Escape into the Night

The balcony at the top floor of the estate offered a panoramic view of the entire grounds. Campbell stood motionless before his superior, watching his back as he held his breath.

Inside, behind him, soldiers moved busily. They were all men who had once guarded the annex and knew the ghost of the torture room.

One of them made an urgent call to the personnel waiting outside.

“Bella has escaped.”

Campbell felt a pang of embarrassment. The code name for the operation’s target—a beautiful woman. His superior’s true feelings had been far too transparent.

He stepped up beside him and looked down toward the garden and annex. According to the plan, personnel were already moving through the estate grounds and the annex.

The maid and guards in the annex followed the script perfectly, and the garden had been cleared as instructed. Everything was proceeding exactly as planned so far.

Yet his superior’s mood seemed just as twisted as the knot of his tie.

Though it was merely an operation of high risk and importance, the feeling was far more than that. Campbell, who had watched his superior for a long time, knew the reason all too well.

That woman has finally chosen to run.

As the figure of the woman walking along the path beyond the wall gradually disappeared from sight, Leon handed Campbell the binoculars and stepped back inside. He snatched up the telephone and passed the chattering soldiers on his way to the stairs.

Yes… it had been an act.

If he pretended to be in love, this man might grow careless. The woman had undoubtedly thought as much.

You’re probably convinced your operation is a success right now.

Leon smirked quietly.

As soon as he had regained his strength, she was already plotting. Of course, he had expected it.

He had known the woman’s every move from the very beginning. There was no harm in it, so he had pretended to fall in love to match her playful antics.

Unexpectedly, he had possessed a talent for deception. Falling in love had been far easier than he imagined.

Leon suddenly wondered: who would win the Best Lead Actress award in this chequered love-thriller film?

That woman was quite the formidable competitor. She had faltered at times, but she had performed her role convincingly.

Yes… it had all been an act. Yet the bitter aftertaste lingered.

He could not help but want to understand its meaning.

If he pretended to be in love, perhaps the woman would not leave him. He had been secretly nurturing that foolish hope when he realized it the moment she stepped out of the annex, gun in hand.

Perhaps he had even dared to believe that the woman would no longer play with his heart. A fool like him.

Feeling betrayed once more, he left the building and boarded the waiting car. A black sedan slipped through the estate gates and curved toward the center of Halewood, the nearest village.

Following the narrow back alleys to avoid the main road, the car stopped behind a shabby two-story building. Campbell opened the door, and Leon stepped out immediately, heading for the first floor.

Inside the closed shop, soldiers stood at attention and saluted as he entered.

Leon’s gaze fell on the highest-ranking one among them.

“The operation target has reached the objective point one minute ago.”

At the report, he made his way to the curtained window. Peering through the narrow gap, he saw the woman standing at the train station across the street.

“Place them.”

“Yes!”

At Leon’s order, a private in plain clothes who had been waiting in the corner slipped out the back door and crossed the street to the station.

The woman glanced at the unfamiliar young man who was supposedly tailing her, shrugged, and pulled her scarf tighter over her head and face.

Then she kept glancing down the road and pacing in place, clearly uneasy as if someone was chasing her. She had not noticed the trap.

“Make sure you earn an unblemished record. One that satisfies both the people and the royal family.”

Leon recalled their conversation from last summer with the commander.

“You mean we’re to exterminate the hideout?”

“That’s already your mission and something you’ve been working on. But how about this method?”

He had thought there must be some brilliant plan he had overlooked, but there wasn’t.

“We pretend to release the child and tail the mother. Of course she won’t run straight to the hideout the moment she’s free. We just need to create a reason she has no choice but to go there.”

“I’ve already considered that.”

“Then why haven’t we done it yet?”

Because even if you release a dog, it might still run off.

In fact, he had not thought of it at all.

When the idea of needing a better leash crossed his mind, a voice whispered inside his head.

Give me a child.

Immediately afterward, the image of a pregnant woman holding his child appeared before him. A strange, scorching joy flooded his heart.

How revolting.

He had ignored the primal instinct, but the night of the engagement, when he saw the woman stubbornly refusing to abandon her faith in him and the rebels, he lost all self-control.

That savage impulse was backed by rational grounds. The child of a royalist was the perfect reason for James Blanchard Jr. to betray his fiancée and the reason a woman abandoned by her comrades must return to him.

“Lieutenant, either you or I will be stripped of rank the moment her child’s true father is revealed. I will support this matter at the highest level. Complete the objective.”

The commander had also agreed to the operation and handed over full command.

“What? You must be out of your mind.”

Leon had failed to understand why the commander had insisted on impregnating the woman as part of the pre-operation preparations. That was, however, a matter outside the scope of anyone else’s understanding.

“Once this operation is a success, I will find a way to create a new identity for the child…”

At that point, Leon could have done it without relying on the commander’s favor.

“Please let the child live a normal life, treated as a human being.”

Even after repeated reflection, the words remained distasteful. He loved Grace Riddle, not his dead daughter or the father who only resembled her for convenience.

Yet that strange obsession was also strangely fortunate. The commander would never lose his life to a bullet from the commander’s gun the moment the woman stepped outside the Winston estate.

The sound of a train approaching from the end of the track made Leon’s heart race fiercely.

Go on, then. Run away from me. Return to that child. Little Jimmy or whatever the fool is called. You’ll make a rather interesting face when he sees you.

Even if the woman was a time bomb full of information for the rebels, she was still the woman he had promised to marry.

Was ordering her to commit suicide purely for the cause?

Leon refused to believe it. If he had not violated her, he would have tried to save her at least once or twice before ordering suicide.

How could such a narrow-minded man have betrayed the woman carrying another man’s child? Even if she returned alive, she would betray him again.

Then that tightly sealed woman would finally understand. That she had been deceived by her comrades her whole life, and that he alone had spoken the truth.

So the woman would break the hard shell she had wrapped herself in and be reborn anew. In that moment, all the doubts he had patiently planted would sprout, bloom into the flower of revenge. Leon believed this without doubt.

The train arrived. The stopped car jerked into motion once more. The spot where the woman had stood was now empty.

The train carrying a mouse running back to its hole—unaware it was carrying a bomb—disappeared from sight, but Leon could not tear his eyes away.

Wait for me. You’ll come back.

Before that, break your own world with your own hands and hand it to me. Then I will generously forgive even today’s betrayal.

I will gladly walk the most un-Leon-like path for you.

Grace could no longer hold back the moment she slipped out beyond the estate wall.

Today. It is today. Yes… it had been today.

Laughter kept bursting out, though it felt more like sobbing.

Unlike her racing heart, her steps were steady. It did not matter if she walked slowly. No one would come after her.

Grace recalled one of the many warnings her husband had given her.

“The ground is frozen and slippery. Walk slowly so you don’t fall while strolling.”

Yes… do I listen well? Are you watching?

Yesterday and today you were so affectionate, but today was the day the operation began.

Another laugh escaped her.

As Halewood drew closer, Grace pulled her scarf over her head and face, hiding half her features. It was awkward to be recognized as Sally Bristol.

She had been lucky. The train, which came once an hour, had arrived just after she had waited.

The train inside was nearly empty, as it was a weekday morning after rush hour. Grace sat in the very last corner and finally took out the pistol she had kept clutched in her pocket.

She ejected the magazine, pulled the slide back to check the chamber, and a laugh escaped her. Both the magazine and the chamber were empty.

So that man had given Grace an empty gun.

Moreover, the money in her pocket was barely enough to reach the Winsford safehouse. He had calculated that giving her too much money might make her try to escape alone without seeking her comrades’ help.

A thoroughly ruthless bastard.

And he had willingly used a woman carrying his child as well—a cold-blooded man.

Grace had already noticed that he was using the child. She had only realized what he intended to use it for a little over a month ago.

From the time the operation had settled into a routine, he had focused on feeding her well and making her take regular walks, as if training a military dog.

If you release me, I’ll run straight to Jimmy.

A bastard. A cold-blooded man who loves while using. I hope he’s still hurting now that he’s watching me run away.

Grace clenched her teeth, staring at the city gradually approaching through the train window.

She had prepared plans on every possible front. One of them was to disappear forever without revealing the hideout’s location.

Leon Winston, you are not the only one who can calculate.

She got off at the Winsford Opera House and headed straight for the department store. The moment she stepped inside, she stopped in her tracks. The interior was dazzling, decorated from ceiling to floor with Christmas ornaments.

Suddenly, she recalled the last time she had been here: Easter decorations had stood in that very spot. The time she had been confined felt newly sharp and vivid.

She had felt the weight of that time before, when the train fare had unexpectedly risen during the journey from Halewood and she had briefly panicked.

Unlike the sparse crowd outside, the department store was bustling. With only two days left until Christmas, people hurried through to buy last-minute gifts or check orders. Grace found their hurried footsteps and the words brushing past her ears strangely unreal, as if she were watching a movie.

Was it not a dream?

Standing motionless at the entrance, she felt a sudden presence behind her and startled.

“Madam, may I be of assistance?”

Turning, she saw a doorman wearing a silk hat and uniform offering a kind smile.

Madam?

Only then did Grace remember her appearance. Her prominent belly and expensive ring on her finger made her look like a married woman.

“No, I’m fine.”

Regaining her composure, Grace hurried across the department store, slipped the ring off her finger, and tucked it into her coat pocket. Nancy would definitely misunderstand if she saw such an expensive item.

Who is it?

At Nancy’s voice from the intercom, Grace felt relief and amazement.

The safehouse is still there.

She had once accidentally seen the Winsford safehouse report while secretly searching Winston’s desk. The safehouse had already been compromised to Winston long ago, yet he still seemed unaware.

What Grace had learned from that report was not the only thing. Nancy was not a double agent. Having already suffered a painful betrayal from Peter, Grace had carefully chosen whom to ask for help this time.

“It’s me.”

[Oh my God, you’re alive?]

Clearly an expression of surprise and joy, yet Grace felt oddly uncomfortable. Nancy was silent for a moment before whispering quickly.

[Wait, what if I go over there?]

The second line was coldly decisive after the first awkward one. Grace felt a little hurt, but Nancy was right to be cautious; security came first when the safehouse’s location was at risk.

“I’m fine. No tail.”

[Are you sure?]

“I’m sure. Nancy, if you keep stalling like this, I’ll have to worry about a military unit instead of a tail.”

Only then did the intercom noise cut off and footsteps descend the stairs. The moment the door opened, Grace smiled at the familiar face from the old days, but Nancy could not smile back.

“Oh… my God…”

The moment her eyes fell on Grace’s belly, Nancy froze in place like ice.

“Help me.”

Nancy’s mouth stayed slightly open without a word before she began scanning left and right as if looking for a way out, muttering.

“Going back to the village right now is too dangerous.”

“I know that. What I need is money, 45-caliber ammunition, and a safehouse to hide in. Look for a safehouse in a large city where immigrants are common. I’ll handle evading any pursuit myself to reach the safehouse.”

Grace whispered the plans she had already laid out along the way, then added after a pause.

“Once I solve this, I’ll go home.”

Her belly suddenly drew Nancy’s gaze. She let out a long sigh.

“There’s a post office across the department store. Wait in front of the phone booth. I’ll call you after I make my report.”

“No.”

Grace urgently grabbed Nancy as she tried to enter the department store.

“Don’t tell the officers.”

The thought that other people would learn she carried a royalist’s child made her hands tremble with shame.

Nancy stared at Grace’s earnest face for a long moment, let out a short sigh, and asked.

“Ammunition, funds, and a safehouse. That should be enough?”

“Yes.”

“All right. I’ll wait at the post office.”

The post office was also bustling, being so close to Christmas. Grace sat on a bench near the row of phone booths and kept glancing covertly toward the lobby.

Far away on another bench, a young man sat with his legs crossed, reading a newspaper.

A bastard. Did I really think you’d let me use you so willingly?

Grace reviewed her plan in her mind. First, she would get what she needed from Nancy; Nancy would then subtly hint that the safehouse had been discovered. She would then head straight to the train station from here.

First, she would check the train schedule and find a shabby hotel for the night.

Since the bastards would probably keep watching anyway, even if she loitered for a day or two, it might be better to hide in the hotel, tighten the escape plan, and rest for a while.

But if she relaxed too much, wouldn’t they notice she had figured out the trap?

Grace let out a deep sigh and rummaged through her pocket. She was hungry after the lunch hour. She had scraped together change to buy something to eat when she found the most expensive item in her coat pocket—one that would not buy anything immediately.

Why would he have given her an engagement ring?

It still puzzled her. It was too valuable to be mere bait.

Suddenly an idea occurred to her. Perhaps the man had chosen this item expecting Grace to pick freedom over him at the crossroads he had pointed out.

Her hunger suddenly vanished. She stopped rummaging and stared at the tip of her shoe.

They had found out I was pretending to love him. If I’m captured again, I’ll be locked away once more. Perhaps the future the man had promised was now blank.

A promise.

Grace let out a hollow laugh.

That had been a trap too.

Hah…

Someone grabbed Grace’s shoulder as she sank into deep thought. Startled, she looked up. Nancy was staring at her with an anxious face.

Oh no… who now?

The man had no reason to come after her right now; he would not have left his hideout ambitions behind.

They immediately slipped into the most secluded phone booth. The slender women fit easily, but Grace’s belly made it tight.

The moment Nancy firmly closed the door, she stood with her back to the glass window and opened her handbag.

“Here, take this first.”

Grace received a thick bundle of bills and opened the ammunition box, asking.

“A safehouse?”

While loading the magazine, Nancy said nothing. Only after she loaded the chamber and closed the slide did she speak.

“Grace.”

Her voice was heavy, as if she were trying to force out difficult words. Lifting her head, Grace met Nancy’s odd eyes. Nancy bit her lip tightly before uttering the shocking words.

“What about going to Joe?”

“…What?”

Joe was her older brother who had left the rebels early.

That was no different from returning to Winston. The man was watching Joe.

Nancy probably did not know. So she had not meant it as an invitation to return to Winston. There was a separate, shocking reason.

“Does that mean you’re ordering me to leave my comrades forever right now?”

“I have no choice. It’s a decision from above.”

“You said not to report to the officers.”

“Grace, I have to report everything. Still, the officers don’t know. I only told Jimmy.”

Grace’s heart sank at the realization that Jimmy now knew she carried Winston’s child. And then came the dawning realization that her heart had fallen completely to the floor.

“…So Jimmy ordered me to leave.”

Jimmy. The Jimmy she had lived with like family for her whole life. The Jimmy who had once been on the verge of becoming family.

“Jimmy made the decision with difficulty. The officers believe you’re dead. If you return alive, it will complicate things for you.”

“Why? Why?”

“How would I know? Jimmy said it was the best way to protect you, especially if you’re carrying a royalist’s child.”

Grace did not know what Jimmy had meant in that way. All she heard was that she had lost the right to stand shoulder to shoulder with her comrades because she carried a royalist’s child.

“The best way to protect me? By throwing me away after giving me just a few coins?”

Grace pulled out the bundle of bills she had tucked away and shook it.

“I’ve lived my whole life for the cause. The Blanchard Revolutionary Army will become my family. How could Jimmy… while he knows that…”

Hoo… Please calm down, Grace. Jimmy had no choice either…

Grace cut Nancy off and asked.

“When Jimmy found out I was captured, what did he say?”

“How would I know? I was preparing Fred’s funeral and wasn’t myself at the time.”

“…What? Fred is dead?”

“Oh my God, you didn’t know?”

Grace, who had heard nothing from the man other than that he had released Fred, was stunned. While she was dazed, Nancy, her face tight with suppressed tears, told her what had happened to Fred.

“Our family is still stuck in pain. My brother was brutally tortured and died in a way that even makes me unable to look at.…”

Grace, listening with lost words, snapped back when Nancy added after biting her lip tightly.

“But the fact that you’re alive doesn’t make sense.”

“What does that mean?”

“You escaped without a single injury.”

“What?”

Does she think I’m a double agent sent by Winston? Maybe she plans to discard me.

Whether or not she was a double agent, if she suspected Winston had deliberately set a trap and released her, then Jimmy and Nancy were right. Yet Grace instinctively hid that fact. Perhaps Winston had not simply discarded her but aimed to permanently eliminate her.

“I am not Winston’s double agent!”

At Grace’s protest, Nancy’s expression twisted further. In the face that had been swallowing fury, private resentment surfaced. Grace suddenly understood.

“Wait, do you really think I betrayed Fred to Winston?”

“Two of the three men stationed in Halewood are dead. You’re the only one left alive. And you’re in perfect health. No, better than perfect. To anyone who doesn’t know you, you’d seem like the wife of a great lord.”

Those accusing eyes swept Grace from head to toe. With her good color, Winston’s expensive wool coat, and the gold-embossed shoes from a famous boutique, she would not look like someone who had been treated as less than human in the torture room.

That bastard, why did he dress me in expensive things?

“This… is this supposed to look healthy?”

Grace pointed at her belly with trembling hands, but Nancy’s gaze only grew colder.

“Successfully seducing the famous seducer Winston. Truly impressive. I can’t even imagine what you did to survive. It only makes me pity my brother who once loved you so purely.”

Are you accusing me of what I did to survive?

Differing from feeling guilty about one’s own actions, being criticized by others was a different matter. Especially from Nancy, Grace’s own sister, she had no right to blame Grace.

Grace’s vision blurred.

She had believed Nancy would become her savior since she had been rescued from Winston’s estate. Yet Nancy had known nothing of what had happened there, and that madman had killed Fred and made her life miserable.

“Why did I have to spread my legs for that bastard? To save Fred!”

Grace grabbed Nancy’s throat by the collar and shouted.

“What? I loved you purely? Is turning in my name the only thing you did before they tortured me?”

Nancy’s face twisted. Grace clenched her teeth and shouted the truth.

“Yes! It was my brother Fred who sold Peter and my identity to Winston!”

Grace released Nancy’s throat, swallowing her rage and demanding.

“Apologize to me now.”

But Nancy would not easily accept her brother’s fault.

“You want me to believe it without evidence? It’s easy to frame a dead man with false accusations. Tone it down, Grace.”

False accusation. Grace swallowed her fury and forced a twisted smile.

“Oh, evidence? You saw your brother’s body, didn’t you? There was a gunshot wound in his crotch. Winston personally shot him there. Do you know why? He was aroused by an ally offering his body to the enemy to save himself. Even the devil would be shocked. If you don’t believe me, ask Winston yourself.”

Whether she thought Winston or her brother was more revolting, Nancy looked as if she were about to vomit.

“Did you hear? My brother got excited while listening to me being raped. Disgusting. Very cowardly.”

“Stop. I don’t want to hear it.”

Nancy clamped her ears with both hands. Grace pulled away and whispered right into her ear so it would burn.

“Tell me. Is it pure love that I got aroused listening to the devil violating me? Huh? Say it!”

“Stop!”

Grace pressed each word one by one into the reality Nancy was trying to ignore with her face buried in her hands.

“Nancy Wilkins, your brother is the cowardly betrayer.”

Nancy suddenly lifted her head and lunged at Grace.

“Don’t dare insult my brother!”

Insult? It was the truth.

Grace gripped Nancy’s throat tightly and clenched her teeth.

Fred was weak and didn’t belong there, yet they called him family.

“You don’t know how much pain I endured because of my father’s greed. No, you don’t care!”

At the moment Grace thought of being wrapped in a family that abandoned her as an unjust betrayer and eventually cast out, something inside her snapped.

“Did my brother die painfully?”

Grace saw the pain flare in Nancy’s eyes and curved her lips into a smile.

“I hope so.”

One hand that had been gripping Nancy’s throat suddenly fell away and slapped Grace across the face.

Ug…

Yet the pained groan did not come from Grace. Nancy twisted Grace’s wrist viciously and laughed.

“Let go, let go!”

I thought you’d weakened from being locked up. The daily fights with that man had strengthened your grip. Truly impressive.

Grace shook off Nancy’s hand like a snake shedding skin and pushed her back.

“Get out. I have nothing more to say to you.”

But Nancy did not leave the booth and grabbed Grace’s wrist as she tried to pick up the receiver.

“Don’t call Jimmy or go anywhere. Go straight to Joe.”

Grace pointed the loaded pistol at Nancy as she tried to snatch the receiver.

“Get out. Now.”

Now the two looked at each other with the eyes of enemies, not comrades. Grace wondered if Nancy might try to eliminate her. That was all it would take to make sure she never got the chance.

“Oh, you know? The moment your brother came to the Winsford safehouse, it was discovered.”

As expected. Nancy’s face drained of color.

“If you don’t want to be arrested and become a laughingstock, you’d better get out right now. Think carefully. If I’m a traitor, I’ll say this?”

And as predicted, Nancy set the receiver down, hurried out of the booth, and vanished out of the post office.

Grace began dialing after the venomous curse “Nancy Wilkins has become as vicious as Camden’s Vampire” still echoed in the narrow booth.

“Croydon 1499… ah, my name is…”

She had given Nancy’s alias to the operator instead. If she realized it was her, Jimmy might avoid the call.

[How did it go?]

“Jimmy, it’s me.”

She had been right to think so. After hearing Grace’s voice, Jimmy was silent for a moment. Grace felt the same: hearing her fiancé’s voice after so long brought more complicated emotions than joy.

“I have something I want to ask.”

Before opening her mouth again, Grace closed her eyes tightly. In the darkness, Winston’s shockingly pitiful face flickered.

“Your fiancé ordered you to commit suicide.”

She asked in a voice shaking with suppressed fury and fear.

“It’s true that I sent cyanide with the order to commit suicide?”

[I’m sorry.]

Grace forced down the sob rising in her throat. Her bitten lip hurt more than her heart.

The man’s words were correct. She had wanted to believe they were lies, but she could no longer.

No. Jimmy had no choice either, had to do it…

[I had no choice either.]

But didn’t you have the audacity to say that?

Grace bit her lip harder, her emotions completely different from moments ago.

[You know I have to make difficult and sometimes cruel decisions sitting here. Wouldn’t that lighten my heart if I sent you that? Still…]

“Did you really try to save me?”

Grace could no longer restrain her anger and interjected.

[Of course I did…]

“Not thoughts—actions!”

The answer she received from questioning him was only silence.

How… how could you do this to me?

In the painful silence, a sob slipped between Grace’s tightly clenched lips.

“You… you’re surprised I’m alive?”

Grace fully understood why Nancy’s first reaction to her survival had felt so uncomfortable.

You weren’t happy I returned. It was a burden instead.

[That’s not it…]

“You’re disappointed I didn’t follow your orders? I couldn’t follow them. Winston intercepted me in the middle.”

Tell me not to die.

“How could that devil save me while my fiancé tried to kill me?”

The devil who was ready to stake everything to save her looked more like an angel.

A long sigh came from behind the receiver.

[Grace, if you speak like that, I’ll seem even more ruthless than that monster…]

Grace stopped sobbing and smirked. Could she really say no?

At least that devil knows I’m wicked. The devil recognized by everyone, and the one who pretends to be good while committing evil in the name of being an angel. What difference was there between the two?

[To be honest…]

Jimmy lowered his voice and whispered.

[It was the elders’ decision. You knew too much…]

“I was locked away for eight months and didn’t reveal anything! I didn’t sell Fred or Peter. Fred did that himself!”

[I know that too. I know, Grace… Please don’t cry.]

[Hah…]

Even if he said he knew the truth, it would not comfort her.

[Please believe me. I regret it too. But how happy I am that you returned alive…]

“Yes, I’m happy, but I can’t raise the child of that man. Right?”

[Hah… That’s not what I meant.]

“Do you know why I ended up like this? Because I didn’t betray you! And you did this to me! You didn’t even try to save me! I just barely escaped, and you abandoned me?”

[I didn’t abandon you!]

“Then is our engagement still valid?”

Silence stretched behind the receiver. Grace could not hold back.

[Hic…]

Grace began to feel pathetic for the woman who had felt guilty toward Jimmy while in Winston’s arms.

With her face buried in one hand, Grace let out her sorrow, and the man whispered pityingly.

“I don’t understand what side of you a man like that was attracted to when he promised to marry you. Miss Riddle, you look pitiful.”

Shut up, Winston. Please, shut up.

[Grace, I have duties to fulfill…]

“Enough. I don’t want to hear any more.”

The longer the excuses, the more pathetic Grace felt for herself.

[I’m truly sorry. Hah… I’m in pain too from how things turned out.]

You could never feel as much pain as me.

While clenching her teeth, Jimmy, who had barely spoken until then, began talking as if he wanted to end the call quickly.

[I’ll send your things and money at an appropriate time. If you need funds, let me know anytime. Don’t hesitate to contact me. Grace, it pains me that our paths diverged like this. But if you return and are used again…]

At the mention of being used upon return, Grace snapped awake.

Again to catch Winston? But she could not be used as a double agent again.

Then as bait?

At that moment, the thought struck her that she could use the child in her belly as bait for negotiation with Winston, since he was a royalist’s child.

A royalist’s child.

The moment that thought crossed her mind, a suspicion slashed through her brain like lightning.

“How would you use it? Or is there some hidden role the elders have been planning for a long time…?”

[No, there’s nothing like that.]

Grace’s intuition spoke. This is a lie. There is something. And Jimmy is hiding something from me.

[It’s just that I don’t want you to suffer like this again, Grace. I want to protect you.]

The man had said the same words.

One man screams that he will lock you away, another that he will expel you. In either case, Grace’s will was completely ignored.

[Don’t forget. I’m not abandoning you. I really miss you. When things calm down, I’ll come find you. Go to Joe for now. Please, I beg you.]

Grace’s intuition spoke again. This is all empty talk.

Her mind already full of other thoughts, Grace removed the receiver from her ear and answered weakly.

“Yes, I’ll go to Joe.”

She must have sounded perfectly resigned to the person on the other end.

Grace headed for the convenience store the moment she entered Winsford Central Station. She chose a box of crackers, an apple, and two bottles of soda, then moved to the book section.

Free train schedules were available at the ticket counter, but Grace bought a nationwide train schedule book with her own money.

The shop owner glanced at her face curiously while calculating. Grace, who already knew her appearance, avoided his gaze.

She kept dabbing her watery eyes with a handkerchief that looked as if it would drip water. While the owner was looking through the shelves behind the counter, he placed something on top of the book.

“A train schedule book is included as a gift.”

It was a handkerchief neatly packaged in a delicate paper box.

“…Thank you.”

Grace left the shop and joined the long line at the ticket counter. Holding a paper bag with her purchases, she flipped through the book with one hand.

2:15 p.m. departure, 4:30 p.m. arrival in Chesterfield, 4:35 p.m. departure, 8:45 p.m. arrival.

She turned the pages to the regional schedules and was busy calculating when the man’s face kept intruding in her mind.

“You need to know the truth too. Watching you believe in that child without knowing anything was fun at first. But now I’m in pain too.”

Shut up. Please shut up.

Even when standing in front of the ticket counter, the new handkerchief was damp. As usual, she had wanted to buy a third-class ticket, but it was sold out before Christmas. The only option left was first class.

Grace crossed the noisy lobby, where voices and footsteps echoed like a cave thanks to the high ceiling, and stepped onto the platform. Standing among people loading luggage into compartments and saying goodbyes, she watched the train that would take her to hell, then a station attendant approached and asked.

“Madam, where are you going?”

The pregnant woman with teary, lost eyes must have looked pitiful. The attendant, in an overly cheerful tone, took the crumpled paper bag instead of her and guided her to first class.

Grace usually did not accept help for things she could do herself, but now she eagerly followed the stranger’s goodwill.

The attendant opened the door of the compartment numbered 1 and offered his hand politely. After being treated like a lady and sitting down, the attendant placed the bag next to her.

“Thank you.”

“I’m happy to be of help.”

The man tipped his hat and greeted her.

“May you have a Merry Christmas filled with happiness and love.”

When had she last found a holiday greeting so empty? Her Christmas had already been stained by grief and betrayal.

Forcing a smile, Grace waited until the compartment door closed.

Hah…

A long sigh filled the elegantly decorated six-person compartment.

Grace stroked her belly that had been tightening for the journey from the station.

This child is also in pain.

Her movements had quickened.

Grace took off her shoes. Leaning against the wall in the corridor, she stretched her legs along the long seat and sat. The soft cushion soon made her body comfortable, but her mind was not.

Staring at the bustling platform with unfocused eyes, she took a deep breath. She tried to calm her emotions but kept failing, her shoulders trembling.

She had lived with her older brother like family since childhood and still could not believe he could turn cruel to her.

Suddenly another quickening hit her.

Letting out a long sigh and stroking her belly, a tear from her eyelash soaked the cuff of her dark red sweater.

Grace let out a laugh that sounded like a sigh. A happy laugh.

Should I be grateful to this child I didn’t want? Perhaps I would never have seen their true faces otherwise.

She wanted to blame Winston for all the betrayals, but she could not. Whatever he had done, the decision to abandon her had been Jimmy’s.

Her intuition had whispered that Jimmy’s reason for abandoning her went beyond personal emotion.

The Blanchard Revolutionary Army never abandons captured comrades. Grace had believed that promise and jumped into dangerous operations without fear.

Yet the promise they had kept with other comrades had been broken from the very beginning with her.

“He’s not coming to save you, I’ve said it many times.”

“Your fiancé ordered you to commit suicide.”

So two of the many lies Winston had told were the truth. She wanted to know if the other half were also true.

So because the man’s words were true, he was abandoning me?

She would rather face any hell at the end of her lifelong unresolved doubts.

[But if you return and are used again…]

Used, used…

Grace stared at the destination listed on the train schedule and bit her lip resolutely. At the end of this long track, she would meet someone who would listen to everything.

Thinking of escaping Winston had now faded into the background.

Laughing hollowly, a middle-aged woman returned from outside the compartment and opened the door. She was the same woman who had been standing in line just behind Grace at the ticket counter.

Granny gave her a friendly nod and sat opposite. Grace nodded lightly as if they knew each other, then turned her gaze to the window.

She was really watching the window, observing the woman. She looked warm like Mrs. Appleby, but had a subtly military air. Her plain clothing would not be remembered if asked to describe it later.

Pip.

A sharp whistle cut across the long platform. The train attendant’s voice followed: “Please board the hell-express train!”

The platform, which had been packed moments ago, quickly emptied as doors closed one by one. To others, the sound might have been fireworks announcing the start of the holiday, but to Grace it was the gunshot signaling the start of war.

The train began to move with a long groan. The station attendants waving from the platform and the gray platform slowly receded, and the forest of skyscrapers swept past the window.

The buildings grew shorter. The train raced past factories and bare fields. At last they had left the city that had grown tiresome, yet the feeling of having escaped Winston’s grip did not arise.

“Here, take this too.”

The woman who introduced herself as Mary Baker took many snacks from her bag and kept offering them to Grace.

“Aren’t train rides always exciting?”

Grace accepted the chocolate box Mary Baker offered and nodded.

It was, in truth, nothing but polite falsehood. Since escaping Abington Beach on the early train, she had not felt excited about train rides.

Mrs. Baker was talkative. The woman who had been working as a maid at some estate and was heading home had said the train ticket had sold out and there was only first class left, complaining comically.

Grace had also thought she did not look like someone who could afford a first-class ticket.

“Where are you going, Sally?”

The woman called her alias as she habitually did and asked.

“To meet my family.”

Grace gave her destination instead of the final stop.

“A pregnant woman traveling alone such a long distance with no husband… tsk tsk…”

One might normally think she was going to meet her husband, but Mrs. Baker assumed “Sally’s” husband was still in Winsford.

Grace stared at the chocolate box she had been holding blankly. The price was not written, but it looked expensive.

Grace brought the box to her nose and laughed. A faint scent of the man’s perfume lingered at the corner.

She opened the box, put a chocolate in her mouth, and smiled at Mrs. Baker. No need to thank her for the kindness.

I knew this would happen.

A maid? No, a soldier.

It had been suspicious from the lobby of the station. When Grace stood at the end of the ticket line, the man had been standing next to the shop, walking with a measured stride as if measured with a ruler, like someone whose body had memorized training.

Moreover, the person heading home after a long time carried only a handbag, without gifts or a large luggage bag. Of course, it was ideal for tailing, but too sloppy to deceive the operation target.

“Baking a wife” smiled innocently while asking.

“Is it your first child?”

“Yes.”

“I remember when I had my first child too…”

“Excitement and fear both come with it.”

Grace deliberately smiled and acted friendly.

“But I heard it hurts terribly when giving birth. Is that true?”

“Ye… yes, it hurts. But the joy is so great that…”

She even acted a little stupid to make the other person lower her guard.

“I wonder if it’s not painful. Even if it’s not yet full term, it’s not easy to travel far with that body.”

“Yes. My belly keeps tightening these days. I’m worried.”

In truth, her belly had been fine for a long time.

The woman’s complexion suddenly darkened. She asked various questions, wondering if blood was showing in her underwear or if the quickening was felt.

“If that’s the case, it’s probably temporary fatigue from tiredness. You should rest without overdoing it…”

Even in the woman’s questions and advice, a faint scent of professionalism lingered.

As expected, a nursing officer. Even at her age, most female soldiers in the military were nursing officers, so Grace had thrown out a bait and the woman had bitten. She wondered if that devil was somewhere on this train.

At the sudden thought, Grace rejected the woman’s suggestion to lie down comfortably and stood up.

“Bathroom…”

She stepped out into the corridor and stopped.

What if they meet?

After searching every compartment, if she met Winston and they looked each other in the eye, both would be in trouble.

The man could not capture her yet, but he would have to pretend to try. So Grace would have to fake escape convincingly while pretending not to know his plan.

“Ah… excuse me.”

Just then, the attendant opened the door of the first-class compartment. Grace leaned on the rattling wall of the train and approached, asking for help.

“I’m an officer from the Western Command involved in the operation. I need to report to Captain Leon Winston right away, but I don’t know which compartment he’s in.”

She spoke in a stiff military tone as a young pregnant woman pretending to be an officer.

“Moreover, searching the compartments with my current discomfort….”

At Grace’s gesture toward her belly, the attendant nodded understandingly.

“Then I’ll look right away.”

“Ah, wait a moment.”

Grace grabbed the attendant as he tried to look into the nearest compartment.

“If he finds out I forgot the compartment number, Captain Winston will scold me… He’s really merciless. Please don’t tell him I asked; just look for him, all right?”

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

How long had the attendant been sitting in the makeshift chair beside the restroom looking out the window? He returned after checking all compartments. The moment he saw his troubled face, Grace had to suppress the urge to curl her lips upward.

“Ah… what should I do? It seems there’s no such person.”

He had not boarded the train.

Grace hid her thoughts and let her shoulders droop in embarrassment.

“Ah, this… what should I do…”

“If you took the wrong train…”

“No, this is the correct train. It seems Captain Winston missed it.”

Grace thanked the attendant and returned to her seat. She lay down with her knees bent, pretending to sleep, eyes closed.

That man would not be sitting quietly at Western Command…

Perhaps he was following by other means. Or maybe he had gone ahead to the destination Mary Baker had roughly told her.

No. If he knew the final destination precisely, he would not have needed to follow. There was no need.

She had a hunch he would wait in a place where she could easily be caught no matter where or when she ran.

Is he planning to release me and observe?

Earlier he had forbidden her from leaving the garden of the annex. The man who had never wanted to release her was apparently exerting great patience. Grace could not help but laugh.

“Is there something interesting happening?”

Mrs. Baker, who had been reading a magazine opposite, asked. Grace opened her eyes, which she had kept closed, and smiled at the woman.

“No, it’s just… not very interesting for you, Mrs. Baker.”

She had acted politely, but in her heart she thought the woman annoying.

Would she keep following her, pretending to know her, when she changed trains? She might also linger at the destination.

Moreover, there might be others tailing her besides the close surveillance personnel like that woman.

Thinking that someone might be eavesdropping on their extremely private conversation that night, which the enemy must not know, Grace snapped awake.

Reviewing her plans, removing the tailers was an inevitable task at some point. Eventually, Grace decided to stop pretending not to know the man’s plan.

“Mrs. Baker, what time is it now?”

The woman looked at her wristwatch and answered.

“Four twenty-eight.”

This train arrived at Chesterfield, the central gateway where all rail lines intersect, at 4:30 and departed at 4:35. No delays so far.

She had only two minutes left until the operation she had set up at Winsford Central Station began. Grace stood up.

“Bathroom again…”

“Pregnancy usually brings frequent urges.”

The woman smiled kindly. Grace returned the kind smile and left the compartment, wiping her smile away the moment she stepped out.

She headed toward the restroom on the right. Pretending to wait for her turn, she sat in the makeshift chair and stared at the door outside.

The train soon began to slow and entered Chesterfield Station. While Grace had been watching only the platform, she turned her head toward the opposite tracks and had a good idea.

This might be better.

A train was stopped on the adjacent track.

It would be harder for the train to notice a trap than the platform. Moreover, the many doors on the train side and the easy visibility of people moving around were the flaws.

Other trains were rarely stopped, and porters wearing round hats were boarding.

There was still time until departure.

But the time given for this train was only five minutes. The operation time was a mere five minutes.

The moment the train stopped, Grace stood and opened the door. Through the closed door of the adjacent train, she met the eyes of a porter. She gestured to open it, and the man opened the door with an odd look.

The gap between the trains was not narrow, but the distance was enough for her to jump alone. No need to rush. Grace grabbed the hand the porter kindly extended and leapt to the next train.

The moment she stepped into the corridor, Grace handed the porter a bill. The man’s eyes widened at the amount.

“If people come out on the platform and ask where the pregnant woman went, tell them she got on that train over there…”

She pointed at the postal train on the opposite platform.

“Tell him she jumped on that train.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

The man smiled and snatched the money, then set aside the luggage he was carrying and went to the platform.

Grace immediately walked left down the corridor of the compartment. The restroom, and three more compartments, would bring her face to face with the room where her seat had been.

Good.

According to plan. While she had been searching for the surveillance target’s movements, she had just opened the door of the compartment when Mary Baker had emerged, and their eyes met with two windows between them. In that instant, Grace widened her eyes in feigned surprise and clutched her belly, hurrying forward in panic.

Did the pretense of stupidity work? She had stepped into the trap without suspicion.

Hiding at the end of the corridor and peeking from the window edge, she saw the woman knocking on the door of the next compartment and calling loudly. At the same time, three young men poured out of the compartment and ran to the end of the train car.

As expected. He could not have placed only one man there.

Grace quickly moved to the next compartment. Halfway down the corridor, the door she had just passed through opened with a bang and the woman shouted.

“Hey! Stop there!”

She doesn’t know my name? Normally pursuers would call out names.

Grace did not stop but continued toward the end of the train car. Even in the narrow corridor, they ran while she walked quickly, and she was soon caught.

But they would not realize it was part of her scheme.

When the fools reached the middle of the train car, Grace turned around. As if surrendering, she raised both hands, but the object in her hand was far from a symbol of surrender.

Her eyes fell on the pistol in her right hand, and the pursuers stopped. Grace shook the bullet in her other hand as if displaying it.

“Now it’s not an empty gun.”

Shooting one in the air would not be as certain a warning, but stopping the entire train’s operation would be.

“Lie down! Now!”

Whether Winston was targeting anyone, the weakness was the same. Grace must not die.

Just as she had done in the annex, she aimed the barrel at her own throat, and the pursuers exchanged glances before lying down obediently in the corridor.

Still aiming her gun at her own throat, she opened the side door and stepped out. The platform clock she glanced at showed 33 minutes. Grace pretended to flee onto the platform, then turned and opened the door of the next compartment.

She closed the door and crouched on the floor, listening with her ear to the ground. Sure enough, the sound of people running out onto the platform came.

“Where did she go? Which way?”

After panicked shouts, a voice shouted that someone had gone that way. Grace crouched as low as possible and headed for the opposite door.

The moment the whistle signaling imminent departure sounded, Grace returned to the adjacent train as she had done when boarding this one.

Hah… That was close.

The train began moving slowly. Grace immediately went to the restroom instead of her seat.

Ah… I’m hungry.

She pressed her rumbling stomach and listened to the corridor outside the locked door. The small window outside showed the scenery changing from gray to blue, and no sound of people searching for her came from the corridor. It meant no pursuers had boarded this train again.

Only then did Grace return to the empty compartment.

On Christmas Eve, an uninvited guest? That’s not allowed.

She took a bottle of soda from the bag, opened the cap, stretched her legs, and sat on the seat. Enjoying the breathtaking view of the Chesterfield River and the freedom of being alone while sipping the cold soda, Grace suddenly burst into laughter.

A thrilling thrill, as if she had just successfully completed a mission she had taken on after a long time.

I had thought my body and mind would become dull from being locked up without any stimulation.

Wow, I’m still useful, aren’t I?

But the refreshing laughter soon faded.

Even I can still be useful…

The platform of Chesterfield Central Station, silent in darkness and stillness, looked like a daytime train station from one of the offices overlooking it.

In this temporary operation headquarters, the sound of soldiers talking on telephones never stopped. They all repeated the same words like parrots.

“Yes, have you seen any station attendant or inspector who saw a pregnant woman with brown hair, teal eyes, and a brown coat…”

They had called every station across the country looking for the train the operation target had boarded, but there had been no results for hours.

Outside, soldiers mobilized from the Central Command had been searching the station and the city until late at night. To find just one woman.

Most of the personnel urgently deployed for this operation did not even know her identity. They had only been told she was a recently arrested suspicious individual with important secrets about the rebels.

The moment the door burst open, the noise that had deafened their ears suddenly stopped. Everyone froze what they were doing and stood at attention, but the polite behavior only irritated the commander’s mood.

“You seem to have the time to stand from your seat. Did you find Bella who ran away from home?”

At the ashen faces, the major turned his body coldly and headed for the conference room. While the voices searching for the woman’s whereabouts tangled messily, the major gave Campbell an order.

“Call Captain McGill.”

“Yes.”

Campbell passed the instruction to the waiting second lieutenant and flicked his fingertips toward the familiar face sitting at a desk. The private who had been tailing the woman from Halewood to Winsford immediately stood and ran to him.

“Nancy Wilkins?”

He had mentioned the real name of the rebel they had overheard the woman speaking to. At the question whether he had found out anything about Wilkins’ whereabouts, the private’s face darkened.

“No new information has been obtained so far.”

The private told him how he had realized that Grace Riddle had been monitoring the Winsford base. And Wilkins had cleverly evaded the tail he had been assigned and disappeared.

“Then what about the Croydon side?”

“I received that it would take some time due to the upcoming holiday.”

“How long?”

“Expected early next year…”

The private lowered his voice while reporting and glanced toward the conference room. Behind the conference room door stood a blackboard listing tracking status. The major’s eyes burning in front of it carried killing intent.

On the way to interrogate the porter who had lied to the surveillance team, he had only been told that the woman had been taken by some human-smuggling group.

What he had wanted to hear was not the colleague who had helped. Everyone who knew the woman could guess she had used a cunning tactic.

What he wanted to know was the woman’s whereabouts, but the porter did not know where she had disappeared to either.

Campbell sent the reporting private back to his place and took a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it.

The mouse carrying a bomb around its neck had cut the wire and run.

“Damn…”

The operation prepared by the Domestic Intelligence Agency over several months.

They could not have expected such an unexpected situation. They had prepared flexible plans for various variables during those months, and the current plan was still following the one drawn up for the time she would move and disappear.

But it could not be called “going according to plan.” The further she moved, the further the final destination would be.

Campbell twisted the lighter’s wheel and could not help laughing.

No, how could a pregnant woman evade five soldiers?

Moreover, after meeting her comrades in Winsford, she had only shown a subdued appearance, so he had not imagined she would run like a foal with its tail on fire.

Campbell immediately closed his mouth after laughing and glanced at the conference room. Fortunately, the superior was pressing his forehead with his fingertips, eyes closed, so he had not seen Campbell laughing.

In the morning, he had thought his superior’s mood was twisted like the tie knot. But in less than a day, it had twisted even more than that.

Campbell knew what was at stake in this operation.

Winston’s future.

For the major who had not joined Sinclair’s fall and stood outside the King’s eyes, this operation was an absolute chance to turn the situation around.

Of course, the major had a more ambitious goal.

He had already obtained the clue to find the hideout of those mice, yet he was obsessed with sending the woman there.

Just as he was about to move to the window to light his cigarette, the door of the office opened and a middle-aged nursing officer in civilian clothes entered.

Looks like a corpse.

Campbell watched the pale face of Captain McGill heading for the conference room with pity.

Grace Riddles might be a black cat wearing human skin. Anyone entangled with that cunning woman would be unlucky.

“Major, you called?”

The major staring at the blackboard turned his head this way. At that instant, Captain McGill realized he could not look into the superior’s eyes and turned away with a start.

The afterimage left by the moment was terrible. The teal eyes that had flashed sharply in the shadow of the lamp still floated before his eyes.

After three months since participating in the operation when the promotion path, blocked by a past mistake, might open, the captain had only seen stiff and formal officers. Looking at Winston’s elegant features and refined manner, he had thought there could not be a soldier who did not suit the military.

But at the start of the operation, he had transformed into the most rigid soldier of all.

And now he was afraid he might not transform into the Camden’s Vampire he had believed to be exaggerated.

“Close the door.”

McGill stepped inside one step, closed the door, and took a deep breath. When he turned again, the major had completely turned toward her and was staring at her as if interrogating her.

The conference room began to feel like an interrogation room.

When he had first reported the situation, the major had carried an explosive atmosphere, yet he had not scolded the surveillance team and immediately focused on commanding the modified operation.

So perhaps he had called her here to deliver the long-delayed scolding. The pressure made breathing difficult. Sweat had run down her back at that moment.

“Captain McGill.”

“Yes, Major.”

“Report the conversation with the operation target in full.”

McGill tried to remember every expression and word, reporting the conversation with the woman. Then at some point, the major’s brows furrowed. Only then did she vaguely realize where she had made the mistake.

Leon let out a tired sigh.

Using a nursing officer had been the mistake. Although she had undergone rigorous training for the past three months, the lack of field experience had led to this error at such an important moment.

Leon had few choices. Female soldiers were rare, and most usable personnel had guarded the annex, so the woman had a high chance of knowing her voice.

Of the few candidates, he had chosen the nursing officer to prepare in case the woman’s condition worsened, leaving only the impression and age, but this error.

“Didn’t I clearly say? That woman is very sharp, so be careful with words and actions. Where did you hear that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Report and continue.”

“Yes, after that I asked if it was her first child, and she said excitement and fear…”

Leon could not hold back a laugh.

Excitement about having a child.

She had only pretended to be resigned; the woman who still did not rejoice in the child had told unnecessary lies to act like an ordinary woman.

She knew this was a trap.

Since when had she known? Because of the captain’s slip? Or even before?

She had gone to the Winsford safehouse the moment she escaped. There she had obtained travel funds and headed to her fiancé. There she was betrayed by her fiancé and witnessed the rebels’ ugly true nature. And he had recovered the woman who had completely broken free from indoctrination and exterminated the hideout.

This was the development he had most wanted.

Yet that woman had performed her role as the biggest variable in this operation flawlessly.

Leon reviewed the report of the woman’s conversation he had overheard in the post office phone booth.

Even in the urgent situation, she had fought with the hideout mouse. From there everything had gone wrong. Then she had fought with her fiancé on the phone and been betrayed far earlier than Leon had expected.

That should have happened at the hideout.

Now he could only hope the betrayal would evolve into revenge.

Yet that tightly sealed woman had answered her betraying fiancé by going to the train to Jonathan Riddle Jr.’s home in the east.

The hideout was in Brayton Province, north of here. That was an unexpected harvest from the woman’s sloppy behavior.

Croydon 1499 in Brayton.

Obtaining the regional name, telephone company name, and number from the operator who had connected her call was simple.

Locating the 1499 telephone provided by Croydon was not yet clear, but time would solve it. So that was not his problem.

What was most important to Leon was not finding the hideout, but whether the woman would lead the military there. Whether by her will or unknowingly with a tail, she would appear as a traitor to the rebels’ eyes.

The ideal was for the betrayed woman to betray her comrades herself, but he had not hoped for that. He only wanted the woman and the rebel group to be branded traitors to each other.

Yet everything had gone wrong. Perhaps the woman had known his plan from the beginning.

Then there was no reason for her to go to her older brother?

She was not that stupid.

“That was all she said about her belly constantly tightening.”

The moment McGill’s words were heard, the chain of thought snapped.

“Still, she seemed healthy after escaping, so no need to worry…”

McGill added urgently, carefully observing the major’s expression.

“She seemed healthy after escaping.”

“……”

“You’re boldly saying there’s no need to worry when you don’t know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Go immediately and tell Captain Campbell to search every hospital and maternity ward regardless of scale.”

“Yes, understood.”

The moment McGill left and closed the door, Leon stopped himself from tightening the tie knot. The fingertip touching the knot trembled slightly.

The hand that had slipped inside the jacket as if nothing had happened stopped again. Leon let out a long sigh.

When feeling stuffy, he had the habit of biting a cigar. But after the woman’s scent made him nauseous, he had put the cigar case away.

Instead, he walked to the window and opened the curtains. No matter how much cold night air he breathed in, the boiling anger and anxiety would not subside.

A passage from the book he had read floated in his mind. It had said tightening in the belly could be caused by mental shock.

Leon clenched his teeth, recalling the mice who had given her the shock.

I’m grateful you moved according to my calculations, but you should have done it more moderately.

Soon the father of the child in her belly would experience firsthand what “moderately” meant to someone who did not know it.

After receiving several confirmations from the doctor that the woman was healthy, he had still hesitated to start the operation until the last moment.

After watching her slowly wither, Leon had long abandoned the illusion that she would not break no matter what he did. He had also long abandoned the illusion that he wanted her to break.

Yet he had pushed the operation. Extreme medicine was needed.

If left as is, there would be no future between him and the woman. Even if he discarded the dregs of hatred and changed right away, the woman who had fallen into vain belief would not change. She could never live her life in the same cycle of hatred.

Leon tried to look into the woman’s mind that was as dark and distant as the darkness beyond the window.

She had obtained funds and weapons from her comrades. I’m watching, so I won’t go to the hideout. That’s why she took the train to her older brother, but she evaded the surveillance in the middle.

Two choices here.

One, go to the hideout.

What reason would there be to go there after being betrayed?

Stubbornness? Revenge?

If she wanted revenge against that child, use me. Don’t think you can do it alone.

They were already tracking trains heading toward Brayton, but no reports of sighting the woman for hours.

Then the second choice, heading to a third location.

The worst case for Leon. From what he knew, the woman had no other relatives. If she hid in an unknown place, he might have to search the entire kingdom, no, the entire continent, like finding a needle in a haystack.

The only clue he could believe was her unchanging teal eyes, no matter how much she tried to change them.

When the teal eyes he had seen countless emotions in beneath him last night appeared, Leon roughly ran a hand over his face. An unpredictable woman. The tender time last night felt so painful it was like a dream.

Where… where exactly?

While Grace had been staring at the empty platform and dissecting the situation that had occurred that day in time order, Leon suddenly lifted his head.

No. There are three choices.

He immediately opened the door and ordered.

“Contact the original train she boarded and her original final destination right away! Campbell, instruct the surveillance personnel at Redhill Farm to immediately resume tailing Jonathan Riddle Jr.”

Third choice, the train to her older brother again.

“Sometimes the simplest answer is correct even in difficult problems.”

Recalling the woman’s arrogant voice again, he smirked. Yes, he had simply been bothered by the tail.

The moment the door of the tavern burst open, the noisy atmosphere burst out into the empty night road. Immediately, a group of heavily drunk men staggered out and headed toward the farm area at the edge of the village.

While his colleagues were still chattering about tonight’s boxing match, one man in his late twenties kept glancing back occasionally.

Someone was following at a distance of about a few steps. Even if it was just crossing paths, there was reason to judge it as pursuit.

A young woman walking alone in such a rural area at this late hour when midnight was approaching.

It was dark, so only a silhouette was visible, but the woman’s gait did not carry the usual anxiety of a woman walking alone on a night road.

Is she a soldier or a Blanchard?

The men split off one by one at the fork. The last colleague walking in step with him waved before disappearing in front of a shabby building.

“Charlie, enjoy Christmas.”

“You too.”

He returned the festive greeting and continued walking along the dark muddy road, rubbing the frozen tips of his ears with gloved hands at the corner heading toward the farm entrance.

“Joe.”

Someone called him by his real name, not the alias.

“…Grace?”

Joe was startled and turned. The woman who had been following him was his sister. Surely the one who had said she was on an operation in the west, what was she doing in the east?

“You came without telling me…”

“Tell me everything. All of it. The truth.”

It had arrived. Now, finally.

This was Joe’s first thought upon facing his brother who demanded the truth.

The story would be long. It was not the time or place, but when Grace had insisted on talking, Joe had no choice but to take her to the old warehouse.

He lit an oil lamp on the table with a match and sat on an old wooden chair.

“Sit down too…”

His gaze upward stopped as it brushed past Grace’s belly.

“My God, what happened to you in the meantime? Is it Jimmy’s child? When did you get married without telling me? This is quite rude. Wait. You came alone? A pregnant woman wandering around in this cold night? Ah, no way. Let’s go home right away. Have you eaten?”

Joe, completely unaware of the situation, tried to understand alone and stood up, grabbing Grace.

“We’ll talk about this later.”

She sat Joe down again and sat opposite her.

“Before that, I have something to ask.”

Joe, who knew his sister’s stubbornness well, nodded and gave up.

Grace took a deep breath, blew it out like a sigh, and asked.

“Am I really your father’s child?”

p>

You already know and are asking. Joe opened his tightly shut mouth.

But the answer did not come easily. He had practiced endlessly in his mind for the day this would come, yet when it arrived, the words would not leave his tongue.

“Please, answer honestly.”

Joe eventually shook his head with difficulty. His sister’s face immediately became sullen as if holding back tears.

“…You have a different father.”

Yes, as Winston had said. Grace swallowed the rising tears and nodded vaguely.

“I don’t even know who he is. I’m sorry.”