He Who Covets the Abandoned Bride - Chapter 39

During the time Lilburn bought with his deception, Layla followed Brian’s advice and fled to the outskirts of the city. She found a small attic to hide in.

However, somewhere along the way, information about Layla leaked to Isabella’s side, likely due to those who split off earlier informing the Fitzroys.

Immediately, wanted posters with detailed information about Layla and the two knights were plastered everywhere in Olentia.

They were staying in Olentia, possessed continental travel passes, and had dyed their hair to conceal the color, but were traveling in a group of one woman and two men. Furthermore, one was a Wessex and two were Harkins.

This information was spread to the point where everyone in Olentia knew…

Brian, who roughly summarized the story to her, hurriedly said as he packed his belongings.

“It seems the couple on the first floor suspects us.”

“Then we should leave.”

Layla nodded as she tied up her hair, the dye fading to reveal patches of brown.

They had been on the run for days, but now that it was known they had continental travel passes, crossing to another country was out of the question.

In the end, they had no choice but to move within Olentia, but the problem was that Olentia was a very small kingdom with only five cities. On top of that, public order was quite strict.

In other words, there weren’t many places to flee to, and the tight security made tracking them very easy.

If they quietly vacated the attic without a word, the couple on the first floor would likely report that suspicious people had been in their house.

However, they couldn’t just sit and wait to be caught, so they left the attic without hesitation.

Brian draped a cloak over Layla and rode the horse straight to another city.

On the way, they briefly stopped by the post office to contact Millay. Layla was scanning the bulletin board when she noticed the front page of the weekly newspaper and her eyes widened.

There were two articles related to Layla on the front page.

One was about the rewards for finding Layla Wessex, who was hiding in Olentia from Fitzroy. It even said to report anyone seen in a group of one woman and two men.

‘It’s not a common combination, so that’s probably why.’

While she was somewhat aware of this, the other article was quite unexpected.

This article dealt with news from Harkin.

…Amidst the Fitzroy royal family’s aggressive moves such as the occupation of Wessex, the Harkin imperial family sent letters to each country issuing a warning.

They stated that from now on, accepting those with the Wessex surname as slaves would be considered a hostile act against Harkin.

It appears that Harkin’s pressure on Fitzroy is intensifying, and on the other hand, it reflects the Harkin imperial family’s sense of crisis as Wessex, which had remained neutral, and the “Coordinators” have fallen into the hands of Fitzroy and its allies.

After carefully reading the article word for word, Layla put down the newspaper so as not to appear suspicious.

But for some reason, her fingertips trembled and she had to hide her hands under the collar of the cloak she wore.

‘Harkin has intervened too…’

As the article said, although Wessex occasionally showed a hostile attitude toward Harkin, it was never an ally of Fitzroy.

Perhaps that’s why Harkin tolerated the somewhat arrogant behavior of the King of Wessex, but it seemed they couldn’t overlook Isabella Fitzroy’s occupation.

The Harkin imperial family also needed the help of the Coordinators to exercise their special abilities anyway.

In fact, before the Kingdom of Wessex was established, the Wessex family belonged to Harkin, so it was no exaggeration to say that the Coordinators were under their control.

Although there were cases where they were tied to the royal families of other countries, they were still in a position to come running whenever the imperial family called.

However, if Wessex fell into Fitzroy’s hands, Harkin’s chances of borrowing the Coordinators’ power would completely disappear.

That had quite significant implications.

If they couldn’t get help from the Coordinators, it would ultimately limit the power of the Harkin imperial family.

“Let’s go, Miss.”

While she was thinking, Brian had already sent the letter and came to stand beside her. Layla nodded and went outside.

As she walked to the next destination chosen by Brian, she told him about the newspaper contents. To Brian, who listened silently, Layla added.

“If Harkin comes to capture me too, even Lord Millay will have a hard time then.”

It was an indirect question of whether Millay or Brian would be in danger for helping her. Brian shook his head.

“For now, the priority is to escape the threat from Fitzroy.”

“That’s true, but…”

Layla feared that at this rate, she might become the seed of conflict between the two countries, even if by some slim chance. Of course, she didn’t have coordination abilities, so she wouldn’t be of interest to Harkin.

But whether he knew of Layla’s worries or not, Brian sent Layla ahead to the newly acquired lodging and followed after buying hair dye.

After helping each other dye their hair, Layla stayed in the room alone, staring blankly into the air.

Surprisingly, she was getting used to being on the run for days. The situation of Isabella Fitzroy frantically searching for her was terrifying, but she was adapting to that fear.

However, if this situation lasted for months or years…

‘Then in the end, I’ll be left alone.’

Brian was kind and trustworthy now, but he would leave at any time if his master ordered it.

Also, although Millay said he would come find her again, now that both Fitzroy and Harkin were keeping an eye out, he might have changed his mind.

After all, Brian could easily snatch the continental travel pass in her possession if he wanted to, so it could end that way.

“…Is there no hope for us, Cedric?”

When Layla softly called her brother’s name and tried to swallow her sorrow again, there was a sound.

Kwang!

The door to the next room was roughly opened, and the startled Layla glanced at the door to her room, which also opened roughly at that moment.

The innkeeper and the city’s security officer stood at the door.

“The two men next door and this woman here came together.”

At that moment, the article saying to report anyone seen as one woman and two men came to mind.

Layla thought, so this life on the run is coming to such an abrupt end.

Huff, huff…

Layla ran like crazy through the night alleys, led by Brian’s hand. Fortunately, Brian and another knight subdued the security officers who came to the inn, but what followed was the problem.

After running through the alleys for a while, Brian slipped into the web-like paths, threw his colleague as bait, and finally shook off the Olentian knights chasing them.

Confirming they were alone, he bowed his head to Layla.

“It’s my mistake, Princess.”

Layla shook her head.

“No, you did your best.”

In fact, even while on the run, Brian tried his best to ensure Layla could rest comfortably at night.

However, it seemed he too had not anticipated being reported so groundlessly and even having security officers show up.

This was proof of just how desperately Fitzroy was searching for them.

Layla sat in the alley they were hiding in, hugging her knees in despair.

“What do we do now? At this rate, we might get caught within a few days.”

“…I will protect you.”

Now there was anxiety in Brian’s voice too. He didn’t say he was leaving, but Layla felt it was really over.

Layla gave a bitter smile.

“Lord Millay won’t be able to blame you at this point either. Just leave me and go.”

“Princess.”

Layla took out an object she had kept deep in her bosom. Brian’s eyes wavered as he saw it.

In her hand was a continental travel pass.

The reason she hadn’t let go of it until now was because she wanted to hold onto one last hope.

But in reality, she should have given up long ago. From the moment she became Isabella’s target.

No matter how great Millay was, he wouldn’t be a match for Fitzroy’s first princess.

Expecting him to come see her in this situation was putting him in danger too.

So now it was right for her to resign herself.

Layla had already received more help from Brian than she had hoped for, and that was enough.