* * *
“That’s—!”
“Think about the child you’re carrying. You’re the Carlisle family’s future heir!”
No sooner had David finished speaking than a man lunged at him.
David snatched up a fallen sword.
The two blades met, clashing, then broke apart.
David dodged a thrust aimed at his torso and countered with a sharp stab to the man’s shoulder.
“Gahhh!”
“Now, hurry—”
But before David could finish, the wounded man bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“He’s here! In the carriage!”
The next shout made Adam doubt his own ears.
“The omega is here!”
Omega?
That could only mean Adam.
At that ominous cry, a shiver raced down his spine.
‘They’re after me.’
But who? And why?
A deafening gunshot snapped him out of his daze.
Adam’s face went pale—David’s too.
The shot had struck the carriage horse.
“Neighhh!”
The animal screamed and thrashed.
The driver, desperate to control it, shouted:
“Get out! Quickly!”
“Adam, now!”
David yanked Adam’s arm, pulling him out of the carriage.
But the moment Adam stepped down, a blade sliced through the air toward him, glinting coldly.
David intercepted it with a hiss between his teeth.
But in fending off the attacker, his grip on Adam slipped.
“Haa… haa…”
Adam panted, retreating step by step.
The fighting raged all around.
He forced down his fear, scanning the surroundings.
Panicking would do nothing.
He had to stay calm.
‘Run.’
The voice inside him was firm.
‘They’re after me. If I stay here, they’ll catch me.’
‘Think about the child you’re carrying.’
David’s words rang in his ears—and courage surged up from somewhere deep inside.
Adam acted on instinct, spinning around and bolting into the trees.
Towering trunks shielded him from sight.
He ran between the trees and bushes, breath ragged.
“Ugh—”
Should he even be running like this?
The baby in his belly worried him.
But he couldn’t stop.
Both hands clutched his stomach as his feet carried him forward.
A branch scraped his cheek, leaving a trail of blood—but he didn’t even feel the pain.
‘Ah—!’
With his eyes squeezed shut, Adam let the forest swallow him whole.
All he could do was pray for this nightmare to end.
The sky burned with a blood-red sunset.
The people at the villa all wore faces pale as the midday moon, unable to believe what they were seeing.
“What do we do? What do we do…?!”
The girl’s sobbing form was a mess—hair tangled, clothes torn in several places.
“Here, cover yourself, Lily…”
The boy draping a cloth over her was no better off, one side of his face swollen as if he’d been struck.
Behind them, a woman paced anxiously, glancing toward the mountain.
Her eyes were wide and brimming with despair.
“What are we going to do…? The sun’s already setting…!”
“What’s happening out there?!”
Someone demanded answers.
Everyone who had come down from the mountain was covered in wounds.
The villa’s residents were horrified when they heard the rest—
Adam was missing.
“Why haven’t they found him yet? We have reinforcements now. With so many people, how can they still not— Where’s the butler?!”
“He went into the mountain with them.”
The woman spoke quietly, her voice trembling.
What had happened hours ago now felt like some fever dream.
Men like mountain bandits had suddenly attacked.
They swung their blades, wounding many.
But oddly enough, they stole nothing.
All they did was keep searching for one person.
‘Find the omega! Find the omega!’
At those words, the woman had tried to find Adam.
But no matter how she searched, he was nowhere to be seen.
Just as dread crawled down her spine, the men cursed and ran off somewhere.
David, quick to assess the situation, had shouted at the soldiers to chase them.
Then, to another guard, he barked:
“This is an emergency. Go to the estate and report everything. Bring more soldiers! We must find Lord Adam!”
“What about you, sir?!”
“I’ll be looking for Lord Adam!”
David glanced at the people inside the carriage before leaving with the soldiers around him.
His voice was trembling, but calm, as he ordered them to head down the mountain.
Knowing there was nothing she could do to help, the lady could only nod.
‘When the sun goes down, the cold will set in. Even if it’s summer, this is the mountains. You can’t imagine how bitter it gets in a place where not a single ray of light comes in… And on top of that, you’re not even in good health… Dear heavens, what should we do…’
‘God, please. Please help us.’
With trembling hands clasped tightly, she prayed.
She prayed so desperately that she didn’t even hear the sound of hooves.
“Madam, madam!”
Someone shook her by the shoulder.
Startled back to her senses, she looked around in confusion—only to see that everyone had their heads bowed.
“Ah…!”
The exclamation escaped her lips before she realized it.
Two men stood there, looking down at them with the crimson sunset at their backs.
Their hair was disheveled, and the sharp lift of their eyes gave them the air of wild beasts.
There was something chilling about them—they were none other than the Carlisle brothers.
‘How… how are they here?’
Hadn’t they gone to the imperial palace?
They should be there, not here.
The situation was incomprehensible, but there was one thing she could understand: they had ridden here—without a single guard, only on horseback—as if they had predicted this disaster, arriving in breathless urgency.
“Where’s Adam?”
Isaac’s voice was quiet, but the scarlet of his eyes flared like a predator’s.
The lady’s voice trembled.
“T-that…”
Cold sweat trickled down her spine.
She could feel the silent fury radiating from the dukes.
The silence wrapped around her neck like hands ready to strangle her.
But she kept talking—she knew that hesitating out of fear would only make things worse.
“Bandits?”
When she finished, Chester narrowed his eyes.
“Here, of all places? Who in this territory would dare to steal?”
The lady began to describe the men’s appearance—but a younger voice cut in.
“They weren’t bandits.”
It was Lily. She was leaning against Dean, panting.
“But they were trying to steal something.”
“Steal?”
“They told us to find an Omega. They meant Lord Adam.”
At the word Omega, both brothers fell silent.
Hatred flickered over their tense faces.
“I—I heard it too. They definitely said that.”
Dean stammered.
The Carlisle brothers locked eyes, realizing they were thinking the same thing.
‘Fetchwig.’
That snake of an old man.
He had made his move—right here, in Carlisle territory.
‘He made sure we’d let our guard down. Made us think he’d never dare to act here.’
‘But why Adam? Why…?’
Chester’s brow furrowed.
A warning from the emperor came back to him:
‘Don’t make it so obvious how much you treasure him. Protecting him too openly could make him more of a target.’
“…Ha. Ha, ha…”
Chester let out a dry laugh.
His sweat-damp hair swayed as he pushed it back with a hand.
Murder gleamed in his violet eyes.
“Brother.”
“Yeah.”
Isaac didn’t ask why.
Instead, he looked up toward the jagged peaks stabbing into the blood-red sky.
The sun would be gone soon.
Darkness and cold would blanket the mountain—and then Adam…
Isaac didn’t waste time thinking. He tightened his grip on the reins and clicked his tongue sharply.
His horse let out a high cry before charging forward.
Chester followed without hesitation.
The two of them plunged into the mountain without looking back.
* * *
