(48) I don't know the reason for that feeling. (2)
The dress shop run by a famous designer was spacious and ornate. Isabelle must have been a regular, as the owner greeted her warmly with a broad smile.
"I'm not here to buy mine today, but for her."
"Oh, whose noble lady is this?"
"My sister."
"Oh. Your sister..."
The shop owner seemed curious that the Count had another daughter, but didn't delve too deeply.
"It's for the festival, so it has to be blue. It has to be the most extravagant. I'll buy shoes to match the dress. I'll buy all the accessories, too, so let's get them on while we get the measurements taken. Oh, and she's growing so fast right now, so we have to make it one size larger."
Isabelle gave instructions, as if she were used to such things. While the female employees came and took Ariana's measurements, Isabelle flipped through the catalog, showing Ariana every pretty dress she came across.
“This style will suit you well. Oh, this is pretty too. This is too mature for you... How about this?”
Isabelle looked as delighted as if she had come to buy her own dress.
BANG! BANG!
The ground-shaking explosion from the street was almost over when the measuring was finished.
“I’ll go check.”
The moment the escort knight standing at the entrance stepped outside, a shout was heard.
“Who is it?”
CHAENG- CHAENG-
The sound of swords clashing.
“Ugh.”
Someone groaned.
The people inside the store screamed and scattered, and Isabelle grabbed Ariana’s hand tightly and backed away, glaring at the store door. The door swung open, and the one who came in wasn’t one of the escort knights. Three masked men, wielding swords dripping with blood. One of them was bleeding profusely from his arm, as if he had been injured fighting the knight.
Ariana’s eyes met the man at the front.
Ariana’s heart sank.
'The Western Duke sent someone!'
Life at Chase Castle was comfortable, but it wasn't as if she hadn't prepared for such a situation. But she hadn't expected it to be today, the day she and Isabelle came. It was sooner than she expected.
Trying to fight here could get Isabelle hurt.
'It's best to just let me be dragged along. They won't think I'm hiding a weapon, so just stab him when I have the chance and run away.'
The fact that she was young and seemed frail meant she could catch her enemies off guard. The self-defense skills she'd learned from Cyrus, while imperfect, could provide an opportunity to escape.
"Sister, run."
But Isabelle did something Ariana hadn't expected.
"Who are you? Do you even know who I am to do this?"
Isabelle raised an arm, sending Ariana behind her.
Isabelle had shed the image of a reckless noblewoman she'd always shown, and had become a warrior with a cold gaze.
Cyrus's words, "Even women in the East are excellent warriors," came to mind.
The masked man said,
"I have no business with you. I don't want to create unnecessary casualties. If you want to live, step aside."
"If you do, I'll gratefully step aside."
As Isabelle grabbed Ariana's hand and began to retreat, the masked man said,
"Leave that girl alone."
"Oh, are you an assassin sent from the West? You came all the way to the East to kidnap my sister? You're so bold."
The masked man flinched at Isabelle's words. The masked man standing behind him raised his sword.
"If she knows our true identities, we must kill that woman."
As the masked man was about to charge, Ariana shouted,
"Wait!"
Ariana held the tip of her concealed dagger against her throat. The masked man, who was about to charge, stopped moving and glared at Ariana.
“They promised you a bigger reward if you took me alive. If you lay a hand on this girl, I’ll die right here.”
“You’re bluffing. Kill yourself.”
Ariana mercilessly stabbed the dagger into her neck. The tip dug into her skin, and blood flowed down her pale neck.
“Wait!”
The masked man behind him shouted.
“Take that woman alive, and it’s double.”
“Hurry, the knights are coming.”
At the masked man’s words while watching, the masked men inside cursed and sheathed their swords. Ariana also lowered her dagger. Isabelle grabbed Ariana as she walked toward the masked men on her own two feet.
“No, Ariana.”
Ariana hugged Isabelle tightly and whispered softly.
"Sister, those guys will kill you once they catch me. While I go to them, you can escape through the back door and tell the others."
"But..."
"They won't chase you, so that's how we both survive."
Ariana let go of Isabelle and spun around. At the same time, she heard Isabelle turn around and run.
The masked man roughly grabbed Ariana's hair.
"The young woman's got her head on her shoulders."
Ariana glared at the masked man with fearless blue eyes.
"Wouldn't it be enough for me? If you all return alive, that little girl's testimony won't be any evidence."
If all the assassins returned alive as Ariana said, Isabelle's testimony would only be heard as a slander against the Western Duke.
Moreover, the assassins weren't from the West, so even if they died here and left their bodies, it wouldn't be proof that the Western Duke had sent them.
The assassins left the scene with only Ariana.
Her mouth and eyes were covered, her wrists and ankles bound, and she was taken somewhere. The hard floor, damp smell, and the sound of running suggested a cart.
Ariana was wrapped in a thick blanket, making it difficult to breathe. The bundles she'd placed there as camouflage rolled around, knocking her over.
'They must be planning to escape the gates disguised as a peddler. The Western Duke is as thorough as ever.'
It didn't occur to her that Rachel would send an assassin. Only the Western Duke would dare to commit something that could easily lead to a conflict between the nations.
The assassins the Western Duke sent seemed to act in groups.
'They must have caused a commotion outside, separated the knights from their escort, and then dealt with him first. Without an escort, it wouldn't be difficult to capture me alone.'
Ariana swallowed a sigh.
'I haven't even properly proven myself yet, and this is happening...'
One of the family's guards was dead, and Isabelle almost died. Even if they had thought of her as a nuisance and kicked her out, there was nothing she could say.
Her chest felt heavy. All her caution felt useless, and she felt drained, but she steeled herself.
'I expected this, didn't I?'
Cyrus, who would always show up to help in such situations, would be in the North by now. But Ariana had a few techniques he had taught her.
- "It seems your life won't be easy, so let me teach you how to escape easily if you're kidnapped."
His slow tone came to mind, and despite the situation, a smile came to her lips. The arrogant gaze he had cast down at Ariana made her feel her lost strength return.
- "If you faint before being tied up, it's useless. If you feel like you can't avoid being kidnapped, at least let yourself be caught and stay awake. That way, it'll be easier to escape."
Ariana felt the rope against her palm.
As they tied Ariana up, she curled the end of the rope, just as Cyrus had taught her, and grabbed it. Luckily, the men were in such a hurry they didn't notice her fiddling with the rope.
"Hurry up, we have to get out before the gates close."
Hearing sounds from outside the carriage, Ariana released her tight grip on the rope. Twisting her wrists, the tight rope loosened.
The rough rope scraped against her wrists, bruising them, but she gritted her teeth and pulled them free.
"We have to get out before we get out of the gates."
With her free hands, she removed the blindfold and untied the gag from her mouth.
She then tried to untie the ropes around her ankles, but they were so tightly tied that they wouldn't come off easily. The dark, rattling space made it even harder.
Even as she struggled to untie the knots, the carriage kept moving.
'If we keep going like this, we'll be out of the gates.'
Once outside the city gates, even if she escaped the carriage, she couldn't hope for help. She couldn't just throw open the wagon cover and scream.
'If I scream here, they'll kill me and run away before anyone can help.'
So she had to escape the wagon while still being able to escape.
Suddenly, she remembered they hadn't searched her. The situation was so urgent that they'd just loaded her onto the wagon without even searching her.
'Oh, right. That's right.'
On the way to the East, she'd bought a few more small daggers to hide on her body, in case something like today happened.
The assassins must have been underestimating Ariana's presence, thinking she'd only have one.
Hidden in the inside pocket of her voluminous skirt, the dagger was about the size of a palm, but it was sharp enough to cut through rope. Ariana pulled back the blanket covering her body and crawled to the seam of the wagon cover.
Peeking through the small gap, she saw she was still inside the city. There were a few buildings here and there, as if it were away from the downtown area.
"Did Isabelle call for help?"
Isabelle was the daughter of the Count of White, so knights would be on the move.
"There must be at least five assassins."
One who started the explosion, three who entered the store, and one who prepared the carriage. Five at the most.
'Even if it was a sudden attack, they must be quite skilled, considering they easily dispatched the White family's knights. They'll quickly sense me jumping from this carriage.'
In that case, she needed to escape from a place where there were people who could decisively deal with these assassins. There was a guard post at each gate, so several soldiers would be guarding it.
"Averaster told me to alert the guard post if I needed his help. That means there must be knights stationed there as well as regular soldiers."
In that case, escape was the moment she approached the gate.
Ariana cut the rope caught in the seam of the wagon cover with her dagger and kept an eye on the outside, ready to flee at any moment.
After what felt like an eternity to Ariana, the voice of the assassin pulling the carriage was heard.
“What knights...? Did the news reach here already?”
“No way. Even if the girl who ran away was fast, the knights should only be starting to move by now.”
“Keep calm. The East isn’t a place for merchants, so as long as you don’t act suspiciously, you’ll be able to escape easily.”
“Yeah, it’ll only look more suspicious if you turn the horse around here.”
The carriage continued to move, albeit at a slower pace than before.
Ariana counted to three internally, then lifted the carriage’s cover and jumped out.
The dress shop run by a famous designer was spacious and ornate. Isabelle must have been a regular, as the owner greeted her warmly with a broad smile.
"I'm not here to buy mine today, but for her."
"Oh, whose noble lady is this?"
"My sister."
"Oh. Your sister..."
The shop owner seemed curious that the Count had another daughter, but didn't delve too deeply.
"It's for the festival, so it has to be blue. It has to be the most extravagant. I'll buy shoes to match the dress. I'll buy all the accessories, too, so let's get them on while we get the measurements taken. Oh, and she's growing so fast right now, so we have to make it one size larger."
Isabelle gave instructions, as if she were used to such things. While the female employees came and took Ariana's measurements, Isabelle flipped through the catalog, showing Ariana every pretty dress she came across.
“This style will suit you well. Oh, this is pretty too. This is too mature for you... How about this?”
Isabelle looked as delighted as if she had come to buy her own dress.
BANG! BANG!
The ground-shaking explosion from the street was almost over when the measuring was finished.
“I’ll go check.”
The moment the escort knight standing at the entrance stepped outside, a shout was heard.
“Who is it?”
CHAENG- CHAENG-
The sound of swords clashing.
“Ugh.”
Someone groaned.
The people inside the store screamed and scattered, and Isabelle grabbed Ariana’s hand tightly and backed away, glaring at the store door. The door swung open, and the one who came in wasn’t one of the escort knights. Three masked men, wielding swords dripping with blood. One of them was bleeding profusely from his arm, as if he had been injured fighting the knight.
Ariana’s eyes met the man at the front.
Ariana’s heart sank.
'The Western Duke sent someone!'
Life at Chase Castle was comfortable, but it wasn't as if she hadn't prepared for such a situation. But she hadn't expected it to be today, the day she and Isabelle came. It was sooner than she expected.
‘If possible, save them; if not, kill them. Think. Being scared won't do any good. There's a way out. Figure it out, Ariana.’
'It's best to just let me be dragged along. They won't think I'm hiding a weapon, so just stab him when I have the chance and run away.'
The fact that she was young and seemed frail meant she could catch her enemies off guard. The self-defense skills she'd learned from Cyrus, while imperfect, could provide an opportunity to escape.
"Sister, run."
But Isabelle did something Ariana hadn't expected.
"Who are you? Do you even know who I am to do this?"
Isabelle raised an arm, sending Ariana behind her.
Isabelle had shed the image of a reckless noblewoman she'd always shown, and had become a warrior with a cold gaze.
Cyrus's words, "Even women in the East are excellent warriors," came to mind.
The masked man said,
"I have no business with you. I don't want to create unnecessary casualties. If you want to live, step aside."
"If you do, I'll gratefully step aside."
As Isabelle grabbed Ariana's hand and began to retreat, the masked man said,
"Leave that girl alone."
"Oh, are you an assassin sent from the West? You came all the way to the East to kidnap my sister? You're so bold."
The masked man flinched at Isabelle's words. The masked man standing behind him raised his sword.
"If she knows our true identities, we must kill that woman."
As the masked man was about to charge, Ariana shouted,
"Wait!"
Ariana held the tip of her concealed dagger against her throat. The masked man, who was about to charge, stopped moving and glared at Ariana.
“They promised you a bigger reward if you took me alive. If you lay a hand on this girl, I’ll die right here.”
“You’re bluffing. Kill yourself.”
Ariana mercilessly stabbed the dagger into her neck. The tip dug into her skin, and blood flowed down her pale neck.
“Wait!”
The masked man behind him shouted.
“Take that woman alive, and it’s double.”
“Hurry, the knights are coming.”
At the masked man’s words while watching, the masked men inside cursed and sheathed their swords. Ariana also lowered her dagger. Isabelle grabbed Ariana as she walked toward the masked men on her own two feet.
“No, Ariana.”
Ariana hugged Isabelle tightly and whispered softly.
"Sister, those guys will kill you once they catch me. While I go to them, you can escape through the back door and tell the others."
"But..."
"They won't chase you, so that's how we both survive."
Ariana let go of Isabelle and spun around. At the same time, she heard Isabelle turn around and run.
The masked man roughly grabbed Ariana's hair.
"The young woman's got her head on her shoulders."
Ariana glared at the masked man with fearless blue eyes.
"Wouldn't it be enough for me? If you all return alive, that little girl's testimony won't be any evidence."
If all the assassins returned alive as Ariana said, Isabelle's testimony would only be heard as a slander against the Western Duke.
Moreover, the assassins weren't from the West, so even if they died here and left their bodies, it wouldn't be proof that the Western Duke had sent them.
The assassins left the scene with only Ariana.
***
Her mouth and eyes were covered, her wrists and ankles bound, and she was taken somewhere. The hard floor, damp smell, and the sound of running suggested a cart.
Ariana was wrapped in a thick blanket, making it difficult to breathe. The bundles she'd placed there as camouflage rolled around, knocking her over.
'They must be planning to escape the gates disguised as a peddler. The Western Duke is as thorough as ever.'
It didn't occur to her that Rachel would send an assassin. Only the Western Duke would dare to commit something that could easily lead to a conflict between the nations.
The assassins the Western Duke sent seemed to act in groups.
'They must have caused a commotion outside, separated the knights from their escort, and then dealt with him first. Without an escort, it wouldn't be difficult to capture me alone.'
Ariana swallowed a sigh.
'I haven't even properly proven myself yet, and this is happening...'
One of the family's guards was dead, and Isabelle almost died. Even if they had thought of her as a nuisance and kicked her out, there was nothing she could say.
Her chest felt heavy. All her caution felt useless, and she felt drained, but she steeled herself.
'I expected this, didn't I?'
Cyrus, who would always show up to help in such situations, would be in the North by now. But Ariana had a few techniques he had taught her.
- "It seems your life won't be easy, so let me teach you how to escape easily if you're kidnapped."
His slow tone came to mind, and despite the situation, a smile came to her lips. The arrogant gaze he had cast down at Ariana made her feel her lost strength return.
- "If you faint before being tied up, it's useless. If you feel like you can't avoid being kidnapped, at least let yourself be caught and stay awake. That way, it'll be easier to escape."
Ariana felt the rope against her palm.
As they tied Ariana up, she curled the end of the rope, just as Cyrus had taught her, and grabbed it. Luckily, the men were in such a hurry they didn't notice her fiddling with the rope.
"Hurry up, we have to get out before the gates close."
Hearing sounds from outside the carriage, Ariana released her tight grip on the rope. Twisting her wrists, the tight rope loosened.
The rough rope scraped against her wrists, bruising them, but she gritted her teeth and pulled them free.
"We have to get out before we get out of the gates."
With her free hands, she removed the blindfold and untied the gag from her mouth.
She then tried to untie the ropes around her ankles, but they were so tightly tied that they wouldn't come off easily. The dark, rattling space made it even harder.
Even as she struggled to untie the knots, the carriage kept moving.
'If we keep going like this, we'll be out of the gates.'
Once outside the city gates, even if she escaped the carriage, she couldn't hope for help. She couldn't just throw open the wagon cover and scream.
'If I scream here, they'll kill me and run away before anyone can help.'
So she had to escape the wagon while still being able to escape.
Suddenly, she remembered they hadn't searched her. The situation was so urgent that they'd just loaded her onto the wagon without even searching her.
'Oh, right. That's right.'
On the way to the East, she'd bought a few more small daggers to hide on her body, in case something like today happened.
The assassins must have been underestimating Ariana's presence, thinking she'd only have one.
Hidden in the inside pocket of her voluminous skirt, the dagger was about the size of a palm, but it was sharp enough to cut through rope. Ariana pulled back the blanket covering her body and crawled to the seam of the wagon cover.
Peeking through the small gap, she saw she was still inside the city. There were a few buildings here and there, as if it were away from the downtown area.
"Did Isabelle call for help?"
Isabelle was the daughter of the Count of White, so knights would be on the move.
"There must be at least five assassins."
One who started the explosion, three who entered the store, and one who prepared the carriage. Five at the most.
'Even if it was a sudden attack, they must be quite skilled, considering they easily dispatched the White family's knights. They'll quickly sense me jumping from this carriage.'
In that case, she needed to escape from a place where there were people who could decisively deal with these assassins. There was a guard post at each gate, so several soldiers would be guarding it.
"Averaster told me to alert the guard post if I needed his help. That means there must be knights stationed there as well as regular soldiers."
In that case, escape was the moment she approached the gate.
Ariana cut the rope caught in the seam of the wagon cover with her dagger and kept an eye on the outside, ready to flee at any moment.
After what felt like an eternity to Ariana, the voice of the assassin pulling the carriage was heard.
“What knights...? Did the news reach here already?”
“No way. Even if the girl who ran away was fast, the knights should only be starting to move by now.”
“Keep calm. The East isn’t a place for merchants, so as long as you don’t act suspiciously, you’ll be able to escape easily.”
“Yeah, it’ll only look more suspicious if you turn the horse around here.”
The carriage continued to move, albeit at a slower pace than before.
Ariana counted to three internally, then lifted the carriage’s cover and jumped out.
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