Chapter 4

Every child at the Dollin Orphanage was like family to me, but Chadie was special even among them.

Chadie was extremely shy. She clung to the director’s side, of course, and she dreaded even speaking to or brushing hands with the other children.

It was a severe germaphobia, uncharacteristic for a child. The only person Chadie allowed to touch her was me. Even then, it was only holding hands; in all other matters, she would not let even me interfere.

So on the day I was adopted into Erdona and said my goodbyes, I was startled to see Chadie cling to me and sob. If I had known she liked me that much, I would have told her sooner. It was a regret that came too late—far too late.

“Saya, sniff, don’t gooo, please? Don’t leave meee.”

Her tearful face grew clearer and clearer in my mind.

The guild was more favorably disposed toward nobles, so I wanted to go while I was still posing as one.

“I want to find a child who was at an orphanage.”

“Which orphanage do you mean?”

“The Dollin Orphanage that disappeared twelve years ago.”

“Ah! I remember it.”

The Dollin Orphanage had been run by Sylvia Dollin, a woman who truly loved children. It vanished without a trace one day, a year after I was adopted.

“A girl, around… twenty-three years old. She was called Chadie, though I don’t know if she still uses that name.”

“Chadie. A girl of about twenty-three, you say.”

“That’s right. How much for the advance payment?”

At my words, the woman hesitated for a moment.

It isn’t as though this involves touching a noble, so surely it won’t be too expensive…?

I might have been a noble young lady, but only in name. I had been selling off jewels and dresses one by one to cover my own expenses, but buying a country estate and paying for a guild request left my budget tight.

As I racked my brains over how much money I could scrape together, the woman smiled brightly and shook her head.

“I won’t take an advance payment for this. I’ll contact you when I find a lead.”

Contrary to my expectations, her refusal to take an advance left me flustered. Not paying an advance felt uncomfortable.

“Why won’t you take an advance?”

“Because I want to.”

Her face, smiling as if there were no problem at all, was suspicious.

“If you’re refusing the request because it’s too difficult…”

“Of course not. You will certainly hear from us before long.”

When a guild did not take an advance payment, there was a high chance they would not carry out the job properly. Usually, if a request failed, they had to return a percentage of the advance as a penalty.

But with the employee asserting it so firmly, I had nothing more to say. It was not as though she were asking for more money—she was telling me not to pay.

Even if the request were not fulfilled, I would lose nothing. I could simply find another guild.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Take care.”

Leaving behind the woman who kept her kind smile until the very end, I slipped out of the guild.

* * *

The moment Saya disappeared from sight, the woman who had worn a ceaselessly kind smile wiped her expression clean in an instant. Tilting her head, she tapped the table with her fingernail.

“What was that?”

Scowling deeply, the woman spoke again.

“I couldn’t find anything suspicious about her, and yet…”

Her head tilted as if she truly could not understand.

“It’s not that your skills have dulled, is it?”

Just then, a man’s voice came from behind her. She turned without the slightest sign of surprise. A man who had appeared abruptly stood leaning against the wall.

“Why would that woman be looking for the Master?”

“Who knows.”

“Hm? Say something. She didn’t seem to be from the Dollin Orphanage. It’s my first time seeing her.”

The man did not continue and maintained an ambiguous attitude. At that, the woman’s scowl deepened further.

“What the hell. If you know, you know; if you don’t, you don’t.”

“I just can’t remember.”

“Then could she be from the imperial court?”

At her now-serious expression, the man shook his head.

“I don’t think so.”

“Ah, then what is it! Use your head a little!”

When the woman finally lost her temper, the man shrugged.

“We’ll find out.”

I’m curious too, after all.

The man’s amethyst eyes rippled dangerously. The woman shook her head, not the least bit intimidated.

* * *

Several days passed after that.

Preparations to leave Erdona were proceeding smoothly. What was taking longer than expected was the annulment of the engagement with Bangeger. How much longer was he going to drag his feet, waiting for an apology?

Having nothing to do but wait, I shot up from bed. This won’t do—I should go to the guild and check whether my request is progressing.

Having finished preparing to go out without Jessie, I left her a simple note saying I was stepping out and slipped from my room.

It was my mistake that Gizelle happened to open her door to go out at that exact moment.

“Where are you going?”

“Don’t concern yourself.”

“Concerning myself is my job. I won’t stand by and watch you stain the Erdona name any further.”

I simply ignored her.

As I descended the stairs, a man was waiting on the first floor.

His back was turned to me, so it took a moment to recognize him. By the time I realized who he was, it was already too late.

“…Your Highness, Imperial Grandson.”

I descended the stairs meekly and curtsied.

He narrowed his dark green eyes, which seemed to constrict around me like a snake, and looked at me. His neatly swept-back blond hair shimmered in the sunlight. If I had not known what kind of monster lurked beneath that beautiful face, I would not have been so tense.

Then a smirk-laced smile bloomed at the corner of his mouth.

“How delightful to see you. Red Erdona.”

If Redic Bangeger was a piranha, this man was a true predator. Even his simple greeting filled me with fear.

“It has been a long time, Your Highness, Imperial Grandson.”

Pavel was the twenty-sixth imperial grandson of the current Emperor Sirilka.

By the blessing of the first imperial mage, the emperors of Vichern had lived for nearly five hundred years. In place of such an emperor, it was Imperial Grandson Pavel who oversaw the affairs of the imperial court as a whole.

The assessment of him was always the same. He was a born sovereign. So much so that people said if the Vichern throne were inherited rather than fixed, he would undoubtedly become emperor. But the Vichern throne was fixed and unchanging.

Pavel had clear boundaries, yet was benevolent, generous, and ascetic. Flawless as he was, he was also handsome enough to stir the hearts of all the young ladies.

But I now knew. I knew what his true face was, lurking beneath that almost sacred visage.

It was a stroke of luck that I had stopped tormenting Gizelle at this point.

“There have been unsavory rumors about you.”

At first hearing, it sounded as though he were worried about me, but in truth it was the exact opposite. The thing I had kept most in mind while planning my escape was not to offend Imperial Grandson Pavel.

To avoid becoming prey to that predator, I had to be careful in everything.

In the future, he would not hesitate to threaten my life. He who had seemed indifferent even when I tormented Gizelle would one day abruptly turn and try to kill me.

I had to escape before his attitude changed so drastically.

The article about my affair would, in his mind, be a good opportunity to separate me from Gizelle. That was exactly what I wanted as well. I spoke in the most courteous manner I could.

“I will take responsibility for my mistake. Gizelle will suffer no harm.”

“That much is only natural.”

Pavel scrutinized me persistently, like someone picking at a fault. I kept my mouth firmly shut and waited until he lost interest in me.

“Your Highness, shall we be going? Leave the family matter to me.”

Gizelle, who had by then descended the stairs and stood beside Pavel, suggested in a soft tone.

“You’re suffering for no fault of your own.”

“…That is my duty, after all.”

Both of their gazes landed on me. Only then did Pavel seem to lose interest, and he withdrew his eyes from me.

“Then shall we go.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The moment they vanished from sight, my tense body slowly relaxed.

Pavel Isaac Vichern. He was Gizelle’s most likely candidate for a fiancé. If he was the man who would lead Gizelle in the light, Kirill was the man who would support her in the shadows.

Within this year, Pavel and Gizelle would become engaged. People envied Gizelle Erdona for weighing Duke Kirill Dobnik against Imperial Grandson Pavel Vichern. In the end, it was Pavel who won Gizelle, but Gizelle did not give up her relationship with Kirill either.

There was a time when I pitied Kirill for that. But now I knew well that I was in no position to pity anyone.

The three of them would eventually obtain what they wanted—but not I. One wrong move, and my life would be in danger.

‘I won’t die. I’ll run before I die.’

There was only one thing I needed now. Chadie’s whereabouts. Strength returned to my steps.