She had no leeway to fight with him at present, so she simply ignored his glare and took her time looking around at the sea instead of the approaching island or castle. Though she attempted to be nonchalant about it, she was clearly searching for something—she couldn’t help but scan the waves for a floating, missing person.
Princess Mira was not a useless princess with no self-awareness like Lord Hilbert claimed she was. In truth, she wanted to ignore her duties and search for Mr. Mace, but she earnestly bore with her desperation to try and accomplish her royal agenda. This diligent crown princess wasn’t bringing shame to anyone. Had I been in her position and the one who’d disappeared had been Lord Simeon...I wouldn’t have been able to remain that calm. More than work or anything else, I’d have only been able to think about my husband.
I peered around at the ocean as well. Someone who’d fallen in the night before wouldn’t be able to stay around this area forever. He could have been swept far away, or he could have drowned. We would’ve found him had he washed up on shore.
Those thoughts weighed heavily on my emotions. Underneath the cloudy sky, we proceeded along without much more conversation, and eventually, we arrived at the island.
The structure of the castle itself wasn’t particularly unique—it was no different from those in other regions. It was a single building that enclosed an inner garden, with a tall tower on the side that faced the open sea. Repairs had been made after the violent historical event, so the inside of the castle was clean. The repairmen seemed to have worked to keep the original form of the place, making faux-aged parts so that they’d blend in with those left intact.
Since I’d learned that this place had been used as a prison, I’d imagined it would be lined with jail cells, but there was nothing of the sort inside. The prisoners kept here had been those deemed not too dangerous, therefore they’d been allowed to roam certain sections of the castle grounds as they pleased. They’d been given work to do, and accomplishing tasks could’ve earned them shortened sentences. However, if they’d tried to escape, they would’ve been ruthlessly shot from behind. Part of the reason executions had been held here might have been to make examples out of the prisoners.
After we spent some time looking around, we moved to a stone monument in the inner garden and conducted the ceremony to pay our respects. The prince and princess offered flowers, and in the middle of our prayer, rain began to fall from the sky. Sounds of thunder could be heard from far away, so we decided to head home before the storm drew any closer.
“Take this, Your Highness.” A maid gave Princess Mira a summer jacket and a hat with a wide brim to shield her from the rain.
I threw a cape around my shoulders as well. The rain was light at the moment, so that was all I’d need. I could only hope it wouldn’t worsen before we made it back to the hotel.
Prince Severin motioned toward his horse. “Marielle. Ride with me.”
I laughed. “Oh my, I’m honored. Would someone be so kind as to help me up?” I turned to the knights, but they all avoided my stare or ran away.
Lord Nigel tilted his head. “Why don’t you ask the Vice Captain? That would help ease the knights’ minds.”
Alas, Lord Simeon shook his head. “I cannot. Marielle, ride with either His Highness or Sir Nigel.”
I sighed. “Yes, sir.” Flicking my eyes back and forth between the two of them, I ended up selecting Prince Severin. Lord Nigel was way too tall and most likely extremely muscular because of how much he trained. I wanted to be considerate of his horse and not force it to carry two people. “His Highness is probably lighter...”
His Highness narrowed his eyes. “I’m not overweight, yet I wonder why your words are offending me.”
He lifted me up onto his horse. I would have to explain the situation to Julianne later on, but knowing her, she wouldn’t be jealous.
The maids and hotel staff also took their places on the knights’ horses, and we somehow managed to make our way across the bridge. The knights took the lead as the rest of us trailed behind, with Lord Nigel bringing up the rear. The front of the line was where we really needed to be cautious, but having him behind us was heartening.
We set off on our horses at a light trot. By about the middle of the bridge, the knights in front suddenly stopped, forcing the rest of us to follow suit.
“What’s wrong?” called out Lord Simeon.
The answer came straightaway. “There’s a suspicious object in front, sir.” The phrase “suspicious object” sent a chill through me.
My husband moved forward and peered at the place his subordinate was pointing to.
“It’s at the base of the railing there,” said the knight.
Lord Simeon squinted and lifted his glasses a bit. “Ah... There it is.”
Huh? What is it? What’s there? I wobbled anxiously, making Prince Severin turn around to hold my head still.
“Explain, Simeon.”
“There are black cylinders tied around the railing. As far as I can tell, there are two—one on each side.”
“Those weren’t present on our way over, correct?”
“No, sir. We can assume they were placed here while we were on the island.”
The maids and staff began muttering restlessly behind us.
Lord Hilbert yelled out an order. “Go investigate them immediately!”
“It would be dangerous to approach them carelessly.”
“Well, we can’t just sit here twiddling our thumbs, can we?” Lord Hilbert turned to a horse carrying one of the officials. “You there! Go see what they are. Those things may have been on this bridge from the beginning. Maybe you all just missed them on the way here. You’re locals, so you’d know if you looked. Go!”
“Hilbert!” Princess Mira tried to stop him, but he ignored her.
The officials exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. Before they could respond, the Visselian soldiers pushed their horses forward. The Lagrangian knights stopped them before they could get too close to the objects.
The stronger the rain became, the more irritated Lord Hilbert got. We’d known that it would storm, so he really hadn’t needed to come with us. No one had invited him.
Mr. Meyer called out to Princess Mira. “Go back a bit farther, Your Highness. It may be dangerous. Stay a good distance away until they’re finished investigating.”
“Understood...” Princess Mira had her horse walk backward instead of turning around, since the narrow bridge was already packed with our entire entourage. She was notably good with the reins—her horse wasn’t confused at all and followed her orders without question.
Meanwhile, Lord Hilbert was struggling with his, unable to get it to move the way he wanted, so he was blaming the soldiers near him for being in the way. Those soldiers moved forward a bit to make room, then a bit more since Prince Severin and I were nearby.
Lord Simeon and his subordinates climbed down from their horses to investigate the objects. Will they be okay? The cylinders won’t explode if they get too close, right? I couldn’t help but wait with bated breath. The knights knelt down and discussed something over the objects. One Visselian soldier poked his head through the bars of the railing to check under the bridge. When he came back up, he shook his head.
I clutched Prince Severin’s back. “I wonder if everything’s all right.”
“The situation doesn’t appear dire so far.”
The knights pulled the wrapped wire loose from one of the cylinders. One knight picked up the offending object and brought it somewhat close to his face. A moment later, his expression brightened significantly. The cylinder must not have been dangerous. The knight announced that we were safe, making everyone sigh in relief. The other cylinder was also pulled out, then the soldiers in front urged their horses on and began to cross the rest of the bridge.
A maid riding with one knight looked back at Princess Mira. “Your Highness, we’ve just been informed that everything’s fine...”
But right as she said that, the horse she was riding startled. It had gotten spooked by someone in front of it—Lord Simeon—who was running between the horses toward Prince Severin. His tight expression made me nervous. What happened? Was it not all right after all?
“Tell me, Simeon,” His Highness ordered.
Suddenly, we were rocked by a thunderous sound and a tremendous impact.
“Aaaaah!”
Our horse jolted onto its hind legs, almost throwing me off. Prince Severin pulled me close to hold me steady, forcing him off-balance as well. He managed to remain seated, then tugged the reins to soothe the frantic horse.
“Settle down! Marielle, hold on tight!”
I realized that he was struggling to control the reins with just one hand, so I quickly grabbed onto his body with both arms. There wasn’t time to consider modesty or anything of the sort. It was all I could do to cling to him and not be thrown off.
With his hands now free, he yanked on the reins even harder and shouted at his horse.
I panicked further. “Um...! Should we maybe get off?!”
“We’ll get trampled if we do! Stay still!”
Thanks to His Highness’s daily training and general expertise, our horse settled down in no time. I lifted my head once we stopped thrashing and found Lord Hilbert on the ground holding his bottom—he’d been thrown off, and his horse had run off back to the island without a rider.
Princess Mira had stayed in the back, and she seemed to be fine—Lord Nigel had placed himself nearby to protect her. I let myself feel relieved for a moment, then looked back to the front of the group to see what had happened.
“Huh...?” My eyes didn’t register the sight at first, and my mind whited out. Then, goose bumps overtook my entire body.
The center of the bridge was gone. It had completely collapsed, revealing the surface of the ocean beneath. The metal railings on either side of this gap were also gone, so there was nothing connecting the two halves of the bridge.
“Why...? Ah!” I’d focused on the collapsed section in my shock, but I quickly spotted something frightening: On the other side of the gap from where I was, there was a person holding on to the jagged, broken railings dangling over the sea. “Lord Simeon!”
My husband was about to fall into the water. He gripped the railing with one hand, barely holding on.
Prince Severin stopped me from trying to clamber down. “Don’t panic. He’ll be fine.”
“How, exactly?! We have to save him!”
“Something like this isn’t enough to hurt him.” His Highness pushed his horse as far forward as he could.
Lord Simeon, still hanging by one hand, shouted up at his subordinates, who’d run to the edge of his half. “Several people fell in! Get a rescue boat out here immediately!”