Even before recognizing the owner of the voice, the body reacted first.

“……Ellie?”

Hastily turning his head, he saw an unfamiliar figure wearing a reversed robe, approaching with Odette.

“Is it really you, my lady? How did you get here…”

Even without checking the face inside the robe, it was clear. Odette grabbed the person in the robe without hesitation and checked.

“Ellie, you’re safe…! Are you hurt anywhere? I thought something was wrong with you…”

Unlike usual, Odette’s words were messy and continuous, making Ellie’s voice choked up.

She held Odette’s hand and asked, “I’m safe. How did you know?”

“Blake touched your hair… Well, is your head okay?”

“Huh? My head?”

Looking puzzled, Ellie turned over the hood of the reversed robe she was wearing.

Then, Ellie’s red hair was revealed under the moonlight.

It was exactly as Odette hypothesized.

Except for a slight scratch on her cheek, Ellie appeared unharmed. Relieved, Odette, barely containing her emotions, hugged her friend tightly.

“It’s really fortunate. Truly fortunate… I was so worried that something might be wrong with you…”

“Why did you come all the way here in the middle of the night, thinking I might be hurt? Tomorrow… it’s the wedding, right?”

“Of course. You’re the most precious person to me… Even if it’s not a wedding but something more serious, I would have come to find you.”

“Madam.”

Upon Odette’s words, Ellie’s face contorted with a tearful expression.

And finally, she burst into tears.

Odette embraced Ellie even more deeply, creating a tearful reunion.

To understand the full story of the incident, we need to go back a bit in time to when Ellie lost consciousness at the masquerade.

Taken away by an unknown assailant and a little later…

“…Your Highness, it seems like the woman we were chasing has disappeared.”

Russell quickly noticed Ellie’s absence.

In fact, from the beginning, Walter and Russell knew that Ellie was following them.

While Ellie thought she was hiding well, for them, who were skilled at detecting movements due to years of training, it was impossible not to notice the clumsy footsteps of a novice noble lady.

Knowing that Ellie was Odette’s maid from the start, they just let her be.

The problem was that this place was not as safe as it seemed.

“Could she have stopped chasing us voluntarily, or is there a possibility that she lost us?”

“No. I saw her wearing a mask earlier, right? She must have intended to follow us all the way into the ballroom. And deliberately, I gave signals while moving, so there’s even less chance of her losing us.”

Russell purposely clapped his hands or flicked his fingers to make sure the attention was on him.
This was more like begging them to follow than being in a situation of being pursued.

After roughly confirming the situation, Walter nodded.

“It seems like we need to check things out. Anyway, it’s about time for the harvest.”

Leaving a meaningful remark, Walter immediately raided the suspect’s mansion upon clear confirmation of Ellie’s disappearance.

It was the mansion where Elodie was staying.

“W-What are you doing! Get out right now! How can you search a woman’s mansion like this? It’s rude!”

“There was an order from His Highness to check the entire residence. Once the check is done, we will leave. Please stay calm.”

“I said get out right now!”

Elodie strongly resisted the sudden search.

Since she had recently moved from Ertman’s palace to a small mansion, Elodie argued that Walter had no right to conduct such a search.

“If I thought such outrageous behavior would be tolerated, it would be a big mistake! I will go to the newspaper tomorrow and expose this outrage.”

“Russell Kyeong! There’s a hidden basement here!”

“……!”

And with that, Elodie’s protest disappeared as she found Ellie unconscious in the hidden basement she had kept.

Elodie was confined to her mansion, and Russell, after confirming Ellie’s condition at the clinic and bringing her back to consciousness, brought her back to Ertman.

And in the process, they encountered Odette, who hurriedly came in the middle of the night.

This led to the current situation.

This was the whole story of the Ellie kidnapping incident.

As the situation settled to some extent, and Walter joined in, moving to the office.

After hearing the entire story, Odette’s feelings became quite complicated.

“…So, Ellie, you were tailing Walter, and Walter, you were secretly going to a place, and that place was the masquerade ball. And Elodie Montuart kidnapped Ellie.”

What happened without my knowledge? There was not a single light matter.

Feeling that the sleep that hadn’t come even though it was already late night was not coming at all, Odette asked.

“Ellie, did you refuse my offer to provide security for you because of this? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m sorry. But how could I tell Your Highness about this right before your upcoming wedding… I was planning to check and tell you. Really.”