When I first heard the story, I thought Belladonna had left the castle on her own, unable to endure the last remaining month.

I thought she wanted to return to Astanya as soon as possible, since her intentions had already been exposed.

However, the ominous premonition that kept ringing in my head made Escalion waver.

“Since when?”

“I definitely confirmed that she went to bed last night, but she hasn’t been seen since this morning. Nowhere in the castle.”

“Any missing carriages?”

“Not a single one. No missing horses either.”

Wolf replied, whimpering.

Escalion clenched his jaw.

“Pe… Perhaps she was suddenly kidnapped or had an accident…”

“Don’t imagine things on your own. Speak properly. Is there a reason you think that?”

“Oh, there’s no sign she took any clothes, food, or even shoes. Rather, the blanket was rumpled as if she had just left the bed.”

Escalion immediately turned around.

It was terribly cold.

If she had disappeared without proper clothes, it was clear that her frail body wouldn’t last long.

Why such a foolish act…

He couldn’t understand why she suddenly disappeared, and couldn’t even guess her purpose.

He thought he knew his wife well, but in reality, he knew nothing about her.

“Which places have you searched so far?”

Wolf, who had been sitting on the floor, hurriedly got up and followed him.

“We’ve searched every inch of the castle. Even places where the lady has never set foot.”

“What about outside the castle?”

“The knights are preparing to search. But without the lord’s permission, they can’t move freely…”

“Tell them to start searching the surrounding villages and forests immediately.”

“Understood! Hey, you! Report to Sir Graham right now!”

As Wolf turned his head and shouted, the surrounding servants nodded and ran off in different directions.

They seemed to be running towards the knights scattered throughout the castle searching.

“Call my wife’s maid.”

A moment later, Cindy, also in tears, appeared before him.

“My… My Lord…”

“When did you last see my wife?”

“In the evening… Yesterday evening, I bathed her and saw her lie down in bed before I left.”

“Was there anything unusual about her?”

“She did seem a bit gloomy that day, but I just thought it was because you weren’t there, my lord. I should have paid more attention… I’m… I’m sorry…”

Cindy bowed deeply, sobbing.

Escalion, looking down at her, brushed back the hair that had fallen over his forehead and sighed.

Really… Did she run away because she was in a bad mood? I didn’t think she was the type of woman to do such a foolish thing.

“My… My Lord! Amy is nowhere to be found!”

Just then, someone was heard shouting from afar.

The servant who had shouted in a loud voice hurriedly ran up to Escalion and caught his breath for a moment.

“Who is that?”

“She’s a maid who has worked at Gribblata Castle for a long time. It’s strange that she hasn’t been seen since this morning, even though it’s not her day off… I just checked, and all of her belongings are gone…!”

“What does one missing maid have to do with anything right now?”

Escalion spat out irritably.

Cindy, who had been standing quietly listening to their conversation, quickly opened her mouth.

“The… The jewelry…! I didn’t mention it because I didn’t think it was particularly important in the current situation, but this morning I discovered that some of the lady’s jewelry was missing.”

“What?”

“Many of the jewels the lady had brought separately are gone.”

Escalion’s expression hardened as he listened to Cindy’s story.

The servant standing nearby blurted out with a confused face.

“What? Did Amy steal them? Wait, could she have… kidnapped…”

The servant and Cindy exchanged anxious glances.

Escalion spoke as he approached the horse he had been riding until just moments ago, with quick steps.

“Follow the traces of the missing maid.”

“My lady…!”

“My ladyyy…! Where are you!”

The search for Belladonna continued throughout the night.

After sending back the servants exhausted from the cold, Escalion began climbing the forest, leading only the elite knights of Gribblata. He irritably cut away the branches obstructing his view.

Based on evidence like footprints and various circumstances, it was said there was one more accomplice.

There were also marks on the ground as if something heavy had been dragged, and he could only hope it wasn’t her unconscious body.

“The snow that’s fallen since then makes it difficult to find traces!”

“Visibility is also poor…!”

The voices of knights shouting from various locations could be heard.

It was clear they had entered this forest, but it was difficult to find traces of the fugitives.

He regretted that if he had known this would happen, he should have come here adjacent to the castle instead of going to a distant hill for the sake of organizing his thoughts.

At that moment, Graham and Hazel, who had approached, suggested:

“Escalion, it’s too dark now. How about resuming the search when dawn breaks?”

“That’s right, my lord. As things stand, we’re just wasting the knights’ energy without accomplishing anything. If we’re not careful, we might even suffer casualties on our side.”

Escalion silently gazed at the dark forest.

A biting cold wind blew.

If she had been wearing that velvet nightgown she usually favored last night…

Finally, he slowly opened his mouth.

“Take the knights and go down.”

“And you, my lord…?”

“I’ll keep searching a bit more.”

After finishing his words, he started walking again.

Graham and Hazel looked at each other with troubled expressions, then moved again.

“Let’s search for a few more hours!”

“Just hang in there a little longer!”

Leaving behind the shouting knights, Escalion ran up the dark forest path alone.

His movements were light and quick, unbelievably so for someone who hadn’t slept properly and had been wandering around all day.

The fugitives would have had a hard time enduring the cold anyway, so there must be somewhere nearby to hide, like a cave or a large tree hollow.

“There’s a cave ahead!”

A moment later, a cave was discovered not far from where they were searching.

Graham, standing on a large rock and looking around, raised his voice and shouted towards it.

“Go in and check quickly!”

“Yes, sir!”

Escalion turned and chased after the knights who were running in quickly, hurrying into the cave.

“Ugh…!”

“What is this smell…”

As soon as they entered, a pungent odor assaulted their noses.

Escalion covered his face with one arm and moved forward without hesitation.

As the knights held up torches, traces of a fire that had been lit just hours ago came into view.

“Someone must have been here!”

“Oh… But…”

The knights who had discovered something trailed off and stopped in their tracks.

Right next to the traces of the fire, there were drops of blood that seemed to have been spilled not long ago.

Losing their words at the ominous trace, they swallowed dry for a moment before looking around again.

“There are also traces of a… bear here. It seems to have carried something in its mouth…”

“What? Bears should be hibernating at this time of year.”

“That’s right. I’m not sure what happened…!”

“Did someone wake up a bear? This is truly maddening…!”

Escalion, who had been quietly observing everything, roughly pushed aside the knights surrounding the area and moved forward.

“…”

Next to the cold, extinguished fire pit, drops of red blood had fallen.

Scraps of cloth that seemed to have been forcibly torn were also noticeable, scattered about haphazardly.

And the animal footprints imprinted on the cave floor, traces of it carrying something in its mouth, and the blood trail that eventually disappeared following the footprints…

Escalion clenched his trembling fist tightly.

“Escalion…”

Graham, who had approached closely, placed his hand on his shoulder.

Objectively speaking, the chances of the person they were looking for still being alive were not high.

Besides the extreme cold and the fugitives who had intentionally kidnapped her, the forest was full of wild animals that could target her.

So she was probably…

Escalion’s breathing became increasingly ragged as he stood there, silently looking down at the traces.

Graham, standing beside him and quietly watching him, eventually turned his head and spoke to the knights.

“Search this area a bit more, then we’ll withdraw for today! The rest will resume at dawn tomorrow morning!”

“Understood!”

“Yes, understood!”

The intention was to recover even a corpse if they could find one.

At that moment, Escalion, who had been standing frozen in place, breathing heavily, turned his bloodshot eyes and rushed out of the cave.

He drew the longsword at his waist and began to wildly slash at his surroundings.

“Escalion! Calm down!”

“C-Captain!”

Graham and Hazel shouted as they tried to restrain him.

“Let go.”

Escalion muttered in a low voice, his arms held by the two.

He clenched his jaw, seemingly trying to suppress the rising anger.

“Escalion! Come to your senses and look at the situation clearly! The chances of your wife being alive are almost zero!! You know that better than anyone!”

“Captain! Please calm down… You’ll get hurt at this rate! You need to think rationally, especially at times like this!”

“I told you to let go!!”

Escalion shouted roughly, swinging his arms.

The two large men holding him were helplessly thrown off, rolling on the ground.

“If it was going to be like this…”

Escalion muttered, grinding his teeth.

Belladonna’s soft laughter echoed in his ears.

“Damn it, if it was going to end up like this, why did you even come to Gribblata?!”

He shouted in a voice cracking at the end, swinging his longsword around.

The branches obstructing his view were cleanly cut, falling onto the snow.

He couldn’t believe it.

It was hard to believe that the small figure that had been in his arms in bed just a few days ago could never be seen again.

It didn’t feel real that, just like his parents when he was young, he had lost someone again without being able to do anything.

Escalion, breathing heavily, looked around irritably as he moved forward.

The blood stains and faint footprints were connected here.

Rustle.

At that moment, a sound of something moving was heard from afar.

Escalion, sensitive to even the slightest sound, ran towards it faster than anyone else.

Hurriedly cutting away the branches obstructing his view, he saw a bear’s round bottom quickly disappearing down the slope.

“…!”

Escalion’s steps, which had been rushing to chase after it, came to an abrupt halt.

Something had caught his eye below.

Taking a deep breath, he very slowly lowered his head.

He was terrified of what he was about to see, but he couldn’t stop.

“…”

Finally, Escalion’s golden eyes came to a stop somewhere on the ground.

A small figure was lying on the white snow.

Belladonna was lying curled up on her side in the snow, as if dead.