Early in the morning, Herdin woke up.

He had gone to bed at the usual time and woke up at a similar time, but strangely, he didn’t feel refreshed.

Had he dreamed an unfamiliar nightmare?

Shaking off the discomfort, Herdin got out of bed and started his day like any other.

After smoking a pipe and taking a shower in the bathroom, he changed his clothes and left the room. As he headed down the stairs to go to the dining room, he saw Blair’s closed door.

Since he hadn’t visited Blair’s room and hadn’t seen her for the past few days, she hadn’t even appeared for meals.

Her defiant attitude seemed trivial, but he decided to leave her alone for the time being. It would be troublesome if he provoked her, and the delicate woman ended up collapsing in front of the fireplace again or falling ill, as she did last time.

Passing Blair’s room, he descended to the first floor. There, he saw Mason talking seriously with a maid.

Although the morning scene was no different from usual, Mason’s expression seemed somewhat more serious. It was rare for him to make such a serious face.

Something didn’t feel right.

Herdin approached the two and asked, “Mason, what’s going on?”

“Your Grace.”

The maid, seeing Herdin, hastily bowed her head and cautiously glanced between Mason and Herdin.

After hesitating for a moment, Mason spoke, “My lord, Lady Blair hastily went to the palace early this morning.”

In noble households, there were servants on standby day and night to respond to the master’s summons at any time. The maid next to him appeared to have been on duty last night.

One of Herdin’s eyebrows twitched upon hearing the news. “At that hour? What could be so urgent?”

Mason, still unaware of the full story, gestured to the maid. She hesitated before opening her mouth slowly, “Since there was still plenty of time before dawn, I suggested waiting until it was light, but she insisted on going immediately.”

“Was there any letter from the palace yesterday?”

Mason answered, “There was none.”

“When does she plan to return?”

“She said she would return before breakfast, but…”

The maid interjected, “It’s breakfast time now. However, judging by their presentation, Lady Blair has not returned yet.”

Herdin frowned.

Since he had assigned guards to Blair in the past, the gatekeeper would have informed him of her departure, and the knights would have discreetly followed behind her.

“Maybe the knights followed her, so there shouldn’t be any trouble. Everyone, carry on with your duties.”

The maid bowed again and retreated.

Herdin turned and walked with Mason. As they headed towards the dining room, a question crossed his mind.

Why did she urgently go to the palace in the middle of the night? What on earth could be the reason?
It was at that moment when Herdin tried to gauge the reason. Suddenly, the front door opened forcefully.

Startled, Mason and Herdin turned around to see a man entering, dragging an unconscious knight with a wound on his abdomen, blood dripping from his head.

The man was one of the stable hands working at Delmark, and the knight was Vane, who had been assigned to guard Blair.

Herdin’s eyes began to shake as he observed them.

All the servants who were preparing for the morning were now looking at them in surprise. The stable hand, gasping for breath, spoke, “Your Grace, the mistress… has been kidnapped by assailants.”

“Uh…”

Blair felt the piercing pain throughout her head as she struggled to open her eyes. Her head hurt, her vision was blurred, and her stomach felt queasy. And her hands were bound.

As she recollected her body’s condition and the reason behind it, a rough conclusion emerged.

She had been kidnapped again, and her body had suffered issues, likely from a blow to the head during the carriage ride. Fortunately, judging by her not being dead, it seemed not to be a significant problem.

As Blair blinked to regain her hazy vision, she saw the scenery in front of her.

A forest.

The landscape beyond the window resembled the forest she had seen from the villa with Mikhail.

Blair, quickly grasping the situation from her past experience, attempted to sit up when a unfamiliar male voice reached her ears.

“It seems like you’ve been groaning for a while. Did you hit your head hard?”

Blair desperately closed her eyes upon hearing the approaching man’s voice.

Around the time a strange shadow cast over her, a blunt female voice sounded.

“You rushed into the carriage without warning, and that’s what happened, you crazy idiot.”

“What should we do? Should we kill her?”

“She won’t die from that. She’s the delicate princess that the noble lady fusses over.”

The shadow of the man moved away again.

From their brief conversation, Blair understood two things.

They knew who she was, and they had no intention of killing her.

“Are they after ransom?” Blair wondered.

Occasionally, she had heard of bandits targeting nobles for ransom during carriage attacks.

But they were “bandits.”