Chapter 18

From the time of departure, thin rains began to wet the blades of grass, and within a few minutes, thick rains poured out like a waterfall.

Astelle ran through heavy rain on a horse borrowed from the castle.

The rainwater poured out constantly, and even the front was invisible. The muddy water followed on the muddy road.

Astelle was running along a small by-way. Dark forests were seen on both sides of the road. In the cool shade, water fog was blooming in the middle of the cold.

“Lady Astelle? Isn’t it raining too much?”

Vellian, who was following her, shouted.

Astelle ignored his words.

As if she couldn’t hear a word because of the sound of the rain, she kept running forward.

She ran for a long time, but she didn’t see a building, let alone a villa.

The muddy road caught her ankle like a bog.

No matter how fast she run, there was a limit to speeding up because it rained too much.

It was difficult to secure a view due to the pouring rain so that the front could not be seen.

How long did it run?

The whole body was soaked in the rain as if it was covered with water.

Astelle was running fast and pulled the reins without knowing it.

The dark blue sky was dyed black through the constantly pouring rain.

Gradually darkness fell over the rain-soaked birch trees.

Astelle stared in vain at the sky where she was running in the cold rain.

A reality colder than raindrops fell into her head.

‘Time has passed.’

“……”

The medicinal effect has disappeared when the time passed.

By now, Theor’s eyes will have returned to their original color.

Astelle was vacant and she stopped on the road.

Vellian, who had run past her, turned his horse and came to her side.

“Lady Astelle? Why did you do that?”

Astelle managed to come to her senses.

“…No. I’m dizzy for a while.”

“Are you okay? Would you like to rest under that tree?”

Vellian pointed to the leafy tree and suggested, but Astelle shook her head.

“No, it would be better to go to the hunting lodge and take a rest.”

After running for a few more minutes along the by-way, a small mansion located in the center of the forest appeared.

The two went inside after passing a door surrounded by a high stone wall.

The knights who were guarding the door let the two people in with surprised faces.

Astelle got off the horse and went into the mansion.

The whole body was wet as if entering and leaving the water.

With every step she took, water dripped from the wet hem.

The amazed attendant quickly brought a towel to the two.

Astelle roughly wiped the water with a towel, grabbed all the shaking minds and slowly walked inside.

She felt like walking into the execution site.

In some ways, she even thought it would be better to go to the execution site.

If she could only turn back 30 minutes of time…

Please if I can only get back 30 minutes…

Astelle followed Vellian and went into a room that looked like a den.

A cozy warmth circulated in the room, thanks to the flame burning from the fireplace.

Kaizen, who was sitting in an armchair and looking at a book, raised his head.

“Your Majesty.”

“Vellian? What’s going on?”

Vellian bowed to him, but Astelle forgot to be polite and looked at the fireplace.

To be precise, the child who lying in front of the fireplace.

In front of a fireplace burning with a cozy flame, a large dog lay on his belly.

And Theor closed his eyes and fell asleep quietly.

* * *

Astelle stood in front of the door and looked at Theor.

The child was asleep with his eyes closed.

He was crouching down on the floor covered with fluffy rugs and sleeping under a soft blanket.

Next to it was a dog that she never seen, lying quietly as if to guard the child.

Kaizen followed Astelle’s gaze and found Theor sleeping in front of the fireplace.

“He got wet in the rain while playing with a hound. Looks like he fell asleep while drying himself in front of the fireplace.”

The moment Astelle heard that, Astelle was relieved and approached Theor.

She wrapped the child’s body with a blanket that had been covered and carefully hugged him so as not to open his eyes.

“Your Majesty, can I take the child to the room and sleep?”

“… Okay.”

Kaizen gave permission while looking at Astelle with a little surprised eyes.

He tried to help her, but Astelle wrapped Theor herself and quickly went outside.

Fortunately, Theor fell asleep and did not wake up.

Astelle headed to the nearest bedroom.

It was a small room compared to the castle.

As soon as Astelle went inside, she closed the door and put the child down on the bed.

And she exhaled the breath she held back.

‘Sigh…’

As her whole body was relieved, she felt like she was running out of power.

She thought she was stuck.

Astelle slightly lifted Theor’s eyelids.

Crimson eyes emerged between his eyelids.

‘If the child hadn’t fallen asleep, he would have been caught.’

It was really bad luck.

Astelle quickly took out the medicine bottle she had hidden in her bosom and spilled it into the child’s sleeping eyes.

Theor, who had been sleeping quietly, frowned in his forehead and slowly opened his eyes.

Clear blue eyes looked up at Astelle and mumbled.

“Oh… Mom…”

“Yes, yes, it’s alright, everything is alright.”

Astelle hugged Theor and sootheed him.

Anyway, she was lucky enough to get past the hurdle.

She thought.

At that moment, a knock was heard outside the door and the door opened.

The maid who has been entrusted to keep Theor, bowed her head and went inside.

“I’m sorry, Lady.”

The maid apologized to Astelle, and she told the story that she was forced to be brought here.

She said the explanation was detailed, but to conclude, it was just that the emperor suddenly took the child, and there was nothing to do about it.

Astelle sighed.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.”

Even if the child cried that he didn’t want to go, as a maid, she must have had to take the child away as ordered ny the emperor.

Why did Kaizen suddenly bring the child to this place?

Of course, the child would have wanted to come here, but Kaizen’s behavior didn’t make sense.

He didn’t like children from the beginning.

It wasn’t even a lively personality to children.

It was even more so because he had no younger brothers and no younger relatives.

‘No way, you haven’t noticed something, right?’

Astelle looked at Theor lying on the bed.

Theor was asleep.

He muttered with his eyes closed.

“Bear… dead… puppy… good…”

He came far and was tired. He even played with a dog.

Anyway, now that she put the medicine, she can rest assured until the dawn of tomorrow.

“Let the child sleep a little longer.”

“Yes, Lady.”

The maid noticed that Astelle wasn’t angry, she was grateful.

She bowed her head to Astelle, and she said politely.

“I will prepare a bath and a change of clothes.”

“So, she came all the way to see the child?”

Kaizen asked back as if absurd.

The rain that had been falling faded again when Astelle and Vellian arrived at the villa.

The timing wasn’t good for her.

Thanks to this, Vellian had to wash his body and change clothes with the water the servant prepared for him.

He chose the clothes that the attendant brought here, but the size of the clothes was a little big, and the small Vellian wore them, so it was loosely stretched.

It felt like a foolish younger brother who took over his brother’s clothes.

“Yes, Lady Astelle asked me to give the child some medicine. The child is weak and needs to be fed nutritional supplements.”

While answering that way, Vellian felt that Astelle was hiding something.

Kaizen couldn’t know what he noticed.

Kaizen also felt something strange.

“Where does the child hurt so much?”

“I don’t know either.”

Does the child really have any serious illness?

He wondered if the child had a chronic illness that Astelle couldn’t say.

If not, can you run in the rain to feed the nutritional supplements to the child?

Vellian clearly saw that Astelle stopped in surprise on her way to this place.

Obviously, too much time passed.

Are there any diseases that shouldn’t be done if he doesn’t take medicine on time?

The child looked very healthy on the outside.

However, a sick person was originally unknown only by looking at the appearance.

Even people who seem intact sometimes suffer from high diseases inside.

No, but what disease are you hiding from?

Vellian had a feeling of steaming for some reason.

‘No way, is it a disease that spreads…?’

Marianne said she looked at Astelle’s medicine box, but the simple cure would not have looked suspicious.

‘I don’t know if it would be nice to look at the medicine box once I get the chance. But don’t try to open it with my hand.’

Vellian thought so deeply when he remembered that Astelle had put medicinal juice in a medicine box.

‘When you touches her stuff, make sure to get someone else to do it.’