chapter 41

Even after running for a long time, the distance did not narrow and gradually grew farther away.

Of course, he could not keep up with the bear’s speed. Kiehl was angry because it seemed like his relationship as a human with Bella of the Animal Kingdom.

“Pur…! Why are you running away! Why!”

At that time, a summoning circle was created from the radio that Pur had, and the radio that had been cut off was reconnected.

Kiehl ran with all his strength. His breath was out to the tip of his chin, but he couldn’t stop.

Bella’s voice was heard through Pur’s ears.

—Do you want me to summon you, Pur?

“Yes…!”

—There’s no one nearby, right?

“Yes!”

—Are you… running? Why are you panting like this?

As soon as she heard those words, Pur stopped running. Fortunately, Kiehl was still following from quite a distance away.

“Oh, I was running away because I thought that the Miss wouldn’t summon me.”

—What. You’ll be caught by a hunter.

At that moment, he noticed that Pur was talking to Bella.

‘Bella… Bella.’

His face was hot red, and his heart felt like it was going to explode. If he ran a little more, he could catch it.

“Bella…”

“Miss! There’s a hunter! Summon me quickly!”

“Oh, so noisy, wait.”

A summoning circle appeared at Pur’s feet, and Kiehl stretched out his hand with all his might.

‘Definitely… It’s Bella.’

But, that distance only reminded him of the reality that he could not reach it no matter how hard he tried.

Pur had already disappeared, and Kiehl slumped down on the spot, exhaling a rough breath.

‘Why are you running away?’

However, thanks to that, Kiehl came to Daisy.

He knew the true nature of the gaze he had felt, even the coincidence of obtaining the necessary information at the inn. He could feel Bella’s traces in everything he thought was strange. It felt vividly that she was helping.

‘Still, why…?’

Why did he have to pretend he did not see Pur?

Kiehl wanted to go to that mansion quickly, so if there was an excuse for him to go there so that Rohan would not notice…

Upon arriving back at the bandits’ stronghold, in addition to the twin escorts, Rosanne and Myu were waiting for him.

“Why are these people not leaving?”

“That teddy bear moved earlier, right?”

Rosanne stood in front of Kiehl and blocked his path. Maybe, Rio had cured her since her nosebleeds were now gone.

“Move.”

“You’re a traveler?”

Kiehl grabbed Rosanne’s shoulder and pushed her.

“Get out of the way. It’s urgent. Rine, I need to go to the mansion. Can you hold Rohan?”

“How long does it take from here?”

“I think it took me quite a while riding the carriage.”

He was not sure because it was a memory from when he was too young.

While Kiehl was thinking, Rosanne raised her hand.

“I’ll prepare the carriage for you!”

“Miss!”

“I will accompany you.”

Kiehl wrinkled one of his eyebrows. Could he not go because there was no carriage? He was worried because he had to get rid of Rohan.

“Why do I have to… carry more luggage?”

“Please. Since I was kidnapped, I want to see more outside!”

She must have seen such an immature person, but those words reflected Kiehl’s desire to go to the mansion as soon as possible.

Then, in his mind, a twinkle flashed.

An idea came to mind.

“Hey, then I’ll take you, so just do what I tell you.”

“It’s not ‘hey,’ it’s Rosanne.”

Rosanne smiled a playful smile and held out her hand to Kiehl. He smiled when he saw that, too, and accepted the handshake.

‘This woman can fool Rohan to go to the mansion.’

At that moment, Rosanne thought that Kiehl’s smile was ominous, but he was handsome.

As Bella thought, Rosanne and Kiehl’s journey in the novel started off somehow. As if the power of the original story was hard to resist.

Bella, who was directing from the top of the tree, dropped her radio as soon as she heard Pur’s answer.

‘Ah…’

She canceled all the summons and cut off the radio to avoid making a loud noise as she fell. The heart that was hidden inside came out and started to beat. The sound of her heart beating slowly was louder than any other sound in the woods.

“Damn!”

Iwer, who was summoned first from below, slammed her head into the falling radio and screamed.

“Miss! You dropped this!”

Bella turned her head to the bandits’ stronghold. Although it cannot be seen hidden by the thick trees, the novel finally began there.

‘Finally, Kiehl met Rosanne.’

Even though she thought she would be happy, why does she feel empty and regretful?

“Miss!”

Iwer suddenly climbed up the tree and called Bella.

“What are we doing now?”

“Huh? Now, we…”

Bella had finally regained her senses, and she found the radio that she had dropped. As Iwer handed it to her, she raised the corners of her lips bitterly and went down.

“I need to bring Pur first.”

Bella called Pur, who had done her first mission well.

Pur was probably the one who was most surprised when she saw Kiehl, though Bella was proud that she did not even ask and seemed to run as soon as the job was done.

‘I’m glad for these guys.’

The summoned Pur was quite wet with sweat and was smiling mischievously.

“Lady! The Young Master…”

As soon as she heard the word ‘Young Master’, Bella’s heart raced again.

‘…What is this anxiety?’

“What. Did you get caught?”

“No!”

Pur was already gasping and sweating, so even though her whole body tensed with the lie, she did not get a strange look.

‘As long as she didn’t get caught? Looks like she ran a lot.’

Bella spoke deliberately brightly to calm her beating heart.

“Yes. Well done. Seeing you do well without getting caught, you should go to the realm of the devil and serve as my assistant from now on.”

At that moment, Pur’s eyes twinkled.

“…Your assistant?”

“Yes, the closest person to me. It’s a position closer to me than the generals.”

“The closest spot!”

Then, in front of Bella, Iwer asked Pur what she wanted to ask, “Pur, you must have seen the Young Master right up close?”

“Oh right! The Young—!”

“Stop.”

Bella smiled and stopped their conversation.

Iwer and Pur felt the chill and had no choice but to keep their mouths shut. She did not want to think any further. She did not want to face what this feeling of discomfort was…

‘I really look like a bad sister-in-law.’

Despite the fact that Bella read the novels hundreds of times, she still did not like Rosanne. She did not want to admit that her heart was twisted, as she only wanted her favorite Kiehl to have happy days ahead.

“Kiehl has nothing to do with us, so don’t talk.”

“Bu… But.”

“Now is the time to go to the Demon Realm.”

Kiehl’s strategy was as follows.

The story of Rosanne being taken away by the kidnappers, and he went to rescue her.

“Will Rohan believes that…?”

“He would rather like it.”

He would think that there was another woman intervening besides Bella, so he thought it would be better to be vigilant.

Hastily, Kiehl returned to the mansion with Rosanne.

“That person seemed to have a bit of a bad personality, does he?”

As Rosanne muttered, Myu tilted her head and stared through Kiehl’s back.

“I think I saw him somewhere…”

Before the day was over, Kiehl was able to reach the mansion. From the moment he saw the exterior of her mansion, his heart was troubled. It did not look well. Before, they planted flowers every spring, and the powerful Zanbar always pulled the weeds.

“Is it here…? Wow, I’ll believe it even if it’s a haunted house.”

“Wait here.”

Kiehl ignored Rosanne’s words, and he opened the door, which was a very different place from where he had grown up. The sparse weeds reminded him of his first visit to this mansion. Everything was the same as when they first moved into the mansion…

An empty mansion with nothing.

Although He had heard that it was, the reality he had denied was unfolding before his eyes.

‘No…. it won’t be.’

He ran to the second floor first and opened Bella’s door first. Bella, of course, was not there… Not even a single piece of furniture was left.

“Bella… Why aren’t you here?”

Kiehl slowly walked through her room, beckoning in the air where the bed had been and where the desk had been.

He suddenly remembered the hypothesis that Rio had made.

—”I thought that living in a different world might mean living in a different time zone.”

Ignoring it and passing it over, seeing the mansion that had nothing left, an absurd hypothesis began to dominate Kiehl’s mind. With that thought, he hurriedly ran into his room on the second floor.

To his surprise, nothing had changed in his room.

“Ah…”

Kiehl walked helplessly to his bed and caressed the neatly arranged duvet. Seeing his room that had not changed at all, he remembered a nightmare he had when he was very young.

“You will be like me, and you will be abandoned.”

In the mansion where there is no trace of everyone, traces of Kiehl were left alone…

“You’re not needed.”

It seemed to show the gap between him, who remained in the human world in this age, and Bella, which could not exist.

“Aaaaah!”

He sat down and pulled the blanket down tight. He was crying, and on an empty bed, Bella was reading a fairy tale to Kiehl while smiling.

—”And the Princess and the Prince live happily together for a long time.”

…The ghost of the nightmares whispers to Kiehl.

—”You are alone.”

“No… no!”

As in his childhood, Kiehl had nothing to answer but to cry and shake his head.

Kiehl lost his heart for a long time, then he bit his lip and thought as he laid down the blanket soaked in tears.

‘…Yes, something must have happened.’

He knew very well that if he did not justify Bella’s absence for himself, he would collapse. Even Pur, who ran away, must have something to do with it. There must be a reason why she left this house.

‘The study… Maybe, there are clues left in the study.’

He remembered that Bella always wrote something down.

—”Did your uncle ever sell you to a wizard?”

She must have seen it and asked Kiehl about it.

Thinking that, he went down to the study, and seeing that it was also empty, it felt like a dagger was thrust into his chest.

Young Bella was painting there.

—“Look, L, for ‘Lion’.”

And, as he got closer, she faded and disappeared.

‘It can’t be…’

In a room where everything was empty, a safe on the wall caught his eye.

He stood in front of the safe as if possessed.

Even though there were four numbers, only the last number was turned so only that part was not covered with dust.

‘1118’

‘1117’

Kiehl carefully dialed the last number one by one and opened the safe’s door.

‘1110’

The safe opened with a click.