178. My Fate Is With You

2024.03.26.

Inside a swaying patient carriage.

A narrow strip of light poured through the blackout curtains that had turned morning into night. A pair of jet-black eyes, rimmed by that sliver of light, shook helplessly along with the motion of the carriage.

Yuan remained still and calm, while Hire Hatarun fidgeted beside her, nervously fiddling with his medical bag, constantly watching her expression.

Everything felt like a dream.

She had just finished preparing herself for the Emperor’s nightly service. After steeling her resolve and stepping out of her room, she had run into Clade Euphris at the door.

She had fallen for his temptation and spent a brief night with him.

Sensing it might be their final night together, she confessed her love without regret.

She had tried to absorb all of his pain and lull him to sleep—just so she could gaze endlessly at his sleeping face before finally going to kill the Emperor.

“…….”

But it seemed Yuan herself had been the one who fell unconscious.

Then what happened next?

Where had Clade gone, and why was she now riding in this patient carriage with them, being taken somewhere?

Her confused black eyes swept across the carriage until they landed on Eugene Kimfri.

She tried to snap back to her senses, sit up abruptly, and demand answers or lodge a protest. But her body wouldn’t obey.

“We tied you so it wouldn’t hurt.”

Only now did she realize her wrists and ankles were bound.

The knots allowed enough mobility to keep her body functional, but made escaping or standing up utterly impossible—they mocked her.

“Untie me immediately.”

“I can’t.”

“Where are we? Why did you kidnap me? Where are you taking me? Where is His Highness the Crown Prince? Is this just your and Hire Hatarun’s personal doing?”

“Do you really think you’re the only one who must die?”

A rather cold question.

Completely opposite to the unusually gentle manner he had shown lately.

Eugene Kimfri seemed very angry.

To others, his face might have looked as stoic as ever, but Yuan, who had spent months with him, could feel through her skin that he was furious down to the tips of his hair.

“If I had known you’d rush headlong toward death to reach the Emperor, I wouldn’t have told you about the seal.”

This was the first time Eugene had spoken so harshly, as if biting each word out.

“Just as you wish to save and protect someone, there are those who feel the same about you. So don’t unjustly blame us for trying to save you. We will not allow any action that risks your safety and runs away from it.”

This was excessive—even for someone showing sympathy toward a frail woman who, out of love for her late husband, had rushed to kill his enemy.

Wouldn’t her absence harm more than just one or two people? The Emperor himself had wanted her attendance—what would happen to the aftermath if she fled like this? Who would compensate for her regret if, by missing this chance, she died pointlessly, forever out of reach of the Emperor?

As her groggy mind gradually cleared, anger welled up from deep within her heart.

After all she had endured to get this far. After all the pain she had suffered to hold on.

Did they really think they could rescue her with mere pity, clumsy affection, or cheap chivalry?

“What right do you have?”

Yuan, utterly outraged, met Eugene’s icy demeanor without flinching, sharpening her own tone.

“Do you even know what you’ve done? I was preparing for that day—”

“Why do you assume it was *us* who saved you?”

Her lips, flushed red with anger, suddenly fell silent.

It took her a brief moment to fully grasp the meaning of his words.

“If the person you’re trying to save said such a thing, would you have stayed still?”

Yuan screamed silently inside.

“You mean His Highness gave the order?”

“If you remain calm, we won’t use sedatives.”

“Answer me!”

Yuan’s eyes, wide with shock, shifted from the unyielding Eugene Kimfri to Hire Hatarun.

Hire, who had been holding his breath between them, flinched at the movement.

“I, I’m just a doctor, my lady. I only tend to the patient before me. If you must blame someone, blame this man alone…….”

His meek excuse only made Yuan’s anger explode.

She raised her bound hands and irritably pulled aside the curtain.

Bright light stabbed into her eyes. She winced, then saw the endless white snowfield, and beyond it, faintly visible, a dark blue sea.

The North Sea.

“Are you planning to cross the sea? Did His Highness command me to renounce my nationality? As you both very well know, my health isn’t good. I can’t survive on my own. Do you really think I can follow you to a foreign land until I collapse and die? Don’t you have your own lives to live?”

Eugene Kimfri studied her sarcastic expression with mild curiosity. Then he replied calmly:

“From the moment I accepted his offer, my fate has been tied to yours.”

“!”

“If you dislike it, then don’t die—live. As long as you live, I’ll protect you from afar. I don’t know about this doctor, but I will follow you to the end. That was my order, and I have answered it. It is entirely my own will.”

“How can you say you don’t know? I am also pouring my entire self into serving you, my lady! Don’t ignore me, sir!”

Hire’s indignant protest was abruptly cut off by Yuan.

“What about the East?”

“Everything will change once the hunting festival ends.”

The idea that the heir of the East, the man destined to rule the golden sea, would abandon everything to flee with her to a foreign country made her head spin.

Yuan muttered in a daze:

“That’s impossible…….”

“Tasha will understand.”

His reply was firm, without a single crack.

As the carriage raced forward, drawing closer to the sea, Yuan’s mind filled with chaos.

How much had Clade known, and how had he figured it out, to resort to such an extreme measure to remove her? What was it all for? What did he mean by “everything will change after the hunting festival”?

“This might be our last time together.”

“Don’t die.”

Had it been Clade, not her, who said those farewell words? Was that why he seduced her and spent the night with her? What was he trying to do?

Yuan clenched her fists tightly, anxiety rising.

The painfully blue northern sea filled her dark eyes completely.

This was an unplanned variable.

***

Lancelot had nearly spent the night awake when Clade returned just before dawn.

“Clade.”

The iron armor and red cloak, perfectly fitted, were identical to what he had worn the night he headed toward Yuan Pelliese’s room.

Except for slightly disheveled blond hair, his face remained composed.

Even from several steps away, Lancelot could feel a chill—Clade must have stood for a long time at the spot where he had sent Yuan off.

In any case, it seemed Clade had successfully extracted Yuan Pelliese from the valley where deadly winds blew.

Lancelot reported the situation with a short sigh.

“Everyone rushed into the valley at sunrise. Only the Emperor and Empress, spectators, nobles, and the elderly and infirm remain at the villa resting. The hunting festival will proceed as planned. The southern forces will arrive soon.”

“Igor?”

“I’ve stationed fifteen of our men near the wing where Igor is. No signals yet. It’s not normal for a man to seek a woman while his son is missing. Maybe he said it just to provoke you.”

“Don’t think of him as an ordinary man.”

Clade’s face, as he selected and began polishing a laid-out sword, was utterly cold.

“It’s not over until the hunt ends.”

The reason Clade had been able to spend the night with Yuan was because Emperor Igor had already stationed an elite force—handpicked from the most loyal soldiers—around the exterior of the Emperor’s residence.

He had also positioned signal bearers in advance, ready to alert him in case the Emperor came looking for Yuan personally or sent someone due to impatience.

Thus, he had succeeded in quietly and swiftly removing Yuan Pelliese from here.

The commotion caused by greedy hunting participants gathering weapons and horses from evening till dawn had greatly helped them slip away unnoticed.

“…….”

Clade braced his body, still carrying the lingering sensations of the previous night.

Whether the plan succeeded or failed, he didn’t know if he would survive.

Unlike the Rev brothers, Clade had come with the resolve to sacrifice his life to sever his enemy’s breath.

In this accursed valley that had taken both his parents’ lives.

The sword, polished until it gleamed brightly enough to clearly reflect violet pupils, shone sharply. He coldly sheathed it.

It was the same sword he had received from the late Emperor Alexei when he first began using real blades. Today, this sword would pierce Igor Euphris’s heart without fail.

“Eddie, Lancelot.”

All preparations were complete.

Most of the Emperor’s forces would be deep in the valley with their private troops, too preoccupied with earning merit to notice.

Close protection of the Emperor would fall to the Imperial First Knight Order and Northern personnel.

It would be difficult, but as a Swordmaster, it was a fight worth attempting.

Above all, the military support secretly sent in advance from the East was substantial.

While most forces were concentrated in the valley, they would strike Emperor Igor with minimal personnel.

It was the best possible way to win while spilling as little blood as possible from those who followed him.

“Let’s go.”

Eddie, sitting in the corner and already fully prepared, murmured darkly, eyes gleaming.

“Time to hunt down that bastard.”

Eddie, who like Lancelot had stayed up all night in sorrow—and regret that he hadn’t been the one to kill Bollonico—jumped up and opened the door. Clade led the way, followed by the Rev brothers.

While most gathered in the valley were busy wandering the mountains, obsessed with hunting monsters,

their hunt was only just beginning.