How much time has passed?
Emily felt the chill seeping through her clothes. She wanted to wrap her arms around herself, but her hands wouldn't move.
Emily felt the chill seeping through her clothes. She wanted to wrap her arms around herself, but her hands wouldn't move.
'I'm tied up.'
For someone being kidnapped, she seemed remarkably calm. Emily sighed and examined her hands and feet. Not only were they bound, but so were her feet.
'Who kidnapped me?'
Emily tried to find clues in the rattling carriage, but found nothing.
The carriage was probably meant for transporting slaves or livestock, and it had no seats, with only rags and a thin layer of dust on the floor.
It seemed like it would be better to untie the chains to properly find clues.
'It's a familiar knot.'
Emily pulled hard on the outermost rope. When there was a little space, she grabbed the rope and bit it across.
The bonds had loosened slightly since a moment ago. From then on, she frantically rubbed her wrists, stretching the rope. Now, her wrists were loose enough to be free.
'It was a good thing I trained under Cezanne.'
Emily easily slipped both hands through the widened hole and untied the rope around her ankles.
'That's it!'
Emily, now able to move freely, began to rummage through the rags. Every time she moved her hand, dust rose up, making her sneeze.
Emily pinched her nose and suppressed a sneeze with superhuman strength. She couldn't let anyone know she was already awake.
Emily, who was rummaging through the hay with tears in her eyes from holding back a sneeze, soon heard the clanking of metal.
'What is this?'
She took a small piece of scrap metal out of the rag and looked at it.
-128. Lio F
This flat piece of metal resembled the dog tags the Giuliano family used to give their slaves. "Lio" was the abbreviation the Giuliano family used to refer to themselves.
'It was the Giuliano family after all.'
Even though she tried to change the flow of the original story like that, she was kidnapped by the Giuliano family, and she felt empty because it felt like all her efforts up until now were in vain.
'No. But there are still many things different now than back then.'
Emily quickly shook her head to shake off her discouragement and pulled herself together.
If she didn't make up her mind here, she could have died in vain, like in the original.
'My revolver...'
Emily came to her senses and looked around for the bag she was holding.
Luckily, the bag was carelessly thrown into a corner.
There were no windows in the carriage, but if the carriage's center of gravity had shifted significantly, they might have noticed that they had broken through.
Emily crawled on her elbows, hoping they wouldn't notice her movements, and moved closer to her bag.
And when she got close enough, she reached out with all her might. Fortunately, she was able to grab the bag without much shaking.
'Please stay.'
Emily hurriedly opened the bag, her heart trembling. As expected, the revolver she'd been carrying was gone, having been taken during a search.
It was a given that Emily could use a gun, as it had even been reported in newspaper articles.
But the good news is that there's still one secret weapon left.
Emily hid the ordinary-looking lipstick inside her sleeve, cherishing it as if it were a talisman.
It was a disguised pistol with a 4.5cm gun built into a lipstick case, and it was a gift from Killian to Emily for her birthday after their wedding.
Normally, a husband wouldn't give his wife anything worthwhile, but at this moment, she couldn't help but be grateful for his gift-giving sense.
The carriage was still rattling as if it hadn't reached its destination.
She considered jumping, but it was difficult to escape from a carriage with no windows. If she were to open the door clumsily and escape, and get caught, the situation could have gotten even worse.
Emily began to tie her ankles and wrists in a way that would be easy for her to untie again, knowing that if they saw it later, they might just put her in iron handcuffs.
As soon as the rope was tied, the carriage stopped.
Before the door opened, Emily quickly collapsed and pretended to faint. She buried her face in the rags, afraid the sudden light might make her frown.
Seeing her motionless, the Giuliano gang believed Emily was still unconscious.
“Change carriages from here.”
A thick man's voice was heard.
"All right."
The man who had received the man's order grabbed Emily's ankles and lowered her down.
As he pulled her out of the carriage, the back of her skirt got caught on something and ripped. He didn't care and slung Emily over his shoulder like a piece of luggage.
Fortunately, the dress was thick, so it didn't hurt. However, she was surprised by the unexpected way she was carried, and almost screamed.
Emily, hanging from the man's shoulder, cautiously opened one eye and looked outside.
There were five men in total. One of them appeared to be a capo from Giuliano's organization, and the rest appeared to be his subordinates.
She was pushed into another carriage to climb the narrow mountain path. After a long, winding climb, she found herself surrounded by secluded forest and an old cabin. They took Emily to the cabin.
Emily's room seemed to have already been decided. They climbed the creaking wooden stairs and dropped her off in the cold, poorly lit attic.
“When is she going to come to her senses?”
“It will take some time since she took sleeping pills.”
“It’s boring when the hostage is sleeping.”
A man with a deep voice yawned and sat down on the sofa opposite her. Perhaps because it was so old, it made a funny rustling sound.
“What about Raminis?”
“Coming this way.”
“Anyway, the boss is also a bit mischievous.”
It was a well-known rumor that Raminis was taken in by the Starr organization and thrown into a mental ward because he coveted Emily.
'Raminis?'
Meanwhile, Emily, who was pretending to be unconscious and eavesdropping on their conversation, felt her heart sink at the sound of that terrible name.
‘What should I do...?’
Emily's mind began to race with the unexpected appearance of a character.
***
Killian and the Starr crew rode quickly, following the direction the location tracker pointed.
The red dot that had been moving continuously finally stopped at one point and started to blink.
“I think I’ve almost caught up.”
Killian couldn't help but pin his hopes on Giovanni's words. His heart was about to burst, worried that something might happen to Emily.
Killian wanted to strangle himself if he had any hands left.
If only the divorce had never been brought up, and Emily had been kept safe at Starr Mansion, this wouldn't have happened.
Yes, she now fully understands. Even if the Starr family were ever threatened in the future, Emily had to be within her sight.
Killian tightened his grip on the reins.
“I see a carriage...”
Giovanni couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence.
A carriage stood alone on the side of the road, but the odds of Emily being inside didn't seem very high. Still, he approached it just in case.
The carriage door was wide open, and, as expected, there was no one inside.
“Lord Killian.”
Chambers handed him Emily's handbag and a piece of a torn skirt with a gloomy face.
The location tracker attached to the bottom of the skirt was blinking red.
“I think they changed their mode of transportation here.”
That was understandable, as the area around the carriage was a vast plain.
Killian said, carefully placing Emily's belongings in his arms.
“Where are the nearest mountains and villages from here?”
If they were to hide Emily, they had two options: hide her in the mountains or hide her in the village.
Roger, who was familiar with various geographies from going to performances, unfolded a map and found his current location.
“The nearest town is Henne, and nearby is Mount Pirata.”
"Then half of you here will follow Giovanni and search the village. The other half will go with me to Mount Pirata."
"All right."
Killian's mood was so ominous that Roger didn't dare speak out, but he felt it would be easier to find a needle in a haystack.
Mount Pirata was so large that it was nearly impossible to find Emily with this number of search personnel.
And above all, the mountain had the biggest reason for being untraceable.
“Roger.”
As if sensing his feelings, Killian spoke to him.
“Yes, boss.”
“Have you ever been to that mountain?”
"...Yes."
“Even if it’s impossible, we must find her. We must.”
Roger took a deep breath and nodded, as if he had made up his mind.
The reason it's so hard to leave Mount Pirata once you enter is that it's a forest of recovery.
No matter how many people tried to make a road, the dirt would quickly fill up again.
So there was no path on that mountain, no footprints of man or beast. If he didn't keep his wits about her, he might not only fail to find Emily but also never escape the mountain at all.
Killian decided to place his hopes there.
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