The newspaper covering her disappearance was today's issue, but they had come all the way to Horn, a place far from the capital.
They had been searching for her all along.
Instinctively, Adeline hid deeper into the alley.
How much manpower had they deployed? Her fear only grew.
'I shouldn't come to town for a while.'
Adeline turned and started heading back to the mansion, hurrying her steps. As she reached the forest path home, she quickened her pace.
The path was eerily silent, intensifying her anxiety.
It was too late.
Though she had said she was going to town, Duke Cassius must be waiting anxiously at home.
Had she been walking for half the distance when the rain, which had subsided earlier, started falling again.
The rain intensified, becoming too heavy to pass through.
Adeline decided it was best to take shelter from the rain.
She hid under a large tree and caught her breath.
She hadn't expected them to come this far to a remote village.
Looking up at the sky, Adeline took a moment. In the distance, through the trees, she thought she saw a large, dark figure.
Blinded by the heavy downpour, she couldn't make out the situation clearly.
'Could it be someone from the Duke's household?'
Adeline thought she had successfully escaped from the village, but she suddenly felt a surge of fear.
The dark figure seemed to be moving closer to her.
"@#$%^&~."
The heavy rain drowned out all sounds, yet she heard some faint murmuring through it.
She had to run.
Adeline was certain that the voice belonged to one of the Duke's knights she had seen in town.
It wasn't time to shelter from the rain. Adeline started running away from the big tree.
She couldn't let herself be caught and dragged away.
"Ugh…"
Her breath felt like it would burst, but she couldn't slow down because the dark figure was getting closer.
She couldn't head towards the Duke's mansion.
She couldn't risk being discovered by the Duke, hiding there. She had to run as far from the mansion as possible.
As Adeline changed direction, the dark figure followed her.
It was undoubtedly chasing her.
She hadn't done any significant wrong in her previous life.
But,
'Why does this only happen to me?'
Running away in desperation, she felt pitifully sorry for herself.
Escaping through the trees, she started to get scratches on her arms.
Being caught meant being dragged to the Crown Prince and facing death. In the face of imminent death, the scratches were the least of her worries.
"@#$%^&!!"
No matter how much she ran, the dark figure kept getting closer, raising its voice and narrowing the distance to Adeline.
She sprinted with all her might. She couldn't afford to look back.
Was it because of the heavy rain from the past few days?
There were mounds of dirt and tangled trees everywhere due to landslides. Adeline hid among these mounds of dirt.
She could no longer run; her legs had given out.
Barely clinging to consciousness, Adeline was out of strength. She could only hope that her hiding spot wouldn't be discovered.
Her breath was choked, and her heart felt like it was about to burst.
But defying her hope, the dark figure appeared behind her.
A large hand grasped Adeline's shoulder.
The strong, firm grip on her shoulder brought an intense wave of terror.
It was the end.
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