She closed her eyes tightly and vowed herself as if she tried to erase her terrible memories. Covered by her eyelids, she could see nothing. Nevertheless, one day last winter was vivid in her memory. Her father’s funeral. On that snowy day, she plunged in despair while embracing her father’s casket, which was as cold as snow.

How much she regretted it after she detected Ober’s cunning trick!

If she had not been deceived by Ober, if her father had not changed his journey to accept her stubborn request, the wagon carrying her father would never have fallen down the cliff. Her father would not have hurt because of her, nor would she have been sent to the bottom of the lake by Ober’s deputy. So in this life, nobody, nobody..

“Ahhh!”

Marianne woke up from idle thoughts suddenly.

The moment she noticed that Cordelli was screaming and reaching out to her, her body fell to one side.

Thump!

As if the carriage hit the rock, she felt a strong shock on her body. Marianne sat up slightly on the seat made of the fixed sofa. A glass of water on the table, a painting tool taken out to kill her boredom, and a silver cage without its owner floated in the air.

‘Oops! It looks like my head, not butt, is going to break.’

The moment she felt time stopped, Marianne was absorbed in idle thoughts like that.

She was out of touch with reality.

In no time, everything inside the carriage was pulled back to the ground at a terrible speed as they couldn’t fight gravity.

“Lady! ”

A loud burst of sound pierced her ears, muffling Cordlli’s shouting. Marianne fell off the sofa as if someone threw her out. She slipped from the sofa and sat down on the bottom of the carriage. As she instinctively grabbed the door handle, she could barely avoid rolling down.

“Are you okay, Lady? What should I do? What the hell happened?”

Cordelli, who was thrown on the other side, crawled to her, removing the messy stuff before her. The carriage was still tilted to one side, with the windows almost on the floor and the doors on her right shoulder. One pair of abundant dresses swelled freely to block her view.

“I’m okay except my butt. It looks like it’s really broken.”

Someone cleared the fluttering lace roughly.

“Oh my god. Does it hurt a lot? How could this happen if they didn’t drive the wagon recklessly? Did they mess with the maintenance? How dare they drive the future empress’s carriage so recklessly! How outrageous!”

“I’m okay. It looks like the wheels are missing as the wagon is tilted to one side like this..”

“Good Heavens! You have been so emboldened while you’re in the capital! You are not surprised that much.. I guess Milan is not a good place to live. I know you were surprised to see a bug sitting on a petal in the past..” Cordelli said, glancing at her with an uncomfortable look. Her boisterous fuss made Marianne calmer. She even laughed rather than feared in such a messy situation.

“You bet. I’m so glad you are okay, too. By the way you? Are you injured?”

“Well, I think I’ll be okay even if I am born again. I was not injured at all. I don’t think you have any broken bones. Can you stand up?”

Marianne nodded. Cordelli supported her. She stepped on paper and a brush, which made some noise. Fortunately, the glass fell on the soft cushion.

At that moment it was very disturbing outside the carriage.

The sound of horses crying roughly, the sound of the knights’ armor rattling, and their shouts to open the door were faintly heard.

Marianne pushed the door stiffened by the impact of the bump.

The door was opened wide with a loud noise. She got up and took her upper body out of the door. Just like sprouts shot forth from the ground, her small head came out of the wagon.

As the carriage was tilted, the setting sunlight pierced her eyes. She frowned unconsciously and raised her hand to put up an awning.

“Marianne!”

The first one she saw was a familiar face. His blue eyes and sparkling golden hair. His low voice when he called her name, as always.

Come to think of it, she felt the voice was a little different. It was anxious and urgent, not calm.

“Your Excellency?”

Marianne felt strange about his attitude. But before she thought further, Eckart jumped over the wagon and asked a barrage of questions.

“Are you okay? Are you injured at all? Were you surprised?”

“I’m fine. Cordelli is fine, too. By the way, how come the wagon suddenly..”

She couldn’t finish her words. Wrapping her back with his tight arms, he lifted her gently.

As she felt she was losing her balance, she embraced Eckart’s nape unconsciously. Her rosy dress swept through the wagon’s door like the wind and then unfolded on the ground.

Getting out of the wagon in a blink of an eye, she rolled her eyes. She swallowed dry saliva.

“.. Thank you. You don’t have to take me out in person..”

But Eckart was not listening at that moment. He was taking a deep breath like a man who would jump into a lake right away, and then breathed out long as if he poured his anger into his breath.

She opened her eyes she closed a moment ago. He cast a sharp glance at those standing behind her.

“Who last inspected the wagon?”

Marianne glanced at the crowd, watching Curtis, who was waiting nearby, taking out Cordelli.

They stiffened as if they turned into trees in a group. Beatrice came to her with a worried look and Duchess Lamont and Marquise Chester were now getting out of the wagon.

Other knights, maids, and servants bowed and hunched their shoulders in bewilderment.

“This is the guy, Your Majesty,” Duke Christopher said.

He took the coachman who drove Marianne’s wagon and had him kneel down.

“Your Majesty, please save my life! There was nothing wrong when I inspected it this morning! I’m serious! Please have mercy on me. The wagon was perfect! If you can save my life, please, please..”

The horseman stammered, knocking his head on the ground. Even though he was pleading for his life, with tears on his sore face, Eckart examined the wagon’s path and its broken wheels with cold eyes.

“Although the roads here aren’t as well paved as the roads in Milan’s town, there weren’t any roadblocks big enough to crush the wagon. How could this happen if you didn’t tighten the wheels from the start?

“I don’t know that..”

“You don’t know?”

Eckhart asked back with an indifferent look. Wearing black boots, he walked over and took out a sword hanging on Christopher’s waist.

The noise of the metal sword ripped off the silence.

“I don’t think your answer can convince me.”

Eckart turned around with the sword. He cast a cold-hearted gaze at the horseman without even any pity.

“Please save my life! I was wrong. I’ll never, never..”

The horseman rubbed his hands, with his face ashen. Those around him turned their eyes as if they already expected the terrible outcome. Nobody stopped Eckart.

There was no need to investigate the cause of the accident, such as whether the horseman was really deliberately loosening the wheel, or if it was an accident for unknown reasons.

That was not important.

Something that the emperor did not approve happened, and it was the worst casualty that would have injured the prospective empress.

Only that was obvious at this point. As it happened by a commoner’s mistake, not a nobleman, saving his life would be almost impossible. And someone had to be responsible for this accident, regardless of whether it was some dirty trick behind it or the chances of this were one in a million.

Eckart lifted his arm high after adjusting his grip on the sword once.

“Your Excellency!”

At that moment her red skirt blocked his view.

“.. Step aside, Marianne!” he shouted chilly.

Mariane shook her head harder instead of stepping back.

“I was not injured even though the wagon was broken. I think it’s because he stopped the wagon by calming down the surprised horses as best he could.”

“That’s the horseman’s bounden duty, and it’s not a reason to lessen his guilt.”

“Anyway, I have to give some credit to the horseman for my safety. How can I let the man who saved my life die?”

“Marianne!”

“I don’t mean he’s completely innocent. Like you said, this road is not dangerous enough to cause such a big accident. But this accident probably happened because of an unexpected thing. Besides, we’re out on the journey for our good event. It’s a bit ominous to see blood, so why don’t you punish him differently?”

Marianne’s attitude was very stubborn. Even with the sharp blade of the sword before her nose, she didn’t bat an eyelash.

“It is abandoning my duty if I don’t punish his fault at the right moment.”

“Right. But sometimes you also need generosity as a supervisor who can pass over his staff’s mistakes. It was not the violent wind but the warm sun that made the traveller take off his clothes on the way.”

Even reciting an old fairy tale, she leaned toward the horseman who lay face down.