The next day, Erne went to the southern forest ahead of Cain and ambushed them.
Five escaped traitors.
Currently, there are thirteen people visible to Erne, excluding women and children.
The most important figure, Roam, and the man dressed as a medium were both in the villa.
'Cain, that guy's plan worked.'
The day he confirmed that the bastards were hiding in the Marquis of Ferney's villa, Marquis Mosley devised a plan to prevent the bastards from crawling out of the villa and wandering around.
That was an order to strengthen patrols to maintain order in the capital. He even doubled the number of patrol officers as if it was a show.
No matter how bold Roam and the Red Wine medium are, they are being chased. Cain predicted that they would not wander around when patrols were strengthened.
Meanwhile, Erne,
'I can finally hear the answer to what experiment you were trying to do with me. By the way, I wonder if Judith got off to a good start. I hope she didn't get caught going to the Marquis of Ferney's residence for no reason.'
Even though he had Roam right in front of him, Erne thought of Judith. He was anxious because they were always together and then they ended up being separated at a really dangerous moment.
***
However, contrary to Erne's worries, Judith entered the Marquis of Ferney's residence without being caught.
“Water, bring me more water!”
“That thing is falling down, get out of the way!”
The Marquis of Ferney was burning very well. Twenty minutes ago, Illuor wrapped some soaked firefly eggs in thin paper and shot them with a slingshot.
The insect's eggs fell into the garden next to the main gate of the Marquis's residence. Soon, a wind-like sound was heard tearing through the air. That was a signal to both Judith and the insect.
The hatched male fireflies began to fire all at once.
The burning bugs spread the fire to trees and grass. Some bugs clung to curtains or hems of clothes, mistaking them for trees.
“Ugh!”
“Come out, come out!”
The Marquis of Ferney's mansion was also on fire. The fire quickly spread throughout the mansion. Judith entered the mansion while the main gate was open to pump water from the nearby river.
No one suspected Judith because she was busy picking up a bucket of water that someone had spilled. In fact, no one had time to look at anyone's face.
During the commotion, Judith discovered Caroline.
“Madam, come this way, come this way.”
Two maids were coming out, supporting a distraught Caroline.
Judith took a burning stick and sneaked behind them, threw it, and shouted:
“The skirt is on fire, on fire!”
“Where, where!”
“Whoa.”
While the two maids were jumping around, holding up their skirts, to escape the fire, Judith quickly grabbed Caroline by the arm.
“Madam, I will take care of it.”
“Who are you... Ha.”
Caroline smiled as if she was in awe after seeing Judith's face.
“Go ahead. If you keep doing this, you’ll die from the smoke.”
Caroline deliberately shouted more nervously, grabbed Judith's arm, and moved it.
“Put this on, quickly.”
As they walked, Judith handed Caroline the robe she had brought with her. Dressed in her robe, Caroline passed between the servants carrying the water buckets and blended into the crowd of onlookers.
“Madam, where is she?”
“I don’t know, butler.”
“What are you doing if you don’t find her quickly!”
“Where are you, madam, madam?”
The butler, who came to his senses later, searched for Caroline inside the mansion, but could not find her during the chaos of onlookers and people trying to help, wearing a robe and hood pulled over her head.
“Get in.”
Judith put Caroline in a carriage she had prepared in advance. Illuor and Tan, who also served as coachmen, set off as soon as the carriage door closed.
Caroline still looked dumbfounded. Judith told her that both the Roam gang and the Marquis of Ferney, who had provided them with shelter, would be arrested today.
Caroline frowned as she went. She bit her finger until it cracked.
“Even if you get through the capital city gate, you’ll still be stopped at the next checkpoint.”
“So what I’m saying is...”
"Yes?"
“You must be the Countess of Rhineland until my lady arrives at the port.”
When passing through the capital city gate, you must go through a security check.
Everyone coming and going is subject to inspection, but inspections upon exit are relatively less stringent than those upon entering the capital.
“Even if I don’t look for the Marchioness right now, I will try to find you once the villa matters are settled. Until then, you will need to keep your identity a secret.”
“You’re talking about identity theft. Will they trust us at the checkpoint?”
“They will believe us.”
If it was a group that could include criminals, like a mercenary group or a band of soldiers, then it would be understandable, but if a noblewoman was going to a seaside villa with several servants, they wouldn't ask a lot of questions.
“But Rhineland, you mean that cursed family? I heard the lineage was cut off?”
Caroline briefly tried to remember if there was a family with that name, then tilted her head in puzzlement.
“The illegitimate child was alive.”
“I see. I didn’t know that.”
“If I move under the name of the Countess of Rhineland, I can escape the investigation net a little.”
If she had more time, she would have prepared a fake ID, but it was impossible to do in one day.
As Judith was walking through the garden of the Count of Rhineland's residence, pondering a plan, the Count of Rhineland's family coat of arms caught her eye.
It was a flag that hung on a carriage, but Judith found the carriage gone and only the flag was left next to the stable, so she threw it in a corner.
When she saw it, a good idea flashed through her mind.
“Why do you need a fake ID? I can just use my own ID!”
Judith brushed off the dirt from the flag and found that it was in good enough condition to be usable.
But what good is a flag on a carriage when there is no carriage? Judith went straight to the market and hurriedly purchased a luxurious carriage suitable for a nobleman.
Two horses to pull the carriage were borrowed from Smith, who lent them horses for a very high price, just as he had lent them to the Luhmann brothers the previous time.
'It costs a lot of money to rent a carriage and a horse.'
Although it was a pity, Judith invested boldly to earn two thousand gold.
“But did you get the permission of the Countess of Rhineland for this plan? If the Countess finds out that her name has been stolen and takes action, it will be even more difficult for us.”
“Don’t worry about that. That will never happen.”
“How can you believe that?”
Caroline was being sensitive.
But Judith understood her. Originally a sensitive and prickly person, she wasted her energy pretending to be crazy and deceiving everyone at the Marquis's residence.
Not only that, she was now running away under someone else's name. It was too much of a burden for Caroline, who was born as the daughter of a wealthy family and had always walked a safe and comfortable path of flowers. She must be very scared and anxious right now.
She probably won't be able to fully relax until she reaches the Penco Kingdom and is held in the arms of her mother and father.
“That's true.”
Judith debated whether or not to reveal her identity to Caroline, but decided to just tell her.
Even if she reveals her identity, Caroline will probably go to the Penco Kingdom anyway, so she won't spread any rumors. Judith put Caroline at ease at the same time.
“Don’t be alarmed, Madam. In fact, I am the Countess of Rhineland.”
“What did you say?”
“I am the woman who married the illegitimate son of the Rhineland family. I pretended not to be married because I was afraid that the candles I made in the cursed mansion wouldn’t sell.”
Judith told the story of her gambling brother and the marriage she had been sold for. She left out what she needed.
Caroline's eyes, which had been anxious, narrowed as if she was interested. She quietly muttered as she listened to Judith's story.
“But is 200 million gold really such a large sum that it would be difficult to repay?”
She was mumbling to herself while looking out the window, and Judith, who was listening, felt very wrong.
'This dirty world. Some people die and wake up poor, and some are born as the daughter of a rich man. Ah, if I had known this would happen, I would have asked for the 3,000 gold fee.'
Two thousand gold was too much, and she suddenly felt so pathetic compared to two days ago when she hadn't even thought about negotiating the amount.
***
The moment when the carriage carrying Judith, who has experienced the unfairness of life once again, and Caroline, who has found a sense of stability, leisurely heads toward the castle gate.
“We will capture them alive if possible. However, if we cannot capture them alive, we will allow the truth.”
Marquis Mosley gathered fifty soldiers of the Constabulary who had been called up for training into the southern forest and formed a double encirclement.
The soldiers and the police chief who followed without hearing any explanation did as they were told with bewildered expressions.
They moved with only one order: to arrest anyone who came out of the villa. The soldiers moved in a somewhat secretive manner, but they caused a bit of a commotion due to those who were not fully aware of the situation and the muddy ground.
Hearing the commotion, someone jumped out from inside the villa. Erne frowned as he watched.
'His face looks familiar.'
Although he wasn't Roam, he was a knight from the same Third Order as Erne. He looked around and then hurriedly ran into the villa.
'I can't let him escape.'
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