Chapter 38

Cedric's face darkened for a moment as he watched Julia mumble.

"This is Helios Monastery. Julia came all the way here.”

"…"

“You don't remember?"

‘I came all the way here…’ Julia, tracing her memories vaguely, slowly raised herself up.

At the same time, a shattering pain came over her entire body.

"Ah….!"

Julia curled her body up and started shaking heavily.

Starting from her heart and spreading throughout her body, the pain made it hard for her to even breathe.

It was as if something hot was spreading in her chest.

Julia barely breathed as she grabbed her chest, which was shaking violently as if it was boiling. Cedric took her hand and hurriedly using his healing power.

But her pain did not subside.

Seeing her shivering, Cedric murmured in frustration.

"What the hell happened during that time…?"

Cedric's gaze touched her body. So far, there were no visible injuries. If there were internal injuries, his healing power should be able to treat them, but even that was useless….

Something terrible must have happened to her on the way here.

Cedric recalled the memory just before they parted.

After he told her how to get to Helios Monastery, they parted and Cedric spent the day trying to distract the knights.

After that, he arrived safely at the monastery and waited for Julia, but she did not show up even after a long time.

So a long time passed, a month. Cedric guessed that she might have been caught by them and returned to her original position.

However, contrary to his speculation, Julia was found collapsed in the front yard of the monastery the very next day.

"Ha…”

Cedric, who had erased his recollections, bit his lip as he stared at Julia moaning.

There was nothing he could do, so he just held her trembling hands.

“Ah….ah….”

Julia, who was in agony, slowly lifted her tear-stained gaze.

The pain began to lessen little by little, and her eyes, which had been dim, gradually lit up. Cedric waited until Julia's breathing calmed down, and then he asked with concern.

"Julia, what happened?"

At his question, Julia struggled to recall her past memories.

The last thing she remembered was a deep immersion in the cold river after throwing herself down the cliff.

The cold water current hit her body, and she fainted right after.

There was no memory left after that.

"I tried to escape and jumped off the cliff. I don't even know how I got here…"

Julia, who was explaining in a faltering voice, put her hand on her forehead.

That was a territory that bordered the Grand Duke's domain. However, it was a long way from the cliff to the river, near the castle walls.

Cedric listened intently to her interminable speech and dropped his gaze as if he had an idea of what she was talking about.

Then, suddenly, he asked,

“Did you lose the pendant?"

"…Yes."

Technically, she didn’t lose it, Fernan had taken it from her, but Julia didn't add that.

Only after hearing her answer did Cedric open his mouth with a hint of hesitation. 

"My opinion is that… I think that Julia instinctively used your power-saving ability when you fell off the cliff."

"…"

"You used the power directly without the pendant."

That was, if she used her healing power to protect herself and then used her movement ability to move from place to place at once.

Assuming that, it could explain this whole situation.

The question was how she was able to use her holy power without a medium, but now was not the time to think about that.

She had used enough holy power to save her life, so her body must be severely damaged now. 

"Yulia, did you do this because you thought you could live?”

"…"

"It has to be that…"

Julia’s pale lips quivered as Cedric, who had asked with a worried look, was unable to continue.

"That….”

Julia's eyes fluttered in the middle of her reply.

In fact, she thought she might die. She thought it didn’t matter if she died like this.

It would be a hell of a lot worse for her to be taken back to Fernan and live as an abandoned Grand Duchess.

She didn't want to go back to being the daughter of the Marquis, which she hated more than death.

Reading the reply out of the silence, Cedric hastily opened his mouth.

"Get some more rest first, Julia. When you have recovered sufficiently, you must leave the Empire."

According to Matheus' messenger bird that arrived yesterday, the Grand Duke was currently searching for Julia in all directions. 

This place was not too far from the Grand Duke's territory, so for now, the first priority was to leave the Empire as soon as possible.

***

Even after visiting the temple, Fernan didn't stop searching for Julia.

Matheus said that he could not be sure if she was alive or dead. His words included the assumption that Julia might be dead.

Fernan, however, blocked out all negative thoughts and immersed himself only in the search for traces of Julia.

Meanwhile, spring soon arrived.

It was then that the news of Julia's disappearance was brought to the capital.

The first person who heard the news was her father, the Marquis of Elody.

"What nonsense is this? My daughter… Why did she suddenly disappear?!"

After coming to the grand duke's castle, the Marquis shouted loudly with a startled look on his face.

So far, no details were known, and Julia was simply missing.

Exhausted, Lloyd calmly dealt with the Marquis.

"I know you're surprised, but please calm down first. Currently, the Grand Duchy's knights are searching all the territories for Her Highness.”

"Grand Duke! Did the Grand Duke deliberately hide my daughter? Otherwise, that quiet girl wouldn’t just disappear.”

The Marquis was shouting so loudly that his neck turned bright red. Then he immediately caught Lloyd by the chest and shouted threateningly.

"Go get the Grand Duke right now! Now!"

“His Highness is looking for the Grand Duchess every day. Please calm down and wait a little longer."

"My daughter is gone and you tell me to calm down!”

The Marquis gasped, unable to hold back his anger. His red face, which seemed to burst, soon returned to its original state.

After nervously shoving Lloyd away, he began to search the castle like a madman.

In the Marquis' head now, there was an assumption that Fernan had hidden Julia on purpose.

No, she wasn't hidden, but she might have been removed without anyone knowing.

Fernan himself was the one who had complained so much about this marriage from the start!

"No!"

After a few moments of searching, he angrily began to throw at random the artifacts that decorated one side of the lobby. 

The startled servants fled in terror, and Lloyd hastily stopped the Marquis. 

Finally, he led the Marquis to the parlor and locked the door.

The servants hurriedly cleaning up the lobby, which was in disarray after a rough storm. It was the next day when Fernan returned from receiving a communication.

"Your Highness, let's go to the parlor."

Lloyd, who seemed to have aged in a day, reported without energy. Fernan opened the parlor door immediately without reply.

“Did you just show up now? My daughter is…..!”

The Marquis, who jumped up and tried to shout, paused for a moment.

It was because Fernan’s condition seemed unusual to the extent that he forgot his anger at the moment.

Fernan, who had taken a seat, looked at the Marquis with an empty gaze. The Marquis narrowed his eyes and slowly sat down.

"So, did you find Julia? She’s been missing for 2 months now.  Don't you think you should at least pretend to be looking for her?”

Fernan only stared at the Marquis as if he couldn't hear anything. At the empty gaze, the Marquis frowned and shouted loudly.

"Answer me! Did you deliberately drive my daughter away? Are you trying to destroy this marriage and confront His Majesty?"

"…"

"I will inform His Majesty of the details! You seem to be under the impression that His Majesty might abandon me if this marriage is broken…!"

Fernan raised his dark eyes and stared at the Marquis.

The Marquis didn't show the slightest bit of concern for Julia. He was just angry at the situation and afraid that his position would be narrowed.

A murderous intent slowly began to seep into Fernan’s blank face.

‘Why didn't I kill him earlier?’

When he found out that Julia was an illegitimate child of the Marquis… No, when he found out that the Marquis dared to hit Julia, he should have killed him immediately.

Even though he had fully guessed how much Julia had suffered from her father, he was distracted by the divorce and forgot the order.

‘That's right, I have to kill him first.’