Chapter 2.2
“Well, things like this prove it’s true when they say illegitimate children bring chaos to the country and ruin families. Don’t you think so, miss? …Miss?”
The woman looked at Ines’s pale face in shock and reached out to steady her.
Ines realized she had stopped breathing without noticing and quickly gasped for air.
Her arms, wrapped around the basket, trembled slightly with tension.
“Are you okay? Hurry and go see Doctor Robert!”
“I-I’m fine. Thank you.”
Ines stepped back hesitantly. As if mocking her for peacefully reminiscing, the harsh sounds of beating continued without pause.
“You filthy thing!”
The man’s spit-filled shout blended with the cold voice of her grandfather, Emperor Jenaire.
A young girl, trembling in front of her beaten mother, came into view.
She happened to have black hair.
Ines’s heart thudded irregularly.
“M-Mom…”
No one paid attention to the girl.
A child cast out by a noble family isn’t welcomed anywhere. People fear the retribution that might come from taking in a discarded illegitimate child.
It was completely unfair.
If they hated affairs and illegitimate children so much, then they should’ve kept their pride and not spread their seed so carelessly. They shouldn’t have opened their noble bodies to someone other than their husband…
Despite the obvious answer, nobles always chose the wrong one.
The sin born from a moment’s immoral pleasure always fell on the other party and the child—but that never mattered to them.
No matter how or where the child ended up, as long as it didn’t threaten their family, that was the end of it…
“Ha, I must be insane. Damn it.”
The man, breathing heavily, suddenly turned his head toward the girl. People around them let out pitying sighs, but no one stepped in to stop him.
‘…Kian.’
Ines finally murmured inside her mouth.
‘Stop that man.’
[Don’t use me for things like this. It’ll only hurt you.]
‘You have to.’
Blood formed on her tightly bitten lip.
Ines glared at the black mist trying to cling to her wrist and resist coming out.
‘I’m your master, remember?’
[…]
She thought she heard Kian click his tongue softly. The black mist seeped into Ines’s wrist, ran through her body, and slipped out through her feet.
Moving along the shadows of people, it entered the man’s body.
“Take that thing and get out of my house right now! Get out and don’t ever come ba—”
His shout was cut off abruptly in the middle. His outstretched arm froze in midair and then moved stiffly.
“…Fine. I’m leaving.”
He turned around and walked away awkwardly, disappearing. Only the woman with swollen cheeks and her sobbing daughter remained.
“Well, at least it ended quickly. Poor woman.”
The middle-aged woman who had been watching beside Ines clicked her tongue and turned away.
Only after the crowd dispersed did Ines slowly step closer to the pair.
“…Are you alright?”
The woman’s badly swollen eyes were unfocused. She glanced at Ines, then dropped her head weakly.
Seeing her mother like that, the girl let out a soft sob.
Ines barely moved her lips.
“Why don’t you come with me?”
“….”
“Even just for a little while…”
She hated how little she could offer. Ines herself was living off Robert’s generosity at the herb shop—she couldn’t make any promises.
Biting her lip, she helped support the woman. The girl, still crying, clutched her mother’s other arm with a hiccup.
Leading them, Ines retraced her steps toward Robert’s herb shop.
“What in the world is taking her so long!”
Robert was stomping in frustration. He had only sent Ines on a simple errand, yet nearly two hours had passed.
Worried she might’ve collapsed somewhere, he was just about to leave with his cane when he spotted someone coming down the alley.
“Ines…”
The girl tried to smile when she saw him but faltered. She seemed unsure how to explain the people with her.
“You thoughtless child.”
Robert walked over, waving his cane, and took the woman from Ines to support her himself, scolding all the while.
“If you’re going to be late, at least tell someone! Do you plan on worrying people all the time?”
“I’m sorry. Something happened that I didn’t expect…”
Ines glanced between Robert, the injured woman, and the little girl with a hiccup, her eyes filled with anxiety.
“She’s very hurt… I was wondering if they could stay just one night…”
He couldn’t scold her for being late because she brought someone in need of help.
Though it was absurd that a sick girl had carried a patient here, Robert finally nodded.
“Let’s get inside. You take your medicine first—I’ll take care of this woman.”
“Yes. But…”
Ines bit her lip. Before bringing them inside, she needed to explain who they were—just in case Robert objected.
“This child…”
She meant to say they were cast out from a count’s family, and if it was too much, he could refuse.
Or maybe send them to an inn, and if he could lend her just five silver, she’d handle it…
But the words wouldn’t come out.
If Robert didn’t help, the only one she could turn to was Kian. And the only thing her power did was shave down her lifespan.
If she didn’t want to die, she had to wait for someone’s mercy—how pathetic.
A wave of self-loathing burned her throat. Swallowing her pain, she barely managed to speak.
“So, earlier at the market…”
“I don’t want the backstory.”
But Robert cut her off sharply.
“A patient is a patient, no matter the reason. Treatment comes first, everything else later. That goes for you too, Ines.”
“…Oh.”
“Get inside. Now!”
Before Ines could say more, Robert’s firm voice forced her to head inside.
At that time, a green flag fluttered above the royal palace of the Apael Kingdom.
Rayan stared out the window at the city with dry eyes.
So she really crossed the border…
Three months ago, the search for Eleanor became even more discreet.
Even the Jenaire Imperial Family didn’t know what clue they were following.
Naturally so—what Eleanor had her eyes on was one of the Crown Prince’s closest aides.
Once they discovered that this knight regularly reported to the Crown Prince, who was now in Jenaire as an envoy, the search picked up speed.
They then found someone who delivered reports to that knight and finally got the answer: there was a woman of interest in Hyran, a coastal city in eastern Apael.
To send knights to Hyran, they needed a special deployment permit from the kingdom.
Apael, not wanting to get involved between Lezan and Jenaire, granted it in a hurry. Now, all that remained was to move out.
“Your Highness. I’ve gathered the documents.”
Rayan accepted the papers. They detailed the last six months of a woman with short black hair and blue eyes who had suddenly appeared in Hyran.
There wasn’t much. The records were only about her health, which made it clear Edgar hadn’t been planning to spy on her from the start.
So… he was just worried about her?
Rayan’s lips twisted.
Considering his cousin’s gentle nature and what he had said about Ines, it wasn’t hard to believe.
<Isn’t your method too harsh for her, brother?>
No wonder Edgar went to Jenaire so easily. Rayan couldn’t help but sneer at the future crown prince’s foolishness.
He must’ve truly wanted her to become the crown princess.
But Edgar didn’t realize it.
By hiding her for six months, he had fueled Rayan Eleanor’s obsession.
Because of one woman, Lezan was shaking, and Eleanor’s political position was threatened. Border cities that had just begun to recover were back in war mode.
At first, those external problems fed his anger.
But after one month, then two, and now six months had passed…
War, politics—none of that mattered anymore.
Now, no matter what answer Edgar brought back from Jenaire, Rayan would search the entire continent to find Ines.
Even he didn’t know why.
Was it betrayal?
But Ines never trusted him. And he never believed in her either.
It was ridiculous to feel betrayed when there was no trust in the first place.
He told himself that, but her innocent blue eyes stayed burned into his vision.
The feel of her lips, the faint scent of her breath—it only grew stronger with time.
Everything about the woman he had met just twice had become thorns embedded in the center of his mind. They made him restless, unable to think straight.
…Damn it.
To find the name of this unbearable irritation—and to finally be free from it—he had no choice but to find her.
Only by facing her and defining this strange pull would those thorns be removed.
The paper in Rayan’s hand was crushed beyond recognition.
After watching him quietly, a knight cautiously spoke.
“…Your Highness, there’s one more report.”
