Chapter 41

Translator: Nox

Chapter 41

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"Send a messenger at once to deliver orders to the Order of the Glimmering Dawn."

Silence reigned, unchallenged by anyone.

Odelia, who had been listening to the entire meeting, quietly inhaled a trembling breath.

'Bellader Plague.'

An acute fever that started in the port city.

She remembered it clearly.

The identity of the plague, its route of transmission, and its symptoms.

'Before the regression, it was something you resolved in an instant, before the situation could escalate...'

Ludville had identified the cause of the disease before anyone else, quelled the chaos, and devised a cure.

Because he had the memories of countless regressions.

Perhaps he had solved the epidemic almost instinctively.

But this life's him...

'To burn it down.'

Having lost his memories, he no longer has the 'right answer' or a 'shortcut.'

Unlike in the past, this life's Ludville is living without any information about the future.

In that situation, the decision to sacrifice an entire town might be the most realistic and rational judgment, if one were to be cold about it.

If they dawdled and it spread throughout the empire, it would become a terrible hell.

'But if Bellader really burns down...'

Ludville will no longer be a reasonable ruler, but an object of fear for his people.

Moreover, since Bellader is a port city, visitors from other regions and other empires will also be staying there. It won't end as just a rumor circulating in the north as it is now.

There is a risk that the entire empire will remember him as evil.

'You mustn't become such a person.'

Cardel is still called the hero of the empire.

But for her only savior to be branded as the villain of the empire.

Just imagining it made her feel suffocated.

'If I reveal the truth of this epidemic to Ludville and tell him a definite solution...'

Odelia hesitated for a moment.

But she quickly dismissed the thought.

He wouldn't believe it. And he would start by questioning how she knew that fact.

'I have to solve this.'

To do that, she must leave immediately.

That way, she can barely arrive in Bellader before 'that incident' happens.

Odelia packed her bags immediately.

She gathered all the items she had bought while leaving Cardel's territory, each time she moved from village to village.

Having finished her preparations, she finally donned a robe and headed for the carriage route at the back gate.

Just in time, a low-ranking transport unit that had finished replenishing supplies and was preparing to depart caught her eye.

Odelia slipped into the space behind the carriage.

The wheels rumbled and began to move.

* * *

Ludville waited for Odelia in the drawing room.

...He kept waiting.

Time passed relentlessly, and the tea grew cold.

Ludville stared at it with an expressionless face, then suddenly—

Bang—!

Slammed the table hard with his fist.

Edwin watched the teacup float into the air before shattering with a crash, anticipating a catastrophe.

No, it was already a catastrophe.

"...She's not coming."

"Hold on, Your Highness."

He was desperately racking his brain, sweating profusely.

He had to calm his lord down somehow.

'But how?'

Edwin was originally a smooth-talker who could usually get away with anything with his glib tongue, even when big things happened.

But this time...

No matter how hard he tried, he didn't think he could handle this situation.

'To stand up the Grand Duke!'

Just how big is your nerve, Princess!

Even this morning, 'that infamous Iron-Blooded Grand Duke' was slightly more docile than usual.

But now, that subtle warmth had vanished without a trace.

Instead, only a chilling coldness remained, occupying the drawing room.

"Ahem, I'll be out for a moment."

It was when Edwin finally chose to slip away and run that Ludville opened his mouth, as if to stop his escape.

"What's the meaning of requesting an appointment and being four hours late?"

"M-Maybe something urgent suddenly came up...?"

"Urgent business?"

Ludville's lips twisted crookedly.

It was a sneer that was hard to tell whether it was cynicism or self-deprecation.

"The thought of marrying a mad Grand Duke must have made her want to run away."

"Hey, if she was planning to run away, she would have run away a long time ago. She stayed in the castle for fifteen days enduring the Grand Duke, there's no way she would suddenly run away on the fifteenth day..."

That's when it happened.

Suddenly, the captain of the royal guard burst into the drawing room.

"Your Highness, the Princess is missing!"

"......"

"......"

She really... ran away?

Edwin slowly turned his head.

And began to see his lord as a powder keg about to explode.

But the captain of the royal guard continued his report without even taking a breath.

"After checking with the maid in charge, she said that the Princess has not been seen since she headed here for the appointment."

Ludville's eyes changed in an instant.

He asked back with a murderous look.

"Why are you only finding out about this now?"

"The Princess has been staying in the detached palace on the outskirts of the castle and has dismissed all the guards... No, it's just an excuse. I will gladly accept any punishment."

After a brief silence, Ludville adjusted his coat sleeves.

It was a gesture he had repeated habitually, but today, the hand fastening the buttons was unusually rough.

"Track her down immediately. If she's not in the castle, that means she's gone outside."

The captain of the royal guard bowed deeply and ran straight out.

How much time had passed.

Only a few minutes, but a time that felt like an eternity to someone.

The captain of the royal guard opened the drawing room door again and entered.

He continued his report, breathless.

"This afternoon, there is a record of the kitchen carriage transport unit entering and exiting around that time."

Ludville's eyes narrowed in an instant.

At that moment, a single place name flashed through his mind.

"...Bellader."

He muttered as if chanting, then got up from his seat without delay.

And he spat out the conclusion as if he didn't even have time to give orders.

"Saddle up. We're leaving immediately."

"Your Highness!"

Edwin, who had been anxiously watching the captain of the royal guard's report, stopped him in his tracks in horror.

"I'll send troops!"

"No need. I'm going."

"We don't even know what kind of disease is spreading in that city right now, if you rashly go in and get infected...!"

"I'm strong, so I'll be fine somehow."

"What kind of nonsense is that!"

"Didn't you say my recovery is on par with Monsters? My body is so resistant to Demonization that it stopped halfway through, so it won't have a big impact."

Of course, he had said that.

But that's not what I meant when I told you to use it as you please!

"It's all speculation!"

Ludville glanced over his shoulder for a moment, then ignored Edwin's words and strode away.

As soon as he thought that Odelia might have headed to Bellader, his body reacted before he even had time to attach a reason to chase after her.

No one pushed him, and no orders were given.

Why is he moving so urgently?

Reason couldn't give any answers, but his heart had been shouting wildly since earlier.

If he doesn't head there right now, something irreversible will happen forever.

He rode his horse straight to Bellader.

Without slowing down, without looking back.