1. If Laria’s Escape Had Been A Little Longer.

“Nyaaaa.”

Neo was living peacefully under Sven’s utmost care.

Having absorbed the contractor’s misfortune to the fullest, Neo could now safely enjoy life in the human world until the end of Evan’s life. On the positive side, it was a peaceful life, while on the bad side, it was a boring life.

“Nyaaa…”

Recalling the novel created to manipulate Laria, Neo couldn’t help but reflect on the process of writing it. The novel, exclusively crafted for Laria’s mind, portrayed a scenario where Evan divorced and married Elanie.

However, as it pondered, the act of writing the novel itself seemed quite intriguing.

Neo’s expertise lies in contemplating ‘What if’ scenarios. Although unable to alter a person’s personality or past at will, it could navigate through different probabilities. This constraint was why, in the novel for Laria, it was challenging to make it seem like Evan and Elanie genuinely fell in love.

“Nyaaaang.”

When Paul was caught by, Neo was somewhat anticipating that Evan might come after Laria.

That meant she could have escaped once more if Fred hadn’t been caught. It was not difficult for Neo to change the cause and effect so that Laria could escape once more. In fact, only one factor had to be changed.

“Nya.”

Neo lay by the window, soaking up the sunlight and daydreaming.

Assuming the case at that time, the story started again when Evan barged in with Fred… so what would happen if Fred hadn’t been gagged by Evan?

* * *

“…Are you going to run away again?”

It was a low, hoarse voice.

Laria slowly circled back, grabbing the movement scroll and safe.

“Uh… umm…”

Evan was glaring at her with a deadly look.

“Ev, Evan. Hey…”

Despite preparing for the situation, his face was so eerie, and his every gesture was so dreadful that Laria was forced to swallow her breath.

“Do you have a movement scroll?”

The movement scroll rustled in her hand. At the same time, she couldn’t believe Evan noticed that far. Biting her lip, she was unable to hide her frustrated expression.

“If you run away again…”

The movement scroll could be torn at any time, yet an unbelievable sight unfolded before Laria’s eyes, who had been waiting for Evan’s words.

“Laria!”

Behind Evan, his aide, Nathan, was tying Fred down. A pink-haired young man with a good-natured impression was weeping over his glasses.

“Brother!”

Laria let out a shrieking scream, and the two siblings’ eyes met.

Evan opened his mouth in a low voice.

“Your brother’s circumstances…”

However, he couldn’t finish his words. It was because Fred, who had been shedding tears on his innocent and calm face, shouted quickly.

“Laria! Run away from this crazy psycho right now!”

Laria’s trembling eyes turned to Evan’s mad face.

To be honest, it warranted to be called a ‘crazy psycho.’ Just looking at his appearance, just standing and looking at him, was so frightening that her legs trembled. Besides, he kidnapped Fred, the only heir to County Rostri… It was something impossible with common sense.

Fred cried out desperately with his wrists tied.

“I’d rather die here than be a burden to you, too!”

It was a sacrificial line for his younger sister, and Laria was not one to hesitate at others’ sacrifice.

“Go to the Eastern Continent somehow! In the Empire, you can’t escape this madman’s eyes!”

Since Fred said that he would rather die than be a burden, if that was the case, she had to listen to him.

“Yes, brother! Thank you!”

Just like that, Laria tore the movement scroll. As soon as she disappeared in an instant, Fred’s mournful expression changed to expressionless at once.

“Hng.”

He glared at Evan and spoke.

“You thought I would hand over Laria to a madman like you. I don’t even know how much time she has left.”

Although Fred had the most innocent feature in the world, he was not at all discouraged when he saw Evan’s creepy face. He was still officially only a Lord. Even so, he spoke recklessly to the Young Duke, Evan.

“If she wanted to run away from you, you should have let her run away and live.”

Nathan trembled and tried desperately to signal at Evan. ‘Don’t kill him, he’s Lady Laria’s blood relative. You must not cross a river that cannot be crossed,’ was something he couldn’t say out loud.

“Of course, you wouldn’t bear to kill me.”

Fred briskly went on as if he already knew everything.

“Looks like you were shaking in front of Laria.”

Evan glared at Fred quietly and spoke lowly to Nathan.

“…Let him go.”

As Nathan quickly untied the rope from his wrist, Evan continued while flashing his eyes at Fred, who waved his wrist.

“Still, it won’t end up the way you want.”

Even the confident Fred instinctively backed away, as Evan’s voice was so gloomy.

“If Laria runs away to the end, I will pursue her to the end again.”

And Sven, who had just arrived and secretly watched the scene from behind, hugged Neo and immediately escaped the chaotic situation. Laria had hinted that she would go to Sven’s residence if this happened.

* * *

Sitting down in Sven’s cafe, Laria sighed deeply.

She had to admit.

Evan was crazy. Still, she knew that she should not be caught by her crazy husband. She had to be careful to protect her life apart from the fact that she liked Evan.

So, in a sad state, Laria plotted a ruse.

“Now, put this diamond necklace on the black market.”

The safe that she had carried and ran with contained gold coins as well as various high-end jewelry.

“There will definitely be people asking for the origin. Then, the origin is Bedis Port.”

The necklace she gave to the Bestian Intelligence Guild member was a diamond necklace from the Eastern Continent, which Evan had given her as a gift before. It was still not easy to do exchanges with the Eastern continent, so the price was very high.

“There are only a few of these in the Empire right now, so Evan will start chasing the rest of the diamond necklace as soon as it comes out on the black market.”

She muttered miserably as she put the necklace, which she had once received with a fluttering heart, into the hands of someone else.

“Diamond necklaces from the Eastern Continent are the items with the largest price difference between the Empire and the Eastern Continent. So when you run away to the eastern continent, of course, you have to deal with it efficiently.”

Therefore, if she sold this necklace at Bedis Port, Evan would naturally assume that she had fled to the Eastern Continent.

Although the reason for disguising her destination as the Eastern Continent was Fred’s last words to her, that also meant to stop looking for her for now.

For some unknown reason, Elanie did not announce her intention to marry, but someday she would. At that time, Evan had to stay in the Empire in order to get nominated quickly. There would be no way he could go to the Eastern Continent to find Laria, which would take quite a long travel time.

‘In the first place, I should have disguised myself as if I had left for the Eastern Continent like this… but I really didn’t want to sell that necklace.’

The Eastern Continent diamond necklace itself was a limited edition in the Empire.

Besides, it was the only gift from Evan that she had brought, so giving it away was a considerable decision for her. Because of that, Laria held out the necklace to the guild member and hesitated for a long time before she sighed and resolutely left it.

“…Take one gold more than the market price. Never sell at a loss, understand?”

It was her theory that money should be thoroughly received as much as it was really precious.

A few days later, Sven arrived in the Capital, and he made her a residence in a small city near the capital. It was a simple, small, unnoticed house. No matter how expensive and good Laria was, it couldn’t be helped.

It was difficult to airlift high-quality ingredients, and there were not many servants.

‘This is why I prepared hard for seven years to live as a noble…’

Laria was in pain from just eating the mediocre pudding.

On the surface, her humble abode was disguised as the home of Serena and her husband. Rumor has it that a tremendous fight broke out between the members of the Bestian Dark Information Guild on who to assume the role of Serena’s husband.

Knowing that Icard’s eye spread across the empire, she rarely ventured outside of her home.

“Miss Laria.”

After a while, Serena delivered the news with a serious expression.

“The Young Duke is said to be living in seclusion at the residence of Duke Icard.”

“…Seclusion?”

“I heard that he was in a lot of pain…”

Laria tilted her head at Serena’s insecure words. While this was different from her expectations, one thing was certain.

‘I haven’t seen Evan sick in seven years. And even if he’s sick, he’s never the type to go to sleep.’

She thought to herself.

‘Either he got emotional distress because he couldn’t catch me or…’

Well, recalling the eerie expression she had last seen, it would be more than just mere emotional distress.

‘He’s trying to somehow bring me out by distracting me with the excuse that he can’t come out because he got sick…’

She honestly couldn’t think of anything else. Just dragging Fred in was too much out of common sense for Laria.

‘He must be really angry. Well, from the first time we met in front of the academy when we were thirteen years old… he said he hates being different in front and the back.’

She had no idea that Evan was suspicious of Laria and Kyle’s relationship.

That was why she ended up firmly misunderstanding Evan, who came to her with a much more terrifying expression than she expected. And when the madman was rushing madly at her, she should, of course, avoid it.

Laria thought, suppressing her desire to eat the finest steak every day.

‘There must be something… I have to be very careful and hide myself.’

__