After a long journey, the carriage stops and the door is opened, so the Marquis attacks with his sword but only ends up falling out of the carriage, seeing that the one who opened the door was Ritter. The Marquis is happy for the albino's presence.
"Thank the gods, Sir Escalante, I appreciate your help, that woman is terrible, I thought she was going to kill me," he sighs with relief.
"Actually, she's right, Marquis. I've come to kill you." Alesha maintains a malicious smile.
The Marquis sees Alesha standing not far from Ritter. The albino only moves to stand behind the Marquis.
"What is this? Sir Escalante... that woman, you must arrest her," the Marquis asks.
"I believe if we're talking about arresting someone, you'd be the one who should go to prison," Ritter replies.
"What are you talking about? Don't tell me you're on that woman's side." The Marquis was beginning to get nervous.
"That's the least of it." Alesha steps between Ritter and the Marquis. "He is here because he tempted death."
Right under the Marquis' feet, black chains began to emerge, wrapping around his ankles. Feeling this, the Marquis tried to move away but only fell. Even so, he tries to remove those chains but it seemed they tightened even more.
"What is this? Damned witch... Sir Escalante, you can't allow this," the Marquis pleads.
Ritter just looks away; if the Marquis made the mistake of wanting to kill Alesha, that's none of his business anymore.
"He's just a spectator. He has a lot to learn and I'm teaching him," Alesha replies to the Marquis's pleas.
"T-That... if you harm me... everyone will know it was you... this time you will be executed..."
"I doubt it, here there is no one to say what will happen. The story will be that the Marquis had shady business and as he did not keep his part of the bargain, he was taught a lesson... poor daughter of his, nobody will want an empress with a delinquent father." Alesha maintains her mocking smile.
The Marquis remains still but looks at Alesha with an expression of hatred, but still, the chains on his feet do not allow him to move, although they soon disappear.
"I have an idea, run through the forest. If you make it out before dawn, you are free." Alesha points to the forest.
The Marquis couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he didn't hesitate for a second to get to his feet and run towards the forest. Even if he didn't make it out, at least he would be out of sight of that woman, making sure that when he returned safely, he would tell what they had done to him, this time he would not escape execution.
"Are you sure about letting him go?" asks Ritter.
"That's the fun part, watching his hopes crumble."
Alesha starts walking towards the forest and Ritter follows close behind. The Marquis runs in a straight direction. He can feel that as he gets away from that place, there is no way Alesha will catch up with him, as he cannot hear the galloping of horses. At times he stops to rest and continues running, but he feels that hours have passed and he sees no way out. It doesn't seem like dawn is going to break either, but he doesn't intend to stop. He goes through thorny bushes, fallen trees in the way and hides from the wild animals that pass by, until he finally manages to see the sunrise and the end of the forest. He was happy, he had made it, he had escaped, but his big smile fades as he notices an abandoned carriage. You can see that it was a short while ago and, looking more closely, it was his, which meant that he had returned to the same place.
"What a pity, he came out but has returned to the starting point."
Followed by these words, laughter is heard. Turning around, it was Alesha who was standing at the edge of the forest.
"I-It's impossible... this must be a trick... I didn't run in circles..."
"But it seems you did. The forest can be deceiving, for example, right now, it could all be just a hallucination..." Alesha snaps her fingers.
The Marquis blinked and as he looked around, he was back in the middle of the forest and it was night. Again he runs and returns to the starting point, seeing Alesha repeat the same words and return to the middle of the forest. This only caused the Marquis' despair, again and again, it was the same, he was going crazy, until instead of running, he just sat down in the middle of the forest, there was so much silence, one that could drive anyone crazy.
Alesha emerges from the trees and stops before the Marquis, dropping a dagger.
"There's only one way to end it all..."
The Marquis took the dagger, but lunges at Alesha and, holding her down, plunges the dagger into her chest, repeating this over and over again until a pool of blood has formed under the body. The girl's eyes seemed lifeless. The Marquis begins to laugh madly, but when he looks back at Alesha, the body is gone, but a little further on, there she is, watching with a smile. The Marquis ran towards her, repeating the action, but it was the same, the body beneath him would disappear and another Alesha would appear before him.
In his desperation, he could take no more. He just runs again and returns to the same spot. Finally, desperation gets the better of him and the Marquis uses the dagger on himself, stabbing himself repeatedly in the chest. But in reality, Ritter and Alesha watch the Marquis kneeling in the middle of the forest, moving his hands as if stabbing himself in the chest, but there was nothing between his hands and the Marquis just laughs madly.
"What's happening to him?"
"He's just lost in an illusion. He'll stay there, motionless, until he dies or an animal devours him," Alesha mentions.
Saying that, the girl turns around and walks back. Ritter just takes one more look at the Marquis and follows Alesha. Ritter gets on a horse and Alesha gets on with him.
"Are you sure about leaving him? What if they find him alive?"
"No one will come soon, and if that happens, he won't come out of his hallucination."
Ritter doesn't say anything else and pulls the reins of the horse. Dawn will break soon, they haven't slept, so they will look for a place to stay in the nearest town, as it will take them a day to return to Adilia County.
The following days, the Marquise looked for Delia to tell her that her father had been missing for a week, which worried her because he didn't say where he was going. He just left and the men who went with him returned without knowing where the Marquis had gone. No matter how hard they searched, they only found the carriage.
"He was in a deserted area in the north. Please daughter, ask the prince to send the guard."
"Don't worry, Mother, I'll do that. My father will be back, he'll be fine... I'll also tell Lord Ritter to help, he's close to that area."
She quickly asks for paper to write a letter and sends a maid to find the prince. She is sure that with the help of him and Ritter, her father will be found.
...
***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***
Updated 69 Episodes
Download
Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Comments