10
Thanks to the chaos at the auction, Jeffrey was completely dazed and couldn’t regain his composure.
When I said I would take Noah with me, his eyes sharpened, grinding his teeth at the thought. He claimed that the child had not been sold and was still his property.
“If you insist on taking that child, you should pay properly and bid for him.”
I didn’t have the money to bid for Noah. Moreover, the image of the high-ranking nobles treating the items behind the curtains like mere objects was still vivid in my mind.
I hated the thought of following their sequence and taking Noah as if he were just merchandise.
Yet I couldn’t just grab him without some pretense…
As I pondered, Noah quietly reached for my right hand. The pain from my injury made me frown instinctively.
Then a clever idea struck me. I raised the hand with dried, crudely stuck blood over the long tear in my palm.
“Isn’t this a breach of contract?”
“…Huh?”
Jeffrey, who had been fuming, suddenly relaxed slightly. Seeing his face, I couldn’t help but grin, then boldly continued:
“Jeffrey.”
“…Yes?”
“What did I say when I came onto the stage earlier?”
Jeffrey, silent, didn’t answer, so I continued:
“You called me the flower of the auction, didn’t you?”
I hadn’t expected that unpleasant phrase to be helpful. I smiled widely.
“Is this how flowers are treated here?”
“Th-that’s…!” Jeffrey stammered.
“The contract allowed you to use my name for promotion as you liked, provided I didn’t appear. Yet now I’ve not only appeared but also gotten hurt.”
Jeffrey muttered a quiet response, watching my expression.
“That’s because you went on stage first, Lady Isabella.”
I cut him off, raising my right hand and shouting theatrically:
“Ouch! My palm hurts, how am I supposed to eat, how am I supposed to hold objects… I’m dying, I’m dying!”
Without Noah, I probably would have rolled around the place in frustration.
Jeffrey looked at me helplessly. I cleared my throat and spoke firmly:
“By ruining the auction, it’s as if you’ve stained my face as well. I won’t claim damages for any of that. My condition is simply that I take this child with me.”
Jeffrey looked extremely reluctant, but knowing the reputation of the temperamental archmage, he had no choice but to agree.
Noah buried his head in my clothes and followed me all the way to Monteo Garden.
Since he came along willingly, I thought communication would be easier.
“How long are you going to stay like that?”
Noah remained curled up in a corner, not moving a muscle. Even at the auction, no matter how much I tried, he had not budged. I had believed he had opened his heart to me…
Clearly, I had been mistaken.
“Will you at least take a bath? You’re not expecting me to do it for you, are you?”
Noah didn’t respond.
“Are you going to act this childish?”
He snapped briefly at my words but then buried his head fully in his knees.
I let out a wry laugh.
“Pretending you don’t understand me? Don’t you think it’s far too late for that?”
By the time we arrived, it was almost midnight, and this situation left me sighing.
Even though I had narrowly escaped danger, nothing seemed to go smoothly.
I may have saved my life by not sending Noah to Duke Rosenberg, but the future looked bleak.
No matter what, the path ahead would hardly be a smooth one, especially when I couldn’t even manage one child.
‘I feel uneasy.’
I realized it as Noah’s shoulders trembled. My eyes widened.
Since leaving the auction, tension had faded and anxiety had surged like waves.
I had been fidgeting, biting my nails, and unconsciously restless—and Noah seemed equally unsettled.
Because of the Dawn’s Oath, our emotions are connected; I am anxious, so Noah struggles to calm down.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself, and slowly called his name:
“Noah.”
He finally lifted his head and looked at me. His wary gaze remained.
“It’s okay. Get into warm water and come out. No one will hurt you anymore.”
Noah’s clothes and skin were marked with red stains from his rough dagger swings on stage. Against his pale skin, they were starkly visible. Meeting his red eyes, just like mine, made my throat tighten.
“Why did you save me?”
His confused gaze wavered slightly.
“I said I’d tell you once we got out.”
The answer twisted inside my mouth, but ultimately, I said:
“Because I hate it too.”
“Hate it?”
“Yes. Those masked men, those who wield power recklessly. All of them.”
It was more a personal sentiment than a fact. Seeing lonely Noah hidden behind the shadow of the masks, it was what I wanted to tell him.
“That’s why I wanted to help you take revenge. I thought it would also be my revenge.”
My voice was stronger than expected.
Noah still didn’t fully trust me. I wrapped a makeshift bandage around my hand and held it up.
“You can tell, right? Whether I’m lying or not.”
“…Yeah.”
He placed his hand over his chest, near his heart, meeting my gaze. After a short silence, he took the thick towel beside him and headed toward the bath.
Looks like he’s safe.
I closed the door and listened to the water, finally allowing a faint smile to appear.
Bringing Noah with me had not been part of the plan.
If Duke Rosenberg realized Noah was not the item he sought, he wouldn’t bid—and naturally, Yurie and Noah would never meet.
It was the best plan to completely eliminate the risk to my life.
‘The Dawn’s Oath was merely a tool for that.’
But now that the plan had worked so far, the remaining matters were far from simple.
Leaving Noah behind could have meant being beaten to death by the mages or handlers.
Having promised to help him take revenge, I couldn’t ignore the small warmth in my arms.
Impulsively, I had brought him along.
I sat in a dark room with a single candle, watching Noah curled up on the bed.
The flickering candle made the whole room sway. Noah was like a shadow, silent and, for the first time since our escape, deeply asleep.
“The child has suffered far too much.”
All debts were settled, and there was no reason for me to stay here. I had no intention of following the path of the villainess in the novel.
I would leave at dawn. I had no way to cancel the contract properly, so I had no choice but to take Noah with me.
“Once there, I’ll figure out how to cancel the contract.”
Where I was going was clear—the ancestral home of Isabella Gwell, the Gwell Marquisate.
Isabella never fully disclosed her family name when introducing herself, and the reason was never mentioned in the novel.
I could only guess she had a harsh, lonely childhood like most villainesses.
The Gwell estate was in Loxia, the easternmost land where the sun rises first. The family held authority but had limited influence. Everything else was shrouded in mystery.
Isabella had left at 14 to enter the academy and had returned now at 20—a six-year absence.
Would her family welcome her? I didn’t know, but now she was an archmage; perhaps things would be different.
Above all, it was a place untouched by the novel. I wanted to remain completely outside of Yurie and the three male leads’ conflicts.
It was unfortunate to bring her loyal “dog” along, but Noah had been trapped in that world, unnoticed by Yurie, suffering in nightmares…
“Selfish, but this much I can allow.”
I whispered to the sleeping Noah, watching over him.
