Chapter 2.7

“…Thank you, Sir Robert.”
“For what now?”
“For everything… For saving me, even though I had no ties to you, for letting me stay here, for worrying about me.”
“Do you think that last one is something to be thankful for? You should act in a way that keeps me from worrying. I don’t want to come home to find a corpse sprawled out.”

Even though he said that, his face was full of concern as he handed her medicine.

“My only granddaughter died when she was about your age. That’s why, whenever I see kids like you, my heart aches.”
“I hope you live a long life, until you’re so old you’re smearing poop on the walls, girl.”

Ines listened quietly.
Then she whispered softly,

“If I stay here, Sir Robert… I think that might be possible.”
“What is?”
“I think I could live a normal life… and spend the rest of my time truly, truly happy.”
“Why not? Who says you can’t?”

At his gruff reply, Ines smiled a little.

A warm house. A warm guardian. A warm sense of safety… Ines already had all of that. She didn’t need to wish for anything more.

She lifted her hand and rubbed her neck, where marks were probably still left. They wouldn’t disappear no matter how much she rubbed, but she did it anyway, hoping they’d fade even a little. She tried to erase from her mind the image of silver hair and soft green eyes.

The duke had given her ten days, but she didn’t need them.
Even if he stayed in Apael for twenty days, a month, or a year, Ines would never go back to him.

So I just have to endure a little longer.

There were ten days left until the duke let her go completely.
The guards chasing Neia and Ronya were taken care of, and she returned home safely.
Just like the past half year, these ten days would pass without incident.

Ines firmly believed that.
Until three days later—when news reached Hyran that the fragile peace treaty between Jenaire and Lezan had completely fallen apart.

The continental peace treaty had broken.
And that meant only one thing: war.
It didn’t even take half a day for a shadow of unrest to fall over peaceful Hyran.

“War? But didn’t they say just last week that the talks were going well? That things were looking positive?”
“This is crazy. Then the only answer is to move. We have to go to the Eastern Continent!”

Ines stood among the crowd, blankly staring up at the large notice posted on the wall.
As usual, she was on her way back from placing an order at the mill. The market and streets felt unusually tense today, and now she saw the reason—right there on the stone wall.

Continental Peace Treaty Collapses. Royal Family to Side with *.

The royal family meant the royal house of Apael.
Apael had been one of the few neutral countries during the past seven-year war.

“Side with Lezan? That empire is already falling apart! Ha!”

The murmurs grew louder. Voices flooded Ines’s ears.

“Why would the royal family side with Lezan? They had no bad blood with Jenaire! Anyone can see that the divine power in the central region is far better than the sun of the northeast!”
“Would people like us ever understand what those highborns are thinking…?”
“What should we do, honey? Should we move to the Eastern Continent too…?”

Hyran was a coastal city. It held the most trade routes in all of Apael, possibly even on the entire continent.
If Apael truly joined the war, it would definitely escalate into a naval conflict.
And if that happened, Hyran’s fate was obvious.

“What is all this…?”

Ines looked around in a daze. A huge crowd had already gathered in the square.

“This is all because of that illegitimate girl who disappeared!” someone shouted angrily.

“If she had just gone quietly to Lezan, maybe that arrogant empire would’ve been embarrassed, but Jenaire wouldn’t have reacted like this!”
“Right!”

Scattered applause broke out. Ines tried to slip away quickly, but more and more people kept pouring into the square, and she couldn’t get far.

“Everyone, look this way!”

Someone climbed on top of a parked carriage.

“There’s a reason Apael has no choice but to side with Lezan! We’ve already made enemies of Jenaire!”

The area went silent. The man standing on the roof of the carriage shouted,

“You all know about that infamous illegitimate girl, right?”

As soon as she heard that, Ines’s back went stiff.
She couldn’t breathe or even blink as she listened.

“Apael is suspected of hiding that girl! Right here in Hyran!”
“What… That can’t be true!”
“Lezan and Jenaire searched the whole continent for six months and finally discovered that she fled to Apael. And her trail ended right here in Hyran. What do you think that means?”

It felt like the world was spinning a beat too slow.

“That rat-like girl is hiding in our city right now.”

The man slowly unrolled a scroll in his hand.

“This is a portrait of that illegitimate girl that’s already being spread around the capital.”

The picture was, as he said, a portrait.
A woman with long black hair down to her waist, staring blankly forward.

It was Ines’s face.

The portrait was poorly drawn, but it was clear enough to recognize.
It had to be a copy of the one the royal court painter had made in Jenaire.

“At this point, unless we hand that girl over to Jenaire, Apael will be forced to join the war on Lezan’s side.”
“That’s… that’s true. She’s the one who stirred up this whole mess to begin with.”
“Why should we be dragged into a war because of some illegitimate girl? Apael fought so hard to stay neutral all this time!”

The public’s anger spread quickly.
Ines stumbled backward. She didn’t dare look around.
It felt like everyone was staring at her.

She had nothing to hide her face. Other than cutting her hair short, her features matched the portrait exactly.
Black hair and blue eyes weren’t unheard of, but they weren’t common either.

“Anyone who knows a woman with these features who appeared in Hyran about six months ago—report to the authorities immediately. Again, the peace of Apael and Hyran is at stake. Do you understand?”

Ines trembled and bowed her head, gasping.
What was happening? What war? And why had her portrait suddenly appeared?

Just as she was trying to make sense of everything, her shaking suddenly stopped.
Their eyes met.

“….”

Just a step away, a young boy holding his mother’s hand was staring straight at her.

For several seconds, time seemed to stop.

“…Mom. Mom?”

The boy tugged on his mother’s hand and pointed directly at Ines.

“Black hair and blue…”

Before the boy could finish his sentence, a puff of black mist rose at Ines’s feet.
The bundle of groceries she was carrying rolled to the ground.

“Mom! That lady just…!”

By the time the boy screamed and pointed, it was already too late.
Ines had vanished without a trace into the shadows of the crowd.

“I have to leave.”

Ines muttered in a panic.
Her mind was half gone.
The man’s words from three days ago echoed sharply in her head:

<You’ve probably heard that your escape nearly sparked another war.>

Back then, she thought if she was just a little selfish, she could avoid it all.
She had been so sure that if she just avoided the duke’s eyes, no one would ever find her.

How foolish she had been—it was laughable. No tears came, only bitter astonishment at herself.

“Kian… Kian. We have to leave. Now.”

Hundreds of people in the square would soon start digging through their memories.
Who was that black-haired woman who showed up out of nowhere in early spring?
Ah, yes. The young woman who works at the herb clinic.
She’s not from around here, is she?
Right, her.
Didn’t someone say they saw her taking Neia and Ronya away a few days ago?
Maybe she felt sorry for them since they were in the same situation?
That must be it.
It’s her!

“…Ugh.”

The imaginary voices felt so real.
Ines leaned against a wall, trying to steady her breath.

What would happen if she got caught? Would she be dragged back to Jenaire?
She had escaped from Lezan, nearly losing her life—now she had to go back to Jenaire?

Her grandfather’s voice echoed in her head.

“No….”
[Ines, get a hold of yourself.]

“No. I don’t want to. I’m scared.”
[Ines!]
“No… no….”

Kian, who had been hiding in her shadow, took form again.
He wrapped around her back, swallowing the fear and despair that had begun to eat away at her mind.

Her blue eyes, which had gone dim for a moment, slowly regained their focus.
Her breath caught, and she started coughing.

“Ha… ah….”

After a little while, she was finally able to raise her head again.
She dug her nails into the dirt, scratching it with a sharp sound.

She had to leave—no hesitation.
It was better to die while running than to be caught and sent back to Jenaire.

But in the next moment, one thought filled her mind completely.