Soon, the maid’s displeased voice was heard.

“Hey. Because of you, I betrayed the master I’ve served for a long time and left. You better take responsibility until the end.”

“Hehe… If I don’t take responsibility for you, who will? Hurry up and pack your things and get up. The broker who will take us to the border said he’d be here soon.”

“Alright.”

As the conversation ended, the sound of the maid and the man getting up and tidying the place was heard.

Wait a minute! What about, what about me…?

Belladonna flinched and hunched her shoulders in surprise.

“Wait, what about the lord’s wife?”

“Let’s just leave her. How long will she last in this cold? She’ll freeze to death soon. They’ll just think she got lost and died wandering around.”

Ah, no…! If they left her here, there really was no other option but to be trapped in this unknown place and freeze to death.

“Then wait. We should at least untie her before we go.”

“No, she might escape and run down if we do that. Let’s just leave her as is. By the time someone discovers this place, this woman will be a corpse.”

At the sound of something she didn’t even want to imagine, Belladonna raised her head.

A, a corpse…?

“But I’m still uneasy. The lord cared for her quite a bit… What if he discovers later that his wife has died and chases after us with all his might?”

“Hey! How many times do I have to tell you? To me, the Imperial Knights and the lord are all the same. If you’re going to be so weak, just go back to the castle right now!”

“What? How can I go back now after all this!”

The man and the maid started arguing.

Perhaps because their movements had become larger as their emotions intensified, a small stone on the cave floor bounced and hit Belladonna’s body.

Belladonna, who had been concentrating all her attention on listening to their voices, flinched in surprise at the sudden stone that hit her body and bounced off.

“Huh, what? This woman is awake?”

The maid shouted, not missing it.

Ack, I’ve been caught…!

“Q-Quick, let’s go!”

The maid who had gotten up grabbed the man and pulled him backwards.

But the man she had grabbed didn’t move and slowly tilted his head, then opened his mouth with a grin.

“No. Wait a moment.”

“What are you going to do!”

The man approached Belladonna, who was lying face down on the floor struggling, and cut off the cloth that had been tightly binding her mouth with the small sword he had been handling earlier.

Ah…!

As soon as the cloth that had been tightly covering her mouth was loosened, a heavy pain was felt where the sword had grazed.

“Ah, oops. I accidentally left a scar on her face.”

The man said in a voice tinged with laughter.

The maid standing beside him asked in a displeased and anxious voice.

“What are you really trying to do…! Why did you untie that?”

“She can’t speak anyway. I’m just letting her breathe more comfortably.”

The man soon brought the sword near the cloth covering Belladonna’s eyes again.

At his action, the uneasy maid looked around repeatedly and opened her mouth.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to untie the blindfold too? What’s wrong with you? Let’s just leave her here and go, I said!”

“You know. After doing this for a long time…”

The man touched the cloth with the sharp tip of the sword.

It must have grazed wrongly again, as a stinging pain was felt below her eye.

Belladonna unknowingly frowned.

“Any potential sprouts should be completely cut off.”

“What are you talking about?”

“She can’t speak anyway so it doesn’t matter. Let’s just gouge out her eyeballs. What do you think?”

What…? Belladonna stopped moving, doubting her own ears.

The maid must have been surprised too, as she asked in a much smaller voice.

“D-Do we have to go that far?”

“That way she won’t be able to say anything, and won’t be able to see anything.”

The man who finished speaking put strength into the hand holding the sword and completely cut off the cloth.

At the sudden light pouring in through her pupils, Belladonna frowned and looked ahead.

She could see the maid she had encountered earlier in the corridor and a man with a large build and threatening impression crouching side by side, looking at her.

Quickly turning her eyes to look around, the place she was in looked like an abandoned cave in a forest far from the castle.

Through the cave entrance visible in the distance, a cold wind entered along with small snowflakes, and cold water droplets fell from above.

On the opposite deep inside, only darkness whose end could not be known occupied the space.

W-Where on earth is this place…

“…”

The man’s pupils dilated as he confirmed Belladonna’s blue eyes.

Soon, the corners of his mouth turned up gently.

“Wow, this… She was an insanely beautiful woman?”

“Ah, let’s just go. I feel really uneasy about this.”

“Do you see this? I really like this look in her eyes.”

“What kind of look are you talking about?”

“You know. The look in her eyes that’s so afraid of me she doesn’t know what to do. The look of a herbivore in front of a predator.”

A strange light flickered in the man’s dark pupils as he said so.

Belladonna, who had been looking at him, shuddered in fear.

The man in front of her eyes right now was a completely crazy man.

‘…How did I end up like this?’

Realizing where she was now, her situation felt absurd.

Surely in the morning she had met Scarlet and spent a pleasant time with Escalion, but in the afternoon her heart had sunk to the bottom because of the letter sent by the Pope, and now she was in danger of having her eyeballs gouged out by two unknown murderers.

Plop.

The tears that had been pooling heavily fell to the floor.

What did I do wrong… Suddenly, a sorrowful feeling rushed over her.

I, I would rather have died from that fever back then! After suddenly being reborn as the Saint’s body and being oppressed by the Pope, suffering only heartache, and just when I thought I could finally be happy freely after meeting my husband…!!

I don’t know who you are, but why are you doing this to me, really!!

“Even her crying is pretty?”

The man holding the sword approached with a grim smile.

He put the sharp tip of the sword in front of Belladonna’s eyes and opened his mouth.

“It’s a shame we won’t be able to see those pretty eyes anymore. Please, forget that you saw us. My lady.”

Belladonna closed her eyes tightly in fear. The man chuckled and raised her eyelid forcibly with his finger.

With her face roughly held by the man, Belladonna thought.

‘If there is a God, why are you really doing this to me, why didn’t you just kill me back then if you were going to do this?’

Tears kept flowing down her cheek, which was already wounded.

But perhaps because her whole body was stiff from the cold, she didn’t feel much stinging or pain.

Behind her resentful feelings, Escalion came to mind.

Thinking that her eyes would be gouged out like this, she wanted to see him so badly, even if it was for the last time.

The sound of Escalion calling her name affectionately echoed in her ears.

She missed that low voice so much.

If she died like this, she thought it was also sad and resentful that she would never be able to resolve the misunderstanding with Escalion for the rest of her life.

“Hey, wait a minute…”

At that moment, the maid standing beside him grabbed the man’s arm as she turned her head towards the dark depths of the cave.

“What’s wrong? Let go of this. I need to gouge them out in one go. That way the beautiful lady of the lord will suffer less.”

“No, wait… Didn’t you hear a strange sound?”

“It’s probably just the wind. The longer you do this, the longer this lady will be afraid.”

The man shook off the maid’s arm as if annoyed.

Wooong.

“N-No! What is this sound? There was a strange sound just now too! Didn’t you hear it? Hey, hey, let’s just go, I said!”

At the maid’s urgent words, the man turned his head to look where she was looking.

“Damn, really…”

“Don’t tell me this is… a, a bear sound?”

“This is indeed a bear cave, but bears hibernate during the cold winter, you stupid X.”

“Uh…? Hey, hey, that! Ahhh!”

The maid, who had been restlessly looking inside, discovered something and opened her eyes wide.

She hurriedly stepped back and tripped over a rock, tumbling down.

“Oh really… What is it?”

The maid kept failing to utter proper words and pointed her finger towards the inside of the cave while kicking the ground with all her might with both legs.

“B… b…”

“Ah why are you like this… Uh…? XX! W-What is that!”

The man who had been clicking his tongue and frowning turned to look where the maid was pointing and screamed.

As the maid rolling on the ground had said, a huge bear that should have been hibernating could be seen crawling towards the cave entrance, drooling from its muzzle.

Whether angry at being woken up, its bloodshot eyes were sharp, and hot steam was constantly rising around its body.

The bear stopped for a moment and looked at the maid and the man, then opened its huge muzzle wide.

“Wooong!”

“R-Run away!”

The man holding the small sword quickly got up and ran towards the cave entrance.

The maid who had been rolling on the ground also came to her senses and chased after the man.

“Hey! Take me with you, you coward XX!”

Belladonna also tried to get up, but perhaps because the drug’s effects hadn’t completely worn off, she couldn’t put strength in her thighs.

Ah, w-what should I do? Belladonna tried to at least untie her hands behind her back by rubbing her wrists roughly against the pointed cave wall.

But the tightly tied rope didn’t loosen at all, only adding small wounds to the back of her hands.

The bear approached Belladonna with heavy, slow footsteps.

The bear was fixing its glistening gaze directly on her.

“Ha… Is it my fate to end up being torn apart by a bear after all.”

Belladonna frowned and muttered softly.

The dreamy feeling from the drug effects that hadn’t completely worn off yet, the faint stinging sensation felt on her face and the blood and tears that kept falling to the floor, and her wrists that had become a complete mess…

Is this my end?

It was ridiculous to the point of wanting to laugh.

Belladonna looked at the bear’s sharp teeth visible between its open jaws.

I hope the end isn’t too painful…

Her vision gradually darkened as she exhaled roughly. Yes, I’d rather just faint.

“Wooong!”

The bear raised its muzzle and made a sound once more.

Belladonna, who had been blinking her eyes slowly, soon lost consciousness.

‘But…’

The image of the bear captured in her final view felt strangely familiar for some reason.