Ariana felt her throat tighten at the sound of Seo Je-hu’s voice. Although she tried to step back, she couldn’t break free from the maids who were firmly holding her arms.

“If that good opportunity you’re speaking of happens to be the judge Odumil, you might want to give up on that hope.”

Odumil.

The situation Ariana had feared had unfolded. The fact that Seo Je-hu knew Odumil meant he had intervened by now.

“You placed your hope in the wrong person. Dong Je-hu might be sentimental, but he’s not smart enough to protect you. If he had stationed a few guards next to Odumil, Odumil wouldn’t have committed ‘suicide.'”

‘He disguised it as a suicide!’

She wanted to close her eyes tightly but restrained herself.

She wanted to scream but swallowed it down.

“Odumil’s body will be found soon. However, you won’t get to see how this case unfolds. We are returning to the west with our cherished granddaughter, our beloved daughter.”

Ariana clenched her lips shut.

Seo Je-hu smirked and straightened up, giving orders to the maids.

“Pack the luggage. We leave in an hour.”

+++

Seated carelessly on the sofa, Ariana shut her eyes tightly.

A cold wind seemed to blow through her chest.

‘Odumil is dead. Given Seo Je-hu’s confidence, they must have confirmed the body.’

Rachel would have gleefully rushed to inform Ariana, but Seo Je-hu was different. He had sent someone, killed him, and then informed her.

‘There’s no overturning the verdict.’

Dong Je-hu wouldn’t be able to regain Ariana’s custody from Rachel. Even if he tried something, by that time Ariana would be long gone.

‘I can’t die like this.’

Being the princess of the West wasn’t the only way. There was definitely another path, albeit longer and potentially filled with humiliation.

Ariana subtly opened her eyes to scan her surroundings. The maid who had been closely monitoring her seemed to think Ariana had given up and was preparing to leave.

Ariana quietly reached under the cushion where she had hidden a knife and fork earlier. She felt something hard.

‘Thankfully, Seo Je-hu didn’t find this.’

Ariana retrieved the sharp objects and quickly tucked them into her petticoat pocket.

Ensuring she wouldn’t be searched again, she sat quietly, lost in thought.

‘First, I need to escape from Seo Je-hu.’

She pondered the opportunities she might have to flee in the future.

‘Seo Je-hu will probably ride in the carriage with me like he did when he came here. He won’t take his eyes off me, but he didn’t care where I sat. He must think it’ll be easy to catch me even if I open the door and run.’

Having lost in court, Ariana had become a disobedient child merely seeking to trouble her parents. Even if Ariana jumped out of the carriage, they would dismiss it as, “She’s at it again.”

Since Rachel had legally gained custody through the trial, no one would be willing to help a fleeing Ariana.

‘But there is a way to make it hard for them to easily catch me.’

The fork and knife she had hidden in her skirt.

If she used them wisely, she would surely find a chance to escape.

+++

Exactly one hour later, Seo Je-hu’s carriage left the villa.

The streets seemed peaceful, as if Odumil’s death had not yet been discovered.

As Seo Je-hu’s carriage raced through the wide streets, people stopped to gaze at it. There wasn’t a soul in Sterion City, the capital of the empire, who was unaware of yesterday’s trial.

Sitting in the carriage, Ariana stared blankly out the window.

The people outside were casting unpleasant glances at her.

‘Not yet.’

She wanted to jump out of this carriage right now.
I had to escape the suffocating gazes of Seojehu and Rachel. But I endured it.

It’s still not crowded enough. I must wait until we reach a bustling area with more people.

‘No one would help a wicked woman who jumped off willingly…’

Ariana shifted her dull knife to an easily accessible pocket in her skirt.

‘But someone might help a dying wicked woman.’

Her plan was to jump off and stab herself in the abdomen the moment she did.

If Ariana was unharmed, they could say, “She’s at it again,” and easily get her back onto the carriage. However, it wouldn’t be possible if Ariana was bleeding profusely.

‘There must be a clinic in the bustling area. People will find it suspicious if they bypass a nearby clinic to go back to the villa and call a doctor. Seojehu is smart enough to consider this.’

Seojehu would take Ariana to a clinic. He would surely keep her under surveillance there too, but it would be easier to find an opportunity to escape than at the villa.

To not reveal her tension, Ariana maintained a blank expression, waiting for the carriage to enter the bustling area.

+++

Dongjehu Russell paced anxiously in the reception room, waiting for news from Odmil. It should have arrived by now, but there was no word.

Theodore spoke.

“Russell, sit down. Your anxiety won’t change anything.”

“How can I sit still? I don’t know what that woman, Rachel, will do to Ariana.”