IRER 14

Chapter 14 

A Place That Suits Her

A dark tavern.

A large man sat hunched in the corner, hood pulled deep over his face, drinking slowly.

‘It’s already been a week.’

He sipped his drink slowly, trying not to show his anxiety.

But even as the night deepened, nothing happened.

His faint hope turned once again into bitter disappointment, pressing down heavily on him.

Eventually, he left money for the drinks and walked out of the tavern.

Outside the noisy tavern, the cool, murmuring streets greeted him. It was hard to believe this place had been at war not long ago.

Complaints about how hard life had become could be heard here and there, but at least their homes hadn’t been trampled.

Despite giving up that much grain, the capital of the rich empire, Medician, remained prosperous. Looking at it, the Grand Duke of the North—no, now the ruler of the North—Aidan, felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

He had tried everything he could in the past week, but all he had gained was that bitterness.

Before the gates closed, he exited the city. To think he could come and go with a fake identity—how laughably lax the imperial city was.

He had come not from the plains where a battle had recently been fought, but from the west gate of the city.

❖ ❖ ❖

The day he realized Brody had disappeared—

A few hours after falling off his horse from a headache, Aidan came to his senses.

He took one of the few remaining beads from the vial around his neck. Though not as effective as when she was with him, the headache eased.

He knew he couldn’t shirk his responsibilities. Not at such a crucial moment.

The next day, the North successfully received food from the princess and sent back Duke Jacks.

After organizing the camp and preparing to march north, he handed over command to River and left the formation.

Of course, River hadn’t let him go easily.

He had done as Brody had—left a note and disappeared.

He had expected chaos, but even Aidan was surprised by how much more his heart was occupied by something else.

A mysterious woman with pale wheat-colored hair.

Everything else had blurred, pushed out of his mind.

‘Bree… No, was it Brody?’

He furrowed his brow and pulled out the small vial hanging from his neck.

He didn’t know why he was looking for her.

He didn’t know what he wanted to do once he found her.

He had given her freedom, as he had promised. And she had used that freedom to run away from him.

‘I cared for her. And I thought she didn’t hate me.’

It would be hard for her to forget her homeland so quickly. But if they spent time together, she would grow fond of him too. He thought she would be content, living in luxury as the Grand Duke’s wife, without hardship.

But maybe that was just arrogance.

‘Luxury? What kind of luxury can the North even offer right now?’

Walking through the capital made it painfully clear. If she was indeed the “Brody” the Duke was looking for, then she could expect far better treatment staying by his side than anything Aidan could promise.

He recalled Bree. Her bright smile in the moonlight the night before he left for war, the worried look in her eyes, the determined expression when she risked her life for the prisoners.

‘Were all those things just acts to survive as a prisoner?’

He stopped walking and sat down on a nearby rock.

He tried asking the ice spirit, but there was no response. Of course not—this place hadn’t even seen the first signs of winter yet.

As the Grand Duke of Icefall blessed by the ice spirit, Aidan could normally gather information easily wherever ice existed and even borrow the spirit’s power.

The last time Brody ran away, he had been able to catch her quickly thanks to that blessing.

‘If this were the North, I could’ve found her easily. At least I could have heard her out and tried to persuade her.’

He lowered his head, overwhelmed by the despair of not even being able to find a trace of her.

And then—

“Hey.”

Someone came up and tapped Aidan on the shoulder.

With his hood pulled low, Aidan cautiously turned to look at the person who had spoken.

His eyes widened.

The man he had tried to lure out with bait multiple times—the very person Aidan had been searching for.

“I heard you’re looking for someone?”

“…”

The man with thick muscles and gleaming blond hair—Jacks—stood confidently and spoke.

Aidan replied with his head lowered.

“That’s right. I’m looking for a woman with light brown hair and green eyes. Someone the Duke of McCassy holds dear.”

He answered while closely observing Jacks. He hadn’t expected the Duke himself to take the bait. And why had he followed Aidan outside the city?

Jacks asked,

“Why are you looking for her?”

“I’m on an errand. I can’t say more.”

Jacks tilted his head, puzzled.

“You’re on an errand, but you don’t know where she is?”

“That’s why I’m looking. But since you chased me all the way out here, it seems you’ve got something useful to say. Speak, and I’ll pay handsomely.”

Jacks exaggeratedly tilted his head the other way.

“That’s strange. You’re the one asking questions when I should be. Don’t you think so, Grand Duke Aidan?”

Flinch!

Aidan sharply pulled back, startled. His hand had already gone to his sword.

“Whoa there—don’t forget we agreed on a ceasefire.”

Jacks shook his head with an exaggerated “tsk-tsk” expression.

“The empire and the North agreed to a ceasefire. Not you and me.”

Aidan replied with a cold, flat tone.

“You’re quite stiff for someone who might end up being a travel companion. Loosen up a little.”

Travel companion? What nonsense was that supposed to mean?

Aidan stared tiredly at the smiling Jacks.

Jacks grinned wider.

“You’re looking for Brody, and so am I. How about we work together?”

“You mean she didn’t return to the capital?”

“Ah… poor Brody. She must be too ashamed to face me after failing her mission,”

Jacks paused and glanced at Aidan before continuing,

“And now that she’s important enough for the Grand Duke to come looking himself?”

Aidan bit his lip.

So that’s why she hadn’t returned to the capital.

Because I took away the place where she belonged.

Jacks, unaware—or perhaps indifferent—to Aidan’s thoughts, continued, caught up in his own musings.

“And despite being so important, it seems she wasn’t treated very well. Ran away right away, didn’t she?”

Aidan was thankful for the hood covering his face. Jacks’ words struck right at his core.

After composing himself, he answered coldly,

“If you don’t know where she is either, there’s no reason for us to continue. Let’s go our separate ways.”

“Now, now.”

Aidan mounted his black horse, Kais, and turned toward the North.

But then, Jacks sidled up right next to him.

“You think she went north? I doubt it.”

Aidan ignored him and rode on, but Jacks kept up persistently.

“She wouldn’t go to the North.”

“And why do you think that?”

Aidan, about to ignore him again, decided to bite—perhaps there was a clue in Jacks’ words. Jacks, pleased, answered cheerfully,

“She probably doesn’t like the North.”

“…”

That remark pierced Aidan again.

In truth, Jacks had said it simply because he knew Brody was a plant mage. The North was too harsh for her to get help from plants, so it made sense she wouldn’t go there.

But Aidan had no way of knowing that.

‘Right… If she ran to avoid me, then she wouldn’t head to the North.’

He had already sent a fast messenger to check if she had passed through the Ferden Fortress. If she hadn’t, they were to detain her. The answer would come soon.

‘If not the North or the capital, then there’s only one possibility.’

“The South.”

“Wouldn’t it be wise to investigate the South?”

Unhappy with the fact that he and Jacks had reached the same conclusion, Aidan changed direction and spurred his horse.

Thus, Aidan’s black horse and Jacks’ white horse galloped toward the south.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Ah, the sunlight feels amazing!”

Brody smiled as she stretched her hand out to catch the brilliant sunlight streaming through the lush trees.

She sat atop a brown horse, similar in color to her own hair.

Didn’t she say she couldn’t ride a horse?

She did—back when she was still Do-yeon.

But Brody could ride.

Though the soul inside was Do-yeon, she had never ridden a horse before and had been afraid to ride one alone. That’s why she’d said she couldn’t.

However, on the way down to the capital, she had ridden in front of Aidan for a long time. Gradually, she grew used to it, and the fear disappeared.

Once the fear was gone, Brody’s body took care of the rest.

‘The first time I got on by myself, my back felt so exposed.’

She flinched, involuntarily recalling the strong body that used to support her from behind.

It must’ve been a vivid memory, since the first time she rode a horse in this body had been with him.

‘The body remembers more than the mind sometimes.’

Brody shook her head to banish the thoughts.

‘The war… is it over? He should be safe, right? He had the upper hand…’

But she kept thinking about it.

‘It’s just curiosity. Just a little curiosity. That’s allowed.’

Brody hadn’t asked anyone about the war, even when she brushed past people in town. Partly to avoid being tracked—and also because she figured news couldn’t possibly reach her faster than she could.

There were no texts, calls, or emails here.

She had made a clean escape.

When she first left the camp, she had nothing.

She made her way to the nearest village and bought a horse with fresh fruit and crops—grown by her own hand, of course.

Her biggest concern had been putting distance between herself and the capital. So she rode day and night.

Except for feeding and resting the horse, she hadn’t stopped once.

She could feed herself, and when sleeping, she tied herself securely to the horse with vines and napped.

After riding like that nonstop, she had put a good amount of distance between herself and the capital.

Only when she noticed the change in climate and vegetation around her did she finally head toward a village.

A place where the sweltering sun and humid air made it a paradise for plants.

Brody had arrived in the South.