The Reason Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion

“Langston!”

Francis Brooks opened the door wide and called for Langston. He sounded desperate.

Francis Brooks!

Raeliana glared at him and he frowned, looking away.

“What’s the matter?” 

“Behind us.”

Francis spared the details and gestured his head toward the back.

Making a sound, Langston helped himself up, and walked toward Francis. They exchanged a serious conversation.

Then, Langston stuck his head out toward the back to confirm what Francis was saying.

Is something happening?

Raeliana tried to look for herself but the window was too high for her to take a peek.

Tsk. Langston clicked his tongue.

“Abandon the carriage. We’re going into the woods.”

She could hear Langston telling Francis to ‘take the woman.’ Looking reluctant, Francis nodded in compliance and entered the cargo where Raeliana was.

Langston took the reins, drove the carriage to where the trees were dense enough to hide them and stopped the carriage.

“Francis Brooks.”

Raeliana called angrily in a low tone, but he did not answer.

Francis approached Raeliana with a stiff face. Every time he moved, the dagger on his belt rattled.

Chewing on her lips, Raeliana lightly opened and clenched her fist.

Francis came closer to her and loosened his belt. Then, he ripped the veil of the dress to tie her wrists.

“Francis.”

“Don’t blame me. If you had married me, everything would have gone smoothly.”

Raeliana threw a glance sneakily at the open door.

“And you were going to let me live after getting married?”

Francis began to raise his head slightly.

“You were going to murder me, no? You were going to poison my nightly tea with arsenic.”

“How…?”

Francis, who had been busy ripping the veil, stopped for a moment.

Raeliana took the chance to throw the veil at Francis’s face.

“You…!”

Francis took a step back in surprise. Raeliana savagely tackled his chest with her whole body.

Taking a blow to his core, he lost balance. Raeliana held the skirt up to her chest and began to run.

“Raeliana!”

Francis’s piercing scream came terrifyingly at her as if to grab her by the neck. But she ran without looking back.

***

“Hah… hah… hah…”

Raeliana headed straight into the dark bushes. She could hear Francis and Langston swearing and shuffling through the foliage from afar.

She quieted her breathing and tiptoed to where she could not hear them. Then, she hid in the nook below a large tree trunk. She would remain fairly invisible there.

As Raeliana calmed down her breathing, an owl hooted from the tree. It was a dark night with clouds covering the moon.

Raeliana resented everything from the dark sky to the spooky trees.

If someone had pitied her short life and sent her over here, shouldn’t they have at least made sure that she would be fine?

Rather than a good will to let her live to her fullest, this felt like a sadistic entertainment of throwing her into more turmoil.

What did I do so wrong in my past life to deserve this?

Raeliana leaned her head back to the tree and let out a deep sigh.

I want to live.

I’m scared.

I wish someone would save me.

I want to go back home.

I miss my mom. 

And my brother. 

My friends.

And that fortune teller wearing thick red lipstick…

“…”

She pictured the fortune teller’s bloody red lips moving.

“You’ll have a short life.”

She immediately frowned and shook her head.

No, no. This was a definite death flag.

This was no different from a supporting character who shouts, ‘I’m going to propose to her once I get back,’ to the main character before a war, then comes back dead.

Didn’t she already experience death once falling off the roof?

Raeliana, be strong.

She roughly wiped away the tear from one eye.

I’m not going to die like this.

First, she had to find help. Raeliana bit the bottom of her lengthy dress with her teeth and ripped it off.

Being careful not to make any sounds, she went back into the bushes and looked around. Rather than waiting or blindly moving around, she chose to go back.

Judging by how the two were acting before, someone was definitely on the road with them. Perhaps she could ask the passerby for help if she could go back to the road.

Thinking about that, she walked for some time.

She could see the footprints and bushes as if someone had been searching. She assumed it must be the trace of Francis and Langston searching for her.

Crawling and running, she hurried through the bushes with both her hands and feet while the bushes rising to her head swallowed her whole.

Raeliana rose up and moved hastily. 

“Hugh… hah… hah…”

As she moved, the leaves brushed her face and body as if to hold her back.

She went forward regardless. Her chest heaved up and down with ragged breathing.

And it was at that moment that an open space unfolded before her eyes as she swept through all the foliage and her arms swung through the empty space.

A hand shot out from behind and grabbed her arm.

“Oof!”

Incapacitated, Raeliana could feel cold sweat running down the back of her neck.

The assailant’s hand yanked Raeliana backward. Her face slammed into a firm chest. “Ugh!”

As Raeliana groaned, the man made a shushing sound into her ears.

“Sh…”

Thump thump thump.

Pressed against his chest, she could hear his heart beating fast. Raeliana slowly raised her head to look at the man holding her.

“…”

***

Ansley squeezed the reins.

She raced her horse to its limit but it was not enough to catch up to the two racing in front of her.

With Adam and Noah as the lead, the duke’s knights were running after Raeliana who had been abducted.

It’s my fault.

There were countless eyes on her today. Many eyes filled with envy, jealousy, desire, and all other mixed emotions followed their lady. This shrouded the knights’ intuition.

No, that’s all an excuse.

Ansley painfully squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again.

I was careless.

Ansley had only realized what had happened after the smoke had dissipated. Marchioness Pryse Eriteal lay pitifully on the ground unconscious and Raeliana was nowhere to be seen.

Ansley immediately ran out through the window but Raeliana was already long gone.

“Damn it!”

When Ansley rushed back to the hall in panic to report to Noah, she knew she would never forget his face at that moment for the rest of her life.

Ansley clenched her sweaty fists.

I thought I was going to die on the spot…

It was not the face of Noah that Ansley knew.

It was Adam who broke the cold atmosphere.

Adam, who had passed on Raeliana’s message to Noah, rushed out as soon as he heard Ansley’s words.

“Let’s talk later, Ansley…”

With cold words that sent chills down her spine, Noah followed Adam’s suit.

Ansley explained the situation to the host first, asked for help, then followed after them.

The abductors had not left many clues.

But what they had not expected were the paparazzi who had just been dragged out by the servants.

Had the paparazzi not seen them by chance while snooping around deserted areas to sneak back into the ballroom, tracking them down so quickly would have been impossible.

After Noah promised to give them anything they wanted, he learned from the paparazzi which path the abductors had taken.

Ansley clenched her teeth and spurred on the horse.

The paparazzi had pointed to the mountain path that was almost deserted due to monsters. For a regular traveler it would have been the worst road but for the abductors, nothing could be better.

Riding on the horse, Ansley found Noah and Adam in front of a junction where the road forked into three paths.

Though she thought they would take a moment, the two running in front of her exchanged glances and each took a path without hesitation.

Ansley directed the other knights to follow Noah and ran down the last path with another knight.

“Ansley! Stop!”

Ansley, who had been running almost in a trance, abruptly pulled her horse at the sound of someone stopping her from behind.

“Damn it…!”

“It’s a dead end.”

The other knight jumped off the horse and examined the road blocked by a pile of trees.

Judging from the uneven edges of the tree trunks, it apparently was caused by the landslide from not too long ago.

Going down such a path would be inefficient and would have left a trail even if the abductors went over the wreckage.

Just in case, the knight climbed up the pile and as he looked beyond, he said, “I don’t see any traces.”

“Get on…”

As Ansley muttered, the knight looked back at her.

“Huh?”

“Quickly, get back on the horse! There’s no time to waste!”

Ansley bit her lips hard enough to bleed and pulled the reins again.

The horse snorted and turned around abruptly. Her hair blew in the heavy wind.

Please, my lady... be safe!

***

“…”

A flock of birds flew across the forest sky. The moon slowly revealed itself from the clouds to shine on the man’s face.