Chapter 64
At the man’s sarcastic question, her father’s face flushed deep red. He simply had no more words to offer in protest.
Lottie held her back straight, her eyes wide as if to signal she had no intention of getting out, but since her father stepped down from the carriage first, she had no choice but to follow.
“…….”
As Lottie reluctantly stepped out, the man acting as a guard extended a hand toward her with an exaggerated flourish. Lottie coldly ignored his hand and strode down to the ground.
Lottie glared fiercely at the man as he shrugged his shoulders. No matter how much she had been fighting with her father until just a moment ago, she could never stand to see someone else treat him with such contempt.
“Well then….”
After the coachman also stepped down, the man climbed into the carriage.
Staring him down with her arms crossed, Lottie noticed that the nape of the man’s neck was far too pale for a common guard. The black hair covering his neck was also far too messy to belong to a member of the Royal Army.
‘Come to think of it….’
If they were conducting a search under royal orders… shouldn’t they have shown the warrant first?
“Found it.”
Just as the questions swirling in her mind reached their peak, an exclamation drifted out from inside the carriage. When the man emerged, he was holding a brown pouch, its contents unknown.
“Contraband was found in your carriage. You’ll have to come with us for a moment….”
“Wait just a minute.”
As the man approached her father, Lottie called out to stop him. Seeing a jawline so elegant it was hard to believe it belonged to a soldier beneath the brim of his hat, Lottie felt certain.
“Are you from the Border Checkpoint?”
“That is… correct?”
The man replied. Unlike when he had dealt with her father, Lottie could sense a hint of wariness in him now.
Not wanting to be intimidated, Lottie looked the man straight in the eye beneath his hat. In the shade, his eyes were a blue-gray color rarely seen in Matila.
“Could you state your name and rank? It’s difficult to hand over our persons before confirming you actually belong to the Border Checkpoint.”
“Did you not hear me say this was a royal order?”
“Then show us the warrant. A document proving that we are being detained under His Majesty’s name, and not by some nameless rogue.”
The man took a step back. Lottie stepped forward exactly as much as he retreated. It might have been better if she had looked angry, but Lottie’s eyes were chillingly clear.
“You’d better choose your words very carefully. A royal order takes precedence over a lord’s command, but if you’re a rogue and a fraud impersonating royal authority….”
“……!”
“……you’ll find out exactly what kind of horrific things can happen to you in this County.”
After Lottie’s low, almost gloomy whisper ended, the surroundings became as silent as a grave. Only the sound of birds chirping could be heard.
While the coachman Jonas stood with his mouth agape and her father stared in shock, Lottie calmly awaited the man’s reaction.
The man froze, his arms raised in an awkward posture, and said nothing.
“Now….”
Now?
At that moment, an incredibly loud shout erupted from the man’s red lips beneath the brim of his hat.
“Seize them! Right now!”
Before she could even process what that meant, three or four sturdy men burst out from the bushes. All of them were well-built and dressed in the same navy military uniforms as the man.
“Lo—Lottie!”
“Father! Jonas!”
“My ladyyyyy!”
The shouts of her father and Jonas calling for Lottie grew distant in an instant. The men, who had slung her father and Jonas over their shoulders in a flash, began to run off with the man.
Just as a panicked Lottie tried to give chase, someone grabbed her right arm from behind.
“Don’t make a scene and just follow….”
“Kyaaaaaakh!”
Lottie, her right arm caught, swung her fist the moment she turned around.
Just before the fierce punch could put a hole in his face, the opponent quickly caught her fist. It was a reflex he wouldn’t have possessed if he hadn’t come from a long line of warriors.
‘What kind of noble girl moves this fast…?’
“Calm down and listen to me… Argh!”
His words were cut short by Lottie, who delivered a clean kick right between his legs.
The opponent, collapsed by a single kick from a lady, writhed in silent, unspeakable agony. Just as Lottie, half out of her mind, tried to chase after her father and Jonas, the man scrambled up and stubbornly grabbed her again.
“Please, just listen to me!”
“Did Padrick send you? If he did, say so! I’ll make sure to aim my kick properly this time!”
Lottie growled at him, lifting the hem of her skirt.
Whether he was from a prestigious warrior family or not, he instinctively reached for his lower half before squeezing his eyes shut and opening them again.
“This crazy woman is determined to end my family line… Ugh.”
This time, a fist came flying. He reflexively leaned back, but the punch grazed his hat, knocking it off.
Lottie, who had been gathering strength in her right leg with the resolve to ruin three generations of his family, froze in place the moment her eyes met his.
‘This man… why is he here?’
— Have you finished the external search?
— Yes. There are no signs of intrusion. To think the Padrick III family would flee here….
— Search every inch of the castle. That man is the type to hide in the room of a confined Queen just to save his own skin.
The sky of Fulton, dyed red by the flames of war.
Dark teal hair mixed with black, bronze-tanned skin, sharp and dry features, and the golden eyes that stood out remarkably among them. Even the navy military uniform triggered memories she had forgotten for a while.
It was the face of the adjutant who had carried out orders by the side of the tyrant who started the civil war.
‘Why is this man… at this point in time… in front of me….’
The loud sound of shelling began to ring in her ears, making it hard to breathe. It felt as if the pain of the gunshot wound she had completely forgotten was coming back to life.
“……? What? What’s wrong?”
Mikhail asked Lottie, furrowing his thick eyebrows. Lottie’s face looked as if she had seen someone who had died and come back to life.
‘Well, in a way, it’s true that she’s seen someone who died and came back.’
Recalling the unpleasant pain from a moment ago, Mikhail cleanly abandoned any thought of checking on Lottie’s condition and pulled her by the arm.
“Follow me. Your father will return without any harm, so rest assured….”
“Is it Calyx?”
Lottie, who was being pulled along obediently, asked blankly. To dare speak her lord’s name so casually. As Mikhail looked back with a displeased gaze, Lottie asked again with eyes that had become relatively clear.
“The one who made you do this, was it him?”
“Yeah. But so what?”
“And you’re certain nothing will happen to my father?”
“I told you. He just separated you for a bit because you couldn’t move an inch because of your father. If you hadn’t jumped in the middle of it, things wouldn’t have….”
“Then that’s enough. I’ll go on my own feet, so let go.”
Lottie, cutting off Mikhail’s grumbling sharply, shook off his hand.
‘This woman, seriously.’
Mikhail glared at Lottie as she walked ahead with quick steps, as if she hadn’t just been raging like a mad bull moments ago.
To feel this much murderous intent upon meeting someone for the first time. At any rate, she was definitely an unpleasant woman.
“And.”
Lottie, walking a few steps ahead, suddenly turned back to Mikhail.
“My name is Charlotte Evanshire.”
“And?”
“If you aren’t going to be properly polite to a Count’s daughter, don’t call me ‘hey’ or ‘you,’ call me properly. Unless you want to get beaten until you’re covered in dust in this County.”
Lottie walked on with haughty steps, leaving Mikhail speechless and stammering. Her movements were decisive, as if she knew exactly where to go.
Mikhail, staring blankly at the hem of her fluttering dark green dress as it moved further away, revised his earlier assessment.
That woman isn’t just unpleasant.
She’s just a bad woman.
The two walked through the forest path in silence.
Lottie was the one leading the way the entire time, while Mikhail followed behind her, muttering under his breath.
After walking for about thirty minutes, a fork in the road appeared. The left path was dense with trees and barely caught any sunlight, while the right path was a dirt road with many signs of human passage.
“From here, I’m going alone.”
Lottie threw the short remark at Mikhail and tried to head down the left path without hesitation. A surprised Mikhail reflexively grabbed Lottie’s arm, but she immediately swatted it away.
“Didn’t you hear that His Highness is waiting at Lake Mofit?”
“I heard.”
“Then why are you trying to crawl into a place that doesn’t even look like a path when there’s a perfectly good road right there?”
“Because it’s a shortcut.”
Lake Mofit and the Poplar Forest were places Lottie had run around in like her own home since she first started walking.
While Mikhail struggled to find more words to say in response to her sharp answer, Lottie lifted the hem of her dress slightly and took a step into the thicket.
“Don’t follow me.”
As if she had forgotten something, Lottie looked back at Mikhail. Mikhail had one foot raised, about to follow after her.
“Unless you want to witness an embarrassing scene between His Highness and me by following us without any sense.”
It was unclear which part of her statement was more effective, but thanks to it, Mikhail pulled back with a face as if he had chewed on a bug.
Lottie stepped firmly into the thicket, leaving Mikhail behind.
The grass that had been tickling her ankles grew long enough to reach her waist as she moved further in.
— Yes. There are no signs of intrusion. To think the Padrick III family would flee here….
In fact, she could have taken the smooth right path as the man suggested. Even if it was a shortcut, the time saved was negligible compared to the effort required.
— Search every inch of the castle. That man is the type to hide in the room of a confined Queen just to save his own skin.
She was running away. Because every time she saw that man, memories of that day she had forgotten came back so vividly, she was practically fleeing.
‘To where?’
The grass that had reached her waist was now up to her shoulders. Without even realizing her gloves were wearing out, Lottie pushed through the dense grass frantically.
Surely the view should have opened up by now, but not a single ray of light was visible. It felt like being trapped in bottomless water.
— What is meant to happen will happen.
Amidst the rustling of the grass, the chirping of birds and insects, the distant sound of water, and Lottie’s heavy breathing, her great-aunt’s words from long ago became intertwined.
At some point, Lottie stopped pushing through the thicket and squinted her eyes.
“……Ah.”
As she lowered her hands which had been shielding her eyes, a dreamlike landscape appeared. Lottie let out a short sigh.
In the middle of a lawn of neatly trimmed green grass, there was a lake that held the bright blue summer sky.
Short grass grew like a fence around the edge of the mirror-like lake, and on the other side of the lake, there was a long wooden deck and a bungalow.
And that man.
A beautiful yet dangerous man, sitting on a large rock and gazing at the lake with hollow eyes.
— Sister-in-law.
Sensing a presence, Calyx turned this way and smiled radiantly, as if he had never been otherwise. Just like the tyrant who had smiled chillingly while pointing a gun at her.
