Chapter 57
Deserted Island
Martin had memorized every detail of Yulia.
From the shape of her face, the direction of her part, to the texture of her clothes—he knew it all.
That was why he recognized instantly what was lying on the ground with bloodstains: it was a piece of Yulia’s shirt.
“…….”
Standing frozen in front of the bloodstains, clutching the shirt tightly, Martin was approached cautiously by Raymond’s careful voice.
“We suspect she may have fallen victim to a monster attack.”
“…….”
“If she had been attacked by ordinary beasts, there would have been some remains left behind. The fact that there is nothing but blood—”
“Are you trying to say… she was swallowed whole by a monster?”
At Martin’s cold question, Raymond fell silent.
After bending down to examine the blood, Martin slowly straightened up and took a step toward Raymond.
Instinctively sensing the pressure, Raymond took hesitant steps backward.
But he soon found himself blocked by a tree trunk, and Martin reached right in front of him.
“How unfortunate. For our deputy to be swallowed whole by a monster.”
“Uh…?”
“A truly sad event. Such a thing must never happen again.”
Raymond, unable to predict what Martin intended, merely stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.
What Martin proposed next was completely unexpected.
“It seems the monsters around here are extremely strong. Our team alone won’t be able to safely hunt the Winter Queen. We’ll need your subordinates’ help.”
“You mean…?”
“Originally, we planned to work together only until we found the Winter Queen. But now that we’ve lost our deputy, we’ll need to adjust our plan. Will you join us in hunting the Winter Queen?”
The proposal was something Raymond had never anticipated.
He knew that Martin cared deeply for Yulia, but even after discovering Yulia’s blood, Martin was neither angry nor saddened.
He hadn’t even suspected Raymond—instead, he was inviting him to join.
Raymond racked his brain to deduce Martin’s intentions and eventually came up with a plausible guess.
“Is he suspicious of us? Trying to keep us close to monitor us?”
At present, that was the most reasonable assumption.
From Martin’s perspective, the Emperor’s personal guard, Ernant’s unit, would appear highly suspicious.
He would want to monitor them to see if they had kidnapped Yulia or secretly killed her.
Judging this way, Raymond bowed his head and responded.
“Yes, I will follow your orders. I will contribute fully to hunting the Winter Queen.”
Raymond thought this was actually fortunate.
After all, one of his purposes in coming here was to monitor Martin.
Raymond’s first goal was to persuade Yulia with Karl.
If that failed, the second goal was to kidnap her.
The third was to keep Martin occupied in the snowy field so he couldn’t pursue Yulia’s trail.
Thinking of this, Raymond asked Martin,
“What are your plans from here? Shall we continue the search, just in case?”
“No. The search is sufficient. With that much blood, the chance of her being alive is slim.”
Glancing briefly at the bloodstains, Martin’s eyes contorted as he addressed everyone.
“We move according to the original plan to defeat the Winter Queen.”
That was it.
Martin gave no further orders.
His subordinates looked slightly bewildered.
Earlier, he had been fervently searching for Yulia until dawn, and now he seemed to accept her death far too readily.
Yet, no one dared question him.
Hearing Martin’s command, they prepared to move again.
To cut to the chase, I had failed to escape.
It was understandable.
My abilities were sealed, my body tightly bound, and even the tools I normally carried had been taken. How could I escape?
All I could do was wait for an opportunity—but, regrettably, none came.
So I was brought to the island, bound tight.
“Brother, will we really get that huge sum if we hand over just this woman?”
One of the sailors carrying me to the island asked.
The man answering had been the one who first came to warn me to stay put.
“Yeah. There’ll be people waiting on that island. Hand her over to them, and they’ll pay.”
“Is it not dangerous? We don’t even know that red-haired client’s identity… seems risky to take the job so easily…”
“If the job succeeds, the money’s worth it. Even if it’s risky, we have to do it. And if it feels off, we’ll just hand her over and run.”
Listening to the men, I observed my surroundings.
The boat we had arrived on was quite small.
Apart from these two men, there were no other crew.
They placed me in an even smaller boat and boarded with me.
They rowed toward the island.
“You’re curious too, right? Wondering who’s waiting over there.”
I replied nonchalantly.
“Not really. I think I already know who’s waiting.”
“Huh? Who?”
“Probably the Imperial Guards. Soldiers acting on the Emperor’s orders. They’ll be here to confine and monitor me.”
This was definitely not Karl acting on his own.
Karl had no reason to kidnap and imprison me.
It was all Ernant’s plan.
The ones waiting on the island would be Ernant’s soldiers.
Yet the men transporting me still laughed, unaware of the situation.
“What? Imperial Guards? Brother, this woman’s not right in the head, I think.”
The other man nodded.
“See? I told you. She’s a bit off. She asked me if I’d received some imperial order, claimed her name was Yulia von Schnestern…”
“Yulia? Isn’t she that famous female knight?”
The man laughed loudly.
He poked my forehead mockingly with his finger and sneered.
“Hey, if you’re a knight, I’ll be Duke Habicht. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Don’t impersonate the Duke. I’ll tolerate your mockery, but I won’t let you defame his honor.”
Angered by their disrespect, I glared at the second man.
He, fired up by my gaze, raised his hand threateningly.
“Why the hell are you staring at me like that? Wanna get beaten?”
“Hey, stop. That red-haired guy said no hitting. If we get in trouble for that, we won’t get paid.”
“Understood, brother.”
“Anyway, prepare to get off. We’ve arrived.”
As he said, the small boat had almost reached the island.
The first thing I saw was the white sandy beach, followed by a dense jungle.
From the shadows of the jungle, a few people appeared—six in total.
They were trained soldiers, not ordinary civilians, though not awakened.
As expected, the Imperial Guards managed this area.
While I observed, the two men carrying me approached the soldiers.
“Here, as promised, we’ve brought the woman.”
“Hand her over.”
A soldier commanded coldly.
The men hesitated, glanced nervously at the soldiers, and handed me over.
I was passed into the arms of a soldier in the “princess carry” position.
The men looked at the soldiers submissively.
“The payment…?”
“You’ll get it after handing her over. No one saw you coming here, right?”
“No one. We took her in the dead of night in a secluded alley. We loaded her onto the boat immediately, so no one saw.”
“Good. Then you’ll receive the promised payment.”
As expected, what happened next was exactly as I had anticipated.
The soldiers drew their swords and attacked the helpless sailors.
“Wh-what…!”
“Ahhh!”
The men, who had been smiling at the thought of their reward moments before, were now nothing more than mangled corpses.
