Chapter 18: 18

Translated and edited by: Sleepypanda

***

“How long has it been since I lost consciousness?”

“… about that”

The doctor audibly gulped. To ease the tension the doctor nervously shook his hands.

“Answer me”

Devan’s voice, which was lower than usual, sounded even more menacing than usual.

A moment of silence followed. Unable to stand it, Devan tried to get up. The old butler noticed and hurried forward.

“Your Highness. The day Your Highness lost consciousness…”

The room was so silent that the sound of the butler swallowing could be heard throughout the room.

“… It’s been a year.”

“…What?”

Devan opened his mouth with a blank look.

The butler attempted to avoid eye contact by looking down.

Karen took a step forward, licking her lips to try to stall saying anything.

“Your Highness…

“… Was there anything else?”

“Actually… Lady Evelyn is gone.”

***

(Evelyn’s perspective)

It was a strange sensation. My body was full of energy, and I felt like there was nothing to fear at all and everything was under his feet.

I opened my eyes wide. I could see the ceiling again with a lion on it, and looking at the window, it seemed pretty deep into the night.

I tried to recall what I could remember. The treatment had failed — that much was obvious even in the midst of the confusion. I lost to that black creature.

So… I had to run away. Right now.

The kitchen was obviously closed at eleven o’clock. To escape, I had to cross the kitchen and go over the fence. I slowly creeped out of bed to avoid Hilda’s watch. Holding a package of brooches and gold coins in my arms that I had prepared in advance, I left the room.

Right next to me was Hilda’s room, which I entered without hesitation as the door was unlocked. I quickly changed into Hilda’s clothes, picking out a black robe that was nondescript. It was different from the colorful dresses that the butler bought for me, which was inconvenient to go out in and would stand out in a crowd. Standing in front of the mirror and checking my clothes, I took a deep breath.

It felt really strange. I had obviously used all my divine energy, but my mind was completely clear. My body seemed to know immediately what to do, and I had this sense that everything would go my way. Carefully I exited Hilda’s room and walked quickly down the corridor, arriving at the Great Hall. To the left was the kitchen, but I had to stop somewhere first to secure a key.

The only person that Devan would trust in this castle was the butler. The butler stayed in the annex that was past the right corner of the Great Hall.

I tried to take a step towards the right and stopped. I felt an unseen pressure that was pushing me to head towards the kitchen. It was extremely odd.

Heeding my instincts, I reversed course and headed towards the kitchen on my left. When I reached the kitchen door, it seemed to open automatically with a metallic clinking sound. It was odd — it felt like I had opened the door with my power. But while I felt weird, it wasn’t scary at all.

Entering the kitchen, I opened the window and looked down. It looked dark and frightening, but I had to do it. There was a step that I could use to climb down. Since arriving at the Grand Duke’s residence, I had deliciously fulfilling meals so my stamina was better than before. On top of that, I had divine power to help me out as well, meaning that even if I got hurt, I could recover immediately so long as I didn’t die. Putting a gag in my mouth to muffle the noise, I tried to be as quiet as possible to make sure that no soldiers around me would notice me.

The feeling in my head started to talk again — did I really need that level of effort?

Following that instinct again, I felt confident that I could climb down this wall easily without that much effort. Grabbing the window frame I slowly lowered myself, and carefully stepped on the bricks that formed a landing for me. It was hard to believe that I, who had never exercised properly in my life, could climb down this wall with such ease.

Carefully climbing down and holding the bricks that I formerly used as a landing. The doubts became louder, and it was when I could feel the fear in my mind that I suddenly slipped as I was stepping down on my right foot.

Losing my balance, I collided with the wall and stifled a scream. I could feel my heart sinking. Trying to calm down, I took a moment and looked down — it was less than two meters to the ground.

A single thought later, my body seemed to move through the air, floating gently and landing softly on the ground.

“Huh…”

I quickly looked around. I couldn’t see or sense another person around me. Now I was facing the fence I had to cross as I had originally planned. The main gate was guarded by soldiers and locked securely, so I had to swim over the fence and down the river…

But following my instincts, I headed over boldly to the front gate. As I thought, it was guarded by two soldiers.

Thinking about what to do, I tilted my head as I blinked and opened my eyes.

Boom!

“Huh?”

“What’s this sound?”

“I think it came from there…”

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A small explosion broke out in the garden on the opposite side, and the soldiers hurried to check out the source of the noise.

Did I do that? I was definitely trying something like it…

I looked down and clenched my fist. It was strange, but now was not the time to worry. Hurrying over to the main gate that was now clear of soldiers, I was confident that opening the locked door would be a piece of cake.

Looking at the door something felt off.

“A barrier?”

Probing the barrier with my powers I could hear an unpleasant noise. It was unsurprising — after all, there was no way the Grand Duke would have left the protection of the entire castle to only a handful of soldiers. The barrier felt quite high level too.

But even this would be a cakewalk for me. I had the feeling that I could pierce through the barrier quite easily. Slowly, I walked towards the barrier. There was a sharp rupture as if I were ripping through a veil, but I couldn’t see or feel any wounds on my body. Leaving the door I took a look back. Only one of the towers was lit in the dark with a pale fire.

It was Devan. I could tell as much from intuition. Had he woken up? Or did he not realize that the butler was standing by him right now?

Had Cordelia met you in this state, she would have broken the curse and fallen for you immediately.

“…I’m sorry”, I muttered into the night. Suddenly I groped my neck, feeling to check if the yellow pendant I had always worn was there. “The pendant…”

My heart was pounding. When did I lose it? Was it when I climbed down the wall? Perhaps it was when I had slipped — it could have easily fallen off when I fell against the wall.

What should I do? Should I go find it again?… But calming myself, I realized as I shook my head.

I didn’t need the pendant anymore. There would be no need to meet Devan again, so there was no need to smell of daisies in front of him anymore.

“Maybe this is a good thing.”

This would be the final goodbye to this place. Turning slowly, I suddenly heard the sounds of horses and whipped my head around to look.

There was a bright red light shining above the hills. It seemed like a large group of people were coming my way.

I hurried across the bridge, and into the forest. Today even the moon was covered by the clouds. Luckily I didn’t have a single light so I couldn’t be recognized in the darkness.

Suddenly I could feel goosebumps rising on my skin. My body stiffened in fear. I could barely turn my neck and looked in the direction of where I could hear the horses coming from. I could barely see anything, but I could feel it instead.

A tenacious gaze. Golden eyes that were filled with greed. I had clearly said tomorrow – why was he here now?

Killian.

Dragging his immobile body, he seemed to be coming towards me. If I get caught now, it was all over. Jumping up for speed I ran into the forest. The tall trees seemed to have a foreboding aura and there was nothing but darkness, but I ran like crazy nonetheless.

Sharp branches tore at my skin and I tripped over some rocks but I couldn’t stop.

I couldn’t miss this last chance.

***

“Lady Evelyn is gone.”

Devan couldn’t understand what he just heard.

A year where he was unconscious, and Evelyn was gone.

“What do you mean she’s gone?”

“The night you collapsed — she disappeared without saying a word”, the butler replied.

“Hmm… Why?”

“What do you mean, Sire?”

“Didn’t you say the curse was lifted?” As Devan’s gaze turned to the doctor, the doctor responded with a bow.

“Oh, yes. That’s right. The curse has been lifted.”

“…so she could have just collected the payment and leave.” So why?

Silence filled the room. What reason would she have had to leave in such a hurry after I had collapsed? She had been so obsessed with money. Karen interjected as Devan’s confusion grew.

“Actually… it would be more correct to say she ran away.”

“Ran away?”

Suddenly Devan remembered something that Evelyn had mentioned before about running away from the empire, leaving with money and jewels.

“Run away? From whom?”

“Yes, sire?”

Was she really trying to run away from the empire?

“For what reason would she want to run?…”

Was she trying to run away from me?

Devan’s face contorted.

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