TPOP 95

Chapter 95

***

She was nowhere to be found.

Diana was nowhere to be seen.

Not on the sofa where they had lain together just hours ago, not on the bed where he had laid her down himself, not in the bathroom. Not a single strand of her beautifully gleaming wheat-colored hair was visible.

Laughter burst out. The pitch of his laughter was unusually high. Felix, who had been chuckling like a madman, suddenly wiped the expression from his face.

"I told you we should've killed that bastard sooner."

From the moment he'd resolved to send Diana out into the world, he'd anticipated Eisen would target her again. That's why he'd left an entire squadron of the Knights here. And yet, they'd let one small woman slip away?

"Where is Arnold?"

"Well, he hasn't been seen for quite some time."

"Useless..."

Felix spat out the curse. Now that he confirmed Diana was gone, there was nothing left for him here. But then, where should he look for her?

The head maid, Catherine, who had been clutching her chest and pacing anxiously, suddenly dropped to her knees before Felix.

"D-Diana went into the forest. She might have slipped out while the palace was in chaos...!"

"It seems she's being pursued by spies, Your Highness. One of those we spared just now spoke up. He said five assassins followed the lady into the forest!"

A knight who had rushed up from the first floor where the spies were held shouted. The forest. Round and round, it was the forest again. Felix grabbed any sword lying about and immediately left the palace.

Swoosh—. The pouring rain soaked his hair and cloak.

Five assassins, professionally trained in killing. Felix's jaw clenched tightly, twitching uncontrollably.

Diana was no ordinary woman. She might be blind, but she was a spirit mage! Felix had witnessed her manipulate water countless times. Though she'd only closed doors or shattered glass bottles, even that level of power might save her life.

Just as she'd survived this long despite her blindness, this time too…

But lightning struck. A flash of light erupted, and flames leapt up in the forest. The pouring rain quickly extinguished the fire, but the thunder that followed immediately proclaimed to the entire world that this storm would not subside anytime soon.

A headache seemed to devour his brain. Felix wandered, unable to immediately grasp the order of tasks.

"The antidote..."

Felix belatedly remembered he'd tossed it into a nightstand drawer in the main palace's bedroom. There was no time to retrieve it.

"Send all the palace staff to the forest. Search everywhere—from the riverbank to near the waterfall, down the path into the valley. With the rain, they couldn't have gone far... No, damn it. I'll go myself."

The rain might actually let them go farther. His thought process short-circuited as if lightning had struck him directly.

Nothing could be taken for granted. Nothing except this: he had to run into the forest right now, see her with his own eyes, and bring her back.

***

Deep dawn passed, and though the hour for dawn to break was approaching, the entire world remained pitch black. The rain fell relentlessly. It was a storm that had struck  Carman, notorious for its dryness, in the middle of summer for the first time in decades.

Diana could no longer run. She lacked the strength to move, and even the slightest increase in speed caused her knees to buckle, making it utterly impossible to sprint.

The deafening sound of the rain drowned out even the footsteps of her pursuers. Diana's entire body was soaked through.

Yet she felt no chill. It felt as if she were submerged in water, oddly comforting. Though drenched, not a speck of mud stained her coat or trouser hems.

She walked aimlessly along the riverbank. At some point, the slope grew steeper, tilting to the point where climbing without using both hands to brace against the ground became difficult. The flat land had completely ended, giving way to a mountain path.

Emile had clearly told her to descend into the valley below. But the spirits soothed Diana.

<Go up.

Go up, Diana.

It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.>

" Haah, haah…."

Her heart pounded so fast it made her nauseous. She couldn't even guess how many hours had passed already.

No matter how much the spirits helped her avoid getting lost, Diana was blind. Seeing nothing, she blindly groped the ground with both hands. She grabbed tree roots that came to her hands, pulled her body up onto deeply embedded rocks, and moved forward.

" Haah, haah…."

Her breath came in gasps. She wasn't cold, but her stomach ached strangely. It didn't seem to be actual pain, which was odd. It felt similar to the stomach cramps she'd experienced intermittently weeks ago while trapped in the palace.

Was it because of that strange thing she heard?

‘It doesn't seem like I'm pregnant. It must be true that I miscarried!’

"Haa, ugh…!"

Her left foot slipped badly on moss. Water bubbling up from the mud cushioned her fall as she rolled down.

Her body floated upward. The spirits carrying Diana carried her over the steep slope and set her down on a rock.

"You don't even know what you're giving up? You don't know what you failed to protect either."

Catherine's mocking voice lingered in her ears. Some... well, she knew from the start that something was wrong with her. Everyone claimed it was a severe fever, but she knew that was a lie.

But if it wasn't a fever or a cold, she couldn't possibly know what illness it was. If the assassin who pursued her was right, this was something she had never even imagined.

"So it's true I miscarried!"

If that was really the case.

At the very least.

Shouldn't she have known?

Diana's lips slowly parted. The corners of her mouth, which had been staring blankly into space, began to twist.

This body was Diana's own.

She alone should have known what had happened to her.

Dizzy. Diana pressed her forehead against the rock and caught her breath for a moment.

Stay calm. Get up and run. Don't let anyone catch you, not until you're past Carman's border.

The sound of hooves echoed again in the distance. The ground was trembling.

"Haa..."

Diana mustered every ounce of strength to push herself up, gripping the rock. Droplets of water surrounded her protectively, guiding her path. Any obstacles she might have stumbled on were flung aside by thin streams of water.

Above the waterfall, a little further up the mountainside, lay a gorge. Where there was a way up, there was surely a way down. Diana ran and ran through the darkness. At some point, she heard nothing but her own breath.

"I'll be back soon. It won't take long."

Diana slapped her ears with both hands, as if to shake off the hallucination.

How? How? How?

How could he treat me like that with such a calm voice?

Suddenly, her breath caught in her throat. The trees thinned out, and a vast sense of space opened up.

As Diana climbed the mountain, dawn was breaking. Unable to perceive the passage of time, the spirits whispered to her.

<Dawn is breaking.

The sun will rise.

Just a little further, Diana!>

Her pursuers were drawing near. They too were climbing the mountain. Who could it be this time? Eisen? Felix? Duke Christen? It didn't matter. They were all the same.

The slope gradually flattened out, becoming level ground. Diana stumbled forward, her feet dragging. Her throat, filled with the metallic taste of blood, ached as if it would tear apart.

But now, the summit was in sight.

The wind shook Diana's wet hair. She stood still as a statue, feeling the breeze tenderly caress her damp body. She felt she understood where she had arrived.

Amid the storm, she felt a strange sense of calm. Nature never harmed Diana. It was always humans who clawed at her and hurt her.

More precisely, the Carmanites.

Right before her, a path to escape them seemed to unfold. Diana spread her arms wide and faced the wind with her whole body.

But the time to savor this peace was short-lived. Almost simultaneously, those pursuing her appeared, stepping onto the very rock Diana had just trodden.

Someone shouted.

"Diana!"

It was the devil's call.

Her blackened vision seemed to spin backwards. The comforting warmth, like returning to a soothing spring, washed away completely, and the reality she stood upon began to choke her.