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Chapter 9 : Escaped From The Villain (4)
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Entanto was a city where many people came and went. That meant there were a lot of different people. Gender, age, nationality, even appearance. Of course, there were many unique and outstanding people.
However, among them, there was one that received the overwhelming majority of people's attention.
His expensive-looking outfit made it clear that he was a high-ranking or wealthy man, but that wasn't the reason their eyes were directed at him.
"Oh, my God."
Someone who was watching muttered impatiently. The person next to him touched his mouth as if the words had come out of his own.
Hair that glistens like a golden thread in the sunlight, and purple eyes that stare at you as if possessed. He was a man who felt strange even when he was standing still.
The man looking around with an indifferent gaze seemed to be looking for something.
To be exact, it was Arsene who came to catch Regina.
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Regina was now lying curled up in a dark space. She couldn't see anything and couldn't stretch her limbs, but it still didn't choke her.
"Will this really pass?"
Her voice came back to her as it hit the wall. Since the space was small, the hum was loud.
"Don't worry. They can't even imagine that way."
Iria's voice from the outside fell dull.
Of course, not many would imagine that she would put a person under the carriage seat. Because she couldn't even think of it herself.
The place where she was now crouching was the space inside Iria's carriage sofa.
The Duchess, who had asked her to leave it to her because she had a way, led her to her carriage. Then, as usual, she put her in a carriage.
There was nothing special so far, but the next moment, the seat of the sofa, that is, the cushion on the hip side was lifted.
"..... Why the hell does a lady's carriage need something like this?"
"I made it just in case there was a place to use it. It's very useful now."
Under the sofa, like an empty box, there was a space that one person could easily fit in.
Iria shrugged her shoulders skillfully and put her in there. She closed it and sat on top of it, covered the sofa with the hem of her voluminous dress.
So one person disappeared completely.
Regina thought it was fortunate that there were no modern X-ray readings here. It was definitely the way she would have been caught.
While talking in a small voice, Iria tapped the sofa.
"Shh, be quiet now."
The rattling carriage slowed down slowly. It was to pass through the border gate.
The Duchess of Haynes was on her way to Misbrunn to carry out logistics, contracts, and sales as the head of the merchant company, Senia. Naturally, a series of carts loaded with goods were following behind this carriage.
Whether it was Yurdenian or Misbrunn, they had no choice but to be sensitive about the distribution of their country's goods to other countries. In addition, it was even more so because it was not just another country and it was a country that didn't get along very well. In other words, it meant that they put their heart and soul into inspecting the carriage.
The carriage guild slowly approached the gate. They stopped at a space prepared next to it, not where civilians were passing through. Since there were a lot of items, it took a long time, so the guild was inspected separately.
"There will be an inspection."
Said one of those who guarded the wall and were in charge of the luggage inspection. Among them, the high-ranking knight politely greeted Duchess Haynes and looked inside the carriage.
Iria acted naturally without being nervous. Her usual gentle smile lingered softly on her lips.
Couching like a cocoon under the sofa, Regina listened to the crowd with her ears raised. Whether she was checking with her eyes or not, she didn't hear much, so she paid more attention.
"......."
The knight bowed and moved behind the procession when there was nothing particularly behind the procession.
Not only was it a little of a thorough examination of the Duchess' wagon, but this time the Haynes family's hand-in-hand with Arsene simplified the process of crossing the border.
The carts, which was relatively unimportant, could get out of the surveillance so easily.
As the knight moved to another place, the Duchess tapped the sofa carefully.
"He's gone. Look at that. I told you I wouldn't get caught."
A voice mingled with laughter lingered in the carriage, probably thinking of Regina, who was very nervous. Iria seemed to be proficient as a person who did this more than once. Of course, she was simply confident she wouldn't be caught.
Regina, who brushed her chest, did not stop her sigh of relief from leaking out. Lately, it felt like her heart wasn't beating anymore.
They wouldn't have to inspect the carriage again, but she couldn't say it was safe because she wasn't out of Yurdenian yet. Regina decided to keep hiding under the sofa until she was completely out of the border.
The space filled with deep darkness was surprisingly stable. Regina blinked like a sun-breathing cat in the coziness, perhaps because she was a little relaxed.
As time passed and all the carts finished the inspection, Iria raised her hand and opened the curtains covering the window. It was to receive a situation report from a knight waiting outside.
However, for some reason, she felt a commotion around her.
She could not hide her uneasiness as she opened the window and looked outside.
"Oh, my God."
A sigh of mixed emotions fell.
Regina, who repeatedly woke up after falling asleep without realizing it, suddenly came to her senses.
It was Iria, who was calm even during the inspection, but what surprised her so much? An unknown anxiety ran down her spine.
"What's going on?"
She woke up from a drowsy sensation as if she had been bathed in cold water and alerted her whole body, but what she could see in that narrow space was limited.
Regina, who was very nervous again, whispered in a small voice. It was a sound that made her wonder if Iria could hear it.
Her mind was filled with all kinds of imagination.
What happened to the guild? Or what happened to Entanto? Can they cross the border now?
As there were only various speculations, she became more curious. The unanswered story frightened her.
And there was an answer to solve her question.
“Why is Duke Greroy here?”
She thought it was time to be as hectic as her husband is by now, wasn't it?
Iria doubted her eyes if what she was looking at was right. However, no matter how much she blinked and looked again, it was Duke Arsene Greroy who was approaching the checkpoint.
Arsene, who reached the gate in an instant, jumped off his horse, and approached the soldier who was controlling a dark-haired woman. That side seemed to catch her eye more than the procession with the Senia guild and the pattern of the Duke Haynes.
But she didn't know when he would come here.
The Duchess, who did not know that Arsene would come after her, exclaimed in surprise.
Surprisingly, she was the same.
'In a little while we'll be able to cross the border!'
Regina almost jumped up, forgetting that she was crouching in a small space.
The thought that she could not be caught here strongly dominated her thinking. No matter what, the only thought was that she had to quickly cross the border and get out of the control of the Yurdenian Empire.
When you get caught up in intense work, such as chasing and being chased by people, you become desperate to achieve your goal, regardless of how you felt at the beginning. For example, like she thinks she has to run away like obsessive compulsive disorder.
She thought Iria felt the same way, and she could feel her nervousness through the sofa.
Her heart pounded with anxiety. More so because there's nothing she can do right now.
It was then.
"The inspection is over."
A knight standing outside said to Duchess Haynes.
It was a story that sounded like an angel's trumpet to them.
"Then let's go right away."
The Duchess, who had hidden herself against the carriage wall and glanced through the window, sternly gave instructions. Arsene confirmed that the dark-haired woman who was being held by the soldier was not Regina, and was on his way back.
"But, ma'am....."
The knight looked at her, implying a question, there is the Duke of Greroy, and will she go away so quickly without saying hello?
Duchess Haynes closed the window in response to that.
Regina, who was there, spoke up as soon as she heard the sound of the window closing.
"Is Arsene out there now?"
Her heart beat so fast that her agitated voice revealed her nervousness. The thought of being caught like this ate her up.
The Duchess spoke in a very calm tone, as if trying to suppress her anxiety.
"Don't worry. We're going to leave the border like this."
As she knocked on the carriage wall as if urging, the knight, who was at a loss what to do, told the coachman to set off right away.
Soon after, as the wheels started to move, Arsene turned hs head and saw a procession from Senia's guild.
Arsene was unusually restless right now.
He was strangely impatient, even thinking that he could bring Regina back at any moment.
He thought he would be relieved to see her bewildered pink eyes by squeezing a handful of her black hair right away, kissing it on top of it.
Arriving in Entanto, he headed straight for the border. It was because it was clear that she would someday try to cross this border, if not right now.
So he just stopped by to check, but as soon as he saw a black hair, it was impulsive enough to admit it.
He was disappointed by the unfamiliar back from the moment he got close, but the disappointment he felt when he confirmed that it was not really her was unimaginable.
'I need to calm down.'
Arsene, who clenched his fist, sighed and turned his head.
Just then, the guild of Senia carriage passing through the gateway came into view. In the procession, there was a different carriage mixed with the wagons, and it was clearly visible that it had the pattern of Duke Haynes painted on it.
Duke Haynes was in the capital right now, so it must have been the Duchess who served as the acting head of the Senia guild.
But something was strange about her.
There was no friendship between him and the duchess, but it wasn't to the point of ignoring it like this. Besides, he frowned at the appearance of leaving somewhere in a hurry.
"Stop that carriage right now."
"Yes?"
The border guards were surprised and asked back.
He let it pass because there were no problems, but was there something they didn't find?
While everyone was puzzled, a knight came to his senses and quickly approached it.
There was still a distance left before they could completely pass through the gateway. It meant that it was still under the jurisdiction of Yurdenian. They had to be stopped before they crossed over to Misbrunn.
But before he could reach it, the carriage of the Duchess of Haynes suddenly sped up.
"......!"
Anyone could see that they were running away, so Arsene, who was swiftly mounted on a horse, chased after her.
"–Stop!"
Embarrassed by the sudden situation, the knights rushed to close the gates and signaled the carriage to stop.
But the carriage did not stop. They didn't seem to mind even though the cart couldn't catch up.
It was an instant.
The carriage passed the gate, and he had no choice but to stop because he was not allowed to enter the country as the Duke of Yurdenian Empire.
Arsene instinctively realized. He missed Regina right now, right in front of his eyes.
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