No matter how much he hurried, it took Lutis less than 5 minutes to return a distance that would have taken well over 10 minutes to walk back and forth.

Considering that he had prepared a cloak and even given orders to the sentries, it was enough to make one stick out their tongue.

But even though he had returned in less than 5 minutes, why was he only leaving the basement now?

…… There was a reason for this too.

Aeli timidly opened her mouth.

“After all, if I just walk by myself,”

“It will take a long time, so someone will catch us.”

“……”

“You can’t even walk properly. Stay still.”

“……”

Ah, yes, do that. Aeli sighed and relaxed her body.

The reason she was being carried preciously by Lutis, not as luggage, was this.

‘My legs have no strength, so I can’t walk fast……’

I don’t know what’s going on, but since I have to hide the fact that I’ve regained my body, shouldn’t I move as quickly as possible before dawn to avoid encountering servants or other knights?

However, Aeli’s current state was that she could barely take one step at a time, trembling like a newborn beast, even while leaning against the wall.

In this situation, she had only moved about 1m in the passageway for over 5 minutes and her legs were trembling.

Lutis, who had been staring at Aeli silently, wordlessly picked her up.

‘When he left the basement alone to get the cloak, he said there were more passageways.’

Those words were true.

Aeli was really surprised when Lutis suddenly opened the corner wall of the basement and entered.

Although she had expected there to be other passageways, she had no idea that the passageway would be blatantly on the wall.

Aeli unconsciously wrapped her arms around Lutis’s neck as he held her.

When they were young, the height difference wasn’t that big, so they were almost even, but after growing up to a certain extent, there was about a head’s difference. As a result of frequently clinging to Lutis’s back in that state, she had developed the habit of wrapping her arms around his neck.

[Lutis, I ran away from the professor and my legs hurt so much. So, I was wondering if you could lend me your back for a little while?] […… This is not the Mason estate, it’s the academy.] [……? Yeah. I know that too.] [Do you also know it’s the middle of the campus?] [I know. …… Ah!] [Yes, then you also know that it’s hard to do what you said―] [They said the academy’s patisserie is releasing limited edition eclairs this afternoon! I forgot about it……] [……] [Lutis, let’s go eat! I’ll buy it for you!] […… Get on my back, then.]

Come to think of it, it was really no joke back then. Aeli licked her lips in vain, thinking that his sense was no different from having eyes on the soles of his feet.

For a while, whenever she saw Lutis’s back, she would unknowingly run to him, and all sorts of rumors spread.

They promised to get married as soon as they graduated from the academy, whispering love in code words whenever they were together.

Somehow, they really got engaged and married after graduating from the academy, so to others, those rampant rumors and speculations would all seem like facts.

In fact, all Aeli remembers from that time is Lutis nagging her, saying she’s not a baby who likes to be carried on her parents’ backs and to do it in moderation.

‘No, but I just listened to the nagging and didn’t really fix it……’

It was at that moment.

Thud.

“Eek, aaah!”

Lutis, who had been walking fast but maintaining a speed that wouldn’t strain Aeli’s body, suddenly stumbled.

Aeli, who was about to fall to the floor, widened her eyes and tightened her grip on Lutis’s neck.

In the process, she even half-pulled his long hair.

“……”

“Wh, why did you suddenly stop? You surprised―! …… You surprised me……!”

Lutis slowly lowered his gaze at Aeli’s exclamation, asking in a lowered voice in case someone heard. The violet eyes that met gleamed brilliantly, perhaps because they caught the moonlight.

Aeli asked, stammering in bewilderment.

“……”

“…… Wh, why?”

“…… It’s nothing.”

Sorry. I was surprised. Aeli bowed her head deeply, hearing the sound of her heart pounding for who knows how long, as Lutis apologized plainly and adjusted his hold on her.

Both Lutis and herself must have been really startled.

[This is the timeline separator]

As expected, it didn’t take long to see the end of the passageway with Lutis’s walking speed.

Aeli blinked her eyes rapidly, feeling like it took about a minute or so after Lutis adjusted his hold on her.

Her eyes were busy rolling around to look at the surroundings.

“Oh, this place is……”

“……”

“…… Where is it?”

Lutis, who had lowered his gaze at Aeli’s startled face, eventually gave her a look of absurdity.

It was understandable, as she reacted as if she knew where they had come out of the passageway, but then asked like that.

However, since the reason for her surprise wasn’t because it was a familiar place, Aeli opened her mouth.

“Wasn’t it supposed to connect to outside the ducal castle? This…… is indoors.”

“There’s also a path leading to the forest behind the castle. We just came out the other way.”

In the first place, the secret passageways were created for use in emergencies, so there’s no way there would only be one path connecting the inside and outside of this vast castle.

Even in a seemingly one-way passageway, there are bound to be one or two mechanisms to diverge to other paths. Lutis, who said that, looked down at Aeli.

It was a face that seemed to ask why she couldn’t remember even though he had definitely told her at the time of their marriage.

‘Did I hear something like that…… It seems like I did, but also……?’

Aeli averted her gaze, her feet tingling. She fiddled with Lutis’s fine hair in vain and opened her mouth.

“Th, that reminds me, doesn’t Ratliff also have a hideout near the capital? I think I remember it being like that.”

“That’s right.”

Lutis nodded briefly at Aeli’s words.

Aeli wanted to applaud at the sudden thought of the hideout’s existence. She couldn’t put it into practice because she had her arms around Lutis’s neck, though.

Aeli suddenly raised her head and said,

“Then can’t we just stay there without going into the mansion? No matter how careful we are, it’s obvious we’ll get caught if we stay in the mansion.”

“……”

“It’ll be uncomfortable and empty, but I think I can get used to staying alone to some extent. I’ll refrain from going out as much as possible, so if you just secretly visit with Adi from time to time……”

“Why should I do that?”

“…… Huh?”

Aeli, who had been enthusiastically explaining why she shouldn’t enter the mansion, opened her mouth blankly at the unexpected answer.

If asked why he should do that, there was no way she could come up with a suitable answer.

Judging from his attitude in the basement, she knew he wouldn’t easily accept her suggestion, but it was still perplexing all the same.

Lutis sighed and pulled the hood of the cloak Aeli was wearing.

Aeli, who suddenly had the hood pulled down deeply to cover her face up to the tip of her nose, couldn’t hide her absurdity at the darkened vision.

When Aeli reached out her hand to remove the hood covering her eyes, it was then.

Grab.

“……”

“……”

“…… What are you doing?”

Aren’t you going to remove it? Aeli asked in a disgruntled voice.

Just as she was about to flip the hood back, a large hand grabbed her hand and covered her vision.

She was about to express her dissatisfaction as no matter how hard she tried, her vision wouldn’t brighten due to the force applied to her wrist.

Lutis moved his lips a few times as if hesitating, then opened his mouth.

“It’s stuffy, so if you could just remove this―”

“I clearly told you. I can’t leave you alone in such a place.”

“No, the basement and the hideout are in different situations from the start!”

“It’s a place that hasn’t been used for a long time, so it’s not much different to me. Even so, is there any guarantee that you won’t be discovered there when there’s a separate caretaker?”

“……”

“If there’s an equal possibility of your appearance being exposed, it’s a hundred times better to be together. And.”

“……”

“This is where you originally belong.”

We’ve finally found it. Lutis said.

“Even if we do get caught, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you and the child alive, so please, just stay put.”

“……”

“Considering what you’ve been through, can’t you just…… be happy?”

Although it may be confusing due to the sudden situation, now that you’ve regained your body, you can return to the castle and live as before.

Even if there are problems left for the future, you should be able to rejoice in that fact at least right after coming to your senses, but why do you not have such thoughts at all and immediately think about dying or hiding?

Lutis muttered as if he couldn’t understand that.

In fact, it wasn’t that Lutis himself wasn’t troubled by the issues Aeli mentioned. So, even though he knew his words had flaws, it was closer to desperately pleading rather than making sense.

Aeli closed her mouth, feeling somehow dumbfounded.

‘…… I think it’s more because of what happened in the basement earlier.’

Wasn’t he already restless, unable to bear being apart even for a moment after being able to see Aeli at the estate?

This was quite similar to the separation anxiety the child had shown before.

Lutis was going through the same process as the child, and seeing such a scene on top of the already precarious situation, it wasn’t unreasonable for him to think about holding her in his arms and not letting go.

Aeli, who admitted that her actions were rash, leaned her head against Lutis’s chest without being able to refute any further.

Lutis, who understood that as a signal of yielding to his opinion, removed the hand covering Aeli’s eyes and closed the passageway they had just emerged from.

Then, he moved his steps and opened a door, and when he stepped outside, the familiar second-floor corridor came into view.

“…… Isn’t this the second floor of the main castle?”

Aeli asked uncertainly, as she couldn’t see ahead due to the hood still obstructing her vision.

Lutis affirmed and revealed that the door they had just come out of was a warehouse in the corner of the second floor. He also mentioned that he had informed her of this when they got married.

As if proving that the servants and even the sentries had all been dismissed, the corridor was only quiet.

Tap tap tap.

Because of that, the small footsteps that shouldn’t be heard this early morning filled the corridor, reaching Aeli’s ears very well.

Startled by the sound getting closer, Aeli vigorously shook Lutis’s arm. It meant to put her down somewhere so she could hide for now.

In response, Lutis unexpectedly put Aeli down obediently and opened his mouth.

To say in advance, Aeli should have listened to those words.

“Wh, where do we hide? For now, even if we go into a guest room, no, Sioren is using that room. Should we go to the office?”

“Aeli, calm down for a moment,”

“Why are you so calm again?! Didn’t you say you dismissed the people!”

“Yes, so look ahead for a moment―”

“Ah, I don’t know, I’ll go in first, so you either follow or stay and handle it yourself!”

Saying that, Aeli turned her body and moved her steps toward her nearby office.

She hurried to go in right away, but.

Bang!

Thud!

“……”

“……”

She collided gloriously with the door and rolled onto the corridor.

“……”

“…… Ah, that’s right, I’m not a ghost anymore……”

She had momentarily forgotten due to passing through here and there so much.

Aeli mumbled awkwardly and rubbed her nose.

It really hurt.