“…… I’ll have to change the plan. Lord Charles, please pretend to be the betraying knight.”

“My lady……”

Charles, who had called out to the lady, tried to kneel and meet Lucy’s eyes, but Lucy quickly turned her gaze to Daniel’s wound and hardened her expression.

Then she unwrapped the scarf she was wearing and placed it on the tutor’s shoulder.

“The bleeding is deep. You need to see a doctor first, teacher.”

“But Lord Charles doesn’t know the way at all. Rather, I should……”

“The knight tried to kill you, teacher. It might be better if you go instead. Their thoughts have changed. The worst case is that information from our side has leaked, and the best case is that they simply tried to eliminate you, Teacher Daniel.”

“…… What do you mean?”

Charles, who had been listening, asked.

The tutor, whom he thought was an accomplice, was not only attacked by the knight but was acting as if he was on the lady’s side instead.

Isn’t this the opposite of what the Duke had said?

“Someone tried to kidnap me using Teacher Daniel.”

“Kidnap……”

Charles flinched at the word kidnap but nodded his head calmly as he assessed the situation.

If it was a kidnapping, it made sense. The tutor had been on the other side from the beginning.

Thinking that way, he could understand why the knight’s blade was aimed at the tutor first.

As the lady said, they might have known about the tutor’s betrayal, or he might have been a disposable card from the start.

After settling that, they probably planned to kidnap the lady right away.

While Charles was lost in thought, Lucy glanced at the corpse lying on the hill and then turned her gaze back to Charles.

“We need to gather as much information as possible. Until father arrives…… Lord Charles, is mother alright?”

“The butler is with her. More importantly, my lady……”

As Charles was about to speak, Daniel raised his upper body, clutching his shoulder which was bleeding profusely.

“Ugh….. First of all, this is not the time to talk here. If you go further back, you’ll see a large cathedral. We were originally supposed to meet behind the cathedral walls. But since the knight tried to eliminate me, there’s a possibility they taught me differently from the beginning.”

“That could be, but we have no choice, so let’s go there for now. Lord Charles.”

Lucy spoke firmly, but Charles, who had witnessed the situation, objected.

“We can’t. It could be a trap, and it’s enemy territory on top of that. Moreover, if they hide and just watch us, it could be even worse.”

“If their goal was murder, they would have tried to eliminate me first here, not Teacher Daniel. There must be a clear purpose for the kidnapping. I was certain they originally planned to kidnap me and extort something, but judging by how things are turning out……”

Lucy paused for a moment before looking up at Charles again.

“It seems they intend to use it as a way to discard the hand they were holding.”

“The hand they were holding……. you say?”

Charles furrowed his brow as he met Lucy’s gaze.

“For some reason, you also want the opponent to discard that hand, my lady.”

“Yes….. Completely. If possible, it would be better to frame me as a criminal who kidnapped myself and eliminate me. Even if we don’t get information about those forces this time.”

“…… I understand.”

Suddenly agreeing with Lucy’s words, Charles approached the corpse and began to search it.

“Let’s investigate this guy first. There might be something else.”

While Charles was searching the knight, Lucy tied her scarf tightly around Daniel’s shoulder and laid him down.

Then she whispered in a very low voice.

“Daniel. People will surely be sent from the duke’s mansion. At that time, don’t immediately tell them about behind the cathedral.”

Startled by the lady’s words, Daniel flinched, and Lucy put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion. As if it was a secret from Charles.

“What are you thinking?”

At Daniel’s question, the neatly folded green eyes winked playfully.

Though he didn’t know what it was about, the lady was so smart that there must be a reason.

Daniel nodded slightly and made a secret promise with the lady behind Charles’s back.

*

“Madam……! Madam!!”

Not long after the collapsed Eriel was moved to her room, she quickly regained consciousness.

As Eriel opened her eyes wide, her face was filled with anger that could strike lightning from a clear sky.

Eriel, supported by the maid, approached Bella, who had come to deliver the news.

“Where was she kidnapped?”

“A-As soon as we went up the hill, she was taken.”

“…… Butler, call the coachman right away.”

Eriel’s sharp voice rang out, and the maid standing next to the butler went to call the coachman, sensing the mood.

In the meantime, Eriel grabbed Bella’s shoulders.

“Bella. You must answer the questions well. …… How could Lucy be kidnapped when there was a knight and you were there too?”

This was scarier than if she had shouted.

Along with the low voice, Eriel’s long, white fingers that were gripping Bella’s shoulders dug in as if they were hooks.

“Well……”

Bella swallowed hard and recalled Lucy’s words.

“The knight…… was not from the duke’s mansion.”

Bella calmly relayed what Lucy had told her.

“What…… did you say?”

“The knight was not from the duke’s mansion. He drew his sword and tried to harm the tutor.”

The strength in Eriel’s fingers gripping Bella’s shoulders suddenly loosened.

Bella, suddenly released, slowly raised her gaze that had been lowered.

The madam, who was much taller than Bella, was looking straight ahead with her lips slightly parted.

It felt like looking at a finely carved plaster statue.

There was no blood at all in her face, which looked as if her soul had completely left it. It was just pale white.

Silence fell over the duke’s mansion for a while. Bella couldn’t say anything in front of that face. Is this what a goddess would look like when angered?

Even the maids who had come out alone due to the commotion kept silent in the sudden silence.

It was as if everyone had instinctively frozen in front of an approaching huge tidal wave.

“……”

What broke the momentary silence was the arrival of the coachman.

While the coachman, realizing the situation looked serious, just stood with his eyes wide open unable to speak, Eriel looked down at Bella, moving only her eyeballs.

The sight of only her eyeballs moving without any other movement was incredibly eerie, but Bella couldn’t even utter a surprised gasp.

It was an atmosphere that made one realize what it feels like to have your breath taken away.

“Then what happened to the tutor?”

“He was badly injured by the betraying knight and is on the hill.”

“I see. Did Lizzy, who went with you, go to tell Damian this news?”

“…… Yes.”

With that answer, Eriel turned her head.

“All personnel of the duke’s mansion are to go out and search for traces of Lucy. Bella, you go to report this to the capital’s guard.”

Eriel’s footsteps moved.

“Butler! Let’s depart for the hill!”

*

“Huff, huff….. Your Grace.”

At the same time, Lizzy climbed onto the deck recklessly, saying she had to see the duke regardless of the surrounding situation.

“A maid?”

As Damian, who was just coming down from the deck, met Lizzy, she immediately shouted.

“Your Grace! The young lady has been kidnapped!!”

And Bruno, who flinched as soon as he saw Lizzy beside him, quickly grabbed Damian’s arm.

“What? Brother! You should go report this to the capital’s guard right away!”

However, Damian, who stood still on the spot, pulled down the tie that was tightly wrapped around his neck.

He took a deep breath while closing his eyes tightly for a moment.

His jaw muscles tensed as if he was clenching his molars tightly, and then his blue eyes opened.

“Brother……! You must think carefully. If it’s a kidnapping, searching comes first, and to search, we definitely need manpower. No matter how skilled you are in combat, brother, searching comes first.”

“…… Then you can go.”

“Pardon?”

Damian roughly shook off Bruno’s hand gripping his arm and immediately came down from the deck.

“Maid! I sent two knights, so what happened?”

“One was taken down, and the other kidnapped Lucy.”

“Taken down……? One was taken down, and the other kidnapped Lucy, you say!”

“Yes……”

Bruno grabbed Damian once more as he hesitated at the maid’s words.

“If you go by horse, you can reach the capital’s guard before me who arrived by carriage, can’t you? So……”

Damian, whose arm was grabbed by Bruno, slowly turned his head.

“Shut up.”

“…… Brother.”

“If anything happens to Lucy…… even if this empire falls, I will never forgive today’s events.”

Damian lowered his voice and brought his head close to Bruno’s face before suddenly moving away.

At the same time, Bruno’s hand that was holding Damian’s arm fell away limply.

“Brother….. Surely you’re not…… suspecting me? For what reason……!”

However, Damian got on his horse, seemingly not even paying attention to Bruno’s continued protests.

Bruno frowned as he watched Damian move away.

“Ha….. No. This is even better.”

Bruno, who hadn’t realized what Damian’s warning meant, rather smiled and wiggled his fingers. There was no sign of dark clouds on his grinning face.

Bruno thought that this opportunity might allow him to completely have his brother in the palm of his hand.

His brother had a debt of gratitude to him.

What would happen if, after going to rescue his daughter with such certainty, the culprit turned out to be the tutor……? He would feel even more guilty.

“Ah, oh dear.”

Then Bruno immediately turned his head towards Lizzy, who had been watching him.

Judging by the fact that she came to report this to his brother after the kidnapping, it seemed this maid wasn’t even thinking of betrayal. Well, the money given was substantial.

Moreover, the lives of her siblings in her hometown were also in Bruno’s hands.

It would be difficult to betray.

…… No.

“Kik.”

Bruno, who let out a chuckle, cast his gaze towards the direction Damian had disappeared.

The other side probably wouldn’t even guess what’s happening now.

Because that’s the kind of person his brother is.

“…… You came earlier than expected. Did you carry out the kidnapping faster?”

Lizzy bowed her head at that. She bent her waist sharply, just in case her expression management was insufficient.

Bruno nodded contentedly as he looked down at Lizzy.

“…… Yes. But I was a bit flustered because it was different from the information I received.”

Bruno’s eyebrow raised slightly.

“Different from the information you received? What exactly?”

“Well, the knight tried to…… kill the tutor.”

Bruno’s face turned pale rapidly upon hearing Lizzy’s words.

“Tried to kill the tutor…… what does that mean……?”

A red alert began to sound in Bruno’s head.

The only suspect who could be framed for this incident was the tutor, but now the tutor was almost eliminated.

“The knight tried to kill the tutor. But in the end, he couldn’t kill the tutor and kidnapped the young lady instead.”

“What…… what on earth does that mean! The tutor was supposed to be the culprit from the beginning!!”

Bruno’s voice grew louder as he approached Lizzy.

“…… Wasn’t this something you knew about, Lord Bruno?”

At Lizzy’s question, Bruno frowned deeply and took a deep breath, clenching his fists tightly.

His face turned bright red as if he couldn’t control his boiling anger.

“These bastards dare…… dare to…… betray me?”

Bruno growled and let out a scream once.