Chapter 11
The Cursed Girl
Shed didn't offer a lengthy explanation. However, Carlisle and the knights followed his orders like well-trained dogs, rushing downstairs.
Werner, roused from his sleep, was a far cry from his usual neat appearance, his hair disheveled as he blinked and fidgeted.
"Master."
"Liana."
"Yes?"
"Liana Serpens has disappeared."
"L, Lady Liana?"
"Wake everyone up immediately and find out if anyone has seen her."
Shed fastened his belt at his waist, staring out the window at the stables.
As if glaring would make the horses rise and prepare themselves quickly.
Though the conversation was brief, the experienced butler was quick to catch on.
Werner immediately woke the servants in the mansion, asking if they knew where Liana was.
The servants, roused from their early morning sleep because of Liana Serpens, rubbed their eyes and answered irritably.
"Haven't seen her."
"Isn't she sleeping in the back room?"
As the perfunctory answers continued, a large shadow cut through the center of the hallway, drawing closer.
"Surely, she was awake until late, but no one saw her?"
The servants' eyes snapped open at the low, chilling voice. The Duke himself had come to inquire about Liana Serpens' whereabouts.
No one saw Liana escape, or stopped her? With so many people around?
Shed scanned each of the disheveled servants.
Only then did they realize the gravity of the situation.
"W, well… I saw her when we were loading the cart."
A servant, recalling Caroline the head maid's work, quickly answered.
"Precisely."
When? Where?
"It must have been a little after nine at night…? It was when we were loading the cart and finishing up. I saw her passing by the central garden."
Several people nodded at the servant's words.
"And then?"
"After that… I'm not sure. I thought she came to move luggage or check something."
The servants of the Leicester household had seen the newly arrived maid wearing old clothes and passing through the luggage not long ago.
She had a hood draped over her shoulders, but no one paid much attention.
They only recalled what had happened to Caroline the head maid, who had bothered her.
They found the new maid unsettling, unpleasant, and thought that she had cracked the long-standing rules of this Leicester household.
They didn't try to associate with her, didn't speak to her, and didn't care about her.
They thought it was better when she wasn't around.
Therefore, no one paid attention to the unfamiliar maid who had slipped in during the busy time.
Some even saw her leaving with the luggage through the main gate, but that was all.
It was late. A time when a young woman wouldn't leave the mansion alone.
Moreover, it was hard to imagine a woman with a leg injury leaving the mansion empty-handed on such a night.
Besides, Liana Serpens wouldn't know the geography of the Duchy of Lester very well.
Therefore, no one cared that she was passing through the main gate.
Why bother, and risk getting into trouble?
Shed's temples throbbed as he listened to the servant's words.
"So, no one stopped her?"
His voice was as low as usual, but a chill ran down the servants' spines.
Shed glared at the complacent and foolish servants, grinding his teeth.
'Damn it.'
He turned and slammed the door as he left.
The sound of the door closing was so loud that everyone trembled like startled birds.
Creak, the door, unable to withstand the force, twisted and fell to the floor with a thud.
Through the fallen door, they could see Shed's back as he walked down the hallway.
People swallowed hard as they watched his retreating figure.
Larger strides than usual, a faster pace, rough footsteps.
"I, I've never seen the master like that before."
"Damn it. What a mess because of that crazy bitch!"
Even the servants who had worked in the Leicester household for a long time had never seen Shed Lester so agitated.
Their master, who was always cold and composed even when he was scary, seemed to be going mad today.
Werner felt his vision blur in this situation.
'If we don't find that woman, we're all dead.'
He had been wide awake for a long time. A stream of cold sweat trickled down his spine.
Meanwhile, Shed had leaped onto the horse that the groom had brought out.
"She couldn't have gone far. Issue a lockdown immediately and find that woman."
Shed twisted the reins and commanded.
And he thought.
He would have to tighten her leash a little more.
Liana looked down at her leg, which was not yet fully healed.
Blood was clearly seeping through the bandage wrapped around her leg.
The pain had worsened from walking for so long, making it difficult to take even one step.
Her already slow pace quickly became noticeably slower.
'They'll know I'm gone when the sun rises.'
Liana thought, dragging her throbbing leg.
And she even made a slightly hopeful assumption.
That Shed would realize that the fallen lady was not worth bothering with, and wouldn't even try to find her.
Liana entertained a vain hope, then shook her head.
It might be possible, but she couldn't afford to be negligent, relying on such a slim chance.
'At this rate, I'll be caught soon.'
The pursuers would be on horseback, and she would be caught in an instant at this pace.
Moreover, the Duchy of Lester was his territory, so it was only a matter of time before she was caught.
She had to get out of this land before dawn at least.
Liana hid in the darkness and quietly stroked her collarbone.
The crescent moon mark beneath her old clothes.
Liana recalled the sin that was branded on her body as if it were stuck to her.
'Just once.'
Just once, so that she could escape from his grasp.
Calming her trembling heart, she closed her eyes.
At the same time, black mist flowed out over the wound on her leg.
"Ugh…!"
Liana collapsed onto the grass.
A pain that felt like tearing her whole body apart washed over her.
As if making up for years of neglect, the price of her ability was more painful than she remembered.
Her body was instantly soaked in cold sweat, and her muscles spasmed and trembled.
The cheek that had been swollen from being hit by the head maid, and the remaining wound on her leg, burned as if they were being branded.
Liana bit her lip to suppress her moans, tearing at the grass with her pale hands.
Blood flowed from her bitten lip, but even that wound disappeared in an instant, and new flesh grew.
The same was true for the wound on her leg and her cheek.
The deep wound from the dog bite healed monstrously.
The flesh that had been torn to the point of exposing bone began to return perfectly to its original state as if nothing had happened.
The cheek that had been bruised and torn was already clean.
It was only a matter of minutes.
As the pain gradually subsided, Liana collapsed onto the grass and released the breath she had been holding back.
"Haa, haa…"
Lying under the night sky, Liana recalled how terrible she was.
Her miraculously outstanding regenerative ability was one of the curses she possessed.
And Liana didn't know how to kill the demon with this terrifying ability.
She had faced death several times.
But she had always failed to completely cross that threshold.
She shouldn't have looked into the abyss's mirror after all.
"Ugh, ugh…"
Nausea rose at the memory of the past.
"Rejoice. You will live an eternal life, Luise."
The demon she had faced after many years was terribly disgusting.
And the fact that that disgusting demon was herself was unbearably despairing.
Liana cried alone under the night sky, in the pitch-black darkness.
Shed would never know.
How terrible the truth she hid was.
Why she was trying to escape.
Why she was afraid to return to Ideana.
Shed Lester would eventually try to complete his revenge by killing Luise Ideana.
But even if she wanted to grant him that wish, she couldn't.
Liana gripped the hand that was wrapped around her arm tightly. Her stomach twisted with the outpouring of emotions.
She forcibly swallowed the emotions that were tearing at her heart, again and again.
She couldn't afford the luxury of savoring her misery.
If he discovered she was gone, Shed would quickly chase after her.
She had to leave as soon as possible.
Out of Shed's grasp.
Out of the Duchy of Lester.
The sound of hooves pierced the darkness.
The pursuer was ignorant but had a good sense, was persistent, and tenacious.
"She probably couldn't have gone far. If we search this area thoroughly…"
The knights' words were faintly audible.
No, she wouldn't be caught that easily.
Even though he had issued a lockdown and released all his men, his anxiety didn't disappear.
Shed stared at the river in the distance, where the dawn was breaking.
"We're going to the Kellintz River."
The Kellintz River was a long river that separated the Duchy of Lester and the Marlheine Territory.
It was too far for Liana, who had injured her leg, to reach in one night.
Nevertheless, he was uneasy.
It felt as if she had already left this land.
Like grains of sand, she would slip through his fingers and disappear forever, as she had done once before.
His stomach churned.
Uncontrollable anger consumed his reason.
The target of his greatest anger was none other than Shed himself.
Eight years. He had lived for eight years believing she was dead.
The joy he felt when he faced her, whom he thought was dead, was greater than any luck he had ever had in his life.
And now, he wanted to kill himself for being so complacent and missing this precious opportunity.
If he lost her like this…
Crack, the reins he was holding twisted and cried.
He couldn't let go of the ill-fated relationship he had reunited with as if by fate.
'She must have had something to believe in when she ran away.'
The Luise Ideana he knew was a smart and thoughtful person.
She wasn't someone who would make a reckless decision without thinking.
If his guess was correct, Luise would try to cross the river as soon as possible.
Because once she crossed the river, she could escape from Shed's dominion.
In the Marlheine Territory, Shed would have restrictions on moving his soldiers, and it wouldn't be easy to release people recklessly.
While he was getting permission to mobilize soldiers, Liana might get on a ship and disappear to a faraway place altogether.
'I have to catch her before she crosses this land.'
He couldn't just rely on the lockdown.
He rode towards the Kellintz River until the horse was exhausted.
Before he knew it, the dawn was breaking in the distance.
