IYWHM Chapter 184

Gale and I, who had maintained heavy silence throughout, were finally able to relax a little when the carriage reached the boundary of the capital.

 

Since there were still no signs of pursuers following us, it seemed our strategy had worked beautifully.

 

The so-called deception operation.

 

The first step of this operation was to intentionally leak our plan to the enemy. A very realistic false plan.

 

“Well then, our next contact will be through newspaper messages again. Chloe will surely do well.”

 

On the day we secretly met on the terrace, just as Gale had said, Chloe admirably completed her assigned mission.

 

She successfully prepared a ‘fake’ newspaper message and ensured it reached Seyard’s hands.

 

‘Once might be overlooked, but having blue ink on the newspaper twice would be quite unnatural.’

 

As expected, Hillan’s capable servants didn’t just let that unnaturalness slide.

 

Moreover, their master also succeeded in finding the hidden code without much difficulty.

 

“Regarding the restaurant Kisa mentioned, we’ve decided on an appropriate day to visit.”

 

“What? Don’t tell me you came here personally to deliver that news?”

 

“You seemed quite expectant, so I wanted to tell you quickly.”

 

From Seyard’s behavior that evening, Kisa realized he had noticed the code.

 

And she instinctively knew that he would try to crush her hopes right before her eyes.

 

Actually, Gale’s initial prediction of Seyard’s response was somewhat different.

 

He had planned to throw his first escape route as bait, thinking Seyard would immediately move Kisa to another location.

 

“He’ll probably try to control the young lady to prevent her from escaping, while also cutting off connections with me. But that’s nearly impossible in this hotel.”

 

The number of people coming and going here daily was considerable, and most of the guests were upper-class figures.

 

If suspicious signs leaked out while trying to forcibly confine someone, even a high-ranking foreign noble would find it difficult to avoid suspicious glances.

 

“The opportunity will be when he tries to send the young lady to another suitable place. That’s when he’ll be most hurried and off guard.”

 

Intercept Kisa during transport, then leave following the second route. That was Gale’s plan.

 

This was a method of leaving Matera by land, which was slower than traveling by sea and more physically demanding.

 

But the advantage was that it could catch Seyard off guard.

 

Not the best method, but not too obvious either.

 

Kisa agreed to adopt it, but didn’t completely share Gale’s opinion.

 

“Well, if it’s Seyard… if it’s the person I know, there’s a high probability he’ll wait until the day of the plan.”

 

“What? Is there a particular reason for that?”

 

Honestly speaking, there was no clear evidence, and she wasn’t confident she could convince Gale with words.

 

However, having constantly thought about that man even when he wasn’t around, and having touched his very depths, Kisa kept thinking that way.

 

That man who created that ridiculous stage called the secret room and made Kisa enter it of her own accord would certainly do such a thing.

 

Anyway, whichever choice Seyard made, there would be no particular problem with executing the plan.

 

The important thing was to make him believe we would leave by waterway on the scheduled day.

 

To make the plan succeed, Gale had also arranged substitutes to take our place.

 

They were his close friends who would thankfully appear at the Royal Concert Hall with Chloe to draw the pursuers’ attention.

 

While they were suffering on our behalf, Kisa and Gale had to leave Matera by carriage before late afternoon.

 

“Don’t worry too much. Even the great Duke of Hillan can’t harm people carelessly in a foreign country.”

 

Perhaps conscious of Kisa’s dark expression, Gale suddenly spoke up.

 

“…Yes, now we should think about going as far as possible.”

 

While having this conversation, the carriage gradually slowed down and stopped in front of a low building.

 

It was clearly a quite large-scale inn where they planned to change carriages.

 

This was partly to shake off any possible pursuit, and they needed fresh horses to go even a little faster.

 

“Ah, that must be you. Please come this way.”

 

Since they had arranged it in advance, the inn’s employee immediately tried to guide the two people to where the carriage was as soon as he heard Gale’s words.

 

If not for that tremor.

 

“Ahhhhh!”

 

“What the, what’s this!”

 

In an instant, the inside of the building became a chaos of guests’ screams and shouts, followed by various objects falling, breaking, and rolling around.

 

“Miss! Under the table!”

 

At Gale’s advice, Kisa reflexively crawled under the nearest table and held onto the table legs.

 

Fortunately, the violent tremor didn’t last very long.

 

Soon after, as the gradually weakening tremor completely stopped, people slowly straightened their bodies and looked around cautiously.

 

“Is it over now?”

 

It might be too early to feel relieved, but there were no immediate strong aftershocks.

 

Sighs mixed with relief flowed from here and there.

 

“My goodness, an earthquake of all things.”

 

“That’s right. This place, Matera, is famous for not having big earthquakes.”

 

“Still, no one seems hurt, so this is relatively good.”

 

Looking around, only relatively light objects had fallen to the floor.

 

Kisa patted her startled chest and slowly crawled out from under the table.

 

Gale, who had been under the counter, also got up.

 

But his expression wasn’t very good.

 

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

 

“I’m fine, but…”

 

Shaking his head at Kisa’s question, he bit his lip and quickly turned to look at the employee.

 

“The carriage, can we take the carriage?”

 

To conclude, it was currently difficult.

 

The carriage itself was safe, but the horses were the problem.

 

The horses, startled by the earthquake, had been rearing up, causing them trouble trying to calm them down for a while.

 

Even after they had calmed down somewhat, an awkward situation unfolded due to the inn owner who had changed his mind.

 

His reason was that he couldn’t lend out his precious horses and carriage when there might be major aftershocks.

 

Since other places had similar situations, Gale and Kisa had to break into a sweat trying to persuade the inn owner.

 

Just when they thought they might have to continue using the carriage they came in, the owner finally changed his mind.

 

Thanks to their persistent appeals and the additional money Gale gave him.

 

“We’ve delayed too much time.”

 

“That’s right. Let’s hurry.”

 

Hoping that the pursuers had also been delayed by the earthquake, the two people were about to leave the inn when it happened.

 

“Hey, did you hear that? You know the Royal Concert Hall?”

 

At the words thrown by a guest who rushed urgently into the room, Kisa unconsciously stopped walking.

 

“Well, I heard that building completely collapsed!”

 

What?

 

“Everyone’s going crazy talking about it now! The damage is so severe that rescue teams have all rushed out!”

 

Unable to understand what she was hearing, she just blinked her eyes blankly.

 

What did that person just say? Where collapsed?

 

Instantly, all color drained from her face and her hands began to tremble.

 

Kisa unconsciously ran over and urgently questioned the person who brought the news.

 

“Did the Royal Concert Hall really collapse?”

 

“Uh, yes. That’s what I heard.”

 

“Then what about the people? What happened to the people who were inside?”

 

“I, I don’t know that much either. Well, if there were people inside… it would be a very big problem.”

 

She wanted to dig out more information, but it seemed he really didn’t know anything more.

 

“Ga, Gale…”

 

Looking to the side, although not as much as Kisa, his face was also pale.

 

Inside the concert hall were Chloe and his friends who had taken on the role of their doubles.

 

Their gazes met in mid-air, and they read various emotions in each other’s wavering eyes.

 

After a moment, Kisa, who had gulped down her saliva, moved her trembling lips.

 

“Let’s go there.”

 

“But then you will…”

 

Kisa knew it well too. This proposal would completely ruin the escape plan they had executed with such painstaking effort.

 

She was saying let’s go while knowing this all too well.

 

“You want to go too, don’t you, Gale? Just like me.”

 

The Gale she knew was someone who spared no effort in helping the woman he liked, but he also wasn’t someone who would turn his back on his friends.

 

Especially those who might be in mortal danger while helping him.

 

“You don’t need to hold back for my sake. If we don’t go there now, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. Isn’t it the same for you?”

 

Gale didn’t ponder long.

 

“Let’s hurry and go. It’s quite a distance to the concert hall.”

 

Kisa followed with quick steps behind him as he led the way out of the inn.

 

****

 

Inside the carriage going back the way they came, Gale chewed his lip.

 

“Damn it. I shouldn’t have used such an unstable building as an emergency shelter in the first place.”

 

“What do you mean? Unstable?”

 

“…Don’t you remember? The day we made contact at the concert hall, when I disguised myself as a worker and snuck in.”

 

Recalling that day’s memory, Kisa made an “ah” sound.

 

“I was lucky. The concert hall happened to be recruiting many people because there were problems with the building.”

 

Right. He had definitely said that at the time.

 

The man holding his head with both hands sighed and said.

 

“That damn building had cracks here and there. Moreover, a worker I was with said that place was gradually sinking.”

 

“Sinking?”

 

“Someone who had watched that place over many years would know. The coastal area has weak ground to begin with.”

 

According to him, despite this, the management just stood by and watched because the problems weren’t visibly apparent. While doing construction that wasn’t even proper repair work.

 

“How could they…”

 

“If they made a fuss, they would only be held responsible for not properly taking care of royal property, so they wanted to avoid it.”

 

In summary, their irresponsibility, geographical conditions, and an earthquake that rarely comes to Matera had caused the accident.

 

“It’s not your fault, Gale. Who could have known things would turn out like this today?”

 

While Kisa spoke words of comfort while trying to appear calm, she couldn’t actually calm her own wildly beating heart.

 

What if, by any chance, the people who entered that building to help her were harmed?

 

‘And… if that person is harmed…’

 

At the possibility she didn’t want to imagine, her breath caught and Kisa exhaled a held breath.

 

Dear God. Why did things turn out this way?

 

She had wanted to escape from him, but she had never wished for his death!

 

‘What to do, what to do, what to do?’

 

Even though his twisted possessiveness had suffocated her…

 

Thinking that he might no longer exist anywhere in this world made her head go white and her senses seem to disappear.

 

“Get off!”

 

So she belatedly realized they had almost reached their destination, and Kisa hurriedly got off the carriage.

 

Since everyone had heard the rumors, the area around the concert hall was crowded with people like during Gabriel’s solo concert.

 

However, unlike that time, people’s faces were shadowed with dark energy like an ominous sign.

 

“My goodness. There must have been people inside.”

 

“No, it was under construction.”

 

“Still, there would have been security guards.”

 

“Anyway, the rescue team’s atmosphere looked very serious.”

 

Excuse me. Please move aside. I’m going through. Kisa had to repeatedly shout these words while following Gale through the crowd.

 

“Hey, hey! You can’t just go in!”

 

“I’m sorry. I know someone who’s inside!”

 

Breaking through even those blocking passage, the moment they entered the front entrance, they could clearly hear:

 

“This is driving me crazy. What do we tell the Sorbi side?”

 

“We’ll have to prepare to send wreaths, what else.”

 

Two figures who appeared to be in charge of this disaster scene looked grim.

 

“Really, why would such a high-ranking person go into a place like this and meet with trouble…”

 

At that moment, she felt as if something important in her heart was breaking.