Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Kidnapping's Plausibility Aligns
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The scene in front of the tart shop had turned into utter pandemonium.
But even amid the chaos, order in Eisen guard held firm.
"Baron! About thirty minutes ago, I saw two black carriages speeding west!"
A nearby baker came running up, still wearing his flour-dusted apron, shouting at the top of his lungs.
"The wheel tracks were deep! They didn't seem heavily loaded, but they were moving incredibly fast!"
"Here's the registry of out-of-towners who've been staying here the past few days!"
The innkeeper ripped out an entire ledger and handed it over.
"There were a few suspicious types using a western dialect! Take a look!"
Residents swarmed like bees, pouring out every scrap of information they had.
True to form in a territory where loyalty to the lord ran deep, the able-bodied men had spontaneously blocked off alley entrances, acting as checkpoints to stop any suspicious fugitives from escaping.
"Thank you. West... west, you say."
The Eisen Baron swiftly compiled the residents' reports, his face pale as a ghost.
Despair gripped him—the agony of a father who had lost his daughter.
Yet at the same time, he was the empire's finest administrator.
He suppressed his emotions and thought coldly, rationally.
Sticking to his side like a shadow was Kara.
"Step back! Don't come any closer!"
Kara drew Frostwind and kept watch over anyone trying to approach the baron.
Even the residents' well-meaning faces couldn't put her at ease.
If anything, they made her more uneasy.
'Baba the Elder said it: the empire hides daggers behind smiling faces.'
She recalled the past—how a member of the Blood Fang Tribe had tried to assassinate her father, Gorgon, simply because their "ideals differed," despite being fellow Norheimers.
If Barg hadn't been there, her father would already have gone to join Goddess Sandra.
That trauma was scraping at Kara's nerves, sharpening them to a razor's edge.
'What if this kidnapping is... the work of the baron's political rivals targeting him?'
It could be a trap, using Alina as bait to lure out the baron for assassination.
What if an assassin was hiding in this crowd?
'With Barg gone, I'm the only one who can protect the baron.'
Kara's blue eyes flashed sharply.
Though early in her pregnancy and not alone in her body, her warrior instincts had her radiating killing intent as she scanned her surroundings.
That was when it happened.
Sss...
Bucking the flow of the chaotic crowd, a man glided toward the Eisen Baron like a ghost.
No footsteps. No presence.
A stealthy movement, as if a shadow had taken physical form.
But Kara's senses weren't fooled.
"......!"
Instinctively, Kara swung her sword.
Shick-!
The blade sliced through the air with a sharp hiss.
A speed that would have cut down any ordinary person before they could react.
But the man stopped short.
The tip of Kara's sword thinly sliced the hem of his chest garment.
Yet he didn't so much as blink.
No retreat. No fluster.
He simply stood there, rooted to the spot.
"......Who are you."
Kara growled low, sword trained on him.
The man was tall.
Towering even over the statuesque Kara by a head.
Half his face was hidden behind a white mask, but his golden eyes gleamed even under the moonlight peeking through the gaps.
"Calm yourself, lady of Wintersword."
The man spoke in a leisurely tone.
'He knows me?'
Even with a sword at his throat, his golden gaze fixed past Kara on the Eisen Baron.
"I'm no enemy."
"You expect me to believe that? Show yourself!"
Kara tightened her grip on her sword.
The Eisen Baron placed a hand on Kara's shoulder and stepped forward.
"Wait. Let's hear him out. Who are you?"
"My name doesn't matter, Baron."
The man answered curtly.
"What matters is time. If you want to find your daughter, you need to hurry."
"......!"
"The kidnapping was commissioned by a western vassal kingdom of the empire, the Slokina Kingdom."
Slokina Kingdom.
A member of the imperial federation, yet the western hegemon that had long eyed northern interests and clashed with House Northguard.
The baron's eyebrow twitched.
"Slokina...? Why would they target my daughter?"
"Later. Their rendezvous point is an abandoned hunter's cabin in the woods outside Eisen guard's west gate."
The man recited the information mechanically.
But Kara wasn't dropping her guard.
"Lies. Why would a western kingdom risk it all for the daughter of a grand duchy baron? This is a trap."
Sring—!
She pressed the blade closer to his throat.
"Try any tricks, and I'll cut you down right here."
Kara's killing intent exploded.
One more step, and his head would fly.
"Stop! Miss Kara!"
The Eisen Baron shouted urgently.
He grabbed her arm to hold her back.
"Baron! This guy's suspicious!"
"I know! But...!"
Cold sweat beaded on the baron's forehead as he stared at the man.
Kara's strike had been fast.
A speed even a first-rate knight would struggle to evade.
But this man hadn't dodged.
He'd stood firm, as if there was no need.
Cut across the chest, yet not a hint of flinching—pure nerve.
'No ordinary man.'
What if Kara clashed with someone this dangerous and got hurt?
What if something happened to the child in her womb?
He'd have no face to show Barg or Gorgon.
Above all, every minute counted right now.
"I'll... trust that information."
The baron made his call.
"Let's go."
No sooner had the words left his mouth—
Pop.
The man's form blurred.
Even though the baron hadn't looked away for a second, he vanished into the crowd like a mirage.
As if he'd never been there at all.
"......He's gone?"
Kara scanned around in confusion, but the golden-eyed man had left no trace.
Only the noisy crowd remained.
"Baron."
Kara asked with an uneasy look.
"You trust that shady guy's word? It could be a trap. They might be luring us outside the west gate for an ambush."
"I know. The details are too precise—makes it suspicious."
The baron adjusted his glasses.
His eyes hardened coldly.
"But... if he were with the kidnappers or meant us harm, he could've swung a blade in this chaotic crowd to sow even greater disorder."
He glared in the direction the man had vanished.
"That would've bought him escape time or subdued us far more easily. Someone of his skill could've managed it."
"......"
"He gave the info and slipped away quietly... that means he's either helping us or has goals separate from the kidnappers."
The baron clenched his fist.
No room for choice.
"Right now... we grab even that rotten lifeline. For Alina, I'd shake hands with the devil himself."
"...Understood."
Kara sheathed her sword and nodded.
"Everyone, to the west gate! Surround the forest!"
With the baron's bellow, the troops shifted westward.
Hooves thundered, cleaving through Eisen guard's night.
And at that very moment.
One man was already racing madly toward that spot outside the west gate.
It was Barg.
Elysia was just entering academy age to begin with.
Same age as Kara.
Confusing her with seven-year-old Alina would disqualify them as kidnappers, no matter how scarce their intel.
Then it hit him—the recent changes.
'Alina's routine shifted.'
Growing close to Kara and excited about the baby sibling in her belly had made Alina go out more often.
Pure-hearted, she wanted to buy treats for Kara, so she'd explored every eatery in the territory.
At first, with escort knights in tow.
Sometimes in a fancy carriage.
'That put her in outsiders' sights often.'
But as her outings grew frequent and erratic, those minimal defenses peeled away layer by layer.
Until today, when she went out with just head maid Masha.
From the perps' perspective, they'd scouted for days.
Alina had caught their eye as a target in the process.
So, what about the real princess, Elysia?
'Why was Elysia kidnapped? No—why was she even in Eisen guard?'
She was the emperor's illegitimate daughter.
Tuition covered, but academy entry required a recommendation from a prominent house.
The stuffy academy didn't bend to imperial pressure.
Even the Eisen Baron had agonized over dorm issues.
Of course, the palace used that as pretext too.
Maneuvers to block the bastard's enrollment.
In the end, Elysia must have headed north to the grand duchy rulers for a recommendation.
Unlike other vassal states, Northguard was a founding merit of Croatina before it became an empire—a grand duchy on equal footing with vassal kingdoms.
'And the connection she chose was... the Eisen Baron.'
To ask the grand duke's right-hand man, who oversaw administration, Elysia had sneaked into Eisen guard in disguise.
And gotten snatched.
The conclusion narrowed to two nightmarish scenarios.
'If it wasn't a simple case of mistaken identity...'
First possibility.
They'd already successfully kidnapped Elysia.
As a bastard, she had scant protection—easy pickings.
Then, while withdrawing, the baron's daughter caught their eye.
''We've got the princess—snatching a baron's girl too is nothing. Might as well ransom her for extra coin.''
Second possibility.
They missed or couldn't find Elysia, so they grabbed Alina as an easy substitute hostage.
''Lost the princess, but the Eisen Baron's daughter will still fetch a nice payout.''
Either way, disaster.
They'd crossed the line.
'No forgiveness.'
As his deductions wrapped up, conviction lit his eyes.
A bit of speculation, sure—but that speculation justified acting alone.
It was something only he could do.
Then their destination was obvious.
The spot where kidnapped Elysia escaped in the original story—the kidnappers' secret rendezvous.
And the stealthiest exit route from Eisen guard.
'The Nightwood Forest toward Eisen guard's west gate.'
He veered that way.
Sure enough.
Faint narrow carriage wheel marks stretched westward on the ground.
Narrower and sleeker than a standard wagon.
An escape carriage.
"Found you."
A cold smile curled his lips.
In the darkness, his eyes gleamed like a beast's.
The gaze of a hunter scenting prey.
He readjusted his axe and sprinted full tilt toward Nightwood Forest.
Outside Eisen guard's west gate.
Deep in the woods where no one ventured, stood an abandoned hunter's cabin.
Wind whistled through mossy wooden planks; the floor reeked of musty mold.
In a corner of that cold floor, a small shadow huddled.
The shadow of Alina, the Eisen Baron's youngest daughter.
"......"
The girl's hands and feet were bound with rough rope, a gag stuffed in her mouth.
At just seven years old.
Old enough for terror to demand screams or thrashing.
The fear was too much for a little girl to bear.
But Alina was astonishingly quiet.
Tears plopped from her big eyes, soaking her knees, but she didn't even whimper.
She was scared.
So scared. So cold.
But Alina bit her lip and swallowed her sobs.
'Masha...'
The moment of her abduction replayed vividly.
Head maid Masha, stabbed in the gut by a thug while trying to protect her, collapsing as she bled.
Even in agony, screaming, "Let the young miss go!" That image wouldn't leave her mind.
'If I cry... if I scream...'
Even her young heart understood.
All she could do now was endure without provoking the kidnappers.
And...
'Remember... the ones who hurt Masha...'
She burned their faces, habits, dominant hands into her memory.
Blood ties don't fade.