The ventilation shafts extending into every corner of the castle were like a giant maze. However, since she had familiarized herself with the lord's castle blueprints in advance, she had no difficulty.
Mulking!
With a sharp friction sound, the ventilation grate was torn off.
Lou was the first to lightly land on the floor. It was a secluded, dark storage room where the noise of the banquet hall could not reach.
In the room were small decorative weapons, light military uniforms, and plate armor statues clearly engraved with the coat of arms of Osric.
On one side of the wall, a partition wall for changing clothes was also visible.
Lou quickly snatched a set of martial arts uniforms and hid behind a partition wall.
By the time she came out after changing out of her wet dress, Les had also long since transformed into Lord Osric's knight.
"..."
A brief silence fell between the two.
Lou hurriedly looked out the window. Far away, the drawbridge of the city gate was slowly rising with a heavy sound.
“The intention is to blockade the castle.”
When the explosion plan failed, Joachim began to run amok.
He was the one who became most cruel when his perfect plans went awry.
Just like long ago, when the two siblings, Rupert and Rosien, slipped out of his grasp.
'I don't care.'
Instead, Lou wore a cool smile on her lips.
The blockade meant that she would soon become a rat in a trap. But conversely, it also meant that he, too, had nowhere to run.
How far she had come to meet him.
Lou rubbed her chest once again. The heavy sensation of the dagger hidden beneath her clothes felt as if it were settling upon her heart.
It was the weight of the grudge that would soon strike the guy's body.
'But before that...'
Lou turned her head, her gaze resting on the man standing behind him.
The man's presence filled the space, blending in seamlessly even amidst this luxurious hallway filled with splendid decorations.
"Who..."
Usually, when he perfectly concealed even his presence, the sound of his breathing reached Lou's ears.
'Moving around too forcefully without aura earlier was a big mistake.'
However, even if he had been unharmed, Lou would not have dragged him into her revenge.
Anyway, this was a burden that Lou—no, Rosien—had to bear alone.
'He has done his job. There is no longer any reason for him to stay here.'
They secured evidence of smuggling and prevented the explosion as well.
'But given this person's personality...'
Although they had only spent a short time together, Lou was certain.
This man, who values principles and is righteous, would try to help her without regard for his own safety if he heard Lou's true plan.
That wasn't enough.
'Les must return to the Imperial Palace safely.'
This is the person the Emperor is waiting for.
And because it is the only justice and hope capable of rectifying the corrupted Karkan.
'And I hope he... doesn't get hurt.'
It wasn't just a macroscopic reason. She felt that she wanted this man to move away from these flames and that she wished he would return to his original, beautiful self.
Even if she might not be able to see him again after this moment passes.
"Les, can you see? We have to get out of here before the gates on all sides are completely sealed off."
The drawbridge at the central gate had already been completely lifted, and soldiers on the wall were desperately turning a huge pulley.
Rattle, rattle.
An unpleasant metallic sound, like something scraping against eardrums, reached where they were.
"The escape route is at the East Gate, isn't it? If even that is blocked, we are like rats in a trap. Since Joachim has blockaded the castle, his soldiers will storm the East Gate before long."
The massive portcullis of the castle gate began to sink, displaying its immense weight.
"Les, you go ahead and join your subordinates to secure the escape route. I will follow to find Eric and Maya."
"...Have you figured out where they are?"
Instead of answering, Lou held out a small piece of parchment from her bosom. It was an ordinary token commonly used by food collectors.
"I picked this up in the hallway on my way to the basement. It's a code that only our informant family recognizes."
The fact that the two people who had entered the western loading dock dropped this in the castle corridor was a sign that their identities had been revealed. Lou confirmed that the top part of the marker had been torn off.
'It means they were taken upstairs.'
"They must have kept leaving markers as they went, so tracking them won't be difficult. "
“I will accompany you."
Les firmly blocked her path.
His senses told him that the presence of soldiers filling the fortress was by no means insignificant.
"It is impossible alone. Moreover, you..."
Les stopped speaking.
Even when he mistook her for a boy, he was worried about her going through hardships, but now that he knows her true identity, there is no way he can leave her alone in enemy territory.
"So, are you saying your trust in me has diminished because I am a woman? Completely forgetting all the capabilities you have verified in me so far?"
Lou's voice turned as cold as ice.
"You know that isn't what I meant. You were the one who reminded me that recklessness only leads to disaster."
"I'm not reckless. It's not just anywhere, it's Karkan, so at least within this castle, I'm just as good as Les."
The voice, sounding arrogantly confident, was overflowing with self-assurance.
Lou lifted her chin and glared at him as if to say that any further overprotection would be considered an insult to her abilities.
Peleus unconsciously rubbed his chest, feeling stifled. Aside from his sister Medea, she was the first person to make him feel utterly devastated.
He hoped she would understand that he wasn't doubting her abilities, but simply wishing she wouldn't get hurt.
At the same time, he had a hunch.
That this woman, too, would not yield to her will.
“Lou, I..."
"Hurry up! There is no time. If the East Gate closes, we won't be able to get the horses out of the fortress. Without horses, the cavalry will catch us in no time."
Lou's logic was flawless, and he could not refute it.
Because the best strategy in this situation was to secure mobility.
"..."
But even if reason understands, how can I explain the footsteps that refuse to move?
If that inexplicable, hard will in those amber eyes keeps gripping his nerves.
"..."
"You go ahead first. I'll follow shortly, so I'll see you in a little while."
Lou moved without hesitation, as if he would no longer seek Les's permission. Perhaps thinking of her captured subordinates, her attitude was quite urgent and resolute.
"Do you remember saying you would explain everything later?"
At that moment, Peleus reached out and grabbed her wrist.
"I haven't heard that explanation yet. So..."
He spoke to the amber eyes looking up at him with surprised eyes.
It was a voice that was usually calm, yet intermittently paused in breathing as if suppressing something.
"You must come back. I, too, have things I haven't been able to tell you—no, things I want to tell you."
He knew better than anyone that the situation was not appropriate enough to make such a childish promise.
Still, he had to say it.
If this could be a reason for her to think she should come back.
"..."
"Answer me, Lou."
As she quietly looked up at him, Lou barely managed to answer.
"...I took on the role. I really need to come back, if only to find out why I didn't say what I should have."
A faint smile played on her lips. Only then did Peleus slowly release the wrist he had been holding.
Before the warmth remaining in his entire grip had even faded, Lou turned around and ran out.
Peleus could not take his eyes off her until she was completely out of sight at the end of the hallway. He had a feeling that the image of her retreating figure would not fade from his mind for a long time.
***
'You did well. You did a good job.'
As Lou ran off, leaving Les behind, her vision blurred for no reason. Was it because Lou, too, sensed a premonition that this might be the last time? Or was it because she alone knew that she might never be able to return to him?
"No, I will survive."
Lou soon roughly wiped the corners of her eyes and opened them wide.
"I'm going to kill Joachim Lantz, save the kids, take them all out, and... go see the blue sky of Valdina."
It was like a spell she was telling herself.
It was also a conscious incantation intended to infuse her with strength, to steel her weak heart that wanted to lean on others.
Meanwhile, the shouts of the Barmia soldiers could be heard from beyond the hallway.
"...They might have snuck back into the banquet hall during the search, so search carefully! Question everyone attempting to leave, regardless of rank."
"Understood. B-but, His Excellency is quite fine..."
"He is still in the basement. His Excellency is fine, though."
The adjutant trailed off.
In fact, the ones who were really not okay were the people in charge of basement security.
Amidst the chaos of the failed explosion, the Governor's wrath ran directly at them.
Joachim paid the price for the failed plan right there and then.
Inside the steam-filled basement, tearing screams and the sound of a family whip sticking to flesh echoed until the lieutenant left.
By the time the governor stepped out of the basement, his seething rage would have subsided for a moment, but the soldiers inside would already be cold corpses.
To Joachim Lanz, a soldier's life was no different from the trash byproduct that sullied his painstaking grand plan.
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