Chapter 221

Chapter 221

Why is there a ‘Wanted’ poster of me? she wondered. Who would do such a thing?

But the answer was clear.

Only Lacias would want me! It was obvious. Only Lacias would put up a ‘Wanted’ poster with a reward.

Calm down a little, she told herself. I’m too riled up.

Slowly, she calmed down and pulled the hood lower over her face. Good thing she’d worn it.

I’d considered leaving it behind out of laziness, too.

She was grateful for the cold. Without it, she wouldn’t have gone out with the hood, and that would’ve meant revealing her face in the middle of the square where the poster was.

She looked around carefully. Thankfully, no one seemed to be paying attention to the small woman wearing dark colors. They all seemed busy. She turned back to the poster, gazing at its contents.

Name: Duchess Lila Wipere. The name she still wasn’t used to. Along with a few traits and the reward written in large, bold letters.

“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, one million…”

She gave up on reading the number, a shiver of terror racing up her spine.

Just how big a bounty did she put on my head?

At this rate, the bounty hunters would search for Lila day and night. This wasn’t winning a lottery. This was buying 10 lotteries and winning all of them. They would go around the entire Ahibalt Empire looking for her.

And the fact that this had come to Nixon Kingdom…

“Lacias predicted that I would leave the Empire.”

Of course, the posters would’ve been up all over the Empire as well.

Seems like everyone will know I left.

It wouldn’t be wise for her to stay out for too long. It seemed like she could only freely roam once the posters were down or Lacias lost his enthusiasm about finding her.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t expected this. Leaving them had been a hard decision for Lila to make. But seeing how desperate he was to find her now made her nervous.

“Let’s…go back for now.”

It wouldn’t do any good to roam about here. People might notice her. There was nothing more suspicious than a woman in a dark hood hanging around a wanted poster.

She wondered what she should do about her winter coat. At this rate, she was starting to consider just staying throughout winter. If she really needed it, she could ask Hizette once he dropped by. Lila pulled the hood lower over her face.

She took a route with fewer people. The thought that she’d really become a runaway left her feeling weird. Then again…

Lacias is looking for me. He didn’t forget.

It felt weird. She’d been hoping Lacias wouldn’t look for her, but now that she knew he was, she was…

Glad.

It made her a bit happier than being able to live a normal life. If she thought Lacias was doing okay without her, she would have locked herself in a room for days in depression.

I’m happy he’s looking for me. That he didn’t forget me.

She just couldn’t tell how she truly felt. Or was it that she just didn’t want to accept it? Maybe she wanted to feel their affection? Lila had been determined to leave and that she wouldn’t care, but she was already having second thoughts.

***

“Today?”

“No sign as well,” Lugar said.

“Goddamn it.”

“My apologies.” Lugar was breaking out in a cold sweat. This was his master’s true nature. The owner of this beast was gone. The beast was revealing its true nature.

“Report to me the moment you get anything.”

“Yes,” Lugar said.

“Every little thing. I’m checking it myself from now on.”

He had posted the ‘Wanted’ posters in the Empire and all the kingdoms that are near the Empire. But she’d hidden so well that in the past week, they’d gotten nothing. One thing he knew for certain was that if Wipere was looking for something, they would find it. But this was a battle against time. His master was weak against it.

“Where did the Order scout today?”

“They scouted somewhere near. Marshmell Mansion was part of it.”

“Marshmell Mansion?”

“So that Duchess went to her ex-husband. No well.”

Lacias’s face turned colder at the sound of the word “ex-husband”.

Wow, Lugas thought, goosebumps erupting all over his skin. It’s possible to get colder than before?

He quickly corrected himself. “It was where she stayed before she moved here.”

“Marshmell. The probability of him hiding her is…?”

“Zero percent. The relationship between Marshamell and the Duchess was bad. There was no reason for him to help her, and even if he did, the route is too obvious. It was already scouted by the Wipere Knights, so it’s almost impossible.”

“Almost?”

“It’s impossible.”

“Are you playing with me?”

“If you give us some more time…”

Lugar was displeased with him hanging onto every word, but as a subordinate there was nothing he could do. So he bowed.

“Nothing, almost, give more time, sorry,” Lacias said, listing all the words Lugar had said. “I respected you useless buffoons as my Knight Order?”

“Well…” Lugar began.

“Our apologies,” said, cutting Lugar off. She’d been contemplating using Lugar as her shield instead of speaking, but as much as she hated to, she’d opened her mouth anyway.

“We’re looking everywhere, but we can’t find a single trace. Thinking about it, this means…”

She would rather not accept it, but had been left with no choice.

“It’s likely that someone was helping her on the inside.”