IATVWAMOLS 102

102. The Villainess on a White Horse Appears (1)

“You’re still awake. What a coincidence, running into you here!”

Seraphine greeted me cheerfully, as if she were genuinely delighted to see me.

‘But her outfit…’

She looked exactly like someone sneaking out at night.

“Where are you going, my lady?”

“Ah—actually, I was asked for a favor.”

She pulled out a crumpled slip of paper from her bosom.

“What’s that?”

“There was something I couldn’t mention earlier in front of Philip…”

The note she handed me had an address scribbled hastily across it.

“You remember I said I met a girl at the protest? She gave me this. She said it was from a letter her father sent right before he went missing.”

“And where exactly is this place?”

“I don’t really know. Only that it’s near the mana stone mine. But she said if I go there, I might be able to find her missing family.”

“Hm. And why do you have it?”

“Because ordinary townsfolk aren’t allowed in. The girl had never been there herself. So she asked me if I could go in her stead.”

Seraphine’s eyes sparkled earnestly.

Her desire to help was admirable, but there were far too many suspicious points.

‘A stranger gives her an unfamiliar address and asks her to go there instead? This is the perfect setup for a trap.’

What if it was human trafficking, or worse?

“Are you sure this person you met is trustworthy?”

“She didn’t seem strange. Probably not.”

When I looked doubtful, Seraphine hurriedly added,

“Really, I just wanted to help her. I was only going to check it quickly.”

She smiled brightly.

“That sounds dangerous.”

I grew serious. Seraphine seemed to believe the world was filled with nothing but kindness.

“But times are too dangerous now. It’s reckless to go alone at this hour.”

“I thought if I went during the day, they wouldn’t let me in since it’s a restricted area… Do you really think it’s dangerous?”

Her shoulders slumped.

“Of course. If you’re set on going, at least gather proper people and go with me.”

“With you, my lady? Wow, really? That’s wonderful!”

She rejoiced, but then suddenly paused, as if remembering something.

“But weren’t you heading somewhere yourself?”

“Yes, I do have somewhere urgent to go.”

“And…?”

“I was hesitating to leave because someone’s been tailing me.”

“What?!”

At my signal, the duke’s knights dragged a man forward and forced him to kneel before me.

“Urgh!”

When I saw his face, I recognized him.

“Sir Albert, wasn’t it? The loyal butler of Baron Garrett. Why were you following me?”

“M-my lady, you misunderstand! I was only out for a night stroll…”

“In the guest lodging?”

“I—I only wished to check if our guests were comfortable, that’s all! Truly!”

“Master or servant, you’re both the same.”

Trying to worm out of things with blatant lies.

“If you keep spouting nonsense, you won’t be returning to your master again.”

“……”

“One of the servants who came with me has vanished. Don’t tell me you know nothing of it.”

Cold sweat streamed down Albert’s face as he avoided my gaze.

“Well… I… There are many servants, my lady. I don’t keep track of every one of them.”

He forced a pitiful smile.

But Kaien had disappeared, and almost at the same time, this butler had been shadowing me. It was impossible the two weren’t connected.

“You really don’t seem to understand the situation.”

At my gesture, one of the knights stepped forward and kicked Albert squarely in the stomach.

“Gah—!”

As he doubled over, clutching his belly, I pulled out a healing scroll.

I tore it in front of him, and radiant light enveloped his body.

“T-this is…?”

“I just want you to suffer without leaving wounds.”

I wasn’t going to hold back anymore.

Smiling thinly, I continued the interrogation.

[Where are you?]
[Why haven’t you come back?]
[Where are you?]
[Answer me.]
[Call me as soon as you see this.]
[Promise.]

“Ugh…”

A faint groan slipped through Kaien’s lips. His head pounded as if he’d drunk himself senseless, making it impossible to think clearly.

He would’ve preferred to just black out again, but the persistent telepathic messages nagged him awake.

Blink. Blink.

His eyes opened and closed heavily.

His vision was blurry, and it took a while for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

‘Where…?’

It was an unfamiliar warehouse.

Foodstuffs, filthy rags, and various animal and plant specimens were scattered everywhere.

The cot he lay on was covered in dust—clearly unused for a long time.

When he raised his left hand to the back of his head, it came away sticky with blood.

At first, he thought it was just ringing in his ears after waking, but no—the throbbing pain in his skull was the real culprit.

‘So I was kidnapped?’

Figures.

That other bastard who hijacks his body during the day must’ve carelessly run into trouble.

Waking up under a strange ceiling was nothing new to him. The last time, he’d ended up being sold off to Roselia in a similar fashion.

‘Tch, using my body however he pleases.’

Kaien muttered inwardly.

Understanding the situation quickly, he tried to move his limbs—

—but iron chains bound his arms and legs tightly, keeping him from budging.

If he were at full strength, he could’ve broken them easily.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he—

KWAANG!

—condensed his mana and burst the chains apart.

He’d aimed to break only the chains, but in his weakened state, the protective barrier around the place shattered as well.

“Phew. Thought I was going to suffocate.”

He was just about to stand up when—

“T-the subject has awakened!”

The warehouse doors burst open, and armed men rushed inside.

“…Oh? Guess I’ve been caught.”

Albert, the butler, eventually confessed everything under Roselia’s relentless questioning.

That Kaien had overheard Baron Garrett’s secret conversation and had been knocked unconscious.

That Albert had followed Roselia out of fear she knew too much.

Of course, none of this was supposed to leak outside.

But by the fourteenth healing scroll, Albert was begging for mercy.

“It’s true, I knocked him out! But I don’t know what happened after!”

“Sir Ratan.”

At Roselia’s call, the knight stepped forward, and Albert paled. He stammered frantically,

“It’s true! Right after that, we handed him over to the Institute!”

“Institution?”

“There’s a research facility connected to our mine. He must’ve been taken there!”

At last, wrung dry, he revealed Kaien’s whereabouts.

“Let’s go at once. Sir Albert, you’re coming too.”

Roselia prepared immediately.

After a thirty to forty minute ride without pause, they arrived at an abandoned mine.

She looked over the overgrown thickets. It had clearly been untouched for years.

“Are you certain this is the place?”

“Y-yes, I swear! That’s what I was told!”

“Really now?”

The guards glared down at him threateningly.

“Eek! I swear it! I really do!”

Albert cowered, bowing his head.

“Hm.”

There was no time to waste.

As Roselia was scanning the area, Seraphine spoke hesitantly,

“Wait, my lady. I’ve been sensing something strange here.”

“Strange?”

“Yes. A massive surge of mana. It should be right around here…”

She could sense mana? Seraphine?

Drawn forward as if entranced, she stopped in front of the vine-covered mine entrance.

“It’s here. I’m certain.”

The moment she brushed the vines aside—

KWAANG—!

“Urgh!”

“Take cover!”

With a deafening roar, a violent shockwave engulfed them.

Like shards of glass, the protective barrier around the cave shattered into fragments.

At the same time, a message window appeared before Roselia’s eyes:

[Master, don’t you miss me?]
[Hurry over here.]