“She’s not here either?”
‘Did she go outside? Alone, without saying a word?’
Startled, Mikhail immediately figured out the location of the hairpin he had given Karina.
On the day he bought the hairpin for Karina, he unexpectedly separated from her due to the appearance of a monster.
And Karina almost ended up in great danger.
While Karina was sleeping, Mikhail stayed by her side and placed a location-tracking magic on the hairpin next to her.
He had left it on just in case something like that happened again, but he didn’t know he would be using it so soon.
“Huh?”
Mikhail let out a voice involuntarily in surprise.
Karina’s location coordinates were, quite unexpectedly, in the center of the northern town.
“When on earth did you get here?”
A feeling of ominousness suddenly came over Mikhail, who was feeling bewildered.
“Wait a minute, didn’t the maids say that there was a hostage crisis in the middle of the city?”
“Mi...khail?”
She felt the hand that was brushing Karina’s face stop.
“...”
The other person did not respond or respond at all.
Karina felt puzzled but soon agreed.
‘Oh, you must have been really surprised.’
Right now, her clothes were soaked with blood, so she must have looked like she would die at any moment.
However, Karina did not think that she would die.
This was because it felt completely different from when she had taken the wishing potion in the past and had a premonition of the end.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t die.’
She wanted to say that, but her voice would no longer come out.
Instead, Karina tried with all her might to smile.
To convey that she was okay.
‘I really need to convey that.’
With that thought as her last, Karina lost consciousness in his firm embrace.
Just before Karina lost consciousness.
Jeremiah headed to the scene where the escapees were taking hostages.
“Where is the place?”
“Near Naviloga, near the city center. The alleys are densely packed, making the roads complicated and the entrances difficult to find. It seems like the escapees chose this place on purpose.”
“I see.”
Jeremiah was not shaken at all by the knight’s report.
“The knights have prepared to rush in at any time just in case. What should we do?”
“Just wait for now.”
Even as he said that Jeremiah was thinking of wiping out the escapees all at once.
With that in mind, he arrived at the scene, only to encounter an unexpected situation.
People were running out of the alley of the building where the escapees were presumed to be.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll check it out.”
The knight quickly answered and secured the people who had run out of the alley.
“Knights! Please save us!”
“Please calm down. I came here after hearing that the escapees were taking hostages. What’s going on?”
“That’s...”
“Honey!!”
At that moment, the child’s father discovered his family among the knights and ran out.
“Dad!”
“Honey!”
The child’s mother and children burst into tears as they reunited with the child’s father heading to the Grand Duke’s residence.
Jeremiah watched them quietly from a step away.
‘I don’t know how they escaped, but the hostages seem to be safe.’
He was thinking that he just had to wipe out the escapees, but their conversation pierced his ears.
“How did you get out?”
The child’s father asked, and the child’s mother answered.
“The Grand Duchess! The Grand Duchess is inside!”
‘...!?’
Jeremiah’s eyes widened at the word Grand Duchess.
However, he soon shook his head, saying that it couldn’t be true.
‘I don’t like it, but the Grand Duchess is probably with that escort magician right now.’
So there was no way that the Grand Duchess could have been captured by the escapees.
“The red-haired woman I saw earlier...! She was the Grand Duchess!”
But when the word red hair came up, Jeremiah's confidence began to waver.
Anxiety grew in his body.
Mikhail was looking for Karina in the dining room.
“She didn’t go to the Grand Duke, did she?”
He already knew that Karina had no feelings for the Grand Duke at all.
However, the thought of the two of them being in the same space made him feel depressed.
“Should I go to the office? Or would it be better to wait quietly in the room until Karina comes back?”
Mikhail pondered.
As he stood there lost in thought, he could still feel the commotion outside.
As he left the dining room, he heard the maids whispering in the hallway.
“She didn’t go to the Grand Duke, did she?”
He already knew that Karina had no feelings for the Grand Duke at all.
However, the thought of the two of them being in the same space made him feel depressed.
“Should I go to the office? Or would it be better to wait quietly in the room until Karina comes back?”
Mikhail pondered.
As he stood there lost in thought, he could still feel the commotion outside.
As he left the dining room, he heard the maids whispering in the hallway.
“A hostage situation in the middle of the city? Does that make sense?”
“Since they even sent the demands, it must have been planned out.”
“The escapees who escaped from prison last time still haven’t been caught. There’s talk that they might have done it.”
“Since His Highness the Grand Duke himself went, it’ll be resolved well.”
“But we still don’t know what will happen to the hostages. When have you ever seen His Highness the Grand Duke compromise with criminals?”
The conversation was unusual.
However, what really got on Mikhail’s nerves was the rumor that the Grand Duke had left.
‘If the Grand Duke had left, then that means he’s not in the mansion? If she didn’t go to see him, then where did Karina go?’
In the end, Mikhail used his cognitive magic and searched the entire Grand Duke’s mansion.
There was no faster way to find Karina.
However.
'She’s not there.’
“Since they even sent the demands, it must have been planned out.”
“The escapees who escaped from prison last time still haven’t been caught. There’s talk that they might have done it.”
“Since His Highness the Grand Duke himself went, it’ll be resolved well.”
“But we still don’t know what will happen to the hostages. When have you ever seen His Highness the Grand Duke compromise with criminals?”
The conversation was unusual.
However, what really got on Mikhail’s nerves was the rumor that the Grand Duke had left.
‘If the Grand Duke had left, then that means he’s not in the mansion? If she didn’t go to see him, then where did Karina go?’
In the end, Mikhail used his cognitive magic and searched the entire Grand Duke’s mansion.
There was no faster way to find Karina.
However.
'She’s not there.’
Karina was nowhere to be found.
‘Did she go outside? Alone, without saying a word?’
Startled, Mikhail immediately figured out the location of the hairpin he had given Karina.
On the day he bought the hairpin for Karina, he unexpectedly separated from her due to the appearance of a monster.
And Karina almost ended up in great danger.
While Karina was sleeping, Mikhail stayed by her side and placed a location-tracking magic on the hairpin next to her.
He had left it on just in case something like that happened again, but he didn’t know he would be using it so soon.
“Huh?”
Mikhail let out a voice involuntarily in surprise.
Karina’s location coordinates were, quite unexpectedly, in the center of the northern town.
“When on earth did you get here?”
A feeling of ominousness suddenly came over Mikhail, who was feeling bewildered.
“Wait a minute, didn’t the maids say that there was a hostage crisis in the middle of the city?”
And he also remembered that the Grand Duke had personally gone to the place where the hostage crisis had occurred.
Mikhail hurriedly ran out of the mansion and headed toward where the signal had been received.
Because of the backlight, she couldn’t see the face of the person standing in front of the door.
However, even without seeing the face, a chill ran down Karina’s spine. A bone-chilling cold energy flowed from the man in the robe.
“Ah...”
Karina was terrified.
“What is it? This guy... I have a feeling that he’s extremely dangerous...”
Karina tensed up and her body stiffened.
However, the robed man opened his mouth without paying attention to Karina in front of him.
“Who.”
The man’s voice was heavy, but it was cold enough to make you shiver.
“Didn’t you say it was okay to do this?”
Even though it was a simple voice, it felt eerily sharp.
“No, that’s...”
One of the escapees, who had been observing the cold atmosphere, opened his mouth hesitantly.
“We just took the hostages to get the magician who was being held by the Grand Duke out. We’ve already sent our demands to the Grand Duke, so they should respond.”
“Did you send your demands to the Grand Duke?”
“Yes, yes.”
The skinny escapee continued, grinning as if trying to lighten the mood.
“We let the other hostages go, but it’s okay. We haven’t let the Grand Duchess go yet...”
Boom!
The head of the escapee who had been pointing at Karina and talking burst out in a puff of black smoke.
“...!”
Karina was so startled that her shoulders shook.
The body of the escaped convict, with only the neck remaining, slowly tilted.
Then, with a dull sound, he fell to the floor.
Kwung!
Blood began to pool on the floor.
“..”
The unbelievable, unfamiliar scene did not feel real.
It was a hazy feeling as if she was dreaming.
Karina froze in place, unable to scream.
It wasn’t just Karina.
The escapees gathered around her also kept their mouths shut and trembled.
Even the fierce-looking man who seemed to be their leader kept his mouth shut with a pale face.
The robed man asked in the same voice as before.
“If you do something so thoughtlessly. Who’s going to clean up the mess?”
But no one opened their mouths.
They lowered their heads and held their breaths, crushed by fear.
“Ha.”
The robed man sighed.
“As expected. Should I just kill them all?”
His voice was calm and slow, but the content didn’t match his tone at all.
“I’m sorry... I’m sorry. This... This time, we’ll take responsibility...!”
“Shut up.”
The leader’s mouth shut tightly at the man’s one word.
“I just came to get that.”
The man stretched out his arm toward the black stone attached to the ceiling.
The robed man snapped his fingers and the magic stone flew into the man’s hand.
The man, who noticed the black stone in his hand, quickly put it in his bosom.
The man turned around as if his business was over, but then glanced at Karina in front of him as if he had noticed her.
“Are you the Grand Duchess?”
“...”
Karina couldn’t answer the man’s question.
It was partly because she was paralyzed with fear, but it was also because she had lost too much blood. Even when she was still, blood kept flowing out, making her vision spin.
She was barely standing, but that was her limit now.
No, she had already passed her limit a while ago.
‘Wrong. I can’t hold out any longer... I guess this is it.’
Karina sank to the floor.
The light in her eyes gradually faded.
Karina looked up at the man with hazy, blurred eyes.
When she looked up from below, she could vaguely see the man’s face.
The man stared at Karina, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, with an indifferent gaze.
It was a lifeless, dry gaze as if looking at an inanimate object.
Then, he suddenly turned his eyes and looked outside the entrance.
“I guess they’re coming now.”
The man who said that glanced at the escapees and made a decision.
“There’s no need to take these idiots.”
With those words, his form began to blur.
Before his form completely disappeared, Karina heard a voice in her ear.
“Da...”
‘Huh? What is it...I don’t know what it’s saying.’
However, Karina’s consciousness was hazy, so she couldn’t properly perceive the voice.
When the man completely disappeared, the boss let out a sigh of relief and shouted in anger.
“What are you doing! Why don’t you bring back all the hostages who escaped!”
“Yes, yes...!”
The escapees who heard the boss’s shout came to their senses and picked up their weapons one by one.
The boss approached Karina, who was sitting down and grabbed her hair.
At the same time, her head was lifted and the wound on her neck was pulled.
She felt a spurt and a large amount of blood gushing out.
“Ugh...!”
She couldn’t even control her body, so she couldn’t fight back at all.
The hairpin she had put in her hair fell to the ground.
However, all Karina could do now was take shallow breaths.
“This damned woman is making people suffer. Damn it!”
The boss vented his anger at Karina.
“We’re going to take this bitch hostage and get all our demands from the Grand Duke! Otherwise, it won’t work out!”
At that moment.
Whew!!
With a loud noise, one side of the building collapsed.
The wall collapsed and chaos ensued, turning the surroundings into a mess.
Karina fell to the floor helplessly.
The boss of the escapees who had been holding Karina seemed to have flown away from the shock.
Beyond the rising dust and the collapsed wall, a tall, tall man appeared.
Karina stared blankly at the scene before her eyes with her eyes wide open.
She couldn’t hear the surrounding sounds because of the ringing in her ears.
It was difficult to see exactly who the person was because of her blurry vision and hazy mind.
The person who appeared approached Karina, who was sitting down and touched her, checking her condition.
‘Oh, is it Mikhail?’
As soon as he arrived, Karina suddenly had such a thought, seeing him taking care of her first. Karina looked up at the man, opened her mouth with difficulty, and squeezed out her voice.
Mikhail hurriedly ran out of the mansion and headed toward where the signal had been received.
***
Because of the backlight, she couldn’t see the face of the person standing in front of the door.
However, even without seeing the face, a chill ran down Karina’s spine. A bone-chilling cold energy flowed from the man in the robe.
“Ah...”
Karina was terrified.
“What is it? This guy... I have a feeling that he’s extremely dangerous...”
Karina tensed up and her body stiffened.
However, the robed man opened his mouth without paying attention to Karina in front of him.
“Who.”
The man’s voice was heavy, but it was cold enough to make you shiver.
“Didn’t you say it was okay to do this?”
Even though it was a simple voice, it felt eerily sharp.
“No, that’s...”
One of the escapees, who had been observing the cold atmosphere, opened his mouth hesitantly.
“We just took the hostages to get the magician who was being held by the Grand Duke out. We’ve already sent our demands to the Grand Duke, so they should respond.”
“Did you send your demands to the Grand Duke?”
“Yes, yes.”
The skinny escapee continued, grinning as if trying to lighten the mood.
“We let the other hostages go, but it’s okay. We haven’t let the Grand Duchess go yet...”
Boom!
The head of the escapee who had been pointing at Karina and talking burst out in a puff of black smoke.
“...!”
Karina was so startled that her shoulders shook.
The body of the escaped convict, with only the neck remaining, slowly tilted.
Then, with a dull sound, he fell to the floor.
Kwung!
Blood began to pool on the floor.
“..”
The unbelievable, unfamiliar scene did not feel real.
It was a hazy feeling as if she was dreaming.
Karina froze in place, unable to scream.
It wasn’t just Karina.
The escapees gathered around her also kept their mouths shut and trembled.
Even the fierce-looking man who seemed to be their leader kept his mouth shut with a pale face.
The robed man asked in the same voice as before.
“If you do something so thoughtlessly. Who’s going to clean up the mess?”
But no one opened their mouths.
They lowered their heads and held their breaths, crushed by fear.
“Ha.”
The robed man sighed.
“As expected. Should I just kill them all?”
His voice was calm and slow, but the content didn’t match his tone at all.
“I’m sorry... I’m sorry. This... This time, we’ll take responsibility...!”
“Shut up.”
The leader’s mouth shut tightly at the man’s one word.
“I just came to get that.”
The man stretched out his arm toward the black stone attached to the ceiling.
The robed man snapped his fingers and the magic stone flew into the man’s hand.
The man, who noticed the black stone in his hand, quickly put it in his bosom.
The man turned around as if his business was over, but then glanced at Karina in front of him as if he had noticed her.
“Are you the Grand Duchess?”
“...”
Karina couldn’t answer the man’s question.
It was partly because she was paralyzed with fear, but it was also because she had lost too much blood. Even when she was still, blood kept flowing out, making her vision spin.
She was barely standing, but that was her limit now.
No, she had already passed her limit a while ago.
‘Wrong. I can’t hold out any longer... I guess this is it.’
Karina sank to the floor.
The light in her eyes gradually faded.
Karina looked up at the man with hazy, blurred eyes.
When she looked up from below, she could vaguely see the man’s face.
The man stared at Karina, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, with an indifferent gaze.
It was a lifeless, dry gaze as if looking at an inanimate object.
Then, he suddenly turned his eyes and looked outside the entrance.
“I guess they’re coming now.”
The man who said that glanced at the escapees and made a decision.
“There’s no need to take these idiots.”
With those words, his form began to blur.
Before his form completely disappeared, Karina heard a voice in her ear.
“Da...”
‘Huh? What is it...I don’t know what it’s saying.’
However, Karina’s consciousness was hazy, so she couldn’t properly perceive the voice.
When the man completely disappeared, the boss let out a sigh of relief and shouted in anger.
“What are you doing! Why don’t you bring back all the hostages who escaped!”
“Yes, yes...!”
The escapees who heard the boss’s shout came to their senses and picked up their weapons one by one.
The boss approached Karina, who was sitting down and grabbed her hair.
At the same time, her head was lifted and the wound on her neck was pulled.
She felt a spurt and a large amount of blood gushing out.
“Ugh...!”
She couldn’t even control her body, so she couldn’t fight back at all.
The hairpin she had put in her hair fell to the ground.
However, all Karina could do now was take shallow breaths.
“This damned woman is making people suffer. Damn it!”
The boss vented his anger at Karina.
“We’re going to take this bitch hostage and get all our demands from the Grand Duke! Otherwise, it won’t work out!”
At that moment.
Whew!!
With a loud noise, one side of the building collapsed.
The wall collapsed and chaos ensued, turning the surroundings into a mess.
Karina fell to the floor helplessly.
The boss of the escapees who had been holding Karina seemed to have flown away from the shock.
Beyond the rising dust and the collapsed wall, a tall, tall man appeared.
Karina stared blankly at the scene before her eyes with her eyes wide open.
She couldn’t hear the surrounding sounds because of the ringing in her ears.
It was difficult to see exactly who the person was because of her blurry vision and hazy mind.
The person who appeared approached Karina, who was sitting down and touched her, checking her condition.
‘Oh, is it Mikhail?’
As soon as he arrived, Karina suddenly had such a thought, seeing him taking care of her first. Karina looked up at the man, opened her mouth with difficulty, and squeezed out her voice.
“Mi...khail?”
She felt the hand that was brushing Karina’s face stop.
“...”
The other person did not respond or respond at all.
Karina felt puzzled but soon agreed.
‘Oh, you must have been really surprised.’
Right now, her clothes were soaked with blood, so she must have looked like she would die at any moment.
However, Karina did not think that she would die.
This was because it felt completely different from when she had taken the wishing potion in the past and had a premonition of the end.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t die.’
She wanted to say that, but her voice would no longer come out.
Instead, Karina tried with all her might to smile.
To convey that she was okay.
‘I really need to convey that.’
With that thought as her last, Karina lost consciousness in his firm embrace.
***
Just before Karina lost consciousness.
Jeremiah headed to the scene where the escapees were taking hostages.
“Where is the place?”
“Near Naviloga, near the city center. The alleys are densely packed, making the roads complicated and the entrances difficult to find. It seems like the escapees chose this place on purpose.”
“I see.”
Jeremiah was not shaken at all by the knight’s report.
“The knights have prepared to rush in at any time just in case. What should we do?”
“Just wait for now.”
Even as he said that Jeremiah was thinking of wiping out the escapees all at once.
With that in mind, he arrived at the scene, only to encounter an unexpected situation.
People were running out of the alley of the building where the escapees were presumed to be.
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll check it out.”
The knight quickly answered and secured the people who had run out of the alley.
“Knights! Please save us!”
“Please calm down. I came here after hearing that the escapees were taking hostages. What’s going on?”
“That’s...”
“Honey!!”
At that moment, the child’s father discovered his family among the knights and ran out.
“Dad!”
“Honey!”
The child’s mother and children burst into tears as they reunited with the child’s father heading to the Grand Duke’s residence.
Jeremiah watched them quietly from a step away.
‘I don’t know how they escaped, but the hostages seem to be safe.’
He was thinking that he just had to wipe out the escapees, but their conversation pierced his ears.
“How did you get out?”
The child’s father asked, and the child’s mother answered.
“The Grand Duchess! The Grand Duchess is inside!”
‘...!?’
Jeremiah’s eyes widened at the word Grand Duchess.
However, he soon shook his head, saying that it couldn’t be true.
‘I don’t like it, but the Grand Duchess is probably with that escort magician right now.’
So there was no way that the Grand Duchess could have been captured by the escapees.
“The red-haired woman I saw earlier...! She was the Grand Duchess!”
But when the word red hair came up, Jeremiah's confidence began to waver.
Anxiety grew in his body.
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