Chapter 184

Raygrain abruptly cut off Tiola’s words. It wasn’t about who Scheuer was meeting; what mattered was her whereabouts.

“Lead me to her,” he commanded. 

All he could think about was where Scheuer might be. Jess pushed the trembling maid gently forward. Raygrain followed her guidance in silence. He knew Scheuer would come running at the mere mention of his name, no matter where she was. There was no way she wouldn’t inform him of her whereabouts.

His insides felt cold, like he was sinking into an unknown depth. Though he wasn’t currently in a situation where he needed to wield a sword or face monsters, he found himself overly sensitive to even the slightest things around him. The maid’s shivering in front of him was distracting. He wanted to push her aside but held back, recalling how much Scheuer trusted her.

“Why is the door locked? ” 

Tiola stuttered as she fumbled with the key, her hands shaking so much that she missed the lock multiple times.

Just as Jess was about to step in, Raygrain brushed him aside and said, 

“Move. If you value your life.”

He drew the sword he had just used to slay monsters and swung it. With a loud crack, the door shattered into pieces, sending debris crashing to the ground.

The sudden noise attracted not only the attendants but also the guards stationed nearby. But Raygrain’s gaze remained fixed on the dusty, empty room.

Inside, Scheuer was nowhere to be found. The scattered teacups and a sofa pushed near the window suggested that something had happened; it looked as if it had tried to escape through the window.

There was no reason for such a large sofa, enough to seat three, to be in such an odd position across from the table. It was clear to anyone that something had transpired there.

Raygrain’s voice grew more subdued. 

“Jess, summon Annabelle.”

“Your Grace, this is the central area,” Jess murmured quietly, concern etched across his face.

He understood the implications better than anyone. The northern region had an agreement not to interfere with matters occurring in the central area.

“What does that matter? ” 

Raygrain replied, raising his sword and slamming it into the marble floor with a resounding crack.

The floor fractured beneath the blow. Jess was weighing his options, assessing what the best course of action was under the circumstances. His keen eyes were filled with conflict.

Raygrain pulled his sword from the floor and moved through the gathering crowd.

“Open every door in the castle.”

“But, Your Grace, we don’t have the authority to open them without orders.”

Before Jess could finish, Raygrain swung his sword again, forcing the door open.

“Ahhh!”

“P-Please, don’t! ”

The attendants shrieked in panic, collapsed to the ground. Raygrain felt no sympathy for their distress.

In the next room, there was neither Scheuer nor Annabelle. In the following room and the next, each time he registered that Scheuer was nowhere to be found, his vision narrowed.

Everything around him began to fade. The sounds of shouting and weeping muffled in his ears, as if he were underwater. The chaos intensified, and when the walls of the hallway were almost entirely demolished, the noise faded away completely.

“Annabelle, Annabelle…”

His focus was solely on finding one person in the sea of faces.

His chest felt tight. Though it wasn’t painfully so, it was enough to draw his attention, tightening his grip on the sword. In those moments, something inevitably broke.

Finally, Zeros arrived, breathless and pale, kneeling before Raygrain.

“Your Grace, I’m sorry! Even if Lady Scheuer allowed me, I should have stayed by her side! ”

“Where is Scheuer? ”

Raygrain’s sharp question made Zeros bow his head even lower as he replied, 

“I found Lady Annabelle, but Lady Scheuer is still missing.”

Before he could finish, a piercing voice echoed from behind them, nearly shattering eardrums.

“Is it permissible for the royal knights to treat us like this? ”

Annabelle was being dragged in by the royal knights, visibly furious as she flailed her arms.

“What on earth is the reason for this? I don’t know anything! ”

Behind her, Duke Litton and his son rushed forward, looking anxious. It appeared that Duke Litton’s son had stayed behind instead of participating in the monster hunt. Moreover, with the urgent gathering of central nobles regarding the hunt, Duke Litton had also been summoned to the palace.

Raygrain scanned Annabelle’s surroundings, but there was no sign of Scheuer’s red hair anywhere.

As the knights roughly released her, Annabelle rubbed her arms where they had gripped her tightly and replied irritably, “What does Lady Scheuer’s disappearance have to do with me? Do you have any evidence? ”

“They say you last met with her,” one knight pressed.

“It was just a routine tea time! Can you treat people from the central area like this without any evidence? ”

Raygrain found Annabelle’s sharp voice unbearable. What he needed was not this noise.

***

“Is this it? ”

Scheuer peeked out from one of the many doors in the secret passage. For some reason, the rooms that should be clean were in disarray.

“Is this not it? ”

If it was this wrecked, someone should have come to clean up or assess the situation. Yet, the surroundings were eerily quiet and cold. Had she spent more time in the secret passage than she realized? She couldn’t even tell what time it was.

“It feels like the Grand Duke should be here soon.”

Scheuer tightly gripped the chamomile flower in her hand. Perhaps it was the exposure to the poison emitted by the black magic stone that made her feel unwell. The secret passage, which connected various parts of the palace, was quite vast, making it difficult to find her way, and her sluggish body only added to the delay. Eventually, she crouched in a corner, taking a moment to rest with her flower, which caused her to lose even more time.

Scheuer trembled, recalling the brief paralysis she had experienced.

“Can monsters emit such poison after consuming black magic stones? ”

She thought she should prepare an antidote flower in advance. Struggling with the debris blocking the entrance, Scheuer finally managed to exit the passage.

“It’s as if a war has broken out.”

More than that, it was urgent to catch Annabelle before she did something foolish to Raygrain. No matter how blinded by love a person might be, to think of herself as equal to him!

Recalling Annabelle’s words filled Scheuer with rage as she jumped over the broken walls and debris to reach the corridor.

What caught her eye was a familiar figure and the gathered attendants, along with some familiar faces.

Scheuer blinked at the sight of them at the end of the corridor.

“Grand Duke? ”

At her call, many looked up as if they had found a savior.

Except for one person.

“Are you breaking the Northern Agreement?” ”

Annabelle boldly shouted, glaring up at the much taller Raygrain. The word “agreement” made Scheuerflinch involuntarily. From the looks of it, Annabelle was being questioned over the incident of her disappearance. Sensing the tense atmosphere, Scheuer quickly dashed forward, calling out to him.

“Grand Duke! ”

Only at her second call did Raygrain turn his head. In that instant, his eyelids briefly crinkled. He looked as if he were about to cry. Before she could reach out, he wrapped his arms around Scheuer with great force.

Raygrain buried his face in her shoulder, his entire body leaning against her as if he might crumble. With his arms wrapped around her, Scheuer could only barely peek out and ask,

“Did the hunt go well? ”

“Where have you been? ”

“Um, I was resting nearby for a bit. It was hard to move.”

She couldn’t mention the secret passage with so many eyes on her, so she glossed over it. Fortunately, he focused on other matters rather than the location.

“It was hard to move?”

Only then did he lift his head. Scheuer raised the chamomile in her hand for him to see.

“Someone sprinkled poison mixed with paralysis from the black magic stone during tea time.”

Instantly, all eyes in the room turned to Annabelle.

Raygrain’s expression mirrored the tension in the air. Annabelle, seemingly flustered, straightened her posture and spoke defiantly. 

“Your Grace, it is inappropriate to make such accusations.”

“Why not? You said you wanted to bring down the Netri. Did you really think I would refuse? ”

Scheuer’s comment stirred murmurs among those present. She could see the despair etched across the face of Duke Litton.

Just then, a soft voice cut through the commotion. 

“What’s going on here? ”

Silcaro strode confidently toward the center of the gathering, appearing freshly returned from the hunt. At the sight of him, Annabelle seemed to lose her composure and clung to him.

“Your Highness! There seems to be some misunderstanding from the North!”

“What’s happened, Duke? ” 

Silcaro asked, unable to hide his confusion.

‘Hmm, could they be in cars? ’ Scheuer thought, observing the strange dynamic between the two.

“Annabelle, that black gemstone—Silcaro gave it to you, didn’t he? ”

“I never said that! ” 

Annabelle quickly denied, but Duke Litton’s voice interjected from behind her, heavy with gloom.

“Annabelle, it’s time to stop.”

His tone, typically formal, now carried a hint of familiarity.

Seeing Annabelle clinging to Silcaro, he continued, laced with resignation. 

“I wondered what you’d do after the divorce, and it turns out it was this.”

With that, a sense of despair washed over him. Annabelle shook her head, gripping Silcaro’s arm as if pleading for help. But Silcaro merely brushed her hand aside effortlessly.

Leaving Annabelle in a state of shock, he stepped forward toward Raygrain. 

“Duke, you don’t intend to break the agreement, do you? Proper procedures should be followed.

But before he could finish, a swift movement caught everyone’s attention. Raygrain’s sword suddenly lunged toward Silcaro’s back.

A sickening thud echoed as blood splattered across Silcaro’s face, accompanied by the heavy sound of Annabelle collapsing to the floor.

With a pained expression, Annabelle clutched her shoulder, where blood streamed from a wound. Raymond looked down at her with an unsettling calmness.

A moment later, the horrified screams of the attendants filled the air. 

“Aaaah!”

Scheuer instinctively moved a step closer to Raygrain, her heart racing at the sight of the bloodshed. With practiced ease, he sheathed his sword at his waist, turning to Silcaro with an icy demeanor. 

“What’s the point of an agreement if you can’t even protect your own? ”

Silcaro’s eyes widened in shock, his gaze locked on Raygrain, who drew a line in the sand with his words.

“From this day forward, the agreement between the North and the Central is broken.”

“I have a new plan, To go mad” – Dostoevsky