The Camellia Tattoo - Chapter 151
Igmeyer hesitated for a moment, unable to step boldly into the bedroom.
With his eyes closed, he focused on the faint scent of Amber lingering in the air. When he opened his eyes again, he activated his unique power.
From the bedroom, his energy spread throughout the castle, reaching every corner.
His force, stretching from the mountainside to the ridge, was alive and capable of finding anything without missing a single detail.
“Madam!”
“Where are you, Madam?”
“Could she really have been kidnapped?”
“There’s no way she would have left.”
“But why didn’t we notice?”
Numerous whispers flowed towards him.
Clearing away the useless thoughts from his awareness, he concentrated on what he was looking at.
A fragile body. Shallow breaths. The soft curl of her lips. Long, shimmering golden hair. Those pink eyes that seemed to collect all the love in the world.
The scent he knew.
The sounds he recognized.
The shape and sound of footsteps he would remember until the moment of his death.
Yet even after extending his senses to the vicinity of the castle, he could not find Amber.
Wondering if something was wrong with him, he withdrew his energy and tried again, but the result was the same.
Amber was nowhere to be found.
He couldn’t tell if it was because she wasn’t there, or if his power simply couldn’t detect her.
He hoped it wasn’t the latter, but knowing it was the former didn’t improve his situation.
Clenching his fists tightly until they hurt, Igmeyer tried five more times before finally giving up and glaring ominously into the bedroom.
As he surveyed the room, something caught his eye.
Under normal circumstances, he might have thought, ‘Did she close the door incorrectly?’ and brushed it off, but in this situation, even that small detail felt significant.
Approaching Amber’s vanity, he noticed the platinum jewelry box she always kept nearby.
It was the kind of box that could be opened and closed easily, but the lid was positioned incorrectly.
In other words, it was closed the wrong way.
But he knew Amber wouldn’t do something like that. She was always meticulous and upheld a sense of propriety.
She was the kind of person who wouldn’t handle any object carelessly and would examine everything meticulously.
“…….”
With a sense of foreboding, he opened the jewelry box and discovered a neatly folded note.
He reached out with trembling hands to grasp it, but he couldn’t bring himself to unfold it.
He felt that opening it would reveal her true intentions.
But Igmeyer had never shied away from anything, and he knew deep down that he would eventually open it.
Even if it wounded him deeply.
Delaying would only heighten his anxiety.
When he finally unfolded the note, he found…
His own hell.
* * *
At that moment, Amber was deep in the forest, riding her horse at a brisk pace.
She could no longer see the castle’s peak in the distance. It was a sign that she had come quite far.
Considering the abilities of Igmeyer and the knights, she knew she shouldn’t stop here, but her horse was utterly exhausted. Since she couldn’t change horses, she halted as soon as she spotted a stream.
“Whoa, whoa.”
The horse, frothing at the mouth, was drenched in sweat from exhaustion.
Without delay, she led the horse to the valley and let it drink while she waded upstream.
‘Good. From here on, we’ll have to tread the water.’
Amber had learned basic tracking techniques.
If you want to conceal your footsteps, walk in the water. It makes tracking much more difficult.
“Let’s go, buddy. I’m sorry for pushing you too hard.”
The horse, having drunk its fill, seemed to regain some energy and snorted.
Amber patted its neck and pulled on the reins, heading upstream. The flow of the stream increased as she moved downstream, so she needed to find a suitable spot upstream and create a diversion.
Such diversions would help her escape further and eventually leave the North.
‘I can’t go to the village. Everyone knows my face.’
As she absentmindedly gazed at the water’s surface, she thought how pale and drawn her reflection looked.
It’s not good to ride so vigorously while pregnant.
‘Please, baby, just hold on.’
Amber silently prayed as she pressed her wet feet into the underbrush.
She had already cut her hair once, and without regret, she had left strands scattered on the ground.
Igmeyer would likely be searching for her now.
By now, he must have found the note.
But he must not find her.
Even now, her heart ached as if it were being torn apart…. She struggled to breathe, but even as she lived like a ghost, she believed this was the right choice.
No, no, no.
She didn’t even know what was right anymore.
It was just that this was the way things had turned out.
‘If Igmeyer can defeat Nidhogg in a few months… then we can meet again.’
Oh, she hoped he would act according to the note.
Various thoughts surged and sank repeatedly in her mind, and at the same time, hot tears streamed down her cheeks.
