Selecting soldiers who could ride, Klaus, who had been on horseback for two days straight, arrived at the point where Evelionne had been kidnapped.

And immediately dispersing the soldiers for investigation, Klaus, who moved forward to explore the nearby area, soon found traces.

“Your Grace, there are traces left here as well.”

At a soldier’s shout, Klaus approached and examined the traces.

They were clear horseshoe imprints.

Typically, when conducting a kidnapping, they would either abandon the horses to leave no traces or intentionally divide the horses to create confusion. The fact that traces were clearly left in one place raised suspicions.
However, Klaus couldn’t afford to just stand idly by. Therefore, he left some soldiers to guard and led the knight-level troops, following the trail of horseshoe prints.

“It leads to that house!”

At a soldier’s shout, Klaus gestured to stop the soldiers and cautiously advanced.

A shabby cottage stood alone.

There was no sign of thieves, not to mention the horses they might have ridden.

Perplexed, Klaus looked around and, after showing the soldiers to stand by, carefully entered the cottage.

Soon, Klaus, who discovered the Crown Princess tied to a pillar in the cottage, called out her name in surprise.

“Evelionne!”

Klaus, who untied the gag from her mouth, examined her condition.

The Crown Princess, with a dazed expression as if she had fainted, looked up at Klaus with a bewildered expression.

“Klaus…?”

Confirming the Crown Princess’s weakened state, Klaus, while releasing her from the binds, looked around with bewilderment.

Why was the security so lax despite the kidnapping?

Something was off.

As Klaus was having such thoughts, a piercing scream echoed from outside.

With a stern expression, Klaus, as he pulled Evelionne to the corner behind a box, urgently spoke.

“Hide here.”

Having said that, Klaus drew his sword and went out of the cottage. It was a chaotic situation.

Individuals with armor bearing the mark of the Royal Guard were massacring the Duke’s soldiers.

The soldiers, who were unsuspectingly facing attacks from the Royal Guard, were being effortlessly struck down.

Some soldiers retaliated belatedly, but their efforts were futile.

“What is this…?”

At that moment, a sword flew towards Klaus.

Swiftly raising his sword to deflect the incoming blade, Klaus glanced sharply at the opponents.

They weren’t members of the Royal Guard.

It seemed like someone’s trap to create the appearance of a conflict with the Royal Guard.

Even so, the attackers were skilled knights.

Klaus, who parried a knight’s sword thrust toward his soldiers, shouted with determination.

“Guard the cottage! Reinforcements will arrive soon! Hold out until then!”

Several knights rushed towards Klaus, who skillfully parried the first sword and blocked the second sword from above.

However, the third flying sword grazed his shoulder.

“Ugh!”

Klaus, engaged with the opponent wielding a sword, kicked the adversary while confronting them and had to step back a few paces.

But the knights had no intention of sympathizing with Klaus’s situation.
Klaus, indiscriminately deflecting flying swords, was gradually being pushed backward. His breath hung at the edge of his chin, and due to shoulder pain, his concentration sharply dropped. Not missing his vulnerability, a knight swung a sword horizontally. Klaus quickly retreated, avoiding a fatal injury, but his abdomen was slashed, leaving a long trail of blood. In an instant, before Klaus could register, he plummeted below.

Frantically avoiding the swords, Klaus hadn’t noticed that the spot he retreated to was perilously close to the cliff’s edge. In a moment, Klaus fell, recalling Roselia’s last face staring at him in agony. Damn it, should’ve listened to you.

Soon after, accompanied by a thunderous noise, frigid river water enveloped Klaus to his very bones. It hadn’t been long since the downpour, and the current was turbulent, almost invisible to the naked eye. One of the knights looking down from above the cliff took off his helmet. It was the shadowy man, a subordinate of Duke Rubellio.

“I didn’t intend to kill, but it can’t be helped. Send word to the Duke’s estate. Leave the corpses of the Duke’s soldiers, and retreat with our casualties and the bodies.”

Reading a book in the study, Roselia’s pen suddenly snapped at the tip. As she anxiously looked at the broken nib, Alejandro rushed in through the study door. With a worried expression, Roselia cautiously spoke.

“What about the Crown Princess?”

“She has been rescued by the Crown Prince.”

As expected, the Crown Prince had rescued the Crown Princess, just as in the original work. Roselia, feeling a bit relieved, sighed deeply.

“Ah… Where is the Duke?”

“That…”

For a moment, Alejandro’s face turned pale. Unable to continue easily, he cautiously spoke.

“He fell.”

Roselia, momentarily releasing the pen she was holding, dropped the broken nib, and it rolled off the table.

“What…?”

“Despite searching the vicinity thoroughly at the Crown Princess’s command, according to a survivor, he fell with injuries and crashed below the cliff.”

As Alejandro spoke, his face turned grim. Dropping the pen Roselia held, the broken nib rolled off the table once again.

“In the palace, it is practically considered as a death.”

Roselia’s mind went blank.