Chapter 1
For five straight days, the rain had refused to stop.
Inside a carriage that had been stranded for over half an hour, Eliana Crowde anxiously bit her lip, watching raindrops trail down the windowpane one after another.
“Damn it… Did the heavens spring a leak or something?”
Outside, the coachman cursed repeatedly as he struggled to free the carriage wheel from the thick mud.
Eliana wondered if she should climb down and help him.
But every glance at the increasingly violent rain and the road that had dissolved into a swamp of mud made her hesitate.
Then, suddenly, she found herself almost laughing.
At a time like this, worrying about dirtying her clothes?
The fact that she couldn’t even bring herself to step outside the carriage felt pathetic. Yet what frightened her even more was what awaited her after this journey.
Her trembling fingers had just wrapped around the door handle—
The carriage lurched violently.
“Ahhh!”
“Tch! Finally got it out, damn thing.”
The coachman had managed to wrench the wheel free from the mire. Muttering under his breath, he climbed back onto the driver’s seat and grabbed the reins again. His rugged, bandit-like features looked even fiercer than before.
“U-Um…”
Eliana cautiously slid open the window.
“How… how much longer will it take?”
According to Bron’s instructions, she should have reached her destination by now.
“The roads are a mess, but Alderon isn’t much farther.”
“I… I have to arrive before sunset…”
“Hah. With rain coming down like this? I’ll drive as fast as I can. Just don’t complain if the ride gets rough.”
Before the words had even left his mouth, the coachman cracked his whip.
The carriage surged forward.
Aside from the one or two times each month she accompanied charity work at the monastery, Eliana had scarcely ever left the Crowde estate.
She had certainly never ridden in a carriage driven this recklessly.
She had already been so tense that every muscle in her body had stiffened, and now the carriage bounced and rocked so violently that she could barely keep her balance.
Thick charcoal clouds blanketed the sky, hiding the sun completely. There was no way to tell how much daylight remained.
How much farther had they traveled?
Eventually, the carriage’s frantic shaking subsided before it slowly rolled to a stop.
“We’re here. Get down.”
The coachman rapped loudly on the carriage door.
Suppressing the nausea churning in her stomach, Eliana climbed down.
After being tossed around for so long, standing on solid ground felt strangely unfamiliar.
“Is… is this Alderon?”
The coachman scratched lazily inside one ear before answering.
“Head toward those windmills over there. Keep going straight and you’ll reach the town square. Looks like sunset’s almost here, so you’d better hurry.”
Eliana quickly nodded her thanks and hurried off in the direction he pointed.
The rain had finally stopped.
But the damp air remained heavy with moisture, pressing down on everything.
Not long afterward, she reached a small square and paused to catch her breath.
Bron’s instructions resurfaced in her mind.
‘Near the fountain in the square, there’s a flower vendor. Buy a single red anemone and then head to the clock tower. I’ll send someone to meet you there.’
Taking one deep breath, Eliana looked around.
The square was far from lively.
Many of the shops had their shutters tightly closed, and the few people walking the streets all wore exhausted expressions.
Bron’s repeated warnings echoed in her ears.
“Alderon’s public safety isn’t exactly good. You must arrive before dark.”
The memory alone sent a chill crawling down her spine.
After searching for several minutes, her eyes finally found a worn-down fountain, cracked and chipped in countless places.
Beside it stood a shabby flower stall.
She hurried toward it.
But the moment she met the merchant’s eyes, the words caught in her throat.
She had never bought anything herself before.
Should she ask first?
Or wait for the merchant to greet her?
She genuinely had no idea.
“Buying flowers?”
The young vendor, who had been quietly sizing her up, finally spoke while absentmindedly twirling a strand of hair around his finger.
“Ah—yes! Yes… I’d like to buy a red anemone.”
Startled by the sudden question, Eliana hurriedly pretended to examine the flowers.
But there wasn’t a single healthy-looking bloom on display.
Forget red flowers.
Every flower looked wilted, and some had already begun drying around the edges.
Yet the vendor answered without the slightest hesitation.
“Oh, a red anemone? Of course. We have one.”
Eliana looked at him in confusion.
Smiling brightly, the vendor reached beneath the stall and pulled something out before placing it in her hands.
“A red anemone. That’ll be one Theron.”
Her ears rang.
When she had left the estate, the emergency purse Cecilia had given her contained only Kron gold coins—far more valuable than a single Theron.
Caught completely off guard, Eliana fidgeted nervously.
But she quickly came to a conclusion.
Whether it was Therons or Krons didn’t matter.
Right now, what mattered was buying the red anemone and meeting the person Bron had sent.
“I… I only have Kron coins.”
She hastily held one out.
“You can keep the change. Thank you.”
The moment she handed over the coin, she turned and hurried away toward the clock tower without looking back.
Even someone as ignorant of the outside world as she was knew that a woman carrying a large sum of money without an escort was an easy target.
Without stopping once, she climbed the endless stairs.
By the time she finally reached the clock tower, she collapsed onto a nearby bench, gasping for breath.
Her legs, never before pushed this hard, trembled uncontrollably beneath her.
“Haa…”
She let out a long, exhausted sigh.
Darkness had already begun to spread.
The sun was truly setting.
By now, everyone back at the estate—including her father—had surely realized she was gone.
The thought tightened around her chest until she struggled to breathe.
Anxiety slowly coiled around her heart.
Lowering her head, she absentmindedly traced the petals of the anemone she had just purchased.
Perhaps because of its cheap wrapping paper, the crimson petals seemed even more vivid.
“That’s an anemone, isn’t it?”
The unexpected voice made Eliana jump.
She looked up.
A man with dark brown hair loosely tied behind his head stood smiling warmly at her.
“I was beginning to think you’d been kidnapped. You took so long to show up.”
Eliana stared blankly for a moment before realizing—
This must be the person Bron had promised would meet her.
She scrambled to her feet.
“H-Hello. I’m—”
She stopped herself.
How should she introduce herself?
Just how much had Bron told him?
As if reading her thoughts, the man laughed casually.
“Golden-blond hair with a hint of gray. Pale violet eyes. A woman carrying a single red anemone.”
He grinned.
“That’s everything I was told. No need to explain yourself.”
He extended his hand.
“Come on. We’re already late.”
Without warning, he grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her along.
Startled, Eliana instinctively stiffened, but she tried not to show any discomfort as she followed behind him.
The man introduced himself as Pito.
Together, they descended the same staircase Eliana had struggled so hard to climb and crossed the town square.
The flower vendor had already packed up and disappeared.
“What exactly is the meaning of this?”
At an hour when he would normally be reviewing documents in his study, Marquis Roger Crowde instead stood with an icy expression, interrogating his butler.
“The coachman insists he dropped Lady Eliana off at the main gate of Helio Monastery. Several people there confirmed seeing her, so his story appears truthful.”
“Then where did she disappear to? Are you saying she was abducted from the monastery?”
“No one witnessed the young lady leaving the monastery grounds. We’re currently searching both the monastery and the surrounding area…”
The butler hesitated before quietly adding,
“Lady Cecilia’s emergency savings are also missing.”
“…And the marriage contract was found on her bed.”
Unable to continue, he presented a crumpled stack of papers with trembling hands.
Marquis Crowde felt a dull ache spread across the back of his neck.
“You’re making it sound as though Eliana… ran away from home.”
“…My deepest apologies.”
“Search every corner of the monastery and every nearby village.”
His voice turned cold.
“Question everyone at the monastery thoroughly.”
“If she truly ran away, someone must have helped her.”
He shook his head.
“There’s no way that child could have done something like this alone.”
The Marquis let out a long sigh before slowly opening his eyes again.
“Duke Carlisle has already been traveling for ten days.”
“He should arrive the day after tomorrow.”
“Find her before then.”
“Yes, my lord.”
After the butler left, the Marquis leaned against the window and pressed a hand against his forehead.
Eliana… running away?
He had never imagined such a thing.
She had spent her entire life confined to the estate, save for occasional visits to the monastery.
How could she possibly have planned something like this?
And to steal Cecilia’s money as well…
The marriage announcement had certainly been sudden.
Even so, he had never dreamed that quiet, obedient Eliana would do something so reckless.
His face hardened as he unfolded the crumpled marriage contract.
Tristan Carlisle.
Beneath the Duke’s sharp, decisive signature, the place where Eliana’s own signature should have been remained completely blank.
The Marquis pressed hard against his throbbing temples.
Then—
Without warning—
The door to his study burst open.
