Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Nighttime Pursuit
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Servants opened the door, revealing the mail carrier brushing snow from his eyes overhead.
The deliveryman, bundled in thick clothes, pulled a letter from the large bag slung at his side.
Rachel tensed. Letters arriving at this time often carried news from the Heros family.
“A letter for Mrs. Evelyn Emporus.”
Enoch, who had been waiting without ascending, also fell silent, looking tense. Evelyn, unaware of the situation, shrugged her shoulders as she took the letter and signed the receipt.
“Hmm, nowhere else to deliver?”
“Delivery confirmed.”
“Thank you for your trouble.”
Henri shivered in the cold air and bid farewell to the mail carrier.
The deliveryman hurried away. Evelyn checked the envelope front and back before climbing back up the stairs she had descended.
She tore open the envelope boldly without using a letter opener. Even though the material was quite thick, it posed no challenge to her.
She gasped upon reading the contents. Rachel knew what the letter said without seeing it.
The letter slipped from Evelyn’s trembling hands, and Henri picked it up to read. Soon, his face filled with despair as well.
“Are you alright?”
Even that question felt like a luxury right now. Rachel shot a glare at the tactless Henri and read the letter. There was nothing different from what she had seen before.
‘Today.’
Enoch’s expression also grew tense. No sooner had Rachel told him than the event unfolded in reality.
The difference this time was that Henri and Enoch were in the mansion. Watching Evelyn sob in Henri’s arms, Rachel patted and stroked her mother’s back repeatedly.
***
“Sleep well during the day. Mother will move at night.”
“Yes.”
After sleeping soundly through the day, Rachel awoke to the call from a maid who came to fetch her at dinnertime.
She threw on some clothes haphazardly and stepped into the hallway, where Enoch was standing.
“You didn’t sleep?”
“I caught a bit and woke up right away. Mrs. Evelyn is still in the master bedroom.”
“I said Mother would move once night falls.”
Though Rachel said that, she felt relieved inwardly.
The benefit of having a skilled individual around was that they could sense others’ presences without needing to see them directly.
If Evelyn jumped out the window without Henri knowing, Rachel wouldn’t notice.
But Enoch could confirm whether Evelyn was in the mansion by focusing his senses.
“Still, it’s amazing that you can tell if Mother’s here.”
“If Mrs. Evelyn really tried to hide, I wouldn’t know either.”
“But Mother isn’t doing that in the mansion, right?”
“That’s true.”
As the two conversed, a door opened.
“You two aren’t heading to the dining hall? What are you doing here?”
It was Deyner. He had come out of his room and was brushing back his black hair that fell over his forehead.
“We’re going now. But why haven’t you been training lately?”
“I’m already better than you without it.”
Ever since their heights had become similar, he had been trying to match his sister.
When it came to physical activities, he surpassed his own sister, and his build no longer looked like that of a fourteen-year-old. He was now about as tall as his seventeen-year-old sister.
“But you’re still not as good as me. Training is best done consistently, Deyner.”
“Brother always takes Sis’s side.”
Deyner grumbled at Enoch’s words. As he grew stronger, he had developed a tendency to look down on his sister.
“It’s not taking her side; it’s just the truth. Don’t you know the story of the hare and the tortoise?”
“What’s that?”
“Well, it goes like this...”
Rachel headed to the dining hall while telling Deyner the story of the hare and the tortoise race.
The tale of the fast but arrogant hare who took a nap midway and the tortoise who won by plodding along steadily without giving up.
***
Late at night, when everyone except a few servants had fallen asleep, Rachel remained awake.
In her room, she waited dressed in thick clothes suitable for easy movement.
As she lightly stretched to warm up, urgent knocks sounded.
Opening the door revealed Enoch, clad in cotton clothes as thick as her own.
“Mrs. Evelyn just left.”
“Let’s follow her.”
The two dashed toward the annex. Though servants had swept the courtyard, fresh hoofprints marked the newly fallen snow.
“She seems to have gone alone on horseback.”
Rachel nodded at Enoch’s words. Only one horse remained in the stable, its coat longer than in summer.
Enoch positioned one knee like a step beside the horse.
“Rachel, get on first.”
“Thank you.”
Rachel stepped on his thigh and mounted. After her, Enoch climbed on behind.
He reached forward, wrapping his arms around her to grasp the reins.
“Whew.”
Rachel let out a short sigh.
She had been learning to ride horseback sporadically for this day. Out of frustration from not being able to ride in the previous round.
This time, determined to catch up to Evelyn, she applied just the right pressure with her thighs. Enoch supported her from behind.
The horse began to gallop as Enoch whipped the reins.
They followed the hoofprints left in the snow. Worried the falling snow would erase the trail, but soon they spotted the horse galloping ahead.
The sound of hooves and wind prevented Evelyn from noticing her pursuers.
Her cheeks stung from the cold wind, but at that moment, Enoch transferred warmth with his divine power.
She wanted to thank him, but opening her mouth on the wildly galloping horse was too dangerous, so she couldn’t.
After riding for a while, the horse ahead staggered, nearly collapsing.
It looked so perilous that Rachel flinched, but Evelyn forcefully yanked the reins, steadying the faltering horse.
‘Is that possible?’
It was. Rachel unconsciously relaxed her body at the near-miraculous skill. Enoch noticed and called to her.
“Rachel.”
A short warning without extra words. Rachel snapped back to attention.
However, there was a limit to how long the horse could endure that way.
In the end, Evelyn’s horse collapsed. Just before it did, Evelyn stood on its back and leaped to the side.
It was a stunt so risky it made onlookers anxious.
One might expect her to stop there, but Evelyn kept going, breaking into a run at a speed no ordinary person could match.
Rachel felt Enoch’s hands tighten.
“You went easy on me during our spars.”
Rachel wanted to chide him that it wasn’t the time, but she focused on Evelyn’s retreating figure. They passed a small village midway.
Only then did Evelyn notice Rachel and Enoch chasing her.
“How did you two get here?”
Evelyn muttered in surprise. Rachel was more shocked by Evelyn’s unflappable state in the cold wind without divine power.
Enoch halted the horse, and finally, mother and daughter faced each other. Rachel asked her flustered mother,
“We’re the ones who want to ask. What are you doing sneaking out in the middle of the night?”
“I’m going to the capital.”
Perhaps caught off guard, she answered her daughter’s question straightforwardly. Rachel tilted her head at Evelyn’s mention of the capital.
“Why there?”
“If they were executed for treason, Father and Brother’s heads would be on display. I’m going to retrieve them and bury them properly in a sunny spot.”
Traitors sentenced to death were usually beheaded, their heads hung high on city walls or impaled on poles in prominent squares.
It served as a warning of what happened to those who rebelled, and it was effective.
Guards would watch to prevent tampering, but Evelyn couldn’t just leave it be.
“You’ll be in danger alone.”
“I won’t.”
No, she would. Rachel was certain Evelyn had died doing this. Evelyn’s skills were impressive.
But racing nonstop to the capital without rest or food would exhaust her.
Starting a commotion in the capital, possibly a den of black sorcerers in that state?
Paris Emporus, likely in the capital, might seize the chance to rally all black sorcerers against her.
Above all, defying the king’s orders would bring the royal knights into it.
“Then let’s go together.”
“What?”
“It’s about Grandfather and Uncle. I’m involved too, right?”
“You barely saw them.”
“That’s why we need to give them a proper send-off.”
“It might be gruesome for you.”
“I’ll be an adult next year.”
In Cudas, adulthood began at eighteen. Rachel emphasized this to insist on joining.
“The temple cleans and restores damaged bodies, right? You can do it too, Enoch?”
“Yes, it’s a matter of using divine power.”
“With Enoch’s help, it’ll be easier.”
“The Heros family has long ties to the temple, so I’ll assist.”
Enoch showed his willingness to join. Evelyn looked into her daughter’s and Enoch’s eyes, realizing she couldn’t shake them off.
“Very well.”
Rather, their presence cleared her mind.
Until moments ago, she hadn’t noticed her surroundings. Her only thought was to rush to the capital and reclaim her family’s corpses.
If they hadn’t followed, she might have added one more head beside her family’s.
“We need to conserve energy first. No matter how strong, people get tired.”
“You’re right.”
“It’s late anyway, so let’s stay in this village and go.”
Rachel gripped Evelyn’s right arm firmly as she spoke.
Evelyn was dressed entirely in black like an assassin, but the clothes were extremely thin.
‘Even for an ability user, wearing that in midwinter!’
Even in her orphanage days, she hadn’t worn such clothes in winter.
Layering worn garments kept the cold at bay, but Evelyn now looked primed for a cold.
“What’s with these clothes?”
“They’re comfortable. Good for stealthy night movement.”
“It’s winter now. Snow’s falling— you’ll catch a cold like this.”
“You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”
At her daughter’s nagging, Evelyn nodded with a dazed expression.
The three hurriedly found a nearby barn. Knocking on doors late at night would surely get them mistaken for witches or evil beings.
It smelled, but the barn, lined with dry straw and heated stones to keep livestock from freezing, was warm enough to maintain body heat.
The horse, finally able to rest, chewed dry grass, and the three lay in the cleanest spot they found.
“Mother’s a noble, yet you don’t mind a place like this?”
“Oh, that’s—”
Before Evelyn could answer, Enoch cut in.
“The temple assigns tasks to observe livestock, teaching gratitude for the animals that provide our daily bread.”
That way, priests learn the value of life by watching the livestock that sustains them.
“And through slaughter, they learn when to wield the blade.”
Rachel almost asked why Evelyn’s sword seemed too light for that.
“Isn’t it unpleasant for you, since it’s your first time?”
“No, not really.”
It was sincere. As Rachel, she had lived luxuriously, but in her previous life, she had endured hardships for a long time.
She stayed in a struggling orphanage until conditions worsened, forcing her into society early—goshiwons, leaky basements, even vinyl greenhouses and abandoned houses.
That’s when she encountered horror experience BJ streamers visiting the haunted house, and luckily, with their help, she started internet broadcasting.
However, her budget had limits.
Unable to afford high-end gear, she got a low-spec computer that could run basic programs, the cheapest cam and mic, and began with Let’s Plays of low-budget horror games.
And just as her past struggles were rewarded and life started going well...
Until she became Rachel.