The Doll on the Shore
The sound of waves crashing against the shore filled the night air, sharp and relentless.
“She’s gone?”
“Y-yes, my lord.”
“How?”
“It appears she escaped through the window. We found a rope made by tying together the bedsheets and curtains.”
“I see.”
Kallen Addis’s face remained utterly expressionless.
Truthfully, he wasn’t all that surprised. He had expected something like this to happen at least once.
He calmly rang the bell to summon Claude.
“Release the knights. Find my sister.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Leah, you head down to the village. Order the residents to report immediately if they spot her.”
Once Claude and Leah had left the room, Kallen let out a deep sigh.
Yes. Of course.
If she stayed quiet, she wouldn’t be his sister.
He had known this would happen. He had expected it…
Kallen covered his face with one hand.
Yet he could not suppress the violent rage boiling up from deep inside him. The anger was so intense that his arm began to tremble uncontrollably.
Why?
Why did Canna always do this?
Why wouldn’t she yield to him even once?
No matter what he did, no matter how he acted, all he ever received in return was a rejection as heavy as a hammer blow.
He could not accept it.
Not even once would he tolerate it.
She resisted every time. She refused every time. She pushed him away every single time.
Every time. Every time. Every time…!
Every time!
Kallen’s throat burned as heat surged up his neck. His eyes turned bloodshot.
He strapped the sword sheath that had been resting on the desk to his waist and strode out of the room with long, furious steps.
Truly consistent, his sister.
Even if he devoted himself to her like a slave, she would not spare him a single ounce of pity.
The opposite was the same.
Even if he acted like the world’s worst villain and tried to force her, she refused to fear him. She would not submit. She would not bend.
In that case, perhaps it would be better to—
Just break her.
His mind grew dizzy from the scorching fury.
He had no idea what he should do. What on earth he was supposed to do…
“Sir Kallen! We’ve found the young lady!”
“Where?”
“She was discovered on the beach. However…”
“I’ll go myself.”
Kallen followed the knight’s guidance. Just as they had said, Canna was sitting collapsed on the shore.
“Sister.”
Knights surrounded her on all sides. Kallen waved them away with a gesture.
“Sister.”
“Don’t come any closer!”
The roar of the waves surging behind her was fierce. Canna’s black hair whipped wildly in the harsh night wind.
“Stay away from me, Kallen Addis!”
Canna shouted from where she sat on the sand. Kallen stared at her with irritated eyes before letting out a sigh.
“And if I don’t come closer?”
He smiled crookedly.
“Are you planning to run away?”
“……”
“Look around you, Sister.”
He spread both arms wide. Behind him, a large formation of knights stood ready. Behind Canna, the pitch-black night sea churned with crashing waves.
“Where exactly do you think you’re going?”
“……”
“You can’t go anywhere, Sister.”
Why didn’t she understand something so obvious? Why wouldn’t she just give up? Kallen scraped together what little patience he had left.
“So please, just come here. Let’s resolve this through conversation.”
At those words, despair flickered across Canna’s face in the darkness.
“…No.”
“Sister.”
“I’d rather—”
In that instant, Canna smiled.
Their eyes met.
Her gaze was like someone who had fallen into a bottomless abyss—darkness swirling thick and heavy within them.
A more ominous sense of foreboding than ever before pierced straight through him. The back of Kallen’s neck stiffened.
Something terrible was about to happen.
The moment he reached out his hand—
“I’d rather die.”
Canna drew a dagger from within her robes.
She angled the blade toward herself. Raised it high.
And then—
“Sist—!”
She drove it down.
“……!”
A spray of vivid red blood burst outward.
The instant that crimson liquid painted the air, Kallen’s entire world came to a halt.
His outstretched hand froze midair, trembling. An immense pressure crushed down on time itself.
Everything moved in agonizing slow motion.
Each second stretched out so painfully that Kallen could follow every single detail with his eyes.
The blood gushing out like a fountain. The slow, languid fall. The way it shattered across the sand…
Plop.
The moment the sand grew darkly soaked, a strange groan tore from Kallen’s throat.
No.
Wait.
Just wait.
Sister.
“Young lady!”
Someone shoved past his body and rushed forward. A golden-haired man—Claude. He caught Canna’s collapsing form in his arms.
Kallen stared blankly at the sight.
Canna’s body hung limp. Her black hair fluttered chaotically, as if screaming.
“Young lady!”
Just wait.
“Young lady, no… Young lady!”
Just wait.
Wait. Wait.
Wait.
Kallen blinked against the dizziness that made his head spin.
The moment he closed and reopened his eyes, the sound of his own thundering heartbeat began to echo in his ears.
Cold sweat broke out across his entire body in an instant. Like a man trapped in a dream, he walked forward in a daze and collapsed onto the sand.
“Sister.”
He reached out.
“Sister?”
Her lips were soaked in blood.
The moment he touched her, Kallen flinched. Warm blood stained his fingertips.
Blood.
It was blood. Blood…
“Sister?”
“Her heart…”
Claude’s shoulders were shaking.
“It has stopped.”
“……”
“She’s dead.”
“……”
“Are you satisfied now?”
None of it reached Kallen’s ears.
This couldn’t possibly be real.
He snatched her body away from Claude and checked for himself.
He pressed his fingers to her neck, her wrist, and beneath her nose.
But…
“Sister.”
There was no breath.
“Sister, just wait a moment.”
No pulse.
“Just wait, Sister. Ah…”
His lips trembled. Proper sentences refused to form, as if his brain had broken. Everything was blurry—his reason, his thoughts, even what was right in front of him.
Kallen muttered incoherently.
“Sister, wait… If you do something like this so suddenly…”
What am I supposed to do if you do something like this so suddenly?
If you suddenly decide to kill yourself like this.
A splitting headache struck him like an axe to the back of his skull.
He gasped for air from the terrible agony, unable to even scream. And then he realized it.
“Sister.”
Canna Addis had taken her own life.
Canna ran with everything she had.
Her recently injured leg throbbed painfully, and her heart felt like it would burst, but she had to endure.
If she missed this moment, there would be no next chance.
Faster. Faster.
She paused briefly while running along the coastline and pulled out the crumpled map she had hidden in her robes. Using the faint moonlight, she checked it.
I’m almost there.
A little farther and she would reach the small boat waiting for her. She had arranged for it in advance.
Once aboard, she would head not to the empire, but to the Kingdom of Ramas. She had already reached an agreement with the border guards there.
After that, at the gateway from Ramas to Yalden, she was scheduled to meet up with the subordinates Yoanna had sent.
Everything would go smoothly.
As long as she didn’t miss the boat waiting for her right now!
“Ah!”
There it was—that boat!
A small vessel with a single boatman sitting alone came into view.
Canna ran frantically and tripped once. Her leg burned as if on fire. Ignoring the pain, she scrambled back to her feet and kept running.
“Huff… huff…”
Finally, she reached it. Canna practically collapsed onto the boat.
“Depart—hurry, set sail right now…”
The boatman silently began rowing.
The moment the boat started moving, Canna was overwhelmed by such intense relief that she nearly fainted.
She had succeeded.
She had actually succeeded!
But she had no energy left to savor the joy.
Having pushed herself far beyond her limits, her heart ached as if it would explode, and nausea surged up her throat. The world seemed to spin around her.
Canna lay face-down on the boat, clutching her bundle of belongings tightly.
After breathing raggedly for a long while, she finally managed to regain her senses.
She slowly sat up.
“Ah…”
By then, the boat had already moved quite far from the island.
Canna smiled faintly as she gazed at the now-tiny island.
By now, that event must have taken place somewhere on that island.
I hope it went well.
My doll.
It must have acted exactly as I instructed.
Among the ancient alchemical arts, there existed a technique for creating dolls from earth that were nearly indistinguishable from humans.
Fortunately, the beach was covered in sand, so materials had been plentiful.
Canna looked down at her bandaged palm. Creating a doll was an advanced technique that required a significant amount of blood.
A sacrifice like this is nothing.
She could afford to shed this much blood.
Canna smiled brightly.
With this, she had finally escaped from Kallen and from the Addis family!
“Haha…”
She couldn’t hold back a small burst of laughter. And at that exact moment—
“Are you happy?”
A voice suddenly spoke.
Canna nearly screamed.
“I asked if you’re happy.”
It was an all-too-familiar voice.
And it had come from directly behind her.
From the boatman who had been rowing this entire time.
Canna turned her body around very slowly. Only then did she truly see the boatman’s face.
A man wearing a straw hat pulled low over his eyes.
The moment he lifted his head, green eyes flashed beneath the brim.
Their gazes met.
“Ah.”
Strength left her lips. A sound that was neither a sigh nor a gasp escaped Canna’s mouth.
“Orsini…”