ESML 08

Chapter 8

“What’s in that luggage?”

For a moment, Emilia’s heart dropped.

“Aren’t you checking for unauthorized passengers?”

Emilia quickly put on an offended expression.

But the man paid no attention.

“We received a report that someone carrying a large number of weapons boarded the train.”

It was an outright lie.

‘When they’re the ones carrying the weapons.’

“Would you please open it right now?”

His words sounded like a request for cooperation, but his tone was clearly coercive.

‘What should I do?’

If she simply refused, she would undoubtedly arouse suspicion.

Is there any way to stop him from opening it without refusing outright?

‘Ah.’

As Emilia desperately racked her brain, a brilliant idea suddenly occurred to her.

“I’m sorry, but that would be difficult.”

Emilia sighed as though the matter were extremely bothersome.

“I’m a maid of the Count of Illeak’s household. This bag contains something very valuable that my young lady asked me to carry.”

She had decided to use Reina’s family name to her advantage.

“The Count of Illeak?”

The man raised an eyebrow.

Emilia immediately noticed his hesitation.

‘Of course.’

Although the Illeak family’s influence had weakened considerably, it was still a prestigious household in the capital.

And, more importantly, the family had no connection to the Empress.

If he caused trouble with a maid working for such a family and something went wrong, it could become a serious problem.

“If you insist that I open it, I suppose I can…”

Emilia trailed off, looking extremely troubled.

“But I’ll have no choice but to tell my young lady about this. And my young lady is the sort of person who hates even having other people look at her belongings.”

In fact, Rosia, Reina’s half-sister, was extremely possessive about her personal belongings.

Reina had once touched her necklace without knowing this and had caused quite a commotion.

Emilia shook her head as though the whole situation were giving her a headache.

“She might even try to track you down herself. I thought you should know that.”

“……”

The man seemed to hesitate.

He was presumably carrying out a secret mission at the moment.

If he left unnecessary traces or allowed someone to discover his identity, he would be the one in trouble.

But the man’s silence dragged on.

‘He’s almost convinced. Is there anything I can do to make absolutely sure?’

As Emilia pondered, she caught sight of her reflection in the window.

‘That’s it.’

Emilia tucked her hair behind her ear.

Then she deliberately showed her face to the man.

“This was actually caused by my young lady as well.”

Her swollen, reddened cheek was clearly visible.

When the man looked at it, Emilia lowered her eyes as though she were ashamed.

“I was trying to be considerate toward you, but do as you please.”

Of course, if he really tried to inspect the bag, she was fully prepared to grab him by the hair and pull.

She swallowed nervously.

Then the man finally spoke.

“…Never mind.”

He clicked his tongue as though the whole matter were an annoyance.

Apparently, he decided that instead of wasting time arguing over something unnecessary, it would be better to search elsewhere.

The man turned and headed toward the next compartment.

Slide. Click.

“Phew…”

Only after the sound of his footsteps had completely faded did Emilia finally release the breath she had been holding.

“[Did he leave?]”

At that moment, Ivan asked in a small voice.

Emilia quickly opened the bag to let some air inside.

“[Are you okay?]”

She was asking whether he had trouble breathing, and Ivan gave a small nod.

“[Did the bad man leave?]”

Ivan whispered.

“[Yes, he left.] But…”

Judging by Ivan’s reaction, the male lead’s injuries must have been quite serious.

But taking Ivan outside with her was far too dangerous.

After thinking for a moment, Emilia continued.

“[Will you wait here?] [I’ll help the injured person.]”

Fortunately, Ivan seemed to understand and nodded.

Rather than closing the bag completely, Emilia left it slightly open and covered it with her outer coat.

‘This should be okay, right?’

She then checked the pouch she was carrying.

There were several bottles of medicine inside.

Her friend Alex, who was also Mrs. Anderson’s son, worked in the Imperial Palace’s pharmaceutical department.

Thanks to him, the medicines were extremely valuable and difficult for ordinary people to obtain.

‘I wondered if I’d ever have a reason to use these.’

She never imagined she would need them this soon.

Emilia glanced toward the bag before leaving the compartment.

The man had already searched this area once, so he probably wouldn’t come back again.

Using Ivan’s words as clues, she headed toward the rear of the train.

Soon she reached an employee-only area where passengers were not supposed to enter, but she continued without hesitation.

‘Is this the cargo compartment?’

Then she spotted drops of blood on the floor.

‘That…’

Emilia hesitated for a moment before quickly following the trail and opening the door.

‘It’s Kaiden.’

The male protagonist of the novel.

He was leaning against the wall with his head lowered, so all she could see was his smooth black hair falling over his face and his sharp jawline.

Even that alone gave him an extraordinary presence.

Emilia tore her gaze away from him and went back outside.

‘What is this, Hansel and Gretel?’

She rubbed at the floor with her shoe, erasing the trail of blood Kaiden had practically left behind for anyone to follow.

…Well.

He appeared to have lost consciousness, so he probably hadn’t had the presence of mind to worry about something like that.

‘But how on earth did he avoid being discovered in the original story?’

Ah, could it be…?

Emilia suddenly remembered Ivan, who had left the train to ask the people outside for help.

‘Could it be that the situation ended because they caught Ivan before anyone found Kaiden?’

Emilia went back inside and knelt in front of Kaiden.

A dagger drenched in blood lay beside him.

‘Did he pull this out himself?’

Emilia clicked her tongue at how tough he was and poured some wound medicine over his injury.

‘But I don’t have anything like cloth…’

After thinking for a moment, she glanced at Kaiden and then lifted her skirt.

She grabbed the hem of her underskirt with both hands and pulled as hard as she could.

But instead of tearing, the fabric neither ripped nor even stretched.

‘It worked perfectly well in the movies!’

Giving up, Emilia looked around.

Fortunately, she spotted a piece of wood that had fallen from one of the shipping crates.

She used it to tear the fabric.

Riiip—

She placed the separated strip of cloth over the wound and slowly began wrapping it around him.

Then—

Tap.

An unfamiliar warmth suddenly closed around Emilia’s wrist.

The first thing Kaiden heard when he regained consciousness was the sound of fabric brushing against itself.

The next thing he felt was something tickling the back of his neck…

‘Breathing?’

Instinctively, he grabbed the wrist of the person whose hand was touching his body.

‘Why is it so slender?’

That thought crossed his mind for an instant.

Then the owner of the wrist spoke.

“Oh, are you feeling a little better?”

The woman’s clear voice, barely louder than a whisper, was strangely out of place in the current situation.