60.

Rosetta tightly secured the coin purse inside her robe. With the sturdy robe pulled completely over her, she looked exactly like a maid running errands. She swiftly turned around to face Anna, who had started fretting from behind.

“If you’re coming, follow carefully. If you cause trouble or draw attention, I’ll leave you behind.”

Anna clamped both hands over her mouth and stiffly nodded. Rosetta pressed a finger to her lips, hissed “Shh,” then flattened herself against the door to listen. She heard the old butler, who had long served Cardier, returning after seeing him off and closing the door to his office. Only then did Rosetta quietly open the door and peer out.

The corridor was quiet, just as expected. This was thanks to the extreme restriction on permanent staff—aside from the elderly butler who had served Cardier for years. It was also due to the excuse of not yet adapting to the new environment, which had allowed them to keep delaying the hiring of additional servants.

As a result, despite their heightened vigilance, not a single person appeared as they crossed the garden. Rosetta and Anna hid among the small ornamental trees near the back gate used by servants, cautiously observing the outside. Anna, in fact, had already broken off two tree branches with a grimly determined expression. ……She really does think of everything.

“What do we do now?”

Rosetta glanced at the back gate, where navy guards stood in strict formation. There were five of them in total. Two were watching the inside, stationed on either side of the thin iron door, while three guarded the exterior.

To reach the hole leading to the cliffside, they had to pass directly in front of them.

“What time is it now?”

“About twenty minutes until eight o’clock.”

Twenty minutes. From careful observation so far, she knew the navy guards changed shifts once at eight in the morning and again at six in the evening. What she was aiming for was precisely that brief moment of shift change. Though it was called a “moment,” it actually took nearly five minutes to complete—the guards would march briefly, salute, turn around, and hand over flags and bayonets. Anyway, the navy guards’ routine was exactly what she needed.

“Are you really, really, really sure there’s no other way?”

“Do you want to stay behind instead?”

“That’s… no.”

Her threats came out as easily as breathing, yet all were utterly feeble. Compared to her past life, the content was so ticklish it almost made her laugh. The faint smile vanished in an instant.

“M-Madam… the bell…”

Anna murmured in a dramatic tone, as if announcing something inevitable. And she was right. Faintly, the chime from the city’s grand bell tower rang, marking the hour. At the same time, the metallic clinking of navy guards approaching for shift change echoed nearby. It had begun.

Rosetta clenched her fist tightly and fixed her gaze on the guards. She tensed her legs, ready to spring at any moment. One, two… Rosetta counted the beats in her mind. Turn back, halt, salute, open the gate… And the moment all the guards turned their backs—now!

“Run.”

With the soft signal, Rosetta and Anna quickly dashed toward the cliffside. One of the guards casually turned his head, but they narrowly managed to crouch behind the bushes near the opening.

The guard’s gaze swept idly in their direction before returning to its original position. The two exchanged glances and released a sigh of relief. But it was too early to celebrate.

“It’s really here.”

Anna murmured, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. Hidden beneath the undergrowth, one of the iron bars on the cliffside was bent. It was large enough for a grown man to pass through—more than just a hole. The joy of discovering this while casually strolling through the garden—after thoroughly searching—was beyond words.

It would’ve been even better if the navy guards didn’t keep barging in every thirty minutes searching for her, who hadn’t left the garden in a long time. Anyway, the most important thing now was to escape from this place as quickly as possible.

“Isn’t this… too dangerous?”

Anna stuck her hips far back and only poked her head forward to look down the cliffside. Her already pale face turned nearly corpse-white. Rosetta stepped first through the opening.

“Just follow, stepping exactly where I step.”

The cliff was wet and slippery from last night’s rain, and the unrepaired stairs were extremely steep. Worse, the stairs weren’t professionally built at all. They looked crudely carved by someone strong but unskilled, who had hacked away at the cliff over a long period just to create makeshift footholds. In fact, the two nearly slipped several times due to the awkward structure.

“Be careful…!”

“Miss Lea!”

If not for the old, worn-out ropes hammered in at intervals by whoever built the stairs, one of them would’ve tumbled down the cliff. As soon as they reached the last step, both collapsed onto the gravel path, panting heavily. Their legs trembled from tension. Damn it. They’d somehow made it down, but just thinking about climbing back up made her feel faint.

“Where’s the carriage you called?”

“Over there…”

Anna raised her trembling arm to point at a carriage waiting by the roadside. As they approached, the coachman leaning against the carriage acknowledged them. Rosetta confidently flicked a silver coin to the coachman.

“To the central square.”

In hindsight, it turned out to be the worst possible choice—because the excited coachman, seeing the tip, drove the horses at full speed. The cargo carriage had no shock absorption, and every time it hit a rock, the carriage jolted violently. Rosetta bounced off her seat, nearly biting her tongue while muttering curses under her breath.

“Well, we’ve arrived at Cyclid Central Square.”

Rosetta clamped a hand over her mouth, fighting back nausea, and practically rolled out of the carriage onto the ground. For some reason, she felt as if waves were swaying before her eyes. After spitting several times, she finally regained her senses.

“See? Leaving home only brings unnecessary trouble…”

The coachman’s gaze was insolent, as if looking at a naive younger sibling. Rosetta, who had rinsed her mouth with fresh water cleverly obtained nearby, lightly flicked Anna’s nose with her finger.

“You wait here.”

“Here?”

“I’ll be back soon.”

“What if you don’t come back soon? Where exactly are you going?”

“That’s why I brought you along.”

She shrugged and nodded toward the navy headquarters, visible from a distance across the central square.

“If I’m not back within an hour, report it.”

“R-report?”

“Get a grip. If I haven’t returned by the time the next hour is announced from the bell tower, go straight to the navy headquarters.”

“But… how would I know where you are?”

“4-426 Street.”

Anna tilted her head in confusion. Being a newcomer, she didn’t sense the anomaly—but in Cyclid’s back alleys, there were no addresses starting with 4. At least, not officially.

Yet, as if instinctively realizing she was involved in something dangerous, her innocent face instantly turned gloomy. Rosetta tightly gripped her hand.

“What did I say the address was?”

“4, 4-426 Street.”

“Good. Don’t move until the hour is up.”

Anna nodded blankly. Satisfied, the lady-in-waiting finally released her hand. Blood rushed back into Anna’s hand, left numb from the tight grip. Anna stared dully at her hand, then suddenly looked up. The lady-in-waiting was already nowhere to be seen.

* * *

“What should we do?”

At his aide’s cautious question, Cardier lifted his face, etched with melancholy worry. The aide, meeting his gaze directly, swallowed hard. The sadness, combined with his refined features, strangely revealed an almost decadent beauty unlike his usual self. He slightly twisted his finely shaped lips in a wry, amused smirk.

“What about?”

“If we continue like this, the lady is at great risk. From the very beginning, when she started using the cliff path, we should have completely blocked it off—not just having guards watch from a distance.”

“…….”

“Honestly, recalling how perfectly composed she was as Crown Princess just a few months ago…”

“You talk too much.”

The aide, who had been casually listing off thoughts with little interest from Cardier, snapped his mouth shut under the sharpness of Cardier’s gaze. In that moment, he realized he had nearly crossed a dangerous line. After all, the person he had so lightly spoken about was his superior’s wife. Rumor had it they shared a legendary, once-in-a-century love.

“…My apologies. I will correct it.”

Cardier snorted dismissively, as if even that response displeased him. Soon after, as if having finished reading entirely, he crumpled the document in his hand. Though there were several other papers, Cardier picked them up along with the reported ones, as if he no longer needed to read any further.

“If I only listened to you, people might think I don’t care at all about my wife’s safety.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t care at all—after all, there were already over four guards constantly trailing her. But was he overly concerned? Not really. His protection amounted to nothing more than distant observation, barely within line of sight. The aide carefully opened his mouth again.

“…Aren’t you?”

“I know my wife wouldn’t welcome even distant protection. I don’t want to be disliked by her in the slightest.”

Even so, the words “my wife” seemed to carry an oddly emphasized weight.