-------------------

"This time, I thought we'd go back to Austern through the Magic Square."

Killian stared at Oswald, who had been grumbling since he told him to come along, but he followed.

Unlike the other aristocrats who returned to Austern one by one after the hunting compet.i.tion, Christine showed no signs of leaving the castle of Calen. To separate from Christine, who wanted to return to Austern with him, Killian had to escape the castle by running away under the cover of darkness, on the pretext that something urgent had happened.

It was Adam who missed the chance to run away this time, as Oswald didn't want to deal with the remaining Lady Anais, and he and Prince Francis quickly followed Killian's lead.

"Thank you, Your Excellency." Valerian thanked Oswald who never forgot to take care of him and bring him along.

"Well, it's a natural thing to do. Think of how we struggled and suffered under Lady Anais and Viscountess Morbido, as Adam fled. It's his turn this time."

Staring disapprovingly at the two facing each other and chatting, Killian threw the doc.u.ments he was reviewing on the table.

"Everybody said they didn't see anyone like her, so is she up in the sky or is she off to the ground?"

'Who in the world would have disguised her as a dead woman to get a maid out?'

Killian was beginning to get irritated by the slow search.

"We added a lot of people to those who might be suspicious, including Prince Francis or Lady Anais, Baroness Lanolf, and the Duke of Kiellini, but there was nothing."

At Valerian's words, Oswald soothingly followed his words carefully, "We have no choice but to visit the actress, Lillian, for now. Maybe she's been contacted by Julietta."

Spencer, a member of the royal family, could hardly send a man to Lillian, who had been brought in as an official lover. No matter how wild Killian was, he was not able to fling himself about in anger at his cousin's woman, so he finally decided to drop by with Spencer on his way back to Austern.

"Don't say any useless words like 'I'm dizzy or it's a rule that a n.o.ble gets up late', because I will be leaving as soon as Spencer gets back tomorrow morning. If you do, I'm going to take you apart this time."

Spencer was invited to a dinner by the lord and went to Baden Castle. When Killian had thrown away the invitation letter, which must have been sent as a courtesy, Spencer had sighed and gone to see Count Baden instead.

When Killian blocked Oswald's late-morning recited excuse in advance, Oswald entered the bedroom, and Valerian sprang up. The sight of Oswald, who seemed more and more uncomfortable after arriving at the inn, made him think he'd better get ready to start tomorrow on time. He quickly began to organize the papers in front of Oswald.

"You'd better go to bed, Your Excellency. If you wake up late tomorrow, he may explode."

Oswald grumbled as Valerian quickly cleared the papers and pulled him up. "We'll find Julietta at all costs. It's getting harder with each pa.s.sing day. Why does this kind of thing always happen to me?"

Oswald understood why Albert smacked his waist every day. He had no choice but to say that, to serve the Prince closely.

Valerian safely took Oswald to his room, turned around, and muttered, "I really need to turn the whole continent upside down and find her."

Listening to his followers grumbling outside, Killian lay on the bed where he had stayed before and looked down at the floor on the left. When he told her to sleep on the floor to stop the a.s.sa.s.sins from coming in at night, Julietta was dumbfounded and laid on top of the blanket, he remembered.

'Where did you disappear to?'

Killian looked down at his hands. He felt like he had been holding a strange and cute cat in his arms, and he missed it. He vowed, clasping his hands, and looking down with a greater sense of loss than he had thought.

'If I find her again, I'll never let her go...'

-------------------

The next day, Killian was ready to leave early and asked Albert while getting on the ready wagon, "Are you all ready?"

"He'll be down soon."

Killian was supposed to head to the outskirts of Badan Territory, where the Magic Square was, with the unmarked black wagon he had been riding in from Bertino to avoid public attention.

Count Baden was a border defenseman who got a report from the border and immediately found out about the Prince's visit and sent an invitation letter, as he did yesterday, but other aristocrats were bound to come to see his carriage. There were quite a few ladies and aristocrats who walked around in front of his usual quarters to pretend they had met by chance.

Killian wanted to hurry back to Dublin and did not want to be disturbed by the aristocrats he would meet while doing so. Avoiding the ha.s.sle thanks to the wagon without an emblem, Killian leisurely climbed into the carriage and waited for the others.

Killian laughed as Oswald followed him into the carriage.

"Your Highness, I'm not late."

"That's right."