CH 117

“She must want me to show myself.”

Elena found the ingredient she was looking for not long after: the extract made from fly mushrooms, which caused hallucinations in people who ingested it. She only had a small amount since fly mushrooms were difficult to find, but she was confident that it was going to be useful.

Elena left the warehouse and entered the hall, her coat flapping in the wind. In the silence of the night, she began to look for William, but she couldn’t find him anywhere in the castle. Elena headed straight for the stable to find William who was getting ready to leave.

“Lady Elena!” he gasped after looking back from the sudden sound of the door creaking open. The lady was wearing a black coat and simple clothes as if she were planning to travel a long way.

“Take me, William,” she said quietly.

“No, I’ll be going alone.”

“Lydia is waiting for me, right?”

Taken aback by her direct question, William became speechless for a moment. He then grabbed Elena by the arms and exclaimed, “No, how could you say that?!”

However, his little lord remained calm. “The Lydia I know wouldn’t have let you live and come to me like this. If I don’t go, my sisters will die. That will mean that Gareth won’t be able to return, either.”

“If you go, you’ll die as well! I’m going alone, Lady Elena,” William shouted with a firm voice to dissuade Elena. If only he had known that Gareth had already departed for the Townsend estate, William would not have come to Elena. He would have tried his best to meet Gareth instead, hiding the terrible news from the lady. Everything that had happened was inevitable now, but William decided to at least stop the lady from walking into her death.

At that moment, Elena spoke in a frightening indifferent voice. “I know Logan’s wife, Lenoa. I’ve saved her once before. It’s time for her to pay me back.” Elena firmly shook away the hands on her arms and said, “We’ve already delayed, William. Let’s go.”

Unable to stop her, William helped Elena get on his horse.

* * *

Gareth straightened his shoulders and his back. The urgent situation had caused him to move day and night without stopping for the past few days. From what Hansen had learned from spying on Logan’s estate, the people were spending a casual winter as if they had no idea what had happened in the Townsend estate. Unlike a place that was preparing for a war that could cost everything, the gates were open, and people moved in and out of the estate without any restrictions. Thanks to the lack of strict surveillance, Hansen had also been able to roam freely around Logan’s estate. One could never guess that Logan was preparing for war.

Gareth was immediately able to gauge that Logan had taken these measures on purpose to avoid the king’s suspicions. Having gained new information, he had sent a messenger to Ethan right away, notifying him that Logan’s military was hidden elsewhere. He also noted that the men must not be far from the capital and that, although the military was dispersed throughout different places, the leaders and conductors were stationed at Logan’s estate.

Gareth was able to receive Ethan’s reply not long after, which stated that he was secretly making his way to the capital with his men and that he was going to check every inch of the place for any suspicious activity. Ethan had also written that Logan was Gareth’s responsibility and that Lydia was his. From Ethan’s message, Gareth was able to realize that everything had originated from Lydia, as there was otherwise no reason for Ethan to be so obsessed with the woman. The red-haired woman was the mastermind of the king’s schemes; that was the only reason the king had kept her at his side until now.

Gareth decided that this was also the reason why Ethan wanted to take revenge on Lydia. She was indeed an atrocious woman; Gareth couldn’t even begin to imagine what she would have done if she were born a man.