The Wrong Daughter
The carriage lurched forward.
What do I do now?
Chloe bit down hard on her lip. With Kallen’s house arrest lifted, she no longer had any excuse to keep Isabel close. If things went wrong, Isabel could actually be kidnapped.
Her mouth went bone-dry with anxiety.
All she could do was pray desperately that the Empress had ordered the abduction of “a young woman with black hair” or “a young woman with a mole beneath her eye.”
If Isabel gets taken… not only will she be ruined, my own reputation will crash to the ground!
Waves of worry crashed over her the entire way. Chloe was barely in her right mind.
And the more she spiraled, the hotter her resentment toward Canna burned.
If only that girl hadn’t meddled in things that didn’t concern her, none of this anxiety would exist!
The maddening wait stretched on until they finally reached the appointed location.
Chloe’s heart hammered violently. Her insides felt as if they were being scorched.
And then—
“Bandits!”
The nightmare began.
Chloe’s eyebrows twitched violently. She clutched her lace gloves so tightly it seemed she might tear them apart.
“Protect the carriage!”
Shouts, the clash of steel, and screams tangled together. The cacophony sent Chloe spiraling into full panic.
Even from inside the carriage, it was clear the bandits outnumbered them overwhelmingly. No matter how skilled the Addis knights were, five men could never handle this many!
“W-what is this?”
Isabel muttered, her voice thick with terror at the chaos outside.
“This forest belongs to Marquis Merci! I’ve never heard of bandits appearing here! What on earth…”
At that moment, one of the carriage horses let out a piercing cry, clearly injured. The entire vehicle suddenly lurched upward.
“Kyaaak!”
Chloe screamed and squeezed her eyes shut.
The carriage had flipped over completely!
Her body was thrown into the air and slammed hard against the wall.
“Ah… ah…”
The violent pain left her unable to think straight. Her head spun, and everything before her eyes burned white.
Suddenly, the Empress’s earlier words flashed through her mind—that some degree of sacrifice would be necessary.
This is far beyond “some degree”!
Then someone roughly grabbed her arm and yanked her up.
“Take this woman!”
Chloe staggered, barely managing to open her eyes.
A man with a vicious face was dragging her along like an animal. The brutal grip made Chloe regret everything with searing clarity.
Why am I doing this?
Why had she orchestrated such a thing only to suffer like this?
She never should have done it. Never!
“After them!”
“Protect the Duchess!”
The Addis knights chased after the stumbling Chloe. As planned, the bandits spat curses and fled.
“My lady, are you all right?!”
A blond knight rushed over and supported her.
Even though she had known rescue would come, the overwhelming relief nearly made Chloe collapse on the spot.
But there was no time to feel safe.
“The Duke’s daughter!”
“They’ve kidnapped the Duke’s daughter! Hurry, after them!”
At last, the very thing she had feared most had happened.
Chloe’s hands and feet trembled uncontrollably. Terror surged through her so fiercely she wanted to burst into tears.
Which one had they taken? Who?!
She shoved the blond knight aside and lifted her head frantically.
And she saw it.
“No!”
They were dragging Isabel away.
“N-no!”
Isabel was being taken.
My daughter—my daughter Isabel is being taken!
No.
Her mind went completely blank.
What were those men supposed to do to her after they took her?
Her sanity snapped in an instant.
“Stop!”
She could no longer see anything. She couldn’t think. All that remained was a terror so intense it felt as if her brain were burning away.
“Not that girl!”
Chloe screamed in desperation.
“That’s not the one! You’ve got the wrong girl! It’s the other one!”
But perhaps they couldn’t hear her?
The bandit carrying Isabel simply leaped onto his horse, whipped the reins, and galloped off.
“No, no!”
Chloe felt as if she were losing her mind. They were kidnapping her own daughter!
“You idiots! Not that one! I said not that one! The girl you’re supposed to take isn’t my daughter!”
“What is all this commotion?!”
At that moment, the Empress’s sharp voice rang out.
Tears streaming down her face, Chloe whirled around. As promised, the Empress had arrived with her knights.
Forget dignity—Chloe practically crawled forward and clutched the hem of the Empress’s dress.
“Your Majesty! They made a mistake! They took Isabel instead of Canna! Isabel!”
This stupid bitch, what the hell is she babbling about?!
The Empress ground her teeth. Even if her own child had been taken, to lose her mind so pathetically!
Keeping her expression perfectly composed, the Empress shouted.
“What are the imperial knights doing?! Pursue those bandits at once!”
“No.”
A low voice cut through the air.
That voice…
“There is no need.”
The same voice spoke again. The Empress could not believe her ears.
The slow sound of hooves rang out over the silence.
The Empress lifted her head with a dazed expression.
A man with red hair sat atop a massive black horse, approaching. Even seeing it with her own eyes, the scene was impossible to accept.
Why is he here?
A terrible sense of foreboding bloomed in the Empress’s chest.
Something was wrong. Terribly, horribly wrong.
“How is the Duke here…?”
Instead of answering, Alexandro Addis leaped down from his horse. The Empress quickly gathered herself and suggested,
“Duke, allow me to send the imperial knights first—”
“There is no need, Your Majesty.”
Alexandro politely cut her off. Their eyes met. A chill raced down the Empress’s spine.
Those sharp green eyes.
It felt as though Alexandro Addis had torn away her outer shell and seen straight through to the rotten core beneath.
In a rush to hide her panic, the Empress stammered,
“No need?! But right now, Lady Isabel Addis has been—”
Her words trailed off. The sound of more hooves echoed from somewhere. Layer upon layer of hoofbeats rolled toward them like waves.
Beyond the path where the bandits had vanished, knights on horseback approached. Beneath the pouring sunlight, the Addis crest gleamed brilliantly.
Staring at the Empress’s stupefied face, Alexandro murmured,
“My sons will bring her back.”
At the head of the group rode Orsini and Kallen—carrying the unconscious Isabel between them.
Maid Eriel had been staring out the window the entire time.
They’ve left!
At last, the carriage carrying Canna, Isabel, and Chloe had departed.
“The moment the carriage leaves, you must inform me immediately. Understood?”
Recalling Canna’s strict instructions, Eriel hurried toward Kallen Addis’s office.
“I-I have something to report.”
“What is it?”
Kallen was in the middle of handling documents. He didn’t even bother to look up, as if meeting her eyes would be a waste of time.
“The truth is, I have been serving Lady Chloe closely as of late.”
“And?”
“Recently, she appears to be plotting something very strange. It concerns Lady Canna…”
Kallen’s gaze snapped toward her instantly.
The moment she flinched at his piercing stare, he shot up from his seat, strode over, and demanded,
“What do you mean? Don’t tell me Mother is harassing my sister?”
“Well…”
“Stop wasting time and speak.”
Eriel stammered out the exact lines Canna had ordered her to say.
“It s-seems she has been exchanging suspicious letters with Her Majesty the Empress. It appears to be a staged kidnapping targeting Lady Canna…”
The more he heard, the darker Kallen’s expression grew.
They planned to kidnap his sister, destroy her reputation, and turn her into Crescent’s concubine?
The plan was so utterly repulsive that his teeth ached with rage.
“Evidence?”
“I-I have none. She burned the letters immediately…”
“If your words prove false, I will kill you myself.”
Kallen stormed out of the room at once.
They won’t be ordinary bandits. Since they must face Addis knights, they will have hired first-rate mercenaries.
That meant he needed to bring the entire knight order. He hurried down to the training grounds.
There, he found Alexandro and Orsini sparring.
“What kind of bullshit is that? Mother committing such insane acts?”
Orsini’s face twisted in horror after hearing the story.
“Of course there is no evidence, but we must prepare for the worst-case scenario.”
Alexandro, who had been listening quietly, gave a small nod.
“It would be best to move ahead and observe the situation.”
For three men whose horsemanship ranked among the empire’s finest, overtaking a single carriage that had just departed was child’s play.
“Send the best rider among the knights to join the escort immediately. Claude should do. Summon him.”
A short while later, when Claude arrived, Alexandro commanded,
“Join the escort party. And tell the other knights that even if bandits appear, they are not to respond aggressively.”
Alexandro added in a warning tone,
“We must confirm whether that maid’s words are true.”
And so Alexandro, Kallen, and Orsini watched everything from a distance.
They saw the bandits appear and drag Chloe away first.
They saw the second wave of bandits kidnap Isabel.
They even witnessed Chloe’s frantic shrieking.
“Not that girl! I said it’s the other one!”
They saw it all.
Every last second.