# 20
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Click, click.
The stair railing caught fire, glowing crimson red.
Elinor hesitated.
Can she get through this huge fire?
That was impossible.
Burning ladders may collapse under their own weight, and even if they are lucky enough to get through, they will definitely suffer burns.
Elinor turned and rushed into Matthias's room, furthest from the flames.
"What…?"
She tried to open the large window to ask for help, but she was surprised.
The window did not open.
I realized too late that the window was closed with a lock.
Something that wasn't there in the window of her room.
“You chose the wrong room.”
She turned around without hesitation.
But when she saw the flames reaching the second floor, she had to hide in the room again.
Boom! Boom!
“Save me!”
Elinor shouted as she hit the lock with her nightstand clock.
"Save me! There's someone here...! Cough!"
The cough exploded.
She had inhaled a lot of smoke.
The blanket covering her respiratory system was completely dry.
“Kh, kh.”
Elinor, who was trying to open the window, slid to the floor.
The fire appears to be the work of Matthias.
That's why the window was locked.
“I shouldn't have lowered my guard.”
Even though she knew he was the evil duke, she was careless.
I was deceived by his apparent kindness.
I felt solidarity with him seeing him take care of the child so sincerely.
“I hope the baby is okay.”
She hoped he would survive and return to Charlotte.
She hopes that Charlotte had not intentionally abandoned the child, unlike her mother in her previous life.
Even as she lost consciousness, Elinor hoped for the child's safety.
In a burning building, there was nothing else she could do.
“Oh mother of the child!”
Suddenly, she seemed to hear Matthias' voice.
Elinor laughed lightly.
It can't be that.
This is a trap set by Matthias.
What am I thinking-
"Eleanor Winston! Where are you? Answer!"
Her eyes suddenly opened.
You didn't hear wrong.
That was really Matthias's voice.
She screamed with all her might, coughing.
"I'm here! In your room...!"
Bam!
The door opened violently and Matthias appeared from behind the threshold.
He was completely wet, as if he had spilled water on himf.
Matthias supported Elinor.
"Recover! We have to get out of here."
“The child...”
Elinor grabbed Matthias's wrist.
Although it looked like it would collapse at any moment.
She was holding his wrist so tightly that it made his hand pale.
“Where is the baby, cough, where is he?”
"Outside. It's safe."
I finally felt comfortable.
Elinor's expression relaxed.
“Thank God...”
“But we have to get out now... Listen, regain consciousness. Eleanor!”
Elinor lost consciousness after her tension relaxed.
She was thinking that hearing the person she considered an enemy calling her name was unexpectedly reassuring.
* * *
Matthias had noticed James wandering around the inn some time ago.
However, he did not intervene because he thought that James would be unable to do anything.
His hands and feet were already bound.
The village chief was no longer able to support him.
So easily ignore it.
“What is this...”
He never expected that James would commit the foolishness of setting the inn on fire.
When Matthias returned from his walk with the child, he looked at the burning inn in amazement.
If someone asked him about the most confusing moment of his life, he would confidently say it was this moment.
At that moment, one of his followers appeared like a shadow.
“Where is Miss Elinor?”
“She didn't leave the hostel.”
Matthias frowned.
This means that Elinor is now inside the burning building.
Sparks of fire flew from the wooden building into the sky.
Because of the wind, the fire spread quickly.
“Shall I take it out?”
Matthias paused for a moment to think at his follower's question.
Elinor is needed to track down Charlotte.
Some of the information I provided was proven true when it was confirmed that the sacred object had disappeared from the temple.
But is it really necessary?
The child, the most powerful weapon to lure the hiding Charlotte, is now in my hands.
If Eleanor accidentally dies in this fire...
“Oh…! Oh!”
Suddenly, the baby, who had been calm in Matthias's arms, began to cry loudly.
He flapped his fat arms like a fish.
His small hands stroked Matthias' chest.
It's as if he's scolding him for not saving Elinor.
Although a child no more than half a year old could not think like this.
“Oh!”
The child's red eyes, more like Elinor than Charlotte, captivated Matthias.
Yes.
Red eyes that look like Elinor Winston.
“...I'll go.”
Matthias spoke slowly.
“Stay here and keep the baby safe.”
“The fire has spread so much, it's dangerous. Let me go-”
"No. If I'm going to save her, I'd better do it myf. That way I can make her owe me."
Matthias handed the child over to his henchman and looked for water.
There was a well nearby.
Cold water poured from head to toe.
Then he covered his mouth with a handkerchief and rushed into the burning inn without hesitation.
“Oh mother of the child!”
He looked first into the kitchen where Elinor was sleeping.
But she wasn't there.
His subordinate said she did not leave the hostel.
So, she must have thought the baby was upstairs and went up there.
"brother."
The fire was most intense on the side of the restaurant.
The rising flames threatened.
He narrowly dodged the flames and ran up the stairs, screaming.
"Eleanor Winston! Where are you? Answer!"
He heard a faint sound from the deepest part of the destroyed building.
He kicked the closed door hard.
“Eleanor!”
She was hiding in his room, the farthest from the flames that consumed the house.
When she saw Matthias, Elinor asked about the baby and then fainted.
Matthias carried the unconscious Elinor.
Fshshh.
The fire spread to the room they were in.
The exit route has been blocked.
Matthias looked around and hit the locked window with his fist.
Bam!
The window, which Elinor had been unable to open despite her efforts, opened with a single punch.
Mathias climbed onto the window sill.
Then he jumped out without hesitation.
"brother."
Matthias rolled on the floor carrying Elinor.
Fortunately, the weeds were thick under the window, so he was not seriously hurt.
"Sir! Are you okay?"
His lurking subordinate rushed over and poured water to prevent thermal burns.
Matthias looked at the opposite side of the noisy building and asked:
“Did people come?”
“Yes, they gathered to put out the fire.”
“We will leave now.”
Until now, he had tolerated Elinor and enjoyed village life.
“But that is no longer needed.”
The fire will erase all traces of the presence of strangers in this place.
He said as he adjusted the unconscious Elinor in his embrace.
“We will return to the Duke’s Palace immediately.”
"present!"
The two men disappeared into the dense forest.
Thus, the couple who caused a stir in the small village disappeared with the fire.