The Cold-Hearted Grand Duke Obsesses Over Me After My Death - Chapter 135

Chapter 135. The Night the Black Moon Rises (5)

Emilia, who had been letting down her long hair, tied it into one like Damian, put on the men’s clothes and robe he had brought, and pulled the hood low enough to cover her face. Damian, wearing the prisoner uniform, let down the hair he had tied. He truly resembled her.

“We really do look alike.”

“We do.”

The two looked at each other and smiled. They didn’t know if they would be separated forever like this or meet again and smile together, but at least in this moment, they smiled brightly as if to comfort each other.

“It’s cold here, so take care of your health.”

Emilia gave her final reminder. Tears threatened to fall, but she forced them back.

“Don’t worry. We grew up in the tower. A few days won’t be a problem. Go quickly. When you get off at the dock, there will be several carriages in front of a small inn. Tell them to go to Lefro. Change carriages there. Inside this are a fake ID and a map. There’s water, dried food, and gold coins too. That should be enough for carriage fares and living expenses until I join you.”

Damian handed her a small backpack.

Lefro was a small town on the route toward the southern part of the empire. Damian told her the names of the towns she would pass through one by one. All of them were small rural towns with few outsiders and little knowledge of news from the imperial capital. It would be difficult for Emilia alone, but it couldn’t be helped for safety.

“Thank you.”

Taking the backpack, Emilia placed the doll into Damian’s arms.

“This is a doll Father bought for me. I’ve been holding it ever since I came here. You hold it too. Then I’ll feel like it’s me.”

“Alright. Go quickly.”

“Okay. Stay safe.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll meet again soon.”

Damian gave a bright smile to Emilia, who was worried about him. Before coming to the island, he had thoroughly memorized the structure of Peric Prison. He was confident about the escape. The only thing he worried about was Emilia.

Emilia opened the door and stepped outside. Following Damian’s instructions, she locked the door and quietly went down the stairs. Leaving the keyring on the desk in the first-floor guard room, she stepped outside the tower and saw the stairs leading down the cliff.

She stood for a moment to adjust to the darkness, then glanced back at the tower once before slowly descending the stairs. The biting wind felt strong enough to blow her away, but she forced each step forward. Tears threatened to fall as she worried about Damian, but if she were caught here, his life wouldn’t be guaranteed either, so she steadied herself. Normally, there would be guards somewhere, but just as Damian said, no one appeared.

The place where the boat was waiting was the closest point in a straight line from the tower.

“Welcome.”

The boatman waiting on the deck spoke to her. Without a word, she nodded and boarded the boat, sitting quietly in one corner. The weather was truly cold, but below the cliff, the biting wind didn’t blow, and soon the boat departed, cutting silently through the icy waves.

I escaped.

She had finally escaped the prison. She couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality. She had thought she would never be able to leave. Or else… she had believed Louid would come find her. Complex emotions surged within her.

Until now, she held onto the hope that one day, when Louid regained his memories, he might come and take her out. But escaping before he came made her feel strange.

‘If he learns that I’m dead, what will he say?’

Will he say it’s for the best? Or will he be angry that I didn’t wait for him?

Louid told me to stay alive until he came to save me. That’s why I endured the prison life that felt like it would kill me….

‘Since the black mage who cast the spell is dead, is there no way to break the magic on Louid and me?’

Given that there had been no news until now, it might be that the black magic hadn’t been lifted because Lina’s birth mother had died. Normally, when the caster dies, the spell fades on its own, but perhaps because it’s black magic, it was truly strange.

‘I hope he won’t be hurt.’

Emilia prayed to the goddess in her heart. Even if the black magic were lifted, she hoped Louid would forget her and live happily as Emperor. The two of them had now become the living and the dead, unable to meet in this world.

But this wasn’t a true escape yet. Only when Damian escaped safely could it be called a success.

‘Please keep Damian safe.’

She closed her eyes and continued to pray to Goddess Herr.

“We’ve arrived. You may get off.”

As she dozed off, the boatman’s voice sounded above her. When she opened her eyes, the darkness had lifted and dawn was breaking.

“Much obliged.”

Hiding her face beneath the brim of her hat, she imitated Damian’s voice and stepped onto the dock at Peric Harbor. She swayed for a moment from dizziness but managed not to fall. Just as Damian said, there was an inn right in front of her, and a stop where shared carriages waited. She steadied herself and walked to the stop. After a short wait, a driver appeared.

“Sir, where are you headed?”

“Phew….”

At being addressed as “sir,” she let out a quiet breath of relief. It was a relief that she hadn’t been discovered as a woman.

“Take me to Lefro.”

She lowered her voice as much as possible. Since Damian told her to keep changing carriages, she planned to go to Lefro first and then take another carriage. It seemed best to get away from Peric Harbor as quickly as possible.

“Yes, understood.”

***

Damian stood at the tower, watching the sea until the boat carrying Emilia was no longer visible. The waves were calm, and the boatman was a veteran who had traveled between Peric Island and the mainland for decades. Unless something unexpected happened, Emilia would arrive safely at the harbor.

“Stay safe, Emilia.”

He stayed awake the entire night without sleeping.

But the next morning, contrary to expectations, a guard opened the door and looked inside. Damian was sitting on the floor like Emilia, holding the doll and bowing his head.

“I’m a new guard. Do you need anything?”

The guard placed bread and a kettle of water by the door and spoke. There was also steaming soup, as if it had been ordered by the warden.

“No,” Damian answered briefly.

“Understood.”

The door soon closed, and the sound of footsteps going down the stairs was heard.

“Ha….”

Damian lifted his head and let out a short breath. He had only exchanged a single word with the guard, but to him it felt like an eternity.

To think they’d check his face from the first day. Luckily, it was a new guard. Since it would be their first time seeing Emilia, they likely didn’t realize the prisoner had been switched.

‘By now, she’s probably in a carriage heading south.’

He tore off a piece of the coarse bread and ate while looking out the window. The sky was clear and the waves were calm. Peric Island wasn’t far from the mainland, but the waves were high year-round and it often rained, so escaping the island was said to be nearly impossible. Days like this, when the weather was clear, only came for a few days during the coldest time.

That’s a relief.

It was fortunate the weather was good when Emilia escaped. The black moon would rise soon. He continued to pray in his heart that the weather would be good that day as well.

Two nights later. The long-awaited black moon rose. Now it was his turn to escape. Outside the window, it was pitch dark, and the seawater had frozen thick. With the water frozen, there was no sound of waves at all, and everything was as silent as death.

“Do you need anything?”

“No.”

That morning, the guard didn’t come inside and spoke from outside. After hearing the brief reply, the guard didn’t ask further and left.

He twisted up his long hair, put on a wig, and changed into the guard uniform he had prepared in advance. He tucked the removed prisoner uniform into his clothes, then dropped the doll out the window. A moment later, a dull sound came as the doll hit the ice. When the sun rose the next morning, the ice would melt, and the guards who saw the doll floating on the water would think Emilia had thrown herself into the sea while holding it.

He placed the soup dish and empty kettle outside the door through the opening. Since the guard had spoken to him today, they wouldn’t check on him tomorrow. And when they saw the empty soup dish and kettle, they wouldn’t think there was no one inside.

‘Even if it’s discovered tomorrow, it can’t be helped. I just have to run as far as I can.’

With a faint smirk tugging at one corner of his lips, he approached the window. Leaving everything to fate, he stood on the windowsill and felt upward with one hand. He’d acted as if it were easy in front of Emilia, but with the coldest weather of the year and the walls frozen, climbing wasn’t easy. After a moment, he found the zigzag pattern of the roof bricks by feel and carefully climbed up, bracing his feet against the wall.

Finally reaching the roof, he went down the stairs through the entrance on top. When Emilia left, the guards and sentries paid no attention due to the warden’s orders, but Peric Prison was originally a heavily guarded place. Moving quickly down the stairs, he hid behind rocks and carefully descended the cliff.

The doll he had thrown was still there on the frozen sea. He cautiously stepped onto the ice. Just as he expected, the sea was completely frozen.

After checking his surroundings, he began to walk quickly. With the black moonlight, even the frozen sea had lost its shine, and there wasn’t a single living creature in sight. Though there was no sound of waves, the fierce, cutting wind lashed his body. His breathing grew rough, and his legs became heavier and heavier.

‘I can’t die here.’

Thinking only of Emilia, he walked all night until he reached the point where the ice melted. He had told Emilia he would swim to escape, but that was only a last resort. He waited for a fishing boat that would come out to catch fish. Around the time the red sun rose in the sky, a small boat finally appeared in the distance.

“Hey there.”

When he waved his hand, the boat slowly approached.

“Did you come from Peric Prison?”

“Yes, I’m a guard. I have business on the mainland, but because of the ice, no boats could sail, so I walked. Could you take me to the harbor? I’ll pay generously.”

“Of course.”

As if used to such situations, the fisherman reached out his hand to him. After boarding the boat, Damian looked toward the land. It was just a little farther.

“It’s only when spring comes that we catch plenty of fish. I came out just in case, and it looks like I caught a guard instead.”

The fisherman joked as he rowed.

“Haha, I must be lucky. Thank you.”

Damian played along, finally smiling brightly.

Two days after Damian escaped, the guard found it strange that the water kettle had not been placed outside, but since prisoners sometimes did not put it out if they hadn’t finished, he simply put new bread and water through the opening and went down the stairs without much suspicion. However, when he had gone about halfway down, he turned back up. He had forgotten to ask whether there was water in the bathroom. He knocked on the door and spoke.

“Are you alright? Do you need anything?”

“….”

When there was no answer from inside, he tilted his head and knocked again.

“Has the bathroom run out of water?”

There was still no reply from inside.

Did she lose consciousness? When he saw the former Crown Princess three days ago, she had looked extremely thin. It was the coldest time of the year, and it would be difficult for a woman, not even a man, to endure it.

“Damn.”

He clicked his tongue as he searched his waist. He hadn’t brought the key because he hadn’t intended to open the door when he came up. He hurried down to the first floor, grabbed the keyring, and came back up.

A moment later, when he opened the door, he stared inside blankly, then rushed to open the bathroom door. The former Crown Princess was nowhere to be found.

“T, this….”

His face turned pale as he ran straight to the warden’s office. The warden still looked hungover, his eyelids drooping heavily.

“Warden, Emilia Berthe is gone.”

“…Emilia Berthe?”

The warden repeated his words with a blank expression, as if his memory was dulled by the hangover.

“I mean the former Crown Princess. She’s gone.”

“What? Are you sure?”

Only then did the warden jump to his feet.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

Both the guard and the warden turned pale.

The duke had specifically told them to take good care of her. What were they going to do now?

“How could a prisoner locked in the tower disappear?”

“How would I know? I thought she had fainted, so I opened the door, and there was no one inside.”

“Let’s go up.”

The two hurried up to the tower where Emilia had been confined. After searching the room thoroughly, they looked out the window. Something was floating in the seawater below the window.

“Gasp, isn’t that blonde hair?”

The two stared at each other in shock.