At the time when Roland had left the royal palace, Nadia was growing anxious about Martina’s absence, as she couldn’t find her anywhere.
――Is it possible that she’s nowhere to be found, despite all my searching? It’s getting late… something’s definitely wrong.
With that thought, Nadia decided to seek help and headed back to the venue where the meeting had taken place. There, she ran into Sylvan, who had just finished tidying up and was locking the doors.
“Sylvan, I still can’t find Martina. I’ve searched everywhere I could think of.”
“Is that true? Roland went searching a little while ago as well…”
“Did he? Even so, Martina’s nowhere to be found. Maybe Roland expanded his search beyond the usual places… Sylvan, do you think something might have happened to her?”
The moment Nadia murmured those words, a memory suddenly surfaced in her mind. She recalled something that happened just before Martina disappeared—a representative from the Kingdom of Ghazal wandering around the palace.
“That person… they were acting a bit restless, weren’t they?”
“What are you talking about?”
Sylvan asked with a puzzled expression, as Nadia’s remark seemed to come out of nowhere. Nadia, her face pale with a terrible realization, began to speak.
“Actually—”
After explaining her suspicions about the man from the Kingdom of Ghazal, Sylvan’s expression grew even more serious.
“Nadia, we need to head to the guest quarters assigned to the Ghazal delegation right away. It’s possible… Martina might have been abducted.”
Nadia gasped at Sylvan’s words, unable to hide her shock. She nodded hastily and turned to leave the venue, but Sylvan grabbed her hand to stop her.
“I’ll go with you. Returning the key can wait.”
“…Thank you. I appreciate it.”
Aware of her own distress, Nadia gratefully accepted Sylvan’s offer. The two of them headed toward the guest quarters assigned to the Ghazal delegation.
Knocking on the door under the pretext of an urgent matter, they waited, but there was no response.
“Apologies for the sudden visit. I am Sylvan, an official of the Kingdom of Luxaria in charge of this meeting. Could you please open the door?”
Despite knocking and calling out, there was still no answer. The two decided to ask a nearby knight on guard duty about the whereabouts of the Ghazal representatives.
“Excuse me, do you know where the Ghazal delegation might be?”
“I believe they said they were going for a walk a little while ago… They haven’t returned yet.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Nadia and Sylvan exchanged glances and headed to the courtyard, where foreign delegates were allowed free access. However, the representatives from Ghazal were nowhere to be found there either.
They searched every other possible location but found no trace of the delegation. Furthermore, no one else from other countries had seen them, either.
“Nadia, we need to borrow a spare key and check the guest room. If they’re unresponsive and missing, they might have fallen ill inside. We should be able to get permission to enter.”
“…You’re right. I’ll go get it.”
“All right. I’ll search the courtyard one more time and meet you back at the guest room.”
The two temporarily split up and regrouped at the guest room about ten minutes later.
“The courtyard…”
“They weren’t there. Did you get the spare key?”
“Yes, I have it.”
“…All right, let’s go in.”
Sylvan took the key, and with tense expressions, they unlocked the door and opened it. Inside—they found no one.
“Excuse us. Is anyone here?”
Nadia’s call received no reply. They checked the bathroom, the bedroom, the servant’s quarters, and every other area, but there were no signs of life anywhere.
“…No one’s here.”
“Yeah. This is definitely strange. Whether or not the Ghazal delegation is involved with Martina’s disappearance, something is happening.”
“But we can’t jump to conclusions that the Ghazal delegation kidnapped Martina, can we?”
Nadia, now slightly calmer, murmured, and Sylvan nodded slowly.
“That’s right. It’s possible they were caught up in the same incident as Martina. There’s even a slim chance—though we know it’s impossible—that Martina kidnapped them instead.”
“For now… we need to confirm if anyone else is missing.”
“Agreed. If they’re still in the palace, it would have to be somewhere with little foot traffic.”
After discussing the situation, the two decided that the matter was beyond their capabilities and resolved to report it as an emergency to their superiors.
“We should head to the administrative office. The department head should still be there. They can escalate this to the minister of the interior and the chancellor immediately.”
“Got it.”
Praying for Martina’s safety, the two hurriedly made their way to the administrative office.
