Herietta recalled the words of a traveler who had told her of the great news. He said that he had just arrived from Brimdel to Velicia, and his face was filled with fear that he could not hide.

‘Brimdel is completely over now. There is no possibility of a re-establishment in the future as there are no royal descendants left. Either they will be eaten by Kustan, or they will just scatter. It must be one of the two.’

She sighed.

‘Don’t even think about going to Brimdel. The heinousness of the Kustans is beyond imagination. Anyone who bothers them in the slightest way, everyone, regardless of gender or age, will be cut down. You can follow the trail of corpses if you want to find them.’

Herietta took the glass in front of her and gulped down the water to calm her nerves. The liquid wet her lips and trickled down her throat. When her thirst was quenched, her parched heart calmed down a little.

‘That guy…….’

Herietta’s expression darkened.

‘Shaun, is he still alive?’

He’s something she doesn’t ever want to remember forever, but she would never forget him. A man who trampled on and ruined her life without hesitation. Her life which she thought was fulfilling and happy in its own way.

Is it possible to hate someone this much? How can she hate someone so much?

When she thought of Shaun, who in an instant pushed her life and the lives of those who were dear to her into the pit of despair, uncontrollable rage boiled over.

‘He should be alive.’

Herietta’s eyes were filled with an incomparably stronger murderous energy.

‘So that I can kill him with my own hands, he must be alive no matter what until I find him.’

Crash!

Herietta, who was grinding her teeth softly, squeezed the glass in her hand without realizing it. The goblet made of thin glass shattered with a loud noise. Shards of shattered glass dug into her palms, causing a stinging pain and dripping blood.

“Gu, guest! Are you okay?”

The startled owner rushed over. Then he groaned at the amount of blood that ran down the table.

“Oh my! It looks like you’ve been cut deep!”

“So, sorry. I must have put my mind elsewhere for a moment.”

Herietta, as surprised as the owner, was greatly flustered and quickly apologized.

“I will pay for the broken glass.”

“No. Is the glass a problem now? The guest’s hands became rags!”

The owner hastily brought dry bandages and a medicine box. He carefully wiped off the blood. As the owner had feared, there was a rather deep cut on her right palm. It didn’t need sutures, but it seemed like it would take quite a while to heal completely.

“Be careful. It’s very troublesome when the wound gets worse.”

The owner murmured as he applied the translucent-colored medicine over her wounds after stopping the bleeding.

“I once cut my palm like the guest did while cutting in the kitchen. Because this part is used so often, the speed at which the wound heals is slow, and it often gets worse. You will have to take good care of it well in many ways.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I gave you first aid, but you have to go to the clinic right away when your party returns. There may be pieces of glass left in the open wound.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Herietta, who had nothing to say, answered obediently. The owner, who bandaged her hand and cleared all the broken glass from the table, lifted himself up with an anguished groan.

“Can I bring you something else to drink while you wait?”

“Please add half a spoonful of honey to the warmed milk.”

“Yes. Guest. Please wait. I will bring it to you soon.”

When the owner who had received her order left, Herietta looked down at her palm in silence. The bandaged palms burned as if they were on fire. It was all cleaned, but the sharp smell of blood still lingered in the air.

Herietta, who wrinkled her nose at the unpleasant smell, suddenly noticed that many people in the store were staring at her. Well, it must have seemed very strange to see a well-looking young woman suddenly breaking her glass.

Herietta, burdened by the people’s gazes, slipped the hood on the cloak she was wearing. She hoped that Jonathan would return as soon as possible.

“It’s hot. Drink with care.”

The owner, who had prepared Herietta’s drink before she knew it, set the glass down to her left. He seemed to have decided that since she had injured her right hand, she would use her left hand to drink.

Herietta stared blankly at the glass in front of her. It was a glass made of much thicker and stronger material than the glass she had just broken. She doesn’t know if the master did it because he gave something hot, or if he was afraid she would break it again. White steam was rising from the glass.

‘I’m not used to using my left hand.’

Something came into Herietta’s field of vision as she was awkwardly trying to grab the handle of the glass. A boy with a skinny body. Across from her sat a young boy, no more than ten years old, all alone.

His presence did not fit at all with the noisy, somewhat rough atmosphere of this place.

‘Could he have come alone?’

It wasn’t too late yet, but it wasn’t a place for a child to wander alone. She looked around to see if the child’s parents were around, but there were no such people.

‘Whatever? It has nothing to do with me.’

Herietta tried to take her attention away from the boy. But at the same time, the boy raised her head. With a pale skin and lanky face, he looked younger than she first thought.

As if something was unsettling him, the boy bit his fingernails and looked around repeatedly. Even then, if there was a slight loud noise next to him, he would be startled. Two black button-like eyes swayed here and there.

‘You must have been terrified.’

Actually, there was nothing surprising. Even she herself, who was of age, felt anxious. So what about that little boy? Although not exactly, she could have vaguely guessed. Besides, she did not know what kind of disaster he would face if he sat alone like that.

‘But it is none of my business…….’

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