SIDE STORY 5
Side Story 5
Oh my!
The guests turned their heads in alarm at the dramatic entrance of a woman who had blown the doors away with tremendous force.
The setting sun behind her was so brilliant that no one could properly open their eyes, yet their mouths moved busily.
“Who is that woman?”
“Seems to be a woman…? Did the lord have another woman?”
“She’s clearly young—if he already had a woman, why would he buy one?”
At that moment, the woman strode forward. A pink-haired woman walking confidently down the wedding aisle.
Just as whispers began to circulate about how she resembled Eva Fordley, the woman stopped in front of the wedding protagonists.
The aged lord, who had been stupidly frozen, suddenly came to his senses.
“Wh-what?! Who are you?! How dare you… do you know where you are…?”
Golden eyes, deeper than Eva’s, fixed directly on the lord.
Wrinkles clearly visible even from a distance.
She had been angry when she heard Eva had been sold to an old man, but seeing him in person made her fury rise even further.
“What are you all waiting for?! Seize this woman at once…!”
The lord shouted urgently, but his voice was soon drowned out by Alice’s booming response.
“Where am I? I’m at the scene of human trafficking! How dare an old geezer set his sights on my little sister?!”
“Little… sister?”
As the lord’s eyes widened, someone from the guests exclaimed:
“Could it be Alice Fordley?!”
“It’s Dearrut, not Fordley!”
Alice snapped in response.
She certainly hadn’t planned to reveal her identity so openly until she broke down that door.
Well, getting entangled in a situation like this would hardly lead to pleasant conversation anyway.
She had intended to settle things quickly and flee with Eva. But to hear “Fordley” again!
She couldn’t tolerate being called by that disgusting surname.
Yes, since it had come to this, revealing her identity and using her authority would be…
But then, the lord threw out an unexpected statement.
“Nonsense! You can’t possibly be this girl’s sister!”
The lord pointed at Alice and shouted.
“Alice Fordley severed ties with the Fordley family long ago! She ruthlessly abandoned the family that sold her!”
That’s true, but…
“Rumors throughout the empire say Duke Dearrut forbids anyone associated with Baron Fordley from coming near the duchy, yet you claim to be the Duchess Dearrut?! Preposterous.”
“No, I really am…”
“Besides, would the Duchess walk around alone without a single knight or maid? The Duchess who’s supposedly busy with wedding preparations? You! How dare you impersonate someone!”
The lord glared at Alice with strong conviction.
Though she felt the urge to poke those eyes out, Alice momentarily faltered.
As much as she hated to admit it, the lord’s argument had some logic to it.
…Damn it.
It was true that she had asked Kylus to keep the Fordley family away in the past, and to claim she was the Duchess while alone without a knight or maid… was rather implausible.
And it was also true that the Duchess Dearrut was currently busy with wedding preparations.
Of course, her wedding preparations were already complete, and she had holy power as a weapon, making knights unnecessary, which was why she had come alone…
But those were circumstances only she knew.
From others’ perspective, it would be doubtful whether she was truly the Duchess.
After all, Alice Fordley had rarely left her home, so few people had seen her face.
“That’s right. I heard it too. Baron Fordley went around complaining that his eldest daughter abandoned them.”
“Saying it was he who made her the Duchess Dearrut, but she abandoned her parents… I heard that too.”
If they had heard such stories, it would be even harder for them to believe her.
Alice exhaled a low sigh toward the guests who eyed her with suspicion.
Damn that Baron Fordley. Never helpful, not even for a moment.
Just then, Eva, who had been frozen, spoke.
“…Sister…”
Alice’s gaze turned to Eva, and Eva cried out with tearful eyes.
“Yes! My sister! She is my sister, the Duchess Dearrut!!”
Eva, who had exclaimed as if releasing long-suppressed anger, flipped her veil back and looked at the lord.
“The eyes, the hair! Even the mole on the ear is identical! Look properly if you have eyes!!”
“My goodness… Now that you mention it, they do look alike.”
“True… Could it be that she really is… Duchess Dearrut??”
As the guests’ reactions gradually changed, the lord shook his head with a bewildered expression.
“No. That can’t be… How would the Duchess Dearrut know about this place… to appear so suddenly…?”
He denied reality and raised his voice.
“Magic! She must have changed her face with magic!! You wench, after taking all my money, now you try to escape with this trick?!”
Polymorph magic was a spell that only wizards of the high circle could perform.
But to claim I’m an impostor using polymorph magic? How could Eva, who had no money, find such a wizard in this rural area?
This was truly absurd, but the lord’s eyes suggested he had already lost his reason.
And surprisingly, this nonsensical logic worked on the guests.
“Gasp! No wonder they looked so alike!!”
“It was magic!!”
Are we really doing this?
Alice was astounded, but the atmosphere already seemed to have settled on her being an impostor.
At this rate, even if she produced the duchy’s credentials, they’d call them forgeries.
With things as they were, there was no choice. She would proceed as planned and escape with Eva.
Alice firmly gripped the wrist of the lord, who had raised his hand as if about to strike Eva.
“You already have quite a list of crimes. If you want to live, shouldn’t you stop here?”
Alice shoved away the lord’s filthy wrist and grabbed Eva’s wrist.
Cling
The ring, which had been halfway on, fell to the floor.
As if that sound were a signal flare, someone shouted.
“Sh-she’s running away with the bride!!”
I haven’t even started running yet?
Alice was still standing in place, but the knights, who had already deemed her a bride-stealing thief, drew their swords.
“Quickly, catch these wenches! How dare they try to take my money and run, ack!”
The lord, who had regained his senses, reached for Alice. But before his hand could touch her, the lord’s wrist was bent—in a way that looked extremely painful just to witness.
“Ouch.”
Alice, who didn’t particularly enjoy cruel scenes, made a low sound and turned her head.
Toward Eva, who had broken the lord’s wrist.
The tearful eyes were nowhere to be seen; Eva’s yellow eyes gleamed like those of a predator.
“How dare you try to hit someone. I’d like nothing more than to cut off each joint of your fingers… but I’ll restrain myself.”
Disgusting old man.
Eva added with a growl before roughly pushing the lord.
As the lord collapsed ungracefully to the floor, Alice blinked slowly at the events that had unfolded so quickly.
Cutting off each joint of the fingers…
Somehow, that cruelty seemed familiar.
“…Sienna.”
Alice thought of Sienna appearing over Eva’s face before quickly coming to her senses.
“Don’t move!”
Because knights had already approached them and shouted.
Three knights in total. Alice changed her expression and looked directly at them.
Eva whispered softly to her.
“Sister, I don’t know why… or rather, how you came here… but you should escape first. This could turn into a serious…”
Alice gripped Eva’s wrist tightly.
“It’s not us who’ll be in serious trouble, but them.”
“…”
Alice met Eva’s gaze and said:
“And I didn’t come here for fun. I came to take you away.”
As Eva’s eyes wavered, Alice’s holy power manifested.
Light extending from her body instantly sent the knights flying into the wall.
“Gasp! Just now…!”
“What happened…?”
While people were dumbfounded by the knights who had been flung away in the blink of an eye, Alice grabbed Eva’s wrist and ran down the wedding aisle. Just like a scene from a drama where someone runs away with the bride.
It felt somewhat strange, but this wasn’t the time to stop. Once outside the hall, Alice said to the bewildered Eva:
“A carriage is waiting not far from here. Keep running and don’t look back.”
As they crossed the garden of the lord’s castle once more, poooo—a trumpet sounded throughout the castle.
Then came the sound of military boots. The lord had deployed all his knights.
Eventually, Alice stopped as knights blocked their path.
From a glance, there appeared to be more than ten. The problem was that this was just the number of those blocking the front.
If she counted the knights blocking their sides and rear, the total would easily exceed thirty.
Why are there so many knights in this small territory?!
“Sister, it’s still not too late…”
“It’s already too late. They wouldn’t send this many just to catch one person.”
The old geezer had truly lost his mind.
Alice released Eva’s wrist.
She wasn’t giving up on her, of course. It was to fight properly.
Even if she could easily handle two or three with her holy power… she had never fought against more than thirty.
Kylus.
As tension spread throughout her body, she naturally thought of him.
If he were here…
“…But he’s not here now.”
Alice drew up her holy power, steeling her weakening resolve.
Just as light, much more intense than before, began to rise from her feet—
“Gah!”
Four knights collapsed to the ground with short screams.
“When did she attack…?”
As Eva murmured with wide eyes, Alice’s face hardened.
“…It wasn’t me.”
Daggers embedded in the knights’ backs.
No matter how exceptional her holy power was, it couldn’t create daggers.
The moment she took her eyes off the fallen knights, she saw a man walking toward them.
A tall man with a drawn sword.
As Alice was momentarily entranced by the black hair fluttering in the light breeze, the man stopped walking.
Beyond the corpses, right in front of her.
“Lien, I’ve missed you.”
A gentle smile that seemed out of place in the chaotic situation. Alice slowly parted her lips.
“I missed you too, Kail.”
Toward her husband, Kylus.