Grace in Wonderland - Chapter 119

119. Unexpected Accident

The coachman driving the carriage carrying Viscount Lovelace and Grace was skilled at finding little-known paths. However, even he faced a significant challenge: the horses needed to be replaced at least once or twice a day.

No matter how well-trained or healthy the horses were, they couldn’t gallop tirelessly without rest. Thus, even when avoiding main roads to escape attention, stopping at relay stations to change horses was unavoidable.

Grace, a sharp and rational woman with a mathematical mind, knew that if someone—likely Richard Spencer—was chasing the carriage, they too would need to change horses at relay stations.

Therefore, as the carriage left each relay station, Grace marked the path it took. Her dress, designed for the masquerade and sent to her by Richard to the Montague mansion, was adorned with several violet-shaped ornaments. She decided to put them to good use.

She prayed that Richard Spencer would notice these markers and not lose his way. That he would come quickly to rescue her.

Despite the passing days and nights, and despite her growing unease at Viscount Lovelace’s sly, manipulative words disguised as advice, she didn’t abandon hope. Outside the broken and collapsed cave of her despair, the only hand she could reach for was the imperfect one extended by Richard Spencer.

Richard Spencer had once hesitated yet revealed his left temple before Grace. She had seen that scar before.

On the day she had saved Richard, who lay bleeding and unconscious in front of a cave, she had torn her dress and wrapped it around his head. It was then she understood why Richard Spencer, the Young Earl, always kept his parting to the same side and used pomade to smooth his hair.

A large, splendid rose with a worm-eaten petal; a perfectly round, milky pearl with one imperfect edge; a soft leather-bound book with a dampened corner.

Some might call these flaws and choose to reject them. Yet the rose’s fresh fragrance, the pearl’s luminous sheen, and the book’s wisdom remain unaffected.

There are those who choose fragrance, light, and wisdom despite the flaws—out of pity, indifference, or for other reasons.

Richard Spencer, praised for inheriting the majestic appearance of Richard the Lionheart, bore a scar on his face—a mark he always wished to hide. The scar, smaller than a baby’s fist, wasn’t from an epidemic but from the cruelty of others, including the Countess Spencer.

Grace Gurton, who had lost her mother to smallpox, embraced that scar out of compassion.

Grace Gurton, daughter of the social pariah Annabel Gurton, stuttered like a dripping cloth or the echoing walls of a cave.

Richard Spencer saw the speech of a lowborn woman as a melody blending staccato and legato. And so, he embraced her, thinking it didn’t matter.

Between those who share and understand flaws, there is a bond and trust. To reveal is courage; to accept is love; to protect is loyalty. Richard Spencer and Grace Gurton held onto each other deeply and firmly in this way.

And so, she couldn’t give up just yet. Dropping the dress ornaments out the carriage window while avoiding Viscount Lovelace’s gaze was a desperate prayer based on courage, love, and loyalty.

***

At the first relay station, Sebastian split ten soldiers into two groups, sending them down the path Richard Spencer had presumably taken. He also instructed them to inform Richard of the situation and ensure he followed them once they located him.

Strange, but a truly clever woman.

At the sixth relay station they visited, Sebastian found another violet ornament left by Grace Montague at the fork in the road. Initially, he thought it was a coincidence, but when he found the same ornament the next day, he accepted it as intentional.

From then on, he divided the team to search within a ten-thousand-yard radius of the relay stations, following Grace’s trail of ornaments. The coachman, who drove like a phantom through little-known paths, made the chase challenging. Yet they were at least moving in the right direction.

The significance of the violet ornaments wasn’t limited to marking the path. They also served as proof that Grace Montague was still alive and able to move.

That was more important. Chasing a carriage carrying a corpse held no meaning.

The carriage carrying Grace had been traveling along the coastline for the past two days. Sebastian and his team also followed this route. From the moment the blue sea became visible in the distance, Sebastian’s instincts pointed toward somewhere beyond the rolling waves.

Viscount Lovelace was likely trying to leave Ingrint entirely by ship. The potential destinations were now narrowed down considerably.

If they were headed to another country on the continent or a colony, they would have used either Lydon Port or Doven Port. However, since they had chosen the western coastline of Ingrint, there were only two possible destinations: Aire or the New World beyond the ocean.

Sebastian planned to divide the soldiers again, sending them to the departure and docking points of ships bound for Aire and the New World. He wasn’t certain whether it would be possible to check every passenger boarding the ships, but invoking the name of the Spencer family should make it manageable.

That being said, it was strange that the Young Earl hadn’t shown up yet. At the first relay station, Richard Spencer had taken a different path an hour before they arrived.

Sebastian had sent two soldiers after him, expecting they’d catch up quickly. He thought Richard would turn back upon learning the situation and join them immediately. However, they still hadn’t met him.

Even so, they couldn’t neglect the pursuit of the carriage while waiting for Richard Spencer. The primary goal of this search was to rescue Grace Montague.

As someone who had served the Spencer family for over a decade, Sebastian adhered to their rules. The foremost rule was to achieve the objective by any means necessary.

With his eyes aflame with determination, Sebastian continued collecting small violet ornaments as he moved westward and now northward. The difference in mobility between the carriage and mounted horses was evident. The gap between them narrowed day by day. The destination was within sight.

Meanwhile, Richard Spencer, riding tirelessly despite a precarious injury, pushed himself forward. The injury was the result of a ridiculous accident that occurred as he galloped in the direction indicated by the relay station keeper.

The weather in Ingrint was truly dreadful. Mist rose and obscured the vision of both the horse and Richard, while the slippery, muddy paths stretched endlessly. On less-traveled roads, thorn bushes were scattered everywhere.

Horses are sensitive creatures—intelligent yet skittish. They might stop running if they sense danger, or they might throw their rider off. The horse Richard was riding grew increasingly agitated as its vision was blocked by the mist. After stepping on thorns several times, its patience wore thin.

The lack of rapport between Richard and the horse was also a problem. The horse was frightened, and Richard was fearless. While he seldom engaged emotionally with people, Richard had no trouble communicating with Sono, his preferred horse. But this time, he pushed the terrified animal to its limits.

The horse threw Richard off in a moment of panic. Losing his balance, Richard fell into a patch of thorn bushes. To make matters worse, the horse kicked his left leg as it fled.

“Young Earl!”

The two soldiers sent by Sebastian found Richard struggling to rise from the thorn bushes. It was sheer luck they spotted him; had he been lying face-down, they might have missed him entirely.

However, discovering that Richard’s shin was fractured was a stroke of misfortune. The leg, swollen from the horse’s kick, was in no condition for long-distance travel. Immediate treatment was necessary.

Although Richard vehemently demanded they retrieve the horse, the soldiers pretended not to hear him. They moved Richard to a nearby inn and summoned a local doctor to examine his leg.

The doctor, unexpectedly tasked with treating a grand noble he had only heard of in rumors, nervously set Richard’s broken bone and applied a splint. The doctor’s trembling hands caused several errors, failing to align the bone properly on multiple attempts. This amplified Richard’s pain exponentially. Richard, who despised pain, lost consciousness the moment his bone was set correctly.

While Richard spent the day unconscious, the soldiers guarded and tended to him. The moment he regained consciousness, he brushed off their attempts to dissuade him and immediately mounted a horse. His relentless determination radiated heat as it focused singularly in one direction.