Chapter 8

If he truly were a man rumored to be mad for blood, a man who cared for nothing beyond the battlefield, then surely he would have no interest in her. That thought alone had made him seem, at the time, the lesser of all possible evils; it was why she had chosen to comply with his demands.

But now, she felt an almost desperate urge to ask him to reconsider that choice altogether.

If there was one small mercy in all of this, it was that her attempted escape, which she had imagined would throw the entire mansion into chaos, had been neatly glossed over as nothing more than a nighttime stroll. Thanks to the soldiers’ dull-witted pride and their eagerness to accept a superior’s word without question, she felt a momentary wave of relief loosen the knot in her chest.

She let out a quiet breath.

Then, with a roar that split the darkness, the engine surged to life. The vehicle carrying the two of them sped swiftly down the road, leaving the mansion behind at a rapid pace.

︵‿୨ ₊‧꒰ა ཐི༏ཋྀ ໒꒱ ˚₊ ୧‿︵

It wasn’t long before the car came to a stop. As Adeline stepped out, her eyes widened at the sight before her. It was because the destination was entirely different from what she had imagined.

They had arrived at the capital’s railway station.

A plume of steam burst upward with a fierce whistle, announcing an imminent departure. The vapor rolled across the platform, scattering like pale mist as it brushed away the lingering dew and dissolved into the still-dark sky.

At the signal, the passengers waiting on the platform, their faces lit only faintly by the dim glow of the gas lamps, began gathering their luggage, preparing to board. Steam drifted around their feet like pale morning fog as they shuffled into motion.

After giving several orders to his subordinates, the man returned to her side.

“We’re taking the first train. Be aware of that.”

“We’re going by train all the way there?”

If they sailed from the nearest port, they could reach Velasque in three days. By train, the journey would take twice as long, perhaps more.

“Traveling by train is inefficient. If we took a ship from the port just ten minutes from here…”

“You seem remarkably well-versed in other nations’ logistics. “Whether it’s efficient or not is for me to decide. Be quiet and just get on.”

His hand, brusque to the point of discourtesy, guided her forward with no room for protest. Pushed into the carriage before she could gather her thoughts, Adeline blinked in surprise as she took in the surroundings.

“…Second class?”

“Did you expect a premium seat in your situation?”

His gaze seemed to ask whether a member of a defeated, war-criminal nation really expected a luxurious journey home. While that wasn’t exactly it, Adeline’s face flushed with heat at the man’s attitude of finding fault with every word. Feeling slightly offended, she took her seat.

Though it was second class, the fact that the carriage was divided into private compartments, each with sliding doors, meant she could, to some extent, avoid the constant scrutiny of the soldiers accompanying them, which she considered a small mercy.

However, the problem was that she would be confined in this narrow space with this man for more than a week.

“You don’t mean you’ll be staying in this compartment for the entire week as well, do you?”

“Considering we’re to be married, sharing a room seems only natural, doesn’t it?”

Seeing her eyes widen as if he had said something absurd, Leon continued in a tone that suggested he’d only been teasing.

“Unfortunately, I have no such intention.”

“Really?”

The man made no effort to hide his annoyance as he muttered with a sigh.

“We’ll disembark as soon as we reach Aran tomorrow. From there, we move to the harbor, take a ship north, and then reenter Velasque by land.”

“…We’re getting off in the Aran Kingdom?”

The more she listened, the more nonsensical the return route seemed.

The very choice to take the train had made little sense, though if they were already aboard, there were far more efficient options. In three days, the train would reach a nation with a direct port, from which a ship could cut nearly two days off their return.

Instead, he had chosen the slowest, most impractical route imaginable.

By this point, she couldn’t help but feel he was doing it on purpose.

Whether he simply had no desire to return to Velasque, or whether he wished for a criminal like her to suffer through an unnecessarily arduous journey, she couldn’t tell.

“Just follow the plan I’ve arranged.”

The man crossed his arms and closed his eyes, making it clear he had no intention of explaining the itinerary any further. His unbothered composure stirred an unwelcome memory in Adeline’s chest; the scene in the mountains flashed vividly in her mind.

It stung her heart that her first kiss had been stolen by such a brutish man.

“I’ll say this now, don’t come near me. I don’t want anything improper like before to ever happen again.”

At her voice, forced out with gathered courage, the man’s eyelids lifted slowly.

“Improper?”

He tilted his head slightly, as if he didn’t understand, then a slow dawning spread across his features. His sharp gaze, one that made her shrink just to meet it, fixed silently on Adeline before curling into a meaningful arc.

“Ah. The kiss?”

The word came back with no attempt whatsoever to soften or obscure it, sent a flush shooting across her cheeks. Her fingers trembled as she clutched at her skirt.

Even if it had been the most convenient excuse in that moment, nothing could have justified such a brazen act.

“I mean that you are not to touch me without my permission.”

“It was just a kiss. I didn’t even want to do it, so don’t attach any meaning to it.”