The moment the arrow flew in and was stuck next to her by a hair's breadth, the fear that she might lose her life and the figure of the mysterious assailant that could appear out of nowhere made her mind turn blank.
The moment she saw the word DEATH' engraved on the red cloth, her fear turned into terror.
She was in a state of panic because of the Baron's screams, the noise of her surroundings, and the flowing red blood that was enough to wet his clothes.
If it weren't for Theon, who embraced her lifeless self, she might have sat down right there and cried, looking unsightly.
Although it did not alleviate all her terror, his warmth that she could feel behind her back was quickly stabilizing her heart, which had been fluctuating in fear.
In addition to that, it was even stranger that he even took her to bed and gave her tea to drink, as if it were nothing.
And for the final touch, seeing his subtle touch, she thought that he might just be a player.
No matter how similar it was to an arranged marriage, she wondered why Theon kept showing excessive interest when he had a pretty fiance.
To be a little more honest, the fact that she didn't dislike Theon, who aroused her heart by acting in a way that caused misunderstandings, was unacceptable for Ayla.
On one side of her mind, she justified her excitement while encouraging that this was natural.
"Ahem, why are you touching other people's hair?"
Ayla, who had gently removed Theon's hand that was brushing her hair, awkwardly cleared her throat and spoke.
"Because I'm proud of you."
"Why are you acting proud on your own accord? As a business partner that I work with, I am very uncomfortable with what Your Highness is saying right now."
Theon frowned at Ayla's words, which seemed to be drawing a line at coworkers and nothing else, and spoke in a whisper.
"Hm I don't think there's any need to be uncomfortable. Because I am proud of you as my partner."
When Theon finished speaking, he grinned and got up from his seat.
Ayla's eyes began to shake little by little.
She lowered her voice and murmured towards his back, that was getting farther away.
Yes, you punk, I'm sorry if I misunderstood.'
***
Ayla, who had been coming and going to the west palace for two days, had stopped coming.
Although he did not know the reason, Louis felt anxious when even Theon, who was nothing more than a workaholic, disappeared at the same time.
"Where on earth did you go"
Louis, who was bringing documents to be reviewed, saw Mason standing there with a blank look in his eyes.
Ariel, who had been keeping her position in front of the secretary's office until now, must have gone back as she was nowhere to be seen.
"Princess Ariel seems to have gone back?"
"Louis I think I made a huge mistake right now."
"What Mistake?"
At Louis' words, Mason only remained silent and sighed heavily, seemingly not having any intention of answering his question.
After staring at Mason for a while, Louis shrugged, put down the papers, and sat down.
Louis put on glasses, as if to concentrate, and was examining the documents; but after a while, the finger holding the fountain pen relaxed.
"Hm"
Louis' lips turned sulky with the sound of a shallow sigh.
A while ago, Louis had a conversation with Mattel about Count Serdian.
That conversation kept lingering in his head, making it difficult to concentrate on his work.
Changing his posture and leaning back on the chair, Louis looked up at the ceiling, sighed once more, and lowered his gaze.
So, where is he?'
Unexpectedly He is somewhere close.'
'
Some say they saw Countess Catherine Serdian at the upper part near the border crossing into the Raff Kingdom.'
Although it was thought that Count Serdian had crossed the border, no one expected that the location of his hideout would be adjacent to the Raff Kingdom.
No matter how, who would have thought that Count Serdian, who was being chased for stealing the tribute for the Queen of the Raff Kingdom, would go into a dangerous situation on his own
As Louis had found out about Count Serdian's true charges after a secret investigation and couldn't get out of shock for a while, the blow he received by the news that Mattel brought him was tremendous.
Although the information was not yet confirmed, Mattel's sources were reliable.
He wondered if the saying it is dark under the oil lamp' should be used in this case.
Although he did not express it, Louis' heart seemed to ache just thinking about what kind of feelings Ayla, who did not even know the whereabouts of the Count couple, might have felt.
It was comforting just to have found even a small trace of the Serdian couple.