Chapter 3:
Runaway (Part 3)
Temia’s body went stiff.
Why was that story being brought up now?
The nanny, seeing Temia frozen and barely able to breathe, let go of her hand and gripped her shoulders tightly.
“Lady Kylie was engaged to the second young master of House Trema, wasn’t she? But that man… that madman has now become the leader of the rebel mages and is wanted across the entire kingdom. Lady Kylie was dragged away simply for being his fiancée.”
“What…? W-Wait, what happened to Kylie?!”
“She was released from prison, but her reputation was completely ruined. Not just her—Viscount Ricru’s family was completely ostracized from society because of it. So… that’s why…”
Each word hit Temia like a hammer to the head. She pulled away from the nanny, who was trying to lead her further inside.
“So… h-heok… what about Camille?! Why is her bracelet here?!”
With a trembling voice and a face full of sorrow, the nanny spoke.
“Lady Camille left behind only her bracelet… and then jumped from the balcony. So please, miss, you have to stay strong. I can’t lose you too!”
Temia’s chest tightened, her breathing grew fast and shallow, and her vision blurred—a sign of the seizures that occasionally afflicted her. The nanny hurriedly patted her back, helping her breathe, then turned to a bookshelf nearby. She swiftly pulled out several books in a specific order.
The shelf slid aside, revealing a hidden door. Temia stared at it with dazed eyes, her mind too full of grief for her dear friend to even question the unfamiliar space or the nanny’s suspicious familiarity with it.
With a grave expression, the nanny looked back at Temia and began speaking again.
“Among the mages heading here, it’s said that Lady Kylie’s ex-fiancé is one of them. If he learned about this annex, he might already know the layout inside. This is the only safe place.”
She opened the hidden door and led Temia down a narrow passage. The underground stairs were so cramped that the two of them could barely move. Temia, her face soaked with tears, followed like a puppet with its strings cut.
At the bottom was a small room, cold and empty except for a lone jewel box in the center. The place was too bare to be called a duke’s basement. The nanny sat Temia down and took off her outer cloak, wrapping it around her.
“This is a remote estate, so reinforcements will take time. Just hide here for a while—like a game of hide and seek you used to play. Understand?”
“W-Wait… by myself? What about the others? Ugh… the nanny?!”
“The inside is protected by magic—only members of the Etval family can enter. The Duke ordered me to hide you here if something happened. Unfortunately, I can’t go inside, but you’ll be safe. Please stay, miss. The Duke or the knights will come for you soon.”
She gave Temia’s cold fingers one last firm squeeze and gently pushed her into the room.
“Please don’t leave me alone… I’m scared… nanny…”
“Be strong, miss. I’ll go check the situation and come back. We’ll buy time, so stay here no matter what!”
And then she left.
Just like that.
The room, perhaps due to the magic protecting the jewel box, wasn’t completely dark. Small magical lamps lined the walls. But the thought of being left alone in the world made Temia feel suffocated. She struggled to breathe, her mind racing to sort out the flood of information.
But every thought ended in despair.
She hated her weakness, her trembling body. She hated herself for not knowing what happened to her friend—worse, for silently judging her. She thought of her family in the capital and Camille’s fate…
Her breathing grew ragged again.
And then—a deafening noise echoed through the room.
A blinding flash of light, a trembling shock as though the earth itself shook.
Something was wrong.
There hadn’t been enough time for help to arrive. Then—
Boots. Unfamiliar, heavy, deliberate.
A stranger emerged.
He was covered in blood and dust, wearing a military uniform stained dark. His hair was a murky green so dark it looked black, and his piercing red eyes glowed with malice.
His lifeless gaze passed over the jewel box and landed on Temia.
“You. Are you the youngest daughter of House Etval?”
“W-Who are you?”
“What does it matter if you know? Still, saves me the trouble of searching.”
Blood dripped from his uniform. With every step he took, more red footprints trailed behind.
“Give me the item in that box, and I’ll make your death painless.”
He was calm, detached. Like everything was already going as planned.
Temia, full of dread, crawled to the far corner of the room.
“You’re quite a handful.”
Before she knew it, the man was already in front of her, grabbing her throat with one hand.
“Kgh… M-Magic…”
Temia struggled, scratching his hand with her nails. But he didn’t even flinch.
“Dragon barrier magic. Annoying to break, you know?”
Dragon? Barrier? None of it made sense. She continued to claw at him, desperate, while he spoke.
“Just hand over what’s in that box. Keep resisting, and I’ll keep summoning you back here until you do. That’s what magic is for, after all.”
He threw her back into the jewel box room.
Again and again, it repeated.
She resisted. She was dragged out. Thrown back in.
Her body was scraped all over, but her biggest struggle was just to breathe. The man was unnaturally strong, while she could barely move. Coughing violently, she managed to ask the one thing haunting her.
“What happened… to the others…?”
The nanny. She had said she’d come back.
But she never did.
The man tilted his head and replied coldly.
“I got rid of them.”
Those three words crushed Temia’s heart.
Her body trembled uncontrollably, but he didn’t care. He stared at the jewel box again, sighing as if bored.
“Hurry up. Hand it over.”
That was when—
Temia, hand trembling, reached for the jewel box. It tipped over, and something rolled out toward her. A small, crystal-like orb, glowing with a strange light.
She grabbed it tightly and raised it high, slamming it against the wall.
“Tell me the truth! What did you do to the others… and to Kylie?!”
She remembered her friend, unfairly branded as a traitor’s fiancée. This man—was he one of the rebel mages?
He would know what happened to her.
“Camille? Oh, you mean my dear fiancée. Ugh, hearing that name again is disgusting. She’s probably dead already, who knows?”
In that instant, rage exploded inside Temia.
Could it be? Was this man Kylie’s fiancé himself?
His words held no regret—he didn’t even seem to remember her.
That realization filled Temia with burning fury. Her veins felt like they were being torn apart by rage.
“How could someone like this have destroyed my friend?”
Temia slammed the orb again and again against the wall, her blood dripping over the shards.
The man’s eyes widened in shock as she shattered the crystal.
“Even so, Kylie… I should have saved you. If only I’d been stronger…”
The last thing she saw was a blinding light bursting from the orb.
Then everything went dark.
That was Temia’s final memory.
