🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 84
How much time had passed?
Emily felt a chill seeping through her clothes. She wanted to wrap her arms around herself, but her hands wouldn’t move.
“I’m tied up.”
For someone being kidnapped, she was remarkably calm. Emily sighed and checked her hands and feet. Not only her hands, but her feet were tied as well.
“Who could have kidnapped me?”
She tried to look for clues in the rattling carriage, but found nothing.
The carriage seemed meant for transporting slaves or livestock; there were no seats, only straw and a thin layer of dust covering the floor.
It seemed the best way to find a clue would be to free herself from the restraints.
“This knot looks familiar.”
Emily bit down hard on the outermost rope and pulled. When a small gap appeared, she grabbed the rope with her teeth and flipped it over.
The bindings loosened slightly. From then on, she frantically rubbed her wrists, stretching the rope. Soon, her hands were free.
“Good thing Sezanne trained me.”
Through the widened gap, Emily easily freed both hands and untied the ropes around her ankles.
“Done!”
Now able to move freely, she began searching through the straw. Every movement sent up a cloud of dust, threatening to trigger a sneeze.
Clutching her nose, she restrained herself with superhuman effort. She couldn’t let them know she was awake yet.
As she rummaged, tears pricking her eyes from holding back a sneeze, she soon heard a clinking sound—metal hitting metal.
“What’s this?”
She pulled a small piece of scrap metal from the straw.
—128. Lio F
The flat piece of metal resembled the identification tags the Giuliano family gave to their slaves. The “Lio” was an abbreviation the Giuliano family used for themselves.
“So it really was the Giuliano family.”
Even though she had tried to change the course of the original story, she had been kidnapped by the Giuliano family anyway. It felt like all her efforts had been in vain.
“No. Still, there are far more differences this time.”
Shaking off her discouragement, Emily steadied herself.
If she didn’t steel herself here, she could meet a meaningless death just like in the original story.
“My revolver…”
Regaining focus, she scanned her surroundings for the bag she had been carrying.
Fortunately, it was tossed carelessly in a corner.
The carriage had no windows, but if its center of gravity shifted too much, they might notice she had woken up.
Hoping her movements went unnoticed, Emily crawled on her elbows toward the bag.
Once close enough, she reached out with all her strength and, luckily, retrieved the bag without causing much disturbance.
“Please be there.”
Heart racing, she frantically opened the bag. Her usual revolver was gone, likely confiscated when they searched her bag.
It wasn’t surprising—they would have known from newspaper articles that Emily could handle a gun.
Fortunately, she still had one secret weapon.
Emily treated a seemingly ordinary lipstick as if it were a talisman, hiding it inside her sleeve.
It was a disguised gun, a 4.5 cm firearm built into a lipstick case, gifted by Killian on her birthday after their marriage.
It wasn’t the usual kind of gift a husband gave his wife, but in this moment, she was grateful for his foresight.
The carriage was still jolting along, apparently far from its destination.
She considered jumping, but escaping from a windowless carriage was nearly impossible. A clumsy attempt could make things worse.
Later, they might even handcuff her, so Emily first re-tied her wrists and ankles in a way that she could quickly free them again.
As soon as she finished tying the ropes, the carriage stopped.
Before the door opened, Emily collapsed as if unconscious. She buried her face in the straw to avoid squinting at the sudden light.
Seeing no movement, the Giuliano members believed she was still unconscious.
“We’ll switch carriages from here.”
A deep voice said.
“Yes, understood.”
The man grabbed Emily by the ankles and lifted her out.
Her skirt snagged and tore slightly as she was lifted, but he ignored it, hoisting her onto his shoulder like cargo.
Fortunately, the dress was thick, so it didn’t hurt. Still, the unexpected transport method startled her enough to almost scream.
Dangling from his shoulder, Emily cautiously peeked out.
There were five men. One seemed to be a capo of the Giuliano organization, while the others were likely his subordinates.
To climb the narrow mountain path, she was shoved into another carriage. After winding up the path for a while, they reached a remote forest with an old shack. Emily was brought inside.
Her room seemed pre-decided. They led her up a creaking wooden staircase and left her in a cold, poorly lit attic.
“When will she wake up?”
“It’ll take some time. We used a sedative.”
“Boring. A sleeping hostage.”
The man with the deep voice yawned and slumped onto a sofa opposite. It was so old it creaked and whistled humorously.
“Where’s Laminis?”
“On the way here.”
“The boss sure has a mischievous streak.”
It was widely rumored that Laminis coveted Emily, which had led to the Star organization taking her and locking her away in a mental institution.
“Laminis?”
Pretending to be unconscious and eavesdropping on their conversation, Emily’s heart sank at the horrific name.
“What should I do…?”
Her mind raced at the unexpected turn of events.
Killian and the Star organization members spurred their horses toward the location indicated by the tracker.
The red dot, which had been moving constantly, finally stopped and blinked at a point.
“We’re almost there,” Giovanni said.
Killian’s heart leapt with hope. He feared something had happened to Emily.
If only he hadn’t mentioned divorce… if only Emily had been safely protected at the Star estate… none of this would have happened.
Now he fully understood: if the Star family was ever threatened, Emily had to be within his sight.
Killian gripped the reins tighter.
“I see the carriage…”
Giovanni trailed off.
A carriage sat alone by the road, but it seemed unlikely Emily was inside. Still, they approached cautiously.
The carriage door was wide open, and indeed, no one was inside.
“Sir Killian.”
Chambers handed Killian Emily’s handbag and the torn skirt fragments, his face gloomy.
The tracker attached to the hem blinked red.
“Looks like they changed transportation here.”
It made sense—the area around the carriage was barren.
Cradling Emily’s belongings carefully, Killian asked,
“What’s the nearest mountain and village?”
If Emily had been hidden, it would be in either the mountain or the village.
Roger, familiar with various terrains from touring, spread out a map and located their position.
“The nearest village is Henne, and nearby is Mount Pirata.”
“Half of you search the village thoroughly with Giovanni. The other half will go with me to Mount Pirata.”
“Yes! Understood.”
Roger dared not question Killian’s grim tone, though he thought searching the mountain would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Mount Pirata was massive, making it nearly impossible to search with the available manpower.
There was also a major reason tracking would be difficult.
“Roger.”
Killian spoke, reading his thoughts.
“Yes, boss.”
“Have you been to that mountain?”
“…Yes.”
“Even if it’s impossible, we have to find her. No matter what.”
Roger took a deep breath and nodded, resolute.
The reason Mount Pirata was so difficult to navigate was that it was a restorative forest.
No matter how many people tried to make paths, the soil would quickly refill.
There were no trails or footprints, human or animal. Without full focus, they might not only fail to find Emily but also get lost themselves.
“If the Giuliano organization hid Emily on Mount Pirata, there must be some mark.”
Killian chose to place his hope there.
