“A way to escape?”
“Yes, the prince has arranged an escape route.”
Grita whispered tensely, as if afraid of being overheard. She kept shrinking her neck, occasionally startling at distant noises and peeking out. Adel looked at her incredulously.
“Prince… you mean Oscar?”
“Yes. He agreed to help us. He said he’ll secretly prepare a carriage for us one week from now, at night.”
“Grita!”
At Adel’s sharp tone, Grita turned ashen. She hastily brought her hand to Adel’s lips, shushing her repeatedly. Adel managed to calm her surprise.
“How could you even think of joining hands with him, knowing how much I despise him?”
“It’s not important right now. Please, miss. It’s more urgent to leave this place as soon as possible.”
“…….”
“I’d use anyone to get you out of this mire. Once we leave Ansagar, we’ll never see him again.”
“…….”
“He’s arranged for a luggage cart to take us to the borders of Vichelleben. I’ve saved some money, so from there we can take a hired carriage.”
“A hired carriage…”
Adel exhaled a suppressed breath. Grita was desperate, but the plan itself was flimsy. Two ladies of the court, traveling without escorts in lands rife with bandits and wild beasts? It was like running off a cliff to avoid a carriage.
However, the desperation in Grita’s voice was compelling. Adel asked resignedly,
“Okay, say we leave. Even if we succeed, where will we stay?”
“We must go to the grand cathedral in Pragma or Falkenheim. Nowhere else is safe. Even ‘it’ won’t follow us there.”
“Surely, Grita, you still don’t believe the Duke is the dragon of Vichelleben…”
“Shh, shh!”
Adel’s mouth was forcefully covered again. She tasted the bitterness from Grita’s thick palm. Grita, with a distorted nose, warned,
“Don’t utter that name, or he will surely wake. He’s recuperating, so he might not wake easily, but you must always be careful. Never let those words escape your lips, even when you’re alone.”
“…….”
“Do you understand?”
Adel nodded faintly. As Grita released her mouth, Adel managed to speak,
“But why the grand cathedral all of a sudden?”
“Contact the archbishop of Falkenheim. Vichelleben is too dangerous. Leaving this region is the best option. Besides, he is Johann’s… I mean, your Grace’s godfather… he will take us in.”
When confused, Grita addressed her as ‘Your Grace’ instead of ‘Laura’, which Adel suspected might be her mother’s name.
Adel knew Grita as much as Grita knew her. Their habits, mannerisms, thought processes…
It was a bond formed over years. The debt of Grita’s sacrifices compelled Adel to listen, even to such absurd stories.
“I understand your concern, but we can’t leave unprepared.”
“Please, miss.”
“Find another way out. Then I’ll consider it. You know Oscar isn’t the type to help us easily, don’t you?”
“…….”
“If there really is a safe way…”
That’s when they heard movement. Not from the distant corridor, the stairwell guarded by knights, or outside the window, but from right beyond the door where they stood. The faces of the two women turned pale in an instant.
“…….”
“…….”
After a brief silence, Adel was the first to regain her composure. She urgently pushed Grita towards the stairs.
“Go, Grita. We’ll talk more later.”
Grita exhaled anxiously. It had been an increasingly worrisome night. The years of seeming invincibility had passed, and now, perhaps anticipating her end, Grita tossed and turned on the hard bed. Her head was too cluttered to allow sleep. Staring at the darkened ceiling, she was thrown back, as always, to the memory of that day.
That day. The night they had fled the temple, with a drizzling rain falling down.
Adelheit. Grita’s innocent mistress wouldn’t know. She wouldn’t know what her mother was like, where she lived as a child, how she ended up in the south, and how she eventually fell into the dirty hands of the Count of Raheinau…
Only three knew the truth of that day now: the Count of Raheinau, Grita, and the priest who had helped them escape.
‘What more can I do here, Laura?’
The content of the oracle she once heard directly from those lovely lips had faded and dimmed over the years. Now, Grita remembered only one sentence from it:
The errant one covets, yet will ultimately become whole.
The Count of Raheinau hadn’t let go of Adelheit until she was fifteen because of that oracle. A vain belief that if the blood of Raheinau became ‘complete’, it would create the world’s most powerful healer.
Grita sighed deeply.
‘Would it have been better if there had been no oracle?’
To protect Adel, Grita had given up much and endured a lot, all for her. But such a calamity as this was difficult, even with a lifetime of preparation. Perhaps it was due to too many peaceful years recently.
‘First, I’ll get some sleep and visit the temple right away tomorrow. Fetch some holy water, get a blessing…’
An Indifferent Woman is the One Men Desire the Most
One-line summary: The female lead is actually cold-hearted and extremely rational. She has stage-by-stage relationships and won’t two-time, but there will always be someone who secretly likes her.
This novel has the following triggers, so if you’re sensitive to these, please don’t read:
1. The female lead has had many relationships, but she treated each one seriously and broke up properly.
It’s just that the men unilaterally pestered her incessantly. For the female lead, when she doesn’t like someone anymore, she simply doesn’t like them.
(This applies to her relationships with Male Lead 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well, but she’s loyal in each 1-on-1 relationship!)
2. In this novel, Male Lead 2 and the female lead kiss in a car, and Male Lead 1 sees it and beats up Male Lead 2.
The female lead calls the police and sends both Male Lead 1 and 2 to the police station! Male Lead 1 begs the female lead not to break up with him.
3. Male Lead 1 has a gentle appearance but an obsessive personality.
Male Lead 2 has a delicate and soft appearance, slightly green tea-like (two-faced).
Male Lead 3 is a youthful college student and a smart person who has secretly liked the female lead for a long time.
Male Lead 4 is the female lead’s father’s special assistant, a business elite with deep, hidden thoughts.
4. At the beginning of this novel, the female lead has already broken up with Male Lead 1 (Chapter 4) and gotten back together with Male Lead 2 (ex-boyfriend).
5. Enter with caution if you have triggers!!!
