Chapter 129

“Elena?” Kennard said.

Forcing out even that single word made it feel as though his throat were burning away.

“Miss Elena?” Serin said.

Like Kennard, Serin had been watching the opposite bank of the river. He swallowed hard and turned to look at him, but none of his words reached Kennard’s ears.

Kennard had no room left to think.

His body trembled with a rage so violent he could not control it.

Kennard tightened his grip around Verhill’s neck as though he meant to snap it, then hurled him straight out beyond the castle walls.

“Aaagh!” Verhill screamed.

At the sound of his cry, everyone gathered across the river turned their heads toward the castle at once.

As they saw Verhill plummeting downward, some covered their mouths with their hands, while others squeezed their eyes shut.

The ramparts were high enough that anyone who fell would have every bone in their body shattered, their form crushed until it was impossible to recognize what had once been human.

Even if one were lucky enough to fall into the river, the impact against the water would rupture their internal organs.

As Verhill’s scream echoed through the empty air, Kennard transformed in an instant into a massive black wolf.

He sprinted along the battlements, and soldiers recoiled in terror, scrambling aside.

Some were so startled that they tripped over their own feet and fell.

Where Kennard passed, a violent wind whipped up like a vortex, sand scattering in every direction.

The soldiers raised their arms to shield their faces from the grit, yet even so, their eyes followed Kennard’s retreating figure.

Long, glossy black fur streamed wildly in the wind, and the four legs of the enormous wolf were solid and powerful.

Everyone had completely forgotten about Verhill, who had fallen beyond the walls, and stared only at Kennard with eyes filled with awe.

But Kennard saw nothing at all.

It was as though the entire world had been swallowed by darkness.

All sound vanished, and every sensation faded away.

The only thing he could see was Elena, bound to a chair and being carried toward the riverbank, and the only thing he could feel was a pain that tore through his entire body as though he were being ripped apart.

“Elena. Please. Just a little longer. Please hold on,” Kennard begged silently.

***

“What is it? Is she dead?” a man said.

“Probably,” another man replied. “Didn’t you see them haul her out with a pole earlier?”

“Then does that mean she isn’t a witch?” a third voice asked.

“But she floated on the water,” someone else said.

“Huh? Then does that mean she really is a witch? They say if you throw someone in the water and they float on their own, they’re a witch, and if they sink, they’re not,” a man said.

“How would we know?” another replied. “They suddenly started rounding up women with reddish hair in the capital, saying they were hunting witches.”

The sound of people talking drifted around Elena’s ears as her consciousness wavered.

Mixed in with their voices was the clinking sound of something like dishes knocking together.

“By the way, what is this stuff?” a man asked.

“How should I know?” another said. “The soldiers handed it out earlier and told us to drink it right away. Haven’t you had yours yet?”

“What about you?” the first man asked.

“I just drank it,” the other replied.

“You drank it without knowing what it was?” the first man said.

“What, are you worried it might be poison?” the other said.

Their whispered words dissolved into snickering laughter, and Elena felt as though her head were ringing hollowly.

She struggled to lift her eyelids, and some kind of liquid, whether sweat or water she could not tell, flowed into her eyes and stung sharply.

It was difficult even to focus, but her vision was pitch black anyway, and she could see nothing at all.

The sensation of thick cloth pressed against her face told her that something had been pulled over her head.

“Because of this whole thing, they only dragged in people with Red Wolf blood,” a man said. “They even took our housemaid, and it’s been weighing on me. No matter how I think about it, she didn’t look like a witch.”

“Can you really tell whether someone is a witch using a method like that?” another man asked.

“I don’t know,” the first replied. “I’ve never heard of it before. And witches. Who even knows if they really exist?”

“Then why are they suddenly doing something like this?” a third man asked.

“Didn’t you hear what Duke Blade said earlier?” the first man replied. “He said it was His Majesty the Emperor’s command. He claimed that the Grand Duke was ensnared by a witch’s sorcery and married her.”

Hearing the word witch repeated again and again unsettled Elena deeply.

Even setting aside her muddled mind, the fact that her vision was blocked made the fear worse, because she had no idea what was happening around her.

Her chest felt tight, and her head spun. She tried to draw in a deep breath, but each time she did, the cloth stuck to her nose and lips, making it even harder to breathe.

Then her abdomen began to ache as though it were being wrung dry.

The pain was nothing like the burning agony in her upper chest. It was far worse.

No. Please. Don’t, Elena thought.

More than the pain in her own body, the thought that she might be losing her child twisted her heart.

She tried to reach for her stomach, but even though her hands and feet were not bound, she could not move so much as a fingertip.

The moment she tried to put any strength into her body, an agony surged through her, as though a whip studded with sharp shards of metal were lashing down on her.

She was in unbearable pain, yet she could not even manage a groan.

“Oh my. I think she’s waking up,” a woman said.

It had been nothing more than the slightest twitch, but someone nearby must have noticed, because the woman’s voice came from close at hand.

The murmuring around her gradually died down.

“How long are you going to keep dragging your feet?” a man snapped.

His sharp, irritated voice cut through the silence.

“Yes, Your Highness,” several men replied in a fluster, and hurried footsteps approached.

At the sound of them addressing someone as Your Highness, Elena startled for a moment, but she knew it could not be Kennard.

The voice was older, harsher, with a metallic edge that Kennard did not have.

More than anything, she could not sense Kennard’s pheromones anywhere nearby.

There was nothing she could do but despair.

She did not know what was happening, but it seemed all too likely that she would die before Kennard could reach her.

No, it was more than likely.

But still, Elena thought.

Alongside her fear came a deep, aching sorrow.

The thought of losing the child she carried was even more painful than the thought of her own death.

How much Kennard knew about her, whether he had known everything and still lied to her, none of that mattered anymore.

She only wanted to see him, and she wanted him to save her, just as he always had.

“Hurry it up,” the man called Your Highness said.

As though trampling on Elena’s wish, his voice rang out again.

At the same time, several men lifted her body upright.

“Ugh,” Elena groaned faintly.

She swallowed the sound back into her mouth.

It felt as though only her consciousness remained alive. She could not even hold her head up, and her limbs hung limp.

The men panted roughly as they seated her on a hard wooden chair and began wrapping rope around her body.

Their hands were rough, yet oddly cautious.

“Is this really all right?” one of the men whispered, so quietly it was almost inaudible.

“Then what are we supposed to do?” another man replied irritably as he tied rope around her ankles and fastened them to the chair.

“But this woman. This person is supposed to be the Grand Duke’s wife,” the first man said.

“How are people like us supposed to disobey the Emperor or the Duke?” the second replied.

“This feels wrong,” the first man said. “Even if we’re following His Majesty’s orders, do you think the Grand Duke will let us live if he finds out?”

“Whether we die later or die now for disobeying His Majesty, it’s all the same,” the second man said. “Our lives were never ours to begin with. Stop talking and hurry up before another order comes down.”

Hearing their exchange, Elena squeezed her eyes shut.

They knew she had married Kennard, and yet they were still going to kill her. That realization crushed even the last trace of hope she had left.

An image of Kennard’s face, twisted in despair at her loss, rose before her eyes like a vision.

I do not regret holding you in my heart, Your Grace. Please, Elena thought.

She could not even finish her silent prayer for Kennard’s safety before her body suddenly lifted into the air.

Suspended above the ground, she tilted forward and swayed helplessly.

“Ghk,” Elena gasped.

As a thick rope dug into the place on her back where the man named Azis had once driven his sword, she let out a strangled breath.

Blood welled up from the wound and spilled down her skin, soaking her dress until it was damp and heavy.

Her consciousness began to fade once more.

“Oh my,” someone cried out.

“Who was that?” another person shouted. “Who fell?”

“If you fall from there, it’s instant death,” a man said.

“Did someone slip?” another asked.

“No way,” someone else replied. “How would anyone fall from there unless they climbed onto the rampart themselves?”

“Well, that’s true,” another voice said.

Even as the crowd murmured among themselves, Elena’s body continued to sway in midair, moving toward somewhere unknown.

She did not know what was happening, but more than that, the creaking sound above her head and the violent rush of water beneath her feet seized all her senses.

Her body twisted in agony and terror so extreme that she found herself wishing for it all to end as quickly as possible.

“My goodness, look over there,” someone said. “Could it be the Grand Duke?”

“There’s no way another black wolf like that exists,” another replied.

At the sound of the crowd’s startled murmuring, all the strength drained from Elena’s body.

The Grand Duke? He’s here? she thought.

For some reason, what welled up inside her was not relief or comfort, but sorrow.

Images of Kennard smiling because of her flashed through her mind like a revolving lantern.

The thought of letting him see her like this hurt even more.

The next moment, the creaking sound rang out loudly, and Elena’s body plunged downward in an instant.