Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The moment she found out that the day was just right around the corner, she started making plans.

How to approach him.

How to lure him in.

How to make him Duke.

Truthfully, the third step of this plan wasn’t something that could be drawn out if she only thought about it for a few days, so she decided to think realistically.

What’s urgent right now were the first and second steps.

First, she would need to think about what to talk to him about, but Rosetta and Cassion weren’t exactly socialites.

Both of them stayed away from the social scene, so they never saw or talked to each other before.

It was going to be a problem even if she managed to see him.

Would it be possible to persuade him with only three days left?

She couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, why don’t you become the Duke?’

Furthermore, she couldn’t be caught by the Carter family as she helped out Cassion.

‘At least, until Cassion becomes Duke.’

Until she was certain of this.

Then, there was only one thing she’d choose.

She needed to approach him without anyone knowing, and at the same time, to create a situation where he wouldn’t dare to reject her proposal.

And she knew how both conditions would be met.

It was…

Right after the carriage accident.

While she recalled the past few days, the carriage stopped halfway up the mountain.

As she got off the carriage, she checked on the horseman who was feeding the horse.

At first glance, she could see the cliff path through the gaps between the trees that were standing diagonally due to being on a hillside.

‘I think that’s enough.’

There wasn’t much she could see, but it didn’t matter as long as she kept the timing right.

If it was too empty, they might find them at once.

If the trees covered this much and the slope was like this, then she wouldn’t have to worry about being caught.

She thought it should be fine.

She could see the bottom from the top clearly, but the top couldn’t be seen from the bottom very well.

Unhanding the branches she held onto, she went back to the carriage.

“I apologize, Milady, but we shouldn’t stay here for long.”

When she got back to the carriage, the horseman finished feeding the horse and glanced towards the sky, concerned.

“The sun is setting. When the sun goes down, these remote mountains become dangerous. Not only the mountain paths, but even paved roads become dangerous. As expected, it would be better to bring a knight.“

With his continued mumbles, the horseman glanced at her.

And she answered with a quick glance.

“It’s alright. No one dares to look at the color of my eyes anyway.”

It was the same excuse she gave to Damian.

She said, ‘I want to clear my head. It’s hard to stay where Katie used to be,’ when she asked for permission to go out.

He tried to attach a knight on her, but she refused by using the same excuse she gave the horseman.

It would just be annoying to have more eyes on something she’s trying to keep under wraps.

In the first place, she kept it a secret that she had come to a remote mountain.

‘By now, they’ll think I’ve arrived at the hotel or walking downtown while still within the Duke’s territory.’

If they had known that I’d stop by this mountain, they would definitely have somehow attached a knight on her.

“Even if I look like this, I’m still a Valentine. I’m confident I can protect myself, so don’t worry.”

For generations, the Valentine Duchy had always been a house of warriors or knights. Even women were no different.

According to Rosetta’s memory, both Alicia and Rosetta already knew how to handle a sword and they’d mastered the basic teachings to become a warrior.

It was a must.

But more lessons on swordsmanship were optional.

To be honest, both Alicia and Rosetta were only trained with the basics, so if the horseman here now encountered a group of bandits, the ending was obviously a dog’s death.

If they knew she was one of the Valentine’s Ducal Princesses, then they’d definitely aim for capturing her and asking for ransom.

Sometimes it was better to just keep people in the dark so they wouldn’t concern themselves so much.

“Don’t worry yourself. I won’t be here for long, I just want to see the sunset before we descend the mountain.”

“Yes, Milady.”

At Rosetta’s words, there was a mixture of anxiety and relief on his face. He tightened the string on his pouch as though he was excited to leave.

The horse, which had been chewing on an apple until recently, looked at the closed pouch forlornly, but the horseman didn’t notice this and immediately began to prepare for their descent.

He arranged the pouches and put them on the horseman’s seat, checked his whip, gloves and reins over and over, then soon squatted down next to the carriage to take a look at the wheels.

Rosetta looked at the sky quietly again.

The sky was the only indication of time passing because she didn’t have a watch.

The sky had become redder.

And not only the sky, but also the world beneath it.

The green leaves of the trees were tinged red by the sky, looking as though it had become autumn even though it was still summer.

‘I think it’s about time…’

If it’s that time, then it wasn’t dinnertime anymore.

‘Cassion, 19. Exactly a week before the academy’s summer graduation ceremony. During the hour of dinnertime.’

The novel’s information in her mind was accurate.

She had moved forward after Katie’s arrest, but that was only within the Valentine household, so nothing else in the world had changed.

After leaning against the carriage, I slowly walked toward the horseman.

It was getting late, so she had to prepare this side as well.

After walking silently, she stood behind the horseman.

Covered by the shadow of a tree, Rosetta’s own shadow did not appear, so the horseman didn’t notice her approach.

“Hey.”

“Oh—goodness!”

At her sudden call from behind him, the horseman turned around and yelped.

She didn’t miss the opportunity and, with her pointer and middle finger, quickly stabbed a pressure point beneath his ear as he faced her.

After the pressure point was touched, the horseman lost consciousness and couldn’t even close his eyes. Then, he collapsed.

Oh, her abilities really were still there.

After shortly admiring her fingers, she dragged the man’s body over to the tree next to the carriage.

The horse’s black eyes were clear, and they stared at the horseman as though it had witnessed something amazing.

Rosetta smiled lightly and brought the pouch of food behind the horse.

As she took out some fresh carrots and small apples, the horse blinked several times and began to eat happily.

“Right. In exchange, keep what you saw today a secret.”

She stroked its mane as she murmured, then the white horse softly stamped its front hoof and pushed its snout against her.

While petting the horse’s jaw, she turned her head to the edge of the cliff, covered by trees.

A still, quiet cliff side.

Before long, some birds below the slope began to fly into the sky with their wings fluttering.

The unexpected movement induced a strange sense of unease in the air.

She stopped petting the horse and crouched down to the slope, her hand on the ground. She felt a slight vibration among the sounds of various mountain dwellers.

It sounded like a four-legged animal pulling something that was on wheels…

“Here it comes.”

As soon as the other horse stopped, a huge banging sound from the earth rang and echoed.

The mountain’s birds flew up the sky, and the frightened horse next to her let out a heavy breath.

She opened her eyes slowly after counting a few seconds inwardly, then she saw a hazy cloud of dust through the gap in the trees.

Soon, under the dissipating dust, a man ran back down the mountain path and away from the dust cloud with frantic steps.

Was he the horseman?

He must have jumped before the accident.

Holding onto an injured arm, he looked behind him again and again as he ran, like he was being chased.

His face was full of anxiety and fear.

Goodness, even he could be scared.

Killing someone must not be easy.

Today’s accident was intentionally done after the horseman was paid.

To kill Cassion.

At the behest of the current Duchess of Carter and her biological son, Leo, the male lead.

Those two orchestrated the accident today.

Cassion had neither a mother to support him nor the ability to wield magic that the Carter household prided itself in. He was a man born into such a family despite not having any abilities.

The Duke of Carter was ashamed of his incompetent son, and so after his father abandoned Cassion, no one else sided with him.

No one at all protected him.

Taking advantage of Cassion’s position, the Duchess and Leo often tried to get rid of him.

This was to secure a more secure hold over the succession. In the novel, the carriage accident was the end of their efforts.

‘…I feel sorry for you.’

Suddenly, she felt pity for the guy.

A home was supposed to be a place where one could return to with a light heart, but for him, it was the most difficult and frightening place.

There was no one on his side and his life was constantly being threatened.

He struggled over and over.

He survived all that.

But at the end of it all, he was going to die alone at the hands of a cowardly horseman.

‘Even so, Cassion. Don’t take it too hard.’

The horseman who tried to kill him would die soon.

She didn’t mean that she’d kill the horseman for him.

She felt sorry for him, but she didn’t have enough affection for him to kill on his behalf.

A hand that feeds a hound could also be bitten. It was simply the logic of this cruel world.

The horseman would kill the Duke’s firstborn, then the family of that dead young man would kill the horseman in turn.

In a way, it was a cycle of vengeance.

Rosetta smiled at the irony of their similarities.

The horseman’s retreating figure was now ridiculously far away, so much that he was almost invisible.

After checking the horses and seeing if they were unconscious, she ran straight down the slope and descended the cliff.

Concentrating her energy on her limbs, she slid down the cliff and ran down. She could already taste that distinct metallic taste in her mouth.

She wondered when this body would adapt to her power.

She had trained her body to the fullest in the second round, so she was experienced with training new bodies.

‘But the amount of chi I can handle seems to be increasing.’

Slowing down as she neared the scene of the accident, she swallowed that metallic taste.

As she got closer the cloud of dust was disturbed. She swung her hands around for it to disappear, then the scene of the planned accident gradually became more visible.

What a sight.

A carriage that lay shattered.

Luggage strewn here and there.

And the victim—

A bleeding man with wounds covering his entire body.

The most severe wound of them all was his abdomen pierced by a large branch.

The branch was a little thinner than a baby’s forearm, but it penetrated his waist, and blood flowed like water out a faucet.

‘Ah, it looks painful.’

As she took one step forward, the man’s brows twitched in pain, and Rosetta could guess just how much pain he was in.

He sensed my presence, and so he struggled to lift his head from the ground to see who it was that came.

The hair that fluttered in the wind was black.

And the eyes that stared back at her were red.

“Please . . . save . . . me . . .”

Cassion, who was covered entirely in blood, gasped loudly and laboriously raised his head as he sensed my presence.

His broken plea was laced with an intense desperation.

Like dying embers of a fire, he pleaded.

This man was the villain who was fated to meet an unfortunate demise.

Cassion Carter.