♚♚♚
IT was the sunny, windless day before Market Day.
Rock slipped away from Lord and Lady Alexis’s watchful eyes and released the white dove from her bedroom balcony.
“Cute little bird, please let everyone know.”
A thinly folded letter was securely strapped to the rock dove’s leg as it took flight. The letter explained Rock would be accompanying her aunt and uncle to their next Werewolf Brotherhood worship service on Market Day and that she believed Krister might be there.
Rock had no way of knowing if the dove successfully returned home.
Either way, Market Day came, and Lord and Lady Alexis departed their manor by carriage, with Rock in tow, after breakfast.
Their carriage soon left the aristocrat district and leisurely ran through the busy shopping district.
Rock frequently glanced out the window and searched for Ebel and Phoebe. But there were no blatant signs of them pursuing the carriage as it proceeded out of the imperial capital.
“You needn’t worry. We aren’t going that far,” Placido said, assuming Rock’s fixation with the window was out of fear of leaving the capital. “We’ll be back in time for dinner. It’s right outside the capital.”
No sooner did he say that than the carriage stopped on a small hill overlooking the city.
There was a double-leaf stone door hidden behind tall grass in the shadow of the hill. The door, which looked large enough for the carriage to pass through, appeared too old to have been built recently.
The imperial capital was surrounded by ancient ruins that’d been abandoned and forgotten. Most of them were little more than collapsed stone pillars wrapped in thick vines with fragments of their moss-covered foundation left intact, but a few of the buildings remained standing in their original form. During his mercenary days, Phoebe used to explore those ruins for antiques.
Phoebe often told Rock that bandits and other devious groups liked to turn those ruins into their secret bases, making exploring them even more dangerous than just avoiding traps.
This was her first time seeing one for herself, though.
Placido opened the doors just as Rock thought that this couldn’t be the place.
“The Brotherhood’s church is located here. Follow me.”
Beyond the heavy stone door, a set of stairs gently descended into the unknown.
The long stone staircase was intermittently illuminated by lantern light. Although it was an ancient ruin, the air wasn’t stagnant, likely because it had frequent foot traffic. The sweet scent of burning fragrant wood incense drifted up from somewhere below.
The ruins seemed to have retained their original shape, and once Rock descended the final step, she saw the gate of an old cathedral supported by stone pillars. There was a large sanctuary beyond the gate decorated with elaborate wolf reliefs where people clad in blue robes sat on benches with their heads bowed.
“I’m going to go greet the bishop,” Placido said, dressed in the same blue robe.
Lauretta nodded. She was wearing the robe Rock had mended.
“I’ll show Roxy around the sanctuary.”
“Please do. I’ll meet up with you later.”
Husband and wife shared a loving look before Lauretta took Rock into a hallway beside the sanctuary.
The hallway led to several smaller rooms, leading Rock to believe it was some kind of residential area. The simple hearth showed traces of food being cooked recently, and there were shelves lined with pots and plates, giving it a more lifelike atmosphere than the sanctuary. Plain beds could be seen behind the cloth partitions, making it seem like people lived there.
After passing through several wooden doors that looked like they’d recently been installed, they finally arrived at one of the small rooms.
“Pardon me. Are you here, Mr. Tailor?” Lauretta called into the dimly lit room, and the man who’d been sitting on a chair in the corner looked up.
“Oh, Lady Alexis. Hello—”
The man was in the middle of giving a robotic greeting when he noticed Rock standing beside the lady. His cloudy eyes rounded. His sunken cheeks twitched, and his charcoal eyes wavered as if life had been breathed back into them.
“…It can’t be—”
Rock remained a step behind Lauretta and shook her head before he could finish speaking.
Please bear with it a little longer, she urged him with her eyes.
28-year-old male, slender, silver hair, charcoal-black eyes—he’d lost a lot of weight compared to his portrait in the missing person poster.
His silver hair had lost its luster and was a mess of split ends.
But Rock would never mistake the face of the man who was once her nuisance of a rival.
Today marked exactly one month since she’d last seen Krister Gionet and they were finally reunited.