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Because the mountain path at night was dangerous, Rian started sometime in the afternoon and was just passing by the mountain path.
He hurried but the sun was slowly setting, and darkness came faster in the mountains. Ordinary people might have hated dark mountain paths, but Rian was especially so.
Even if Count Opel didn’t hold on for long, he would have arrived at the Deniz merchants by now.
Rian had been in a hurry all afternoon after receiving a three-day holiday. Originally, he had to go to the Duke of Hamilton’s mansion, that is, his own house where Hales was, but he was in a hurry to do something else.
It’s shaking!
The wagon, which was going well, suddenly shook with a loud noise.
“What? Suddenly?”
At that moment, Rian, who was seated in a comfortable position, was embarrassed and tried to stick his head out of the window. The carriage body tilted and fell on its side.
“Argh!”
Rian held on desperately to the backseat to support himself from rolling around in the carriage.
He didn’t know if the horse’s reins were loosened outside. He groaned as he tumbled over and over again.
“Ugh, what the hell, what’s going on all of a sudden? What is the coachman doing?”
Rian got up groaning and opened the door above his head. He had barely managed to get out of the carriage, only hanging by his arm.
“Hey! Where did it go?”
The coachman, who didn’t even know his name, shouted on a dark mountain path. When he looked closely, a wheel of the wagon fell out and rolled around in the back.
As soon as he saw it, Rian’s face stopped and hardened.
No, it’s a coincidence.
He tried to shake off the thoughts that crossed his mind. At this point, he had to walk down the mountain.
He was looking around the carriage to pack something when suddenly the hair on the back of his neck rose.
Someone had approached quietly from behind and put a blade on Rian’s neck.
“Who are you? What do you want? Money? Do you want money? If it’s money, feel free to… Oh my god!”
However, the assailant behind him kicked him hard behind his knee as if he didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Rian tried to cover the place as it hurt, but he stood upright for fear of being cut.
He kept his mouth shut for fear that they would hit him again if he talked.
“Count… Oh, my. What’s going on?”
From the bottom of the mountain path, someone was screaming and rushing up. The voice was of the coachman.
Somehow he seemed to have rolled down the mountain, but he continued to climb, limping to see if there was any significant injury.
Then the blade shook and withdrew. Rian quickly turned his head, but the unknown assailant was quickly disappearing into the mountains on the other side, fluttering his braided red hair.
“Hey, hey…!”
Rian shouted but was scared, so he couldn’t keep up. Somehow, his trembling legs were wet.
“Are you okay? Where are you hurt?”
“Who’s targeting me?”
Unlike the coachman who came up the mountain path and looked at Rian, Rian did not even glance his way, instead, he stared with trembling eyes only in the direction the unidentified man had disappeared.
It was no coincidence that the wagon wheel was missing. As if reproducing what had happened “that day”.
All the people involved are dead. Why are you targeting me like this?
Tenon Felice, the half-brother of Rian and the eldest son of the Felice family, was killed in a wagon rollover accident. At that time, it was an accident that occurred when a wagon wheel fell out as it did now. It was never a coincidence, but everyone who knew him disappeared except Rian Felice.
Rian gritted his teeth, shouting nervously at the coachman.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and fix the carriage!”
“However, how can a carriage be fixed in the mountains…?”
“Are you telling me to walk down this mountain? Hold on. I can’t do this. Bring that horse.”
Even if he fixed the wagon, he was reluctant to get back on and off again. Rian had been pacing around until now and pointed to a horse grazing nearby.
“Horseback riding would be dangerous in this darkness…”
“Don’t say anything and bring him here.”
At Rian’s push, the man shook his head and brought the horse. The horse neighed as it was dragged in as if the excitement had not yet subsided.
Rian patted the horse a couple of times and climbed on it. The coachman urgently asked about what they were going to do.
“What should I do?”
“What do you mean? You have to fix the carriage and come down on your own.”
“How can I do that by myself…?”
“Giddy up!”
Rian rode the horse, leaving the man behind with an embarrassed expression.
Chin-
“Argh!”
And like the horseman’s worries, he was caught in a ridge shortly before he fell.
“Oh, my legs… Ugh.”
The horse was unconscious after hurting its leg, so Rian had no choice but to limp down.
He arrived at the Deniz merchant group in the afternoon two days later. After lunch, merchants and workers took a leisurely rest and talked about a lot of things.
Rian slowly tried to pass by them but slowed down as he heard their discussions.
“Then is our head really going to be the Grand Duchess?”
“I heard she was sick and resting. When did that happen with the Grand Duke?”
Except for some key figures in the merchant group, they were not aware of Dana’s disappearance or situation. Of course, they didn’t even know that the woman staying with the Grand Duke now was a stand-in for “Dana Deniz”. But Rian knew, and now he doubted what he had heard.
Grand Duchess? What kind of nonsense is this?