The boy’s mother, as if frightened, tightly held the boy’s hand and left that place. The men surrounded Ariana.

“That… She’s much younger than expected, isn’t she? Didn’t they say she’s 16 years old?”

“What does age matter? Since she has sky-blue hair, this must be the girl.”

“Then… we just have to kill her now?”

“After killing her, they said people would come to confirm at the designated location. We’ll wait in the western village until that person gives us the money and then leave.”

“Alright then… Uh, who’s going to do the killing?”

The men looked at each other.

“I, I can’t. I’m the kid’s dad.”

The boy’s father stepped back.

“What does that matter? You’ve made your child do such things.”
“So, I need to escape. I mobilized our family for this. You guys handle the killing.”

“I’ve never killed anyone before.”

“How would I know? I haven’t either! I can’t even kill bugs.”

As they deferred to each other, Ariana felt a slight sense of relief.

For the first time, a faint glimmer of hope appeared.

They, driven by greed for money, had kidnapped Ariana, but when faced with the actual situation of having to kill her, they were perplexed and hesitant. Although they engaged in this for money, they were usually just honest peasants.

‘No, they won’t be considered good people at the point they kidnapped me, intending to kill the one who helped their own child.’

They would soon gather their courage. Someone among them would tightly close their eyes and cut off Ariana’s breath. The 10 gold promised to ordinary peasants would be very tempting.

‘But I bought time.’

Time for Sini to wake up. Time for the knights, who found it suspicious that the two didn’t come out, to rush into the house. Time to find the secret passage.

Ariana fervently prayed that they would not make a decision for a long time.

+++

With Jeor’s appearance, the knights guarding the front of the house widened their eyes.

“Northern Commander! How did you come all the way here?”

In response to Lancaster’s question, Jeor smiled broadly.

“I was worried about sending the princess away, so I followed her.”

“I heard you were seriously injured during the hunt…”

“It’s nothing. Isaac made a good medicine, so I recovered quickly. Is the princess inside there?”
Lancaster explained the situation that had just occurred.

“The house is small, so we were waiting here.”

“Alright, good job. I’ll go in. Wait.”

With a pat on Lancaster’s shoulder, Jeor’s smile disappeared as he headed towards the house.

When Ariana hurriedly set out for the North without informing Jeor, he felt a sense of relief mixed with deep anxiety.

Would Duke Ovelier not know about this news? Would he send Ariana to the North like this? Maybe going to the North and becoming closer to the Northern Empress could be considered, but would he wait and see?

The answer was no.

Having rushed here, barely avoiding fainting several times with an unrecovered body, Jeor reached this place, an old house in a secluded area.

As the knights had mentioned, there was nothing luckier than Ariana expressing gratitude to the owner of this house.

‘But if there’s a problem, the knights must never know.’

Jeor opened the door only enough so that the knights couldn’t see inside and entered.

Even before closing the door, a stench of blood pricked his nose.

Sini was on the floor, bleeding from the head. Besides her, there was no one else.

‘There must be a secret passage.’

What seemed odd was the dilapidated house and the fireplace that didn’t match.

At that moment, Sini, regaining consciousness, grabbed Jeor’s ankle.

When Jeor looked down, Sini, struggling to speak, said laboriously, “Save… me… Please… save… my master…”

Whether she was hit in the wrong place or not, Sini seemed like she could die any moment. If left alone, she would die within a few hours.

Holding the last thread of life and begging for her master’s safety, Sini, Jeor gazed at her with dark eyes.

‘If I save her?’

What will happen?

Duke Ovelier actively moved to kill Ariana. Twice in the last few days.

Even someone with a broad heart couldn’t tolerate it.

Ariana forgave him once, but there was no certainty that she would pretend not to know about it twice.

‘If the princess is still alive, she probably noticed that Duke Ovelier is behind this.’

Sini, whom Ariana cherishes, is dying, and Ariana herself is in imminent danger. Will Ariana forgive Duke Ovelier once again and give him another chance?

‘No, she won’t. I can’t either.’

Jeor was at a crossroads of choices.

‘If the princess dies like this.’

All problems would be solved.

Duke Ovelier would have used a way that would never reach him.

Sini would die, and Ariana would die too.

If Jeor were to say that he found out too late when he finally discovered it, there would be no way to know the truth of this incident.

It was regrettable for the Northern Emperor, who had recovered his daughter with difficulty, but it was an unavoidable situation. It was clear that the Northern Emperor and the White family would make a ruthless choice to protect their own blood.

‘So I…’

Wouldn’t it be alright?
Could I just pretend I didn’t see it, pretend I don’t know, or simply close my eyes?

It’s the only way to save my mother, and once this is over, there won’t be anything threatening anymore. Can’t I just escape easily after finishing this?

Anyway, Ariana wasn’t even Jeor’s real younger sister. Just a few months ago, she was someone absent from Jeor’s life.

Since Ariana appeared, Jeor had never felt at ease, not even for a moment, after learning that Duke Ovelier harbored ill intentions toward her. He always had to be prepared for potential dangers that might come her way.

Jeor moved his leg, freeing his hand from Sini’s grip. Sini’s hand fell to the floor with a thud.

He wanted to regain the peace he had enjoyed before Ariana came to Dongryeong.