The reason everyone chose the morning when everyone was awake was to look like they were going out on a regular basis.
After leaving the castle, Julia headed to the square, the center of the city.
There she transferred to a private carriage. She was determined not to leave any clues.
Only after that did she go to the monastery where Cedric would be housed.
"You have come. I was waiting."
As she entered the small monastery, a tall man greeted her as if waiting.
It was Cedric in his original form, not in the form of a child.
Julia nodded and approached him. Her green eyes, her recordings, looked at her tenderly.
"Yulia-sama, the people who came with you aren't your party, are you?"
"yes?"
Julia's eyes widened at the sudden question. Cedric then nodded his head as if he knew what was going on.
"There are people who have followed you all the way here. They are probably armed knights."
Julia, who opened her eyes wide, looked back. Could it be that the escort knights who were thought to have disappeared still remain?
Innocent, I thought Fernand really got the watch. So he was able to leave without delay.
There was a possibility of secret surveillance from behind, but why didn't I think of that?
As Yulia touched her lips with a troubled expression, Cedric smiled a little as if it was okay.
"Don't worry too much. It's because Matthews sent me to prepare for something like this."
Cedric then motioned for him to follow him. Julia followed him with a nervous face.
It was late in the evening when the knights noticed something strange.
Although time had passed, Julia did not come out of the monastery.
As the evening deepened, a knight eventually set foot directly into the monastery.
The priest, who was cleaning one side of the chapel, approached the knight looking around with a serious face.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
The knight gave a quick answer to the priest's question.
"I know that Grand Duchess Caesar has visited here, but where are you now?"
"What is your relationship with him?"
"I am the knight in charge of the escort of His Highness Bi. It seems that the time has passed and we have to go back. Where is His Majesty?"
At the words of the knights that followed hastily, the priest glanced at the knights with suspicious eyes.
"The Grand Duchess left the monastery before evening."
"Yes?"
The knight's complexion, who had blinked blankly for a moment, gradually turned pale.
After a while, the knights sought permission from the priest and looked around the monastery to find Julia.
I checked the faces of the priests, just in case, but Julia was nowhere to be seen.
Eventually, the knights who escaped the monastery without any results scattered and began to search the surroundings.
* * *
Two days have passed since Julia disappeared.
The users of the anti-aircraft castle were in a state of panic because of the hostess who did not return.
Bennett hastily sent a communication to the border area, but Fernando could not be reached because the fighting was in full swing.
Two more days passed without any progress. It was around that time that communication reached Fernando.
Fernan's enlisted men succeeded in invading the enemy's stronghold after several all-out wars.
While returning to the base and finishing border maintenance, Lloyd hurriedly ran into Fernan's barracks.
"majesty!"
Fernan, who was wiping the blood-stained blade, looked back indifferently. Lloyd, who was holding his breath, calmly opened his mouth.
"The communication has come from the Grand Siege, but His Majesty… ."
Before Lloyd could continue to speak, Fernando snatched the letter from his hand.
His eyes gradually hardened as he read the contents.
In the letter, it was written that Julia had been missing since she went out two days ago.
"… Since the letter arrived two days ago, His Majesty seems to have been missing for a total of four days."
Fernando fixed his gaze on the letter as he was far away, like a person who did not understand the situation.
That Julia disappeared, it could be.
After standing still for a long time, Fernando handed the letter to Doro Lloyd.
Fernan, who showed his dark eyes, walked outside without saying a word.
"Me, my lord?"
Lloyd, who was trying to catch Fernan in a hurry, stopped. It was because he realized that his momentum was not serious.
"Lloyd, I'll leave the finishing touches to you."
With those words, Fernando left the barracks and headed to the place where the horses were parked.
He rode on the horse with no-nonsense gestures and immediately began to drive the horse quickly.
Fernando had a calm face as if he could hardly realize this situation.
The last time I saw Julia's face suddenly came to mind.
'I'll be waiting for you.'
The blue eyes that were looking at me with a soft smile certainly did not contain lies.
She said she would wait. I'm sure I'll be waiting... .
Fernan, who was forced to do this, gave strength to the hand holding the reins. The road from the border to the estate took half a day, if not impossible.
He steered through a barren wasteland without a single light at an unusual speed.
A sudden surge of anxiety filled my chest. Her heart started beating like crazy.
* * *
Fernando arrived at the estate only in the morning. As soon as he returned, he had all the knights of the Grand Siege to be released and searched the territory.
Then he summoned the knights who had missed Julia in the monastery and began to interrogate them.
"Tell me the details. Where and how did you miss it?"
The knights opened their mouths, pressed by Fernan's momentum.
"There is nothing we can do about it, but we really never took our eyes off His Majesty. So, it is impossible to know at what point in time His Majesty His Majesty disappeared… ."
"I told you to tell me where and how you missed it, you wouldn't have dared to make excuses or anything like that."
Fernando looked at him with a face as if he was about to draw out a sword and smirked. The knights who shrugged off his body responded hurriedly.
"It is a monastery in La, Ladel district."
"The Ladel district?"
"Yes, I must have seen His Majesty go inside… Oddly enough, he didn't come out until evening. So I went in and checked it myself, but the priests said that he had already left the monastery a long time ago... ."
He stared at them as if to kill the flirting knights, then answered slowly.
"The priests of the monastery may be involved, so catch them and find traces of them."
"Yes, yes!"
The knights left for the monastery again, and Fernando headed to Julia's room.
There was a slight chill in the uncluttered and tidy room, perhaps because it had been empty for several days.
From the bedroom to the dressing room to the bathroom, Fernando looked thoroughly. But there was no way to know what was missing.
Because he didn't know anything about Julia.
Fernando didn't think she could have escaped on her own, but that assumption was also a shaky judgment.
Fernan, who was chewing his lips in a complicated way, suddenly remembered the maid who was sticking with Julia.
As soon as he came out, he called Bennett and asked where the maid was, and Bennet answered with a slightly puzzled face.
"that is… The child is now on vacation and has gone home."
Fernan's brow furrowed. I mean, I was on vacation at this point.
Fernan, holding on to the momentum to break the railing, gave an order calmly and painstakingly.
"Come to the maid. Right Now."
"Yes, yes."
Bennet, who hastily bowed down, disappeared downstairs, and Fernando began to quietly organize the situation.
everything was absurd. The maid who left for her vacation as if to fit in the situation where Julia disappeared. Even the knights who foolishly missed Julia in front of her.
But in fact, the most absurd thing was Julia herself, who disappeared at the time of his absence.
It had been less than a few hours since Melissa returned.
Melissa shook her head and bowed her head in front of Fernan.
"Did you know that your boss is gone?"
"Oh, no… Bar, I just heard about it."
Melissa's complexion was pale and tired, as if shocked. As soon as she heard of her from Bennett, she threw away what she had been doing and she was just about to return to the castle.
Fernando opened his mouth in a ferocious tone.
"Tell me everything you know. Julia, did you notice anything strange?"
"That, that… ."
Melissa forcibly squeezed her white, annihilated hair. She was afraid of Fernando in front of her, and was very worried about the disappearing Julia.
Melissa trembled in thought, her lips trembling, then stammered in response.
"Actually, I was a little puzzled because His Majesty Bishop suddenly gave me a vacation… ."
"and."
"He, and… ."
Melissa, who closed her eyes tightly, suddenly remembered something and continued speaking slowly.
"The day I left, His Majesty Rain… I saw him coming out of the bedroom in the middle of the second floor. I've never been there before... ."
Fernando narrowed his eyes. The bedroom in the middle of the second floor was built for a couple to share.
It was a place that had never been used at all, to the extent that I had forgotten that such a room existed.
Fernan, who passed Melissa, went straight to the second floor. He then sees that the door is locked and he swears harshly.
After breaking the handle with one kick, he quickly stepped inside.
His dazzling gaze roamed every nook and cranny of the room.
He went into the next room and frantically rummaged through the lockers and shelves, then slowly stopped moving.
Inside a lavishly decorated jewelry box. One of the two grooves was empty.
Fernando took out the ring stuck in the rest of the groove. It was his wedding ring, with a jewel in the middle.