’ll make soup. The mistress needs to eat something.”
Examining Chloe by placing his hands on her body, Louis pulled his hands back in shock.
“Infection from the iron weapon has spread. She could die. Her fever is far too high.”
When Redmon scooped Chloe up and moved her to a small bed, Chloe was in a horrific state.
Louis called for Mary.
“Bring hot water. We need to undress the Lady and wipe her down.”
With an anxious face, Redmon kept stoking the fire with firewood.
The sole survivor of Montfier was lying in that room. The noble bloodline of Montfier, the most exalted in the Brack Empire.
Chloe Montfier—the last survivor of pure Montfier blood, possessing the ability to control animals.
The Emperor’s army had suddenly stormed in and obliterated the Montfier Ducal House under the pretext of high treason. Everyone inside the castle was slaughtered.
What made it even more heartbreaking and infuriating was that Montfier’s fiancé, Tristan Stark of Amast, had sided with the Emperor.
Redmon had clearly seen troops clad in the armor of the gray wolf brutally suppressing the castle. Those were the sights Redmon had witnessed from atop the hill while stomping his feet in helplessness, unable to enter the castle.
“Damn Stark.”
Perhaps Tristan Stark was even worse than the Emperor. To betray his own fiancée’s family…
“Lady. Please, just stay alive. Please.”
Clenching his teeth, Redmon threw more firewood into the hearth.
Around dusk, as the sun was setting, Tristan arrived at Montfier Castle. And he stood speechless before the gruesome scene.
“…Everything I saw in my dream turned out to be true.”
Flocks of pitch-black crows gathered around the heads of the Duke and Duchess impaled on pikes. Tristan gestured for his men to retrieve the couple’s heads and bodies.
Collecting the remains of those framed for high treason was forbidden by law, but Tristan paid it no mind.
His knight approached.
“Your Grace. They say the Emperor’s army launched a surprise attack on charges of treason—alleging secret communications with the Petra Empire.”
“Treason?”
A dumbfounded chuckle escaped Tristan’s lips.
The Duke of Montfier—the most rigid, principled, and fiercely loyal man in this empire—committing treason? It made no sense. Of course, when the Emperor mobilized his army, there must have been definitive evidence.
“I had better hope the Emperor didn’t make a mistake.”
Having created a tomb for the Duke and Duchess of Montfier, who could have once been his father-in-law and mother-in-law, he paid his respects.
“Duke Montfier. If there is any injustice, I will uncover it all. Please, be happy in heaven.”
Tristan instructed his knights.
“Burn the castle.”
The burning Montfier Castle reflected in his fiery red eyes.
Before burning the castle, the knights searched it one last time, but the body of his fiancée, Chloe Montfier, could not be found.
If his dream held entirely true, she must have fallen from the spire into the sea below.
“Chloe Montfier.”
At the end of those words, he clutched his chest again.
“Ugh!”
This time, the pain was so severe that he had to grab hold of a tree.
“Your Grace! Why have you been like this since yesterday?”
Simon approached with a worried face.
Whenever he thought of Chloe Montfier, pain coursed through his body.
Is she punishing me from beyond the grave? Because I did nothing while you died, while your parents died? Tristan clutched his chest once more.
Six Months Later
Dr. Louis’s carriage pulled up before Stark Castle, the iron fortress of Amast. As the drawbridge lowered, Louis drove the carriage forward.
“Miss Chloe.”
“Shh! Call me Leona. Mary, you’re going to get us caught!”
Mary, her curly brown hair tied back, pouted her lips.
“Louis and I wouldn’t get caught if our lives depended on it. You’re the one who needs to be careful, Leona.”
Leona—now sporting red hair after dyeing her golden locks, which once seemed impossible to hide, with henna leaves—spoke up boldly.
“I told you not to worry about me.”
Still anxious, Mary shook Louis’s arm.
“Louis. Is Leona really going to be okay?”
“Why? Are you afraid Leona will get caught because she’s too pretty?”
At that, Leona cupped her cheeks with both hands and beamed brightly.
“Sigh. I joined in because they said this was the only way into Stark Castle, but this really makes no sense. A lady who can’t even sew a single stitch becoming a maid?”
Feeling aggrieved, Leona twitched the bridge of her nose.
“I learned from you, didn’t I?”
Mary pulled out a handkerchief embroidered with horribly crooked sunflowers and waved it.
“You call this embroidery?”
Paying it no mind, Leona glared at the massive Stark Castle.
“Don’t worry. I will make sure to sever Tristan Stark’s neck and avenge my parents.”
The carriage was passing through the iron gate beyond the drawbridge.
