By the time she reached the town at the foot of the mountain it was light.
She got down from the cart at the town's edge.
"Hoo... the taste of freedom."
Looking at the rows of low houses, Ella breathed in deep.
On the flagstone road the passers-by came in a steady stream, and along its edges were hawkers selling every kind of thing.
Ella didn't waste time. She spared it a few sighs and then went quickly to find a carter who took passengers.
She had no money on her, but she was carrying a signet stamped with House Beaumont's crest, so it hardly mattered. Charge it to the Duke's account.
"Ophina Village."
"Three silver."
"Fine. On the ducal house's account."
Ella produced the ring with a practiced hand.
The carter at the town's edge hesitated a while, looked over the elaborate, ornate dress Ella was wearing, then glanced again at the ring. It was Beaumont's crest, sure enough.
Reassured at last, with no fear of being stiffed, he took Ella aboard.
In this world one gold coin was a hundred silver, and a hundred silver was ten thousand copper. A copper's buying power was about a yuan back in Ella's last life.
***
"Nn... haaawn."
Sunlight came through the window into the room. Elos yawned, her eyelids fluttered, and she opened her eyes slowly.
Newly woken she was still fuddled, so she lay there a while and thought about what she had to do today.
"Riding practice, magic practice, that assignment on ancient history. What a nuisance."
Because of House Beaumont's particular situation she was spared the tea parties young noblewomen attended. Not that there were many nobles anywhere near this fortress so close to the border.
"And how shall I make things hard for Ella today?"
Turning that question over, Elos sat slowly up.
"Katherine. Fetch my breakfast."
Having sent Katherine off for it, Elos got up and changed.
She sat in the chair by the bed and toyed idly with her fingers.
There was not much in the castle that needed doing, and she had done most of it. Nothing new in any of it.
She held out a hand and looked at her own slender pale fingers.
She felt across the bedside table, and a puzzled look came over her face.
"Where's my ring?"
She looked down. The ring on the table had vanished into thin air.
Had she dropped it somewhere?
Elos got up and searched all around, and after one circuit of the room there was no sign of it.
Her face darkened. She had a bad feeling.
Katherine came back with breakfast soon after. Elos sent her to go and find Ella, and dealt with the food quickly herself.
***
"Well? Have you laid eyes on her?"
Breakfast over, Elos left the keep and put the question to Katherine in the courtyard, who had been all the way round.
"No. It's strange. She isn't anywhere."
At the words, Elos's fist closed. She could not believe it. Ella had actually run. She had actually dared to run!
"Hoo..."
Her chest heaved. Forcing herself calm, Elos had the soldiers who had stood the night watch at the gate, and those standing it now, brought before her.
The soldiers stood in front of her, exchanging looks.
They came in two groups: one in full armor, and one that had been hauled out of their sleep, unarmored, in cloth.
"I'll ask you this. Which of you let Ella go?"
Her gaze travelled between them, and Elos watched.
The armored ones looked entirely baffled. The ones in cloth looked startled, and then guilty.
They had finally realized Ella had played them.
"You lot. Go and collect a few lashes each, then get out."
Elos was burning with rage, though at this moment she had no appetite for handling these fools personally.
She had the armored ones drag the offenders off to be punished, ignored the wailing and the begging and the apologies, and had a dozen or so more soldiers fetched.
"Get on your horses. You're coming out with me."
***
The mountain road, ordinarily quiet, rang today with hoofbeats. The farmer who had carried Ella down and was now hauling goods back up watched a column of a dozen-odd riders go past him.
"Damn her! That creature. She actually dared to steal from me."
In a long dress, Elos hauled on the reins, her temper foul. She had always taken it that Ella barely resisted, which was the only reason she had left anything unguarded, and it had never occurred to her that Ella would suddenly run.
The hurried hoofbeats came steadily on, and Elos looked back at the riders behind her.
"Faster. Faster still, do you hear me?"
She gave the order, and the column reached the town before long.
"Where in the world would that creature go?"
She dismounted, grinding her teeth. All at once she had no thread to follow. There were a good many villages nearby, and forest, and no shortage of caves. There were far too many places for Ella to hide.
"...Go and ask, all of you. Ask whether anyone has seen someone with pink hair. Then get the town's own guard looking too. All of you, go and look! Do you hear me? Worthless, the lot of you!"
Elos's temper worsened. Hiding in somebody's house would be one thing, but what if she had hidden in some patch of forest and been eaten by a magic beast?
Beyond the fury, there was a thread of worry at the back of Elos's eyes too.
The young Duke's wife has gone missing. The sentence spread quickly, and the town's soldiers scrambled and searched everywhere. Several messengers took horse for the nearby villages, telling every lord to keep watch.
"M-milady..."
Before long, a carter was on his knees in front of Elos, shaking.
The carters at the town's edge always clustered together, and he was one of those who had seen where Ella went.
"Speak. You saw Ella, didn't you? Which way did she run?"
She scratched at her hair impatiently. On either side of her, soldiers gripped their weapons.
"If you can't get it out, then die."
"I— I— I heard her say she was going to Ophina Village. She took Old Hob's cart."
The carter stammered out his answer.
"You may get out."
Elos tossed a gold coin at him without looking, then got up and mounted with the soldiers she had brought.
"..."
Elos was silent. Back to Ophina Village? That was Ella's father's territory. She knew perfectly well her father had given her up, so why would she go back there? Had she lost her mind?
And then Elos remembered the girl she had seen in the canteen the day before, who had just been crying, far more fragile than usual. Elos had assumed she had been kicked by the horse and cried because it hurt so much.
What had happened? Elos's heart skipped a beat, and an unaccountable discomfort came with it.
"To Ophina Village."
Whatever else was true, she thought, Ella was hers.
Whatever had happened, she was not going to let Ella leave. Even if it did not amount to liking her, she was going to keep a tight grip on what was hers.
The column left the town and took the main road, and Elos rode toward that small country village she had never once visited.
***
"Achoo!"
Inside the cart, Ella sneezed. It wasn't the cold. It was a bad feeling.
Elos would notice something was wrong before long, and then what? That head of hair of hers was so conspicuous that a few casual questions would give away where she had gone.
"...If I get dragged back, what happens?"
It would probably be worse than before, Ella thought.
She closed her eyes and clenched her fist.
"Father... will he shelter me?"
That discount dad, who had already refused her once. If he saw her turn up in front of him covered in injuries, would his heart move at all?