TAVHAAN 09

#9

Ramio held onto his own two eyes. He couldn’t bear the itching and sharp pain from the pepper powder.

“Li, Lillian! You!”

And just then, the black curtain whose effect had worn off was lifted.

Lillian frantically looked around at the surroundings.

‘Ha, I’ve been separated from the group.’

Even though it was dark at night, the silhouettes of the trees were different.

Ramio must have captured Lillian with this magic and moved her some distance.

‘I don’t know how far I’ve been taken, but…!’

Lillian quickly threw herself into the dark forest and ran.

If she were caught this time, it wouldn’t be a matter of being chased to the northern annex.

‘They won’t let me out of the mansion at all until I marry Karkin!’

In truth, Lillian knew.

She had no abilities, yet her background was pointlessly too noble.

On the other hand, the Pavill family was one that insisted on the best.

So they wouldn’t give up on Lillian.

But, in exchange…

‘Lillian. I’m the only one who would take an incompetent like you as a partner.
So even if a bastard is born, you have to stay quiet.
Why? What if the child you bear is also defective?
That’s why it’s something everyone agreed to.
Duke Tillard, Marquis Cuern, Iris, Her Majesty the Empress…
In this world, your opinion is unnecessary.’

The future that lay ahead.

The nonsense she saw in the ‘original story’ already sounded like something that had already happened.

Even though she hadn’t experienced it herself, it was disgusting.

While fleeing, Lillian ground her teeth.

‘Please, there has to be a place to hide. Wandering around here, even the Crown Prince’s party won’t find me…!’

But the moment Lillian found a bush suitable to hide in, her right wrist was seized by a strong hand.

“…!”

“Ha, is Lillian crawling away?”

Ramio, holding one eye, glared at Lillian with bloodshot eyes.

“This is what you get because I’ve been lenient with you as a cousin— Ugh!”

Bang!

A small explosion sound accompanied a flash of light.

Ramio tumbled to the ground.

“Ugh…!”

“Huff, you think you’re the only one who knows how to use a weapon?”

Lillian panted while firing back.

How fortunate that she had time to rummage through her bag while running.

‘It’s also lucky that this bastard can’t leave permanent scars on my body.’

She was still a valuable commodity on the marriage market.

Unfortunately, Lillian had no offensive power.

But she did have a magic torch whose heat could reach up to 1,400 degrees.

And with that torch, she could even create small flame bursts!

Lillian ground her teeth, gripping the torch like a pistol.

“You’re the one who should stop crawling, you damn bastard.”

The encampment was in chaos. It was due to the attack that occurred after Evren left.

No one was injured, but the woman left behind here had been kidnapped.

Even though she had a fever and could barely stand…

‘Lillian Tillard.’

There was no scent at all. It was as if it meant she was dead.

He had crossed life-and-death situations countless times.

It wasn’t like this even then.

Yet his heart was pounding incomparably faster than before.

‘There’s no reason not to tell you now either… Since it’s the last time.’

She was someone he couldn’t help but look down on.

The long-standing political rivalry was one thing.

The sight of her foolishly chasing after her fiance was another.

But a hell erupted in his mind.

The ability, which they hadn’t even managed to acquire, was nagging that they had let it be destroyed first.

Find her now!

The injured knight at the encampment confirmed that the one who took Lillian away was Ramio Tillard.

He would have tried to rendezvous with his original party, so he likely hadn’t gone far.

While frantically searching the surroundings, a knight pointed toward a ridge shrouded in darkness.

“Your Highness! Look over there!”

At the base of the ridge, distinguishable only by its silhouette against the night sky, white lights flickered sporadically.

But before they could even guess what that light was—

Screech….

A sound like sharp claws dragging down a long sheet of steel echoed.

A horrifying sound that could absolutely not be confused with any ordinary beast’s cry…

Elias turned with a frozen face.

“Your Highness, that’s—”

A monster had appeared.

And the scent of lilies was flowing from the origin of that cry.

After even creating a flame burst with the torch, Lillian staggered away from the spot.

But soon, she truly reached her limit. Lillian put her hands on her knees and bent over.

“Huff, ugh….”

The fever made her head spin. The dark, engulfing forest felt suffocating.

‘I deliberately used a light-emitting tool.’

So that the Crown Prince’s party could find her…

But thinking about it, it was also laughable.

‘Where’s the guarantee that they will come?’

She hadn’t seen the last page of the original story, but it was obvious.

‘He probably lost to the original female lead and male lead anyway.’

And then died.

So she saw him as a tool to flee beyond the border.

To her, they were like living paper dolls.

They probably saw Lillian similarly.

‘The only tool suitable for extracting information about Tillard.’

It went as expected.

‘At least I brought my bag.’

The fake identification card, the supplies to settle in the Tenebrine Kingdom—all were intact.

‘I hear water nearby.’

Following the stream downstream usually leads to a village.

Let’s reorganize from there.

From there, start again…

But her body, unable to overcome the fever, crumpled forward on its own.

Screech, screech….

Her feverish body flinched at the paralyzing metallic screech.

‘This can’t be happening.’

Lillian could only roll her eyes to survey her surroundings.

They said there were no monsters near Aeterna… They checked all dangerous elements before departure…

‘Maybe if it were the northern annex.’

There, monsters often prowled at night…

No way. The chilling realization arrived along with the heavy weight of the fore paw of a wolf-like monster pressing down on her back.

As claws dug in, a moan escaped her unknowingly.

A shadow fell over her immobile head.

“…Damn it, you.”

Lillian recognized who had approached.

And she uttered the most intense curse that came to mind.

“You cockroach-like…!”

Little brother bastard…!

Ramio smiled with a bloodied face.

“Ha. I’m nicely offering to take you, but you won’t listen.”

Lillian was struggling, pinned under the monster’s paw.

Artifacts for summoning monsters were forbidden items.

But Ramio used it without hesitation.

“This monster, doesn’t it feel nostalgic seeing it after so long? It’s the one that likes you the most, sis.”

“Don’t tell me this! All this time, you were the one summoning…! Ugh!”

“Stay still, sis. If you get scarred, you’ll really be dumped by Marquis Pavill.”

Lillian’s abilities were trash, but among the Tillards, known for generations as a family of beauties, she had the most passable face.

They shouldn’t ruin the family’s good card.

Ramio took out the communication artifact connected to the family knights.

“Hey, I found Lillian. I’ll bring her back—”

But Ramio couldn’t finish the call.

Screech! Screech!

The wolf-like monster pinning Lillian’s back let out a sharp howl.

It leaped and hopped away from Lillian, as if its fore paw had been burned.

“What, why is it doing that…!”

The monster, writhing in pain, froze this time.

In the blink of an eye, the world turned white.

As if snow had silently fallen, a world where hearing perfectly vanished.

And the monster melted away like snow under the sun.

“…!”

Ramio, with his mouth agape, had his face smashed into the nearest tree.

As soon as he tried to pull his face away, a strong grip slammed Ramio’s face back into the tree.

“Your manners toward your elders are truly exquisite.”

“Ugh…!”

“It really feels like seeing someone’s younger brother, so I can’t help but feel familiar.”