“Crown Prince, forgive me for the intrusion.”
Before the Crown Prince could even answer, Abe, the Commander of the Knights, spoke as he pushed the bedroom door open.
Although all the important business had already been finished, this was an incredibly rude way to act, regardless of the reason.
The Crown Prince, who had been resting while imagining a happy life with Joel, turned toward him with an annoyed look.
However, as soon as Abe followed up with, “An urgent message has arrived from Count Gray,” the Prince had no choice but to sit up straight.
If it was news from Count Gray’s castle, it had to involve Joel.
“Why? Did something happen to the baby?”
Despite having boldly broken into the room where the Crown Prince was resting, Abe struggled to open his mouth.
His lips trembled as if he were terrified to speak the main point.
When the Prince urged him, asking, “What could it be that you’re wasting so much time?”
Abe finally delivered the report with a heavy heart.
“…Your Highness, Young Master Joel has disappeared.”
“What?”
For a moment, the Crown Prince simply blinked his eyes, looking as if he didn’t understand what he was hearing.
Joel—whom he had sent away so carefully, wrapped in a warm cloak to keep him from getting hurt and escorted by a large force—had suddenly vanished?
Once the words finally registered a beat later, the Crown Prince jumped to his feet without realizing it.
He grabbed Abe by the collar and asked a stupid question with a terrifying expression, “Joel disappeared? To where?”
Instead of wasting time with a Prince who seemed unable to process information, Abe held out a neatly folded letter.
“This is…”
“It is a letter the Young Master left for Your Highness. On the morning after they arrived at Count Gray’s castle, Robert went to the Young Master’s room only to find him already gone, with nothing but this letter left behind.”
“Give it here.”
The Crown Prince let go of Abe’s collar and snatched the letter away.
His hands were shaking with anxiety as he unfolded it.
Soon, the Prince’s green eyes moved rapidly left and right as he read the contents.
“This is… absolute nonsense…”
Having read every single line, including the postscript, the Prince muttered with a face full of shock.
The letter wasn’t long, but the Prince, whose brain had frozen from the shock, had to read each line several times over.
Even after finishing it, he still couldn’t understand the situation.
Joel was standing on the threshold of a happy life back in the capital, where he would be loved by everyone.
Why on earth would he leave?
And to do so while giving up the position of Crown Princess that he had wanted so much?
Having heard from his soldiers about what happened in the underground mansion, the Prince was convinced that Joel truly loved him.
Even while pregnant, Joel had descended into that underground mansion and was willing to sell his soul to the demon John to save the Prince.
Furthermore, Joel had carried the Prince on his back, huffing and puffing up all those stairs.
That wasn’t something you could do with just a simple “like.”
There was no way such a Joel would abandon him.
The Prince, who had naturally assumed Joel would be waiting for him at Count Gray’s estate with bated breath, felt like he had been struck in the back of the head.
Realizing he couldn’t just stand there dazed, the Prince barely managed to pull himself together.
“I assume you are tracking Joel’s whereabouts? Any idea where he went?”
“At the time the message was sent, it seems Count Gray’s side hadn’t figured that out yet. The Count held a grand banquet to celebrate Young Master Joel’s safe return, and it seems everyone was too busy eating and drinking. Not only were the guards lax, but the truth is, no one expected Young Master Joel to suddenly disappear…”
“Dammit. Prepare to leave immediately.”
The Crown Prince cursed under his breath and turned around.
As he began to pack in a hurry, Abe tried to reassure him, saying, “Still, two days have passed, so shouldn’t they have some leads by now?”
The situation was far too dire to be comforted by such empty words.
Joel wasn’t even traveling alone—he was pregnant.
The Prince’s fatigue vanished instantly in his urgency.
Grabbing the first coat he could find and throwing it over his shirt, he rushed out of the bedroom.
“Crown Prince, where are you going at this time of night? Has something happened?”
Sir Bennet, who had been woken up by the midnight commotion, followed the Prince and asked in a worried tone.
“Ah…”
The Prince, who had been entirely consumed by his worry for Joel, felt reality snap back into focus when he saw Sir Bennet’s simple, honest face.
Since Sir Bennet was Joel’s birth father, he had to be told that Joel had disappeared.
However, remembering how Sir Bennet had become a mere shell of a man within days of hearing about Joel’s death in the past life, the Prince found it hard to speak.
Furthermore, Joel’s sudden departure was also the Prince’s own responsibility.
In the letter, Joel had clearly stated that he was leaving because he was tired of life in the capital.
He also firmly believed he wasn’t qualified to be the Crown Princess.
If the Prince had helped the bullied Joel sooner, Joel wouldn’t have been pushed to the point of plotting a secret escape.
The Prince forced a soft smile to reassure Sir Bennet for now.
“It is nothing, Sir. I am sorry for troubling you so late at night. I must leave your estate immediately for an urgent matter, but I thank you for taking such good care of us. I will not forget to reward you later.”
“No, Your Highness. It was an honor to serve you. But, from what I overheard, it sounds like something related to Count Gray’s estate… Has something happened to our Joel?”
“Well…”
He thought it might be better to hide Joel’s disappearance because the elderly Sir Bennet might be shocked, but on second thought, he couldn’t keep this a secret forever.
Recalling how, in the past life, Sir Bennet had been chased away by the Imperial guards while wailing after hearing about his son’s death, the Prince felt a surge of guilt.
He couldn’t let Sir Bennet be mistreated like that this time.
Besides, if he left the man who loved his child so dearly all alone, there was no telling what kind of trouble he might get into.
The Prince decided to take Sir Bennet to Count Gray’s castle with him.
“Sir, for now, you should come with me. I will explain the details later, so please take a carriage to Count Gray’s castle. I will head out first on horseback.”
“Pardon? But Your Highness, spring is coming, and I have to inspect the levees for farming, buy new tools… there is so much to do…”
“Sir, I guarantee you will not regret coming with me. As for the estate work…”
The Prince looked around for someone he could temporarily leave in charge of Sir Bennet’s estate.
Abe, the Knight Commander, was his right hand, so he couldn’t stay.
He pointed to one of the two remaining 4th Knights.
“Right, Steven. You take charge here. I will tell Count Gray to send help as well.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The chosen knight bowed respectfully and approached Sir Bennet, saying in a reliable tone, “Do not worry about the estate’s affairs.”
“Sir Bennet, let us depart.”
“Huh? Oh, yes…”
Before he knew it, a carriage was waiting beside Sir Bennet.
Abe, having read the situation, had prepared it in advance.
Sir Bennet answered hesitantly and reluctantly boarded the carriage.
“Ugh, seriously… This makes me so mad.”
Joel, crouching on a tree stump, whispered to himself.
He was currently barely suppressing a bubbling rage directed toward his own birth father.
That mercenary named Jack, whom his father had hired, had stabbed him in the back only three days after leaving Count Gray’s castle.
He had felt relieved because nothing happened until they crossed the border of Count Gray’s territory, but when he woke up from a nap, the cart and the mercenary were gone.
Joel had hurriedly searched through his bag.
Sure enough, the bag of money that had been inside was missing entirely.
It was a good thing he hadn’t kept all the money in that one bag, but had divided it up and hidden small amounts inside his shoes and his clothes.
Counting the missing money, it was only about half of the amount Sir Bennet had given him.
Thanks to the fact that he had used his bag as a pillow throughout the journey, everything else inside the bag besides the money was perfectly safe.
In a way, it was thanks to his adoptive father, Count Lucas, that he had taken precautions like hiding the money in multiple places and sleeping on his bag.
Having suffered under the cunning Count Lucas for three years, Joel had stopped trusting people, and he never ignored even the slightest bad feeling.
He hadn’t expected the experience of being mistreated by his adoptive father to help him in this way, so despite the ridiculous situation, Joel let out a sharp, bitter laugh.
