The sound of the wind breaking fiercely struck the eardrums.

Protruding stones or branches on the cliff’s surface scratched the skin mercilessly.

“Am I going to die like this?”

Even while falling endlessly, a senseless laugh escaped.

Since recalling my past life, I had realized that I would die in the future, and had struggled to live.

I gathered independence funds, invested, and lived really hard.

It was all in vain. In the end, I was going to die like this.

Even while lost in such useless thoughts, death approached moment by moment.

There was a ground even in the distant cliff. The floor filled with large and small rocks and boulders seemed to loom closer, as if it would cover me.

Now I’m really going to die, that’s what I thought for a moment.

‘……!’

Is it because it’s before death? Strangely, the falling speed seemed significantly slower.

Thud, I expected to crash to the ground, but someone’s solid arm caught me.

Soon, a familiar fragrance brushed my nose.

As my consciousness blurred, I saw the face of the person holding me in my vague vision.

It was a face I had seen sometime.

“You…are…”

I couldn’t even finish my words before I lost consciousness.

“Rest.”

Darkness came over me.

The fact that Karlott and Elodie’s attack didn’t take long to reach the ears of Duke Ferdia.

Also, the fact that Elodie fell off the cliff during the confrontation with the assassins.

Duke’s expression turned cold after hearing Karlott’s distressed report.

Silence passed.

Thump. Karlott knelt down.

“It’s my negligence. I failed to guard properly. Please punish me.”

Instead of rebuking Karlott, Duke Ferdia asked coldly,

“Location?”

“It’s the cliff on the way to South Martop outside the capital.”

“Take the lead, Karlott. Treat your injuries as you go.”

“Yes.”

Karlott clenched his fist and got up.

His body was severely bleeding from random cuts and possibly poisoned, causing paralysis in parts, but he dared not speak of his condition.

It was not the time to make such a weak sound.

Even while riding towards the ambush site, Karlott could not stop thinking.

It kept coming back to him.

The feeble strength pulling him with her thin arm.

Her face as she resignedly withdrew her hand.

Her last image as she fell into the cliff, swallowed by darkness.

It wouldn’t go away, as if etched on his retina.

Maybe she could have lived if she had run away alone when he was fighting the two assassins.

But Elodie had attempted a reckless escape to save me and fell off the cliff.

It was something unlike Elodie Ferdia.

Isn’t it natural for her to run away to save herself?

Then Karlott’s face twisted in rage.

No.

“Did I ever really know who Elodie Ferdia is?”

He never tried to know in the first place.

A bastard child. An alien to the family. A potential reason for his parents’ separation. A disaster of the family.

She was just that.

Hadn’t he always ignored her, crouched down in unseen places, crying, going back unperturbed even after hearing the backtalk of the servants…?

His hand trembled.

He wanted to cut off the finger that couldn’t reach her.

“She must be dead.”

Surviving a fall off the rugged cliff was almost miraculous. Especially since Elodie had no powers, being a Ferdia, she must have died.

Again, an angry feeling rushed up.

“Even if I didn’t ask for it, she saved me, then died on her own accord. Who would thank her?”

Yet he wanted to believe on his own terms.

She must be alive.

So she can scold him again for failing to protect her properly.

Duke Ferdia, Karlott, and the knights led by them soon arrived at the scene of the incident.
Toward the cliff and at the place where the ambush took place, there was an abandoned carriage and a dead coachman, along with the sprawled corpses of the assassins.

Duke Ferdia ordered a few following knights to clean up and gather information as he headed toward the cliff.

They soon arrived at the cliff’s edge.

There was an assassin who had died fighting Carlo.

The Duke stood at the edge of the cliff.

A faint rustle.

Small stones beneath the Duke’s feet fell down the cliff.

Indeed, it was a cliff of an enormous height where the bottom couldn’t be seen.

He calmly issued a search command.

“……Release the search party. Find her as soon as possible. If you discover even the slightest trace, report it immediately.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The family’s knights organized a search party and began to comb the area near the cliff where Elodie had fallen.

An hour later.

The search party returned with somber faces. The waiting Duke was the first to ask.

“Is there no trace at all?”

“Yes. No trace…… whatsoever.”

Although it was not said out loud, the implication was understood.

Not even a corpse.

One of the knights asked Carlo.

“My Lord, is this the right place?”

“……It is, without doubt.”

Since there was no flowing water below the cliff, it was not possible to assume she had been swept away by a rapid current.

Then where did Elodie disappear to?

That’s when it happened.