Selling the Main Character’s Shares

veryone there was stunned by those words.
But no one had suffered as great of a shock as Duke Periot.

“The iron door…was broken?”

It was as if Periot’s mind was completely empty.
It something he hadn’t even experienced on the blood-splattered battlefield.

In the end, all that remained in his head was Lorella’s face.
He had never forgotten it, ever since the day of their wedding.

“Oh, Lord God…”

One of the maids who was frightened by the chaos, murmured in a small voice. 

At that moment, a single thought flashed by Periot’s mind and pierced it sharply.

…Is this the work of the person you’ve been meeting with secretly?

“So you’re a man of black magic.”

At that moment, the charred picture frame dropped from the bottom of the fire blanket that the knight had been holding with shaking arms. 

The only thing that had survived the fierce fire was the round iron ring that had been used to hang it on the wall. 

The moment it rolled over and stopped at Periot’s feet.

“Close all the gates of the castle and my fiefdom immediately!”

A harsh voice which had not been heard by anyone in the mansion before came out of his mouth.

“Gather every soldier.
We will thoroughly search through this area with every means available to us, whether that be a dog or a horse.

“Yes, right away sir! I heed your order!”

The soldier shouted confidently, as if he was trying to make up for his earlier mistake.

“We will report to you as soon as we receive news!”

“No, I’ll be taking the lead myself.”

Periot spoke as if he was chewing on each and every word.

“Since I have to keep my promise and cut off that bastard’s head.” 

The sound of grinding teeth leaked out from between his teeth.

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He put on his dripping cloak which had been burned here and there and left the study at a brisk pace.

“D-Duke!”

The startled soldier hurriedly pursued him, but it was as if he couldn’t hear anything.

The sound of the shoes of the servants running down the stairs and the heavy armor of the soldiers gathering in unison resounded everywhere. 

It was the first time that a mansion that had always been so still and quiet, was so noisy.

[ / / / ]

I ran and ran with my teeth clenched tightly together. 

Night descended quickly in the north, and at the same time, the temperature dropped to the point where my teeth chattered.
The wind blew so hard that I could hear a whistle in my ear. 

Nevertheless, the sweat on my forehead didn’t cool off.

“Heok, heok…”

A shaky breath escaped from my lips, along with a heavy breath.

I wonder just how long I had been running for.
The road had gradually started to get narrower, and soon a dense forest appeared on the side. 

However, I didn’t stop moving my legs.
No, I couldn’t stop. 

As soon as I stood still, I felt as if the hand that had pushed me into that room would descend upon me and grab me by the neck.

My red hair which had always streamed down to my waist had already been disheveled since long ago.
The lace, which had adorned the pleats of the dress had been caught on a rough branch and had holes in it. 

Even now, both heels of my feet were throbbing and in pain due to the high heels.

Ding dong! 

「The second cookie has been used.」

「Marriage annulled.」

Another bright window appeared in front of my eyes with another message popping up, but I didn’t even have time to read it. 

As I was running on the rough forest trail, something hard suddenly caught my ankle.
Without a centre of gravity, my body fell backwards and tumbled down onto the dirt floor.

“Aiyah!”

The sound of a scream suddenly broke the silence.
I quickly covered my mouth with my hand and looked around. 

The unidentified night1 flew away with a flap of its wings.
Thankfully, there were no signs of people anywhere nearby.

“Ah, hic…”

My ankles were burning and my palms were a mess of broken skin.
My whole body was full of wounds. 

However, I stood up immediately and refused to give up. 

Then, I started running faster than before.
Not only did it seem to burn my sides, but also to the inside of my throat, but I couldn’t care less.

Because I could clearly hear the dogs barking furiously in the distance when I had fallen.

“You, you crazy motherfucker!”

A tearful voice erupted out of nowhere. 

There was a large breeding ground on the west side of the Duke’s mansion.
It was a place where dozens of Tosa2 dogs were raised. 

Goosebumps welled up on the nape of my neck when I thought of the dogs that were bigger than most children. 

I heard that those dogs were used to hunt bears that attacked private property since they had nothing to eat during the winter!

“Hic, am I a bear? Am I a bear?! Hic!”

No matter how many tree branches I crashed through, the metallic taste of blood lingered on the tip of my tongue, as if I had bitten through my lips several times.

However, my own two legs were already out of my own control and moved automatically like machines under any circumstance.

In the end, I finally took off my high heels and held them in my arms.

“It hurts…! Ack, ouch!”

Even though I screamed every time I ran, I was still able to run much faster than I was before when wearing high heels.

‘If I get caught now, it’s over.
I might even be hunted like a bear.’

With that thought, I couldn’t really think of anything but running. 

However, the forest that seemed to get thicker the deeper I went kept slowing me down.
I had to slow down a few times, relying only on the dim moonlight to navigate the way. 

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At last, I finally saw a clear path through the dense trees.
It seemed as if I had finally come all the way to this road after running through the mountain trail.

But then, the sound of horseshoes was heard from far away.

“Ugh.”

Hiding behind a tree, I glanced around and saw two men riding horses.
They weren’t rushed, rather they went at a fairly leisurely pace. 

I wonder if the search party has already come this far.
Aren’t you going too slow to be finding me? 

I bit my lip in frustration and looked around quickly. 

Then a large thicket covered with leafy vines suddenly caught my eye.

‘I’ll hide like a dead mouse over there until they pass by.’

It was impossible to for me to run away silently in a forest with so many dry leaves and branches. 

It was the moment when I made a decision and took a quick step forward.

“Ack!”

Was it because I had acted too quickly? My foot suddenly tripped over a small protruding stone. 

And of course it’s the little toe! Of all my damn toes!

“Ahhh-heup…!”

I couldn’t bear the pain and just fell right onto the middle of the road.

“Ah! There’s someone over there!”

At the same time, I could hear them running towards me. 

I was urgently thinking of a way to run away somehow, but I couldn’t even move my feet, let alone get up.

M-My toenails…! You didn’t fall off, did you?!

“Are you alright?”

As I was struggling to get up, a soft voice penetrated my ears. 

In a blink of an eye, before I had even raised my head slightly, there was already someone next to me, kneeling on one knee.
The man who was still astride on his horse seemed to have approached me before I even knew it. 

Although the surrounding area was dark and obscured his face, the numerous medals attached to his white uniform shone in the pitch-black darkness.
Loosely tied blonde hair was thrown casually over one shoulder.

“You look hurt, can you stand up?”

Woof! Woof! 

There was the sound of another dog barking in the dark sky again.

It was different from the one before.
It must have been heard from somewhere close by.

“Hold onto me.
I’ll help you up.”

Meanwhile, the man spoke to me in a friendly voice, as if he didn’t know who I was. 

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to be a part of the search party.
Then that’s enough for me. 

Without thinking any further, I clung to his arm first.

“Don’t worry, I’m not a suspicious person…”

“Please help me.
I, I have to run away, right now!”

Only then did I get a close look at the man’s face in the moonlight.
He was staring at me with his eyes wide open in surprise.

Grrr, woof! 

Even at that moment, that sound was getting closer and closer. 

My heart was pounding urgently with the fear that the ferocious dogs might run into my back at any moment.

“H-Hurry!”

Eventually, a desperate cry erupted from my mouth. 

Clear blue eyes stared at me without saying a word. 

Before long, a large cloak was draped over my head.

“This way.”

A low but firm voice whispered in my ear. 

The only ray of light that seemed to shine through was over the thick fabric.