<b>Trantor: </b>thursdays<b> PR: </b>scarcecrow


    <span>The imperial pce was inplete chaos.


    <span>The chancellor, the general knightmander, and the leader of the imperial family’s knights all urgently gathered at the center of the pce.


    <span>“We need official approval from His Majesty.”


    <span>Among them, the grand chambein Luden said firmly,


    <span>“His Majesty’s state isn’t good today. He wasn’t even able to keep his medicine down. I can’t wake him up when he just fell asleep.”


    <span>In any case, thefort of Emperor Esteban was the top prioritypared to the princess. Yet, the situation could not be set aside like this.


    <span>“Then, how about the prince?”


    <span>Chancellor Debussy showed his disapproval.


    <span>“But he is still on probation now, ording to His Majesty’s orders… What if we are punished for disobeying his orders?”


    <span>This man was someone who had been bribed by and colluded with the Evans family.


    <span>He thought that it was better all around if the princess, who had been carving away at the Evans family’s influence, wasn’t here.


    <span>“Then what do you want us to do? We have to find Her Highness!”


    <span>Byparison, Commander Jed was a rare man in the imperial household, he wasn’t associated with Rezef nor the Evans family.


    <span>Rather, Jed disapproved of them.


    <span>“No, I’m not saying that no one should look for her. The Kedrey duchy is already searching for Her Highness.”


    <span>Jed spoke irritably to Chancellor Debussy.


    <span>While they were waging their war of nerves, the news of the princess’s abduction quickly spread throughout the pce.


    <span>But nobody was doing anything.


    <span>Olivia and Vera decided on their own that they couldn’t dy any further.


    <span>‘An abduction is a fight against time.<span>‘


    <span>If they missed the golden time, it was all over.


    <span>They mobilized all avable court employees to the prince’s pce.


    <span>The knights who were guarding the prince’s quarters looked confused as they saw the courtiers rushing to them.


    <span>It hadn’t urred to them that the attendants hade prepared for a hand-to-hand battle.


    <span>Vera cried from the front.


    <span>“Push!”


    <span>At that cry, the courtiers pushed the knights blocking the door.


    <span>“What are you doing?!” the knights shouted threateningly, snapping to attention. “We are following His Majesty’s orders!”


    <span>“Push!”


    <span>However, a number of courtiers continued to push them aside in unison.


    <span>The knights couldn’t lift their swords and were just stubbornly trying to stand firm.


    <span>However, they were gradually pushed back because there were fewer knights than people of the court.


    <span>Soon, there was a gap.


    <span>While the knights briefly broke formation, Olivia opened the door.


    <span>“Um, uh?”


    <span>The pce workers in Rezef’s chambers, who had heard the turmoil outside, opened their mouths in bemusement at the strange intruder.


    <span>There was only one door left until the bedroom.


    <span>Olivia quickly hurried and opened the bedroom door before the doorkeeper or servants could stop her.


    <span>“B-block her!”


    <span>Bang!


    <span>The bedroom door opened wide.


    <span>The first thing Olivia saw was arge window.


    <span>Olivia looked around for the owner of the bedroom. Finally, she saw the man sitting cross-legged on a sofa.


    <span>He did not look much like Cayena, but there was only one handsome blond man within these walls.


    <span>‘Prince Rezef.’


    <span>Although he had soft features, he possessed a frosty appearance. He lifted his head.


    <span>Their eyes met.


    <span>Rezef frowned, and looking curiously, he asked,


    <span>“Who are you?”


    <span>At that moment, the castle workers did not know what to do and tried to drag Olivia out.


    <span>Olivia pped away the hands trying to block her and kneeled down.


    <span>“Your Highness!”


    <span>Rezef looked at the woman opposite him and tried to guess who she was.


    <span>Although she was beautiful, he didn’t recall her face. No, but it wasn’t that he had no memory of her.


    <span>Where did he see this woman?


    <span>‘Wheat-colored hair and green eyes must be…’


    <span>Olivia opened her mouth while he was trying to determine her identity.


    <span>She spoke stiffly and hastily.


    <span>“Just now, at the imperial academy. The princess was kidnapped. Please save Her Highness.”


    <span>“…What?”


    <span>Olivia prostrated herself on the floor.


    <span>“I beg you!”


    <span>The room turned frigid.


    <span>“…My sister was kidnapped?”


    <span>“Yes. It’s already been an hour since then. However, no one has done anything, so I was concerned as Her Highness’s exclusivedy-in-waiting.”


    <span>Only then did Rezef realize that the woman was Olivia Grace.


    <span>He got up and walked in front of Olivia. A big hand tilted her face up. They stared at each other very closely.


    <span>Olivia could perceive the beginning stages of madness in his blue eyes.


    <span>‘This man is dangerous…’


    <span>She felt a chill.


    <span>“You’re saying she was kidnapped?”


    <span>“It appears so. Sir Raphael searched the crime scene directly, and he said it was


    <span>most likely an abduction.”


    <span>Rezef’s expression suddenly changed to the name Kedrey. Since a while ago, Raphael was strangely getting on Rezef’s nerves.


    <span>He released Olivia and took a step toward the door. The terrified castle staff tried to hold him back.


    <span>“Your Highness! This is going against His Majesty’smands!”


    <span>Rezef didn’t even pretend to listen as he kicked the door.


    <span>The courtiers and the knights outside had been in a messy confrontation. When the door opened wide, they paused and looked at Rezef.


    <span>His aura was abnormal.


    <span>“Call the soldiers and surround the capital.”


    <span>Rezef closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. It was the look of a person gonepletely unhinged.


    <span>“If my sister isn’t found before sunset, I’ll slice all of your throats.”


    <span>***


    <span>The kidnappers were dumbfounded.


    <span>They hadn’t heard anything about the princess being insane.


    <span>“That is the real princess, right?”


    <span>After a while, they began to suspect whether the woman they had brought was actually the princess.


    <span>Her beauty was too outstanding to say that she wasn’t. They had never seen such pale and neat blonde hair in their lives. She also had a beautiful face like a sculpture and wore an expensive dress.


    <span>However, they began to have doubts because of her attitude.


    <span>“I can give you information that would be interesting to your side. You should consider it carefully.”


    <span>Cayena was carefree, as if they were the ones captured instead.


    <span>Did normal hostages behave this way?


    <span>They were having a hard time figuring out if it was empty bravado or not.


    <span>“Hey, Your Highness. Maybe you’re treating us like servants because you don’t understand the situation that you’re in, but you’ve been abducted.”


    <span>Cayena smiled at the man who spoke to her. The man’s face turned red due to her appearance, which was iparably beautiful, no matter what others said.


    <span>“You’re the one who’s slow to figure things out. It seems that you still don’t understand that I’m splitting your group.”


    <span>The man retreated like he had no response to that.


    <span>Yup. The princess was unmistakably crazy.


    <span>“Ah,e on. When is that maning?”


    <span>“Yeah. Why is he sote?”


    <span>They ignored Cayena and started to talk among themselves.


    <span>And as Cayena said, there was a division between them.


    <span>A man who seemed to be contemting things from a while ago with a slightly stiff expression suddenly smiled widely.


    <span>“Just in case, I’ll go take a look outside.”


    <span>“Oh, will you?”


    <span>Then, the other man who had flinched at her words also quickly stepped out.


    <span>“I’ll go with you.”


    <span>They nced at Cayena before leaving the room.


    <span>Cayena looked toward the curtain with a serene face.


    <span>The light was gradually decreasing. At night, she would meet the man who arranged the carriage to abduct her.


    <span>‘Is it someone from the Evans marquess? Anyway, I’m sure that there’s someone from Heinrich’s faction among these gangsters.<span>‘


    <span>That was no different from thews of the world.


    <span>Actually, there had been two people who responded to Cayena’s words and left. This meant that the rest of the gang was hired by someone else.


    <span>‘<span>But the atmosphere is quite strange.<span>‘


    <span>Each of the men who came in to watch over Cayena took their ce while subtly eyeing each other.


    <span>‘There are more traitors.<span>‘


    <span>It urred to her that the abduction may have been orchestrated by separate groups.


    <span>While Cayena analyzed the situation, she closed her eyes from a sudden headache. The food from earlier had upset her stomach.


    <span>‘Olivia should have gotten away safely. She should have immediately noticed that I was kidnapped as soon as she saw I wasn’t there.<span>‘


    <span>In fact, she was expecting the most help from Archduke Heinrich’s faction.


    <span>She didn’t really want to involve him, but it couldn’t be helped.


    <span>‘There’s a chance that Raphael would help…’


    <span>Cayena didn’t finish the thought.


    <span>What could she expect after parting ways like that?


    <span>Even if that wasn’t the case, Raphael had no reason to worry about Cayena. He was a good man, so he may help her out of his morals, but she shouldn’t expect much.


    <span>‘I can’t let things end like this.’


    <span>There were many things she hadn’t done yet.


    <span>Things regarding Olivia, Vera, Rezef, and Ethel, with whom she had formed a new rtionship today.


    <span>Bang!


    <span>The door opened, and a man appeared with a trailing entourage behind him.


    <span>Cayena recognized him right away. She couldn’t breathe.


    <span>“I greet Her Highness, the Princess.”


    <span>It was Henverton Gillian.


    ~~~