Chapter 191 - Book Rabbit

Chapter 191

Frankly, Arpad had already reached his limit merely by standing.

It was the side effect of forcibly drawing upon that power without possessing a complete dragon's body.

The metallic taste still surged from deep within his throat.

But resting or stopping to tend to his physical state was unimaginable.

He had only just thought he had found Hilia, yet he had missed her by a matter of hours.

And someone had abducted her.

'That Black Serpent, that bastard...!'

Arpad was already aware that the Black Serpent had approached Hilia.

In truth, it was Hilia who had approached first, but from Arpad's perspective, it was the Black Serpent's fault regardless.

'He should have known well enough to avoid her on his own!'

It was a thought that would have made the man in question feel deeply wronged.

Just then, Ani crawled on her knees toward Arpad.

She grabbed the hem of his trousers and clung to him, beginning to plead.

"Please, please save the young lady!"

The loyal lady-in-waiting was streaming tears.

According to her frantic, jumbled words, after dinner yesterday, Ani and Lord Beltain had fallen into an unusually deep sleep.

And when they awoke in the morning, both Hilia and the Black Serpent had vanished without a trace.

'It's highly likely something was put in the food.'

Lord Beltain, who had experienced it firsthand, added.

"That Black Serpent fellow must have bribed the inn staff as well. No matter how fatigued we were from travel, we fell asleep with unnatural speed."

Arpad's gaze sharpened.

"So you claim you are without fault? Especially you, a guardian knight who was the only one at her side?"

At that, Lord Beltain bit his lip and bowed his head.

"Absolutely not. I will petition my master for the punishment for failing to protect her, once her safety is confirmed."

The implication lay beneath his words: you are not my master, and thus not the one to administer punishment.

Arpad's eyebrow twitched faintly.

He glared at Beltain with a gaze filled with displeasure and anger ten times stronger than usual.

Ani cried out urgently.

"Your Highness, please save the young lady! Our young lady... she is... she is with child right now!"

"...!"

Both of them were seeing Arpad look this shocked for the first time.

A clearly shaken appearance.

Ani wailed and clung to Arpad more desperately, and then Beltain added one more statement.

"Yesterday, that Black Serpent fellow even made an impudent remark about becoming the father of the imperial grandchild!"

If Arpad's initial reaction upon hearing of Hilia's pregnancy was pure surprise, this time his reaction was somewhat different.

He was already shrouded in a thick, sharp killing intent, but now it intensified to a point where it seemed almost tangible.

Ani, who had no training whatsoever, was startled by the sensation as if her skin were prickling.

Then, Arpad delivered his response to Ani's words.

"You are mistaken, Dame Loren."

"Pardon? But the young lady clearly...!"

The will condensed in each of Arpad's words was intense.

"That expression is wrong. No matter that you are a lady-in-waiting brought from her maternal home, 'young lady'? She is the 'Crown Princess'. I will not permit you to address her by any other title."

* * *

"Hmm...?"

Hilia opened her eyes in a clean bed.

An unfamiliar ceiling.

The ceiling of the inn she had seen when she fell asleep as if fainting was clearly made of wood, but what she saw before her now was a ceiling of stone, fitted together like that of a castle.

Moreover, a translucent lace canopy was elegantly spread above.

Hilia startled and sat bolt upright.

"What?! Where is this?"

As she was only wearing thin sleepwear, she pulled the blanket up to cover herself and looked around.

The sight of an unfamiliar room.

It could not compare to the bedroom in the Ducal House of Delphin or Sia's bedroom in the Crown Prince's Palace, but it was clearly a reasonably well-maintained noble's castle.

Furthermore, maidservants had been waiting just for her to wake.

"You are awake. Shall we prepare for you to wash?"

"Or shall we bring a meal first?"

The overly composed expressions and the attitude of the maidservants were strange.

It was as if they had served Hilia for years.

"Who are you? Where is this? Who brought me here and how?!"

Despite her near-screaming cries, the maidservants did not bat an eyelid.

They merely repeated their questions.

"Are you not hungry? Our master instructed us to see to your meal first upon waking."

"Shall we bring wash water? Or prepare a bath?"

Their attitude was as if they knew nothing but predetermined responses.

Then, one thing caught Hilia's eye.

The intricate magic circle engraved on the bracelet worn by a maidservant.

'As I thought...!'

Hilia sprang up, grabbed the maidservant's wrist, and pulled off the bracelet. The maidservant offered no resistance, and upon having the bracelet taken, she collapsed on the spot. The other one did the same.

'They were Gaspard's puppets after all!'

She had seen them a few times before in the Magical Tower.

Puppets that required no magical power or energy, did not resist, and only repeated their assigned tasks.

They could be neutralized immediately by removing the magical artifact that supplied magical power and operating commands.

Although she had disposed of the two watchers at once, Hilia could not rejoice.

'If these are here, it means I'm currently captured by that bastard Gaspard!'

It was fortunate that her physical condition had improved somewhat after getting some sleep, but the situation was very bad.

Inside the room where she lay, there was no one but Gaspard's puppets.

There was no sign of Ani or Lord Beltain. Not even the Black Serpent.

Hilia walked silently toward the window.

To see if the window would open, if escape was possible.

It was the moment she succeeded in forcing the window open.

*Bang!*

The window slammed shut with terrifying force on its own. A dreadful voice pierced her ears from behind.

"My, my, as expected, you simply cannot stay still."

Feeling a chilling cold lick her spine, Hilia slowly turned around.

The door to the bedroom where she had been lying was open. The door leading to the corridor passageway.

Through it, a man walked in with heavy, thudding steps.

A long robe covered his entire body, and on his exposed arm, a bizarrely glowing blue magic circle pulsed.

Hilia spat out the man's name as if chewing it.

"Gaspard!"

Gaspard approached right up to Hilia, grinning.

The glinting gaze that swept over her entire body was utterly horrifying.

Hilia instinctively searched for her self-defense dagger.

But after she fainted and was moved to the inn, Ani had changed her clothes, leaving no space to hide something like a dagger.

Moreover, judging by how she had been abducted without a soul knowing, even if she had hidden the dagger, it would have been taken.

However, the Star of Stytilia on her left ring finger remained.

'Please!'

She prayed to the five goddesses and tried to activate the divine artifact's power.

The <Book of Fate>. If not that, then the other gems.

But.

"Ugh!"

Neither the Star of Stytilia nor the <Book of Fate> responded at all.

Perhaps a backlash from forcing the power, her stomach throbbed painfully.

She was already in the immediate aftermath of excessive strain. If she pushed further, the child might be in danger.

Ultimately abandoning the attempt to borrow the divine artifact's power, a curse burst from Hilia's lips.

"Damn it!"

Gaspard's mocking voice pierced her ears.

"To use such coarse language when you are soon to be a mother."

Hilia sharply raised her head.

Of course, she did not forget to retort to Gaspard's presumptuous interference.

"If it's my child, it will curse you along with me. No, it might even go a step further."

Thinking of the child's father.

Hilia did not relax her fiercely hardened expression.

"How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"About my pregnancy. I didn't even know myself until yesterday."

This was an important and serious problem.

'Aside from the physician, only the people around me know about the pregnancy.'

Ani and Lord Beltain, and the Black Serpent.

Other than them, even the child's father would not know.

Yet Gaspard knew.

This meant only one thing. Hilia asked in a voice colder than ice.

"...Who was it?"

"Didn't you just ask how I knew? Why try to confirm when you're already certain?"

One could suspect the physician, an outsider.

If not him, then the Black Serpent was the likely possibility.

But...

She recalled the memories of last night.

After taking a few spoonfuls of the meal Lord Beltain had received directly from the inn's cook, her memory was severed as if cut off.

Hilia bit her lip.

* * *

Baring a killing intent so intense it seemed to corrode flesh, Arpad drew his sword.

He then pressed the blade against Lord Beltain's neck.