ILIOTS 17

Chapter 17

By the time I opened my eyes, the house was completely empty. I opened the door and stepped out, but there was no sign of Sheila anywhere. Soon, I noticed a note she had left behind: “I’m off to work! Will be back around lunchtime.”

I set the note down and found a loaf of bread. Could I eat it? Despite such concerns, I was still hungry.

It seemed I had been able to endure better at the Solzburg mansion, but now, leaving the empty house made my hunger feel twice as unbearable. It was strange.

Sheila had told me I could stay in her house, but honestly, I had no intention of doing so. This place was too close to the mansion, and staying here for long didn’t seem wise. I was someone who needed to leave this area as soon as possible.

The rain had stopped overnight. What had happened last night was undoubtedly fortunate. I had been able to shelter from the rain safely, eat warm food, and even get good clothes. Had she known that I was descended from the Veldam bloodline, none of this would have happened.

Sheila was practically a benefactor to me, and I was genuinely grateful to her. But I was penniless. I couldn’t imagine setting off to another land without a single coin to my name.

So, I rifled through my benefactor’s house. I knew it was wrong, but I had no choice. Morality could not save my life. In my experience, such things were useless when survival was on the line.

I managed to find a few coins and stepped out the front door. Sheila wouldn’t be back for a long while. I didn’t know exactly how much value these coins held, but I believed it would be enough to reach the nearest city.

The sky was clear, as if the rain had never happened. People’s moods seemed brighter as well. I walked among them as if I had always belonged in this town.

While walking, I spotted two revolutionary soldiers leaning against a building, chatting. I didn’t recognize them, and my heart started pounding, my fingers tightening. I took a deep breath and passed them quietly. Fortunately, they seemed completely uninterested in me.

That fact relieved me. At least, Giles hadn’t sent his men after me.

Thinking back, my previous paranoia seemed foolish. The idea that a flawless revolutionary officer would be anxious over a destitute fallen noblewoman like me was just that—a fantasy.

Yes! It was just a delusion. He was a rising hero of the new era, and even if he felt the slightest attachment to me, the women around him would never allow it.

I was a pitiful, unworthy woman in his eyes.

His kindness to me was probably nothing more than simple pity. Like giving alms to a beggar, he offered me attention and food. No one would bother chasing after a vanished beggar. There was nothing to gain.

I relaxed my shoulders slightly, feeling a little lighter.

Everything will be fine.

As I thought that, I suddenly froze. A familiar face was closer than I had expected. A man in a dark uniform, standing straight. Giles Hessen. He was in this town!

I quickly hid out of his line of sight. What was he doing here? He must just have some business, I reasoned. Giles scanned the surroundings with his eyes and stopped a passing pedestrian.

I watched closely. Giles pulled something from his pocket. It looked like a piece of paper… but I couldn’t see clearly as a passerby blocked my view. He began asking the person something.

I strained to hear.

“Have you seen a woman who looks like this?”

He described a woman: black hair, blue eyes… around this height, thin and pale, dressed in white.

He was looking for me. It wasn’t a delusion. This was reality.

What should I do? Why was he looking for me? Perhaps because I had fled. Maybe he thought I was ungrateful for the kindness he had shown me.

He knew my fatal weakness—my identity as the daughter of the Veldam noble family. He was the only one who knew this.

I could not be captured by Giles.

He would want revenge. I remembered his large, thick-fingered hands and the pistol at his waist. I had survived the grips of Johann Meyer and Count Bismar, but I was certain I would not survive him.

A familiar feeling took over me. Fear. Pure, instinctive fear urging me to run, not reasoned thought.

I had to get out of here, immediately.

The revolutionaries were looking for me.

Lily was gone.

Facing the empty room, his mind went blank for a brief moment. He had never imagined this would happen, and the shock made the emptiness even more pronounced.

No matter how many times he called her name, there was no answer. Lily had clearly left the mansion.

Giles Hessen sat on the piano bench, trying to calm his pounding heart. What unsettled him more than Lily’s disappearance was how intensely agitated he felt because of it.

It was only natural. Lily was all he had left. Around him, nothing remained; the only presence in the ruins was Lily.

The woman he had saved simply because he did not want to kill her had, unintentionally, become his entire world. Without her, he realized he could not survive.

If anything happened to her, if the revolutionaries discovered her identity, she would have no chance of survival. She was Eloise Bismar, daughter of the Veldam nobility.

If his only solace, Lily, were to die because of his greed, he could not bear it.

He would never allow it.

Giles returned to headquarters after confirming Lily’s absence. Under the pretense of checking the prison to ensure no one was missing, he patrolled the area. Yet he could find no trace of Lily. At least, the revolutionaries did not know about her yet.

So why had she disappeared from the mansion?

There had to be another threat he did not know about. Otherwise, Lily, still recovering, would not have left the mansion on her own. She would have left no hint behind.

His mind was consumed with the thought of finding her. She must have had a reason to leave without telling him. If she had gone alone, she was probably hiding somewhere nearby, waiting for him to come to her aid…

Now, Giles had to play his part.

I must find Lily. She needs me.

I must find her…

“Tracking indicates that the escaped Veldam noble has likely headed to Linsdale.”

Giles paused as he wrote at his desk. For a moment, he froze, unable to react.

Linsdale was the closest town to Solzburg. Giles had also considered it, thinking it the most probable place for Lily to be.

“…Who is this fugitive?”

His subordinate’s expression twisted slightly.

“Don’t you remember? I reported it some time ago. The woman who escaped during the vehicle accident while being transported to prison. We tracked her to a certain area, presumed to be Martina Solzer.”

“Ah, right.”

Giles tried not to look relieved. His mind was completely consumed with finding the missing Lily. He could barely remember even the report from a few days ago.

In any case, Lily was still outside the revolutionaries’ radar.

“Can we trust this information?”

“Absolutely. Our operatives, lying in wait in the surrounding forest, have spotted a woman presumed to be Martina Solzer. Unfortunately, we failed to capture her, but if we set out now, we can catch her for sure.”

“Linsdale, you said?”

Giles traced the route on the map with his finger. It was a one-hour drive from here.

He organized the report and stood up, putting on his coat.

“Let’s depart.”

He had to act swiftly. In every sense, he had to act swiftly.