WMDBF 15

Chapter 15

Something about his condition seemed unstable.

His face was filled with agitation, as though he had seen something he should never have seen. He looked intensely tense, yet at the same time, almost angry.

Clara swallowed nervously.

Did something happen?

She wanted to ask, but she could not bring herself to do it. The words she failed to speak merely circled beneath her throat.

His intense gaze, sharp enough to seem capable of piercing straight through her, made her shrink back.

There was only one thing she could be certain of.

Something bad had happened—and whatever it was, it had something to do with her.

Mikhail stood motionless by the door, silently staring at her. Then he suddenly strode toward her.

A sense of danger washed over Clara, and she instinctively rose to her feet.

She tried to step backward, but Mikhail moved much faster.

His hands clamped firmly around both of her shoulders, and Clara struggled in fright.

“Stay still. I’m not going to do anything to you.”

“W-Why are you doing this?”

“From now on, don’t ask any questions. Just do exactly as I tell you and behave quietly. Then everything will be fine.”

“What on earth does that mean?”

“I can’t tell you anything.”

Conflict flickered in his eyes as he looked at her from close range. But it lasted only for a moment.

“I won’t hurt you. That much, I promise.”

Before the bewildered Clara could say another word, he forced her down into an old chair nearby.

In an instant, Clara found herself tightly tied to the chair.

Her face went pale with shock. She had not even had time to resist or struggle properly. Unable to move a single limb, she stared up at Mikhail with a bloodless face.

“Untie me.”

“If I were going to untie you just because you asked, why would I have gone to all the trouble of tying you up?”

“What are you going to do to me?”

“I’m not going to do anything.”

To Clara, those words sounded completely unbelievable.

But there was nothing she could do.

Nothing at all anymore.

Mikhail looked down silently at the trembling Clara, seemingly lost in thought. He hesitated as though there were something he wanted to say.

But in the end, he said nothing.

He simply turned around and walked out of the room.

The door closed, followed by the metallic sound of a lock.

Apparently, he had locked the door again.

Fear slowly crept up Clara’s ankles as she remained alone, securely bound to the chair. She strained her arms, trying desperately to free herself, but it was useless.

Why do I have to go through something like this?

Suddenly, a sense of injustice overwhelmed her.

Then came sorrow.

She could not believe that, even now, no one had come looking for her.

The feeling of having been abandoned tore through her heart.

Alone in the dark, narrow room, Clara finally broke down and began to sob.

At around the same time, three military trucks were making their way through a deserted forest.

The truck carrying Joseph was leading the convoy.

The vehicles occasionally jolted as they traveled through the unpaved wilderness, but although the ride was rough enough to make anyone carsick, Joseph’s mind was entirely elsewhere.

Leaning crookedly against the passenger seat, he studied a map.

The place was so remote that the map contained little more than the name of the general region.

Yet one particular spot held Joseph’s attention.

A location he had marked himself.

The woman who had been responsible for his Guiding.

No—perhaps it was more accurate to call her an accomplice of the group that had kidnapped Clara.

She had confessed that Clara was being held at this very location.

Had she been telling the truth?

There was no need to rummage through that insignificant woman’s mind again.

He would soon find out whether she had spoken the truth or not.

“Colonel, we’re almost there.”

At the driver’s words, Joseph finally raised his eyes.

He looked quietly through the windshield, then slowly folded the map in his hands.

A small abandoned building came into view.

The shadows of the forest concealed the wooden structure so cleverly that it would have been easy to pass by without noticing it.

So they hid her well in a place this remote.

A displeased smile twisted Joseph’s lips.

His nerves were on edge, and yet his heart was beating faster and faster, as though he had swallowed a stimulant.

If Clara is really being held in there…

How many days had it been since he had last seen her face?

If he had followed his heart, he would have jumped from the truck and sprinted toward the building.

He wanted to break down the door immediately, rush inside, and see Clara with his own eyes.

The urge to see his fiancée’s face, meet her eyes, and feel the softness of her skin against his own shook him to the core.

But he had to remain calm.

There was no telling who else might be inside.

A reckless move could put not only himself but Clara in danger as well.

As they drew closer to the building, the driver slowed down.

“Stop here. Don’t get too close.”

At Joseph’s command, the driver brought the truck to a halt.

The other two trucks following behind them stopped one after another.

The moment the vehicle came to a complete stop, Joseph got out and looked up at the abandoned building.

There did not appear to be anyone nearby.

Of course, he was not foolish enough to let his guard down because of that.

At his hand signal, the soldiers waiting in formation raised their rifles and took up defensive positions.

Joseph led his men slowly toward the building.

They remained vigilant the entire time, but even after entering the building, they found no sign of an ambush.

Search the entire first floor and the basement.

He signaled the order to his subordinates and carefully climbed the stairs leading to the upper floor.

The building had clearly been abandoned for a long time. Every time he stepped onto a stair, the old supports groaned as though they were about to collapse.

At the top of the staircase stood a single door leading into the only room on the floor.

As expected, it was firmly locked.

Joseph pressed his ear against the door and listened for movement on the other side.

Then he drew back and kicked the door with all his strength.

The latch snapped loose, and the door swung open weakly, clearing the way for him.

The room was dark.

Joseph threw the door wide open to let in more light.

Then his eyes widened.

“Clara.”

His fiancée—the woman who had tormented his thoughts for days—was trembling in a chair, bound tightly with ropes.

There was no mistake.

At last, the Clara he had been searching for was right before his eyes.

An overwhelming sense of relief crashed over him, so powerful that it nearly drained all the strength from his body.

There was no room for any other thought.

Joseph rushed to Clara and quickly untied her from the chair.

Clara, meanwhile, seemed unable to immediately understand what was happening.

Only after a moment did she finally call his name.

“J-Joseph…?”

Their eyes met at close range.

The moment his gaze met the eyes of the fiancée he had missed so desperately, Joseph found himself completely speechless.

I missed you.

It would have been the perfect first thing to say in a situation like this.

Yet he could not bring himself to say it.

All the words he had wanted to tell Clara during the time they had been apart remained trapped silently in his throat.

After staring at her without a word, Joseph finally closed his mouth and lifted her into his arms.

As he carried her down the stairs, her body remained stiff in his embrace.

It was more than simple tension…

She did not seem comfortable in his arms.

Even though these were the arms of the fiancé who had come rushing to rescue her.

Apparently finding nothing unusual, the soldiers assigned to the search were waiting near the entrance.

When they saw Clara in Joseph’s arms, relief spread across their faces.

“We’re returning.”

At his brief command, the soldiers immediately began preparing to leave.

Instead of riding in the front passenger seat, Joseph climbed into the back of the truck with Clara.

Although she was now safely on her way back to the estate, Clara’s expression remained tense.

She sat motionless in a corner, her head lowered as though she had committed some kind of crime.

Joseph watched her for a while.

But in the end, he did not say a single word.

In the frozen silence between them, the truck soon started moving, its engine roaring as it retraced the road they had taken into the forest.