IMTVD| Chapter 15

Episode 15

“Why’d you come here with blood on you and scare me like that?”

“I told you it’s not my blood.”

Emilia shot Leo a look full of reproach.

He just gave her a sheepish smile, but his eyes said her concern oddly touched him.

Ignoring his gaze, Emilia kept staring at the red stains on his sleeve.

Noticing her focus, Leo smirked a little and asked,

“So, what were you planning to do today?”

It was bad enough that he’d shown up unannounced now he was casually asking about her plans? But somehow, that

felt exactly like him, so she decided to answer.

“I was thinking about how I’m going to live from now on.”

“Hm. From the way you dress and where you live, I figured you were pretty well-off. Guess not?”

“Oh? And if I’m not rich, will you suddenly lose interest in me?”

Her reply threw him for a second. With her cold image, he didn’t expect her to crack a sly joke like that.

But he quickly smoothed over his reaction and played along.

“What if it only makes me more interested?”

“Quit joking.”

It had been so long since Emilia had anyone to casually talk to that she found herself enjoying it even if that person

was a suspicious man like Leo.

Ever since she’d woken up in this body, she’d been more or less alone. In the Casper estate, she’d only exchanged the

briefest conversations with Edwin.

She was human, after all she wanted to have fun conversations with other people sometimes.

After years of suppressing that need, the lightness she felt now was refreshing.

“So where exactly did you get that blood on you?”

Her eyes went back to his sleeve.

Leo looked like he didn’t really want to answer, but when it became clear she wouldn’t drop it, he knew he’d have to

say something.

Still, he knew walking around with someone else’s blood on your clothes was hardly normal, so he kept his tone casual.

“There was a wild boar in the forest. It could’ve wrecked the crops, so the villagers and I took care of it.”

“You dealt with it yourself?”

“Yeah. I was retrieving the arrows afterward and must’ve gotten some blood on me.”

That made sense to her. This place was called the Grand Forest, after all of course there’d be wild animals, and

some might wander into the village.

“So, what’s on your schedule now?”

He changed the subject and asked about her plans.

She showed him a sheet of paper with the things she needed for the house.

“I came here in a hurry, so I didn’t get to prepare everything.”

“I see farming tools and seeds here… planning to start a farm?”

“There’s an abandoned patch of land out back. I’m going to clear it and plant crops.”

One of the reasons she’d chosen the Grand Forest was not just its distance from the capital—but the fact that there

was no local lord collecting taxes here.

Nobles preferred to live in the capital, so tiny border villages like this were often left without direct management.

No taxes also meant fewer resources and poor infrastructure, but she could live with that.

Merchants came only on certain days, so most villagers grew their own food.

That was exactly what had drawn her here no taxes meant fewer chances for anyone to notice her. Who would

imagine that a marquess’s daughter and a duke’s wife would be hiding in a place like this, farming?

“Emilia, farming isn’t easy,” Leo said, glancing at her soft, uncalloused hands.

She knew it was backbreaking work, affected by weather and countless other variables.

But she understood his concern and smiled faintly.

“I have to make a living somehow, now that I’m here.”

Leo thought her smile felt… different.

At balls or other social events, she’d often smiled but it had always looked forced, like a mask to hide her wounds.

This smile felt more real.

“…Do you even have any food in the house? I don’t see it on the list.”

“Oh, I don’t really eat much. I’ve got enough packed away to last a few weeks, so I didn’t bother writing it down.”

For her, meals weren’t about pleasure. Alone, she ate quickly and quietly. Even back in the Casper estate, her food

was often spoiled, and the glares from the servants had been enough to make her feel sick.

Meals had never been a happy time only another form of torture.

The warm, noisy dinners she remembered from her old life only made the contrast more painful.

Even here, where she didn’t have to watch her back, she still ate as fast and quietly as possible.

Leo’s expression tightened.

She’s already too thin…

Her travel bag wasn’t that big. If it was full of necessities, there couldn’t be much food in it. And she wanted to stretch

that for weeks?

Unless she was obsessed with dieting which she clearly wasn’t there had to be a story there.

He knew it wasn’t really his business, but he couldn’t stop worrying.

I’ve already helped her how many times now?

He almost laughed at himself. He’d been doing the exact opposite of what he’d come here to do.

If I told her this blood was human, what face would she make?

He was curious, but he didn’t want to put distance between them, so he swallowed the thought.

“Miss Amy, keep your evening free. I’m inviting you to dinner.”

As he said it, he thought back to what had happened earlier—

“They said it’d be just one woman!”

The man who’d fled from Cardinal Village without his pay shouted in frustration.

When the job came in, it had sounded easy just grab a woman traveling alone in a carriage and deliver her. The

client didn’t care about her belongings and promised a fat reward.

At first, everything went smoothly. The woman with the bag appeared, just like he’d been told.

But then things went sideways.

“I’m the only one left alive!”

Some guy had insisted on riding with her.

It was just one extra man, so they’d gone ahead with the plan anyway—thinking they could kill him and take his

things too.

But once the fight started, everything changed.

When I find that guy, I’m gonna 

All his companions had been killed in moments. He’d only been spared because someone needed to drive the carriage.

He’d smeared mud over the blood on his clothes and climbed aboard, seething.

“That Henry or Harry when I find him, I’ll ”

“And then what?”

“Gah!”

The voice at his ear made him jump, but what froze him was the sight of that man appearing out of nowhere,

without so much as a sound.

“Thought I’d lost you,” Leo said.

The man collapsed to the ground.

“P-Please! I’ll do anything, just don’t kill me!”

“Then tell me where the client is.”

Leo only cared about one thing who had ordered Emilia’s death.

The man spilled everything he knew. Sure, there’d been a promise to keep it secret, but survival came first.

“Henry, you said?”

“Y-Yes! That’s right!”

Thinking he was now safe, the man even smiled Leo was smiling back, after all.

But Leo had no intention of letting him live. A single, clean movement ended it.

Looking down at the corpse, Leo muttered under his breath,

“Why are there so many people after your life? One should be enough me.”

Grumbling to himself, he hadn’t even noticed the blood soaking into his sleeve as he headed back to the village.