I Became the Substitute for the Runaway Heroine - Chapter 56

“…I said I’d give you everything. That includes my heart.”

When Caesar spoke with desperation in his voice, Odette shook her head coldly.

“I don’t need your fickle heart that changes with your moods. Just take everything.”

Her words pierced Caesar’s heart like a sharp blade.

He held his breath for a moment, overwhelmed by the pain threatening to burst his chest, then shouted,

“You should’ve told me from the start!”

You threw around lies about love. Called me beautiful, charming—made me feel elated with those words.

“You won’t get far anyway! No matter where you run, I’ll track you down and catch you! Mark my words, Odette. If I catch you this time, I’ll shackle you for life so you’ll never escape again.”

“Save your threats for after you’ve caught me.”

Odette spread her hands and began to mend the broken barrier.

Caesar struck it with his sword with all his strength.

Just as he barely managed to break it apart, Odette reforged it—layer upon layer, the barrier thickened.

“Odette!”

Caesar cried out in anguish. Seeing him, the corners of Odette’s lips curved slightly upward.

Her face, adorned with a victor’s smile, gleamed more brightly than ever.

“I’ll keep the promise I made to help you with your revenge.”

With the space now completely sealed off, only the narrowest gap remained through which Caesar could see Odette’s eyes.

“…Find a man named Gallerwin. He’s the Countess’s lover. Gallerwin will testify to Count Anderson’s crimes.”

“……”

“I’ll be taking this as a souvenir.”

Odette waved the fist-sized diamond Caesar had given her, then disappeared behind the barrier.

Moments later—Pop!

As the barrier closed, even the faint trace of divine power she emanated vanished, as if completely sealed off.

Caesar swung his sword to tear it apart, but it only cut through empty air.

“Damn it!”

Realizing at last that he couldn’t destroy the barrier with his sword, Caesar turned away.

“…Aden, send a carrier pigeon to the knights stationed at the entrance of the Hoan District. If Odette appears—”

The words caught in his throat and wouldn’t come out.

Odette’s bright smile as she said she didn’t need his heart—the thought of it tore at his chest with unbearable pain, and the humiliation was overwhelming.

“Track down Odette.”

After issuing the command, Caesar bit his lip in agony.

‘She said she liked my body!’

He’d assumed Odette, like every other woman, desired him.

There hadn’t been a single woman who didn’t.

Even during the war, noble ladies and young mistresses flocked to the North just for a glimpse of his face.

Though it was a brief moment of peace after driving away the monsters, no one knew when or where a rift would form and bring them surging down again.

Still, noblewomen craned their necks at the base of the fortress walls, waiting just to see him.

‘And if they were lucky enough to catch a glimpse, they’d cause a commotion and spread rumors.’

They’d gush about the war hero—a living statue of beauty, his black hair flowing as he moved.

Even as the war escalated with the enemy tribes surging back, the gifts and letters never ceased to arrive at the front lines.

And after the long war ended, when he was on his way home?

Lords pushed their daughters into his bedchamber.

Tired of the endless parade, he bypassed the lords’ castles entirely, but village girls would sneak into his camp instead.

It was exhausting. Just a single strand of his hair, a single touch of his hand—people went wild over that.

But Odette abandoned him.

Not just once—several times.

‘I said I’d give her not just my body but my heart…’

“I don’t need your fickle heart. Just take everything.”

Since meeting Odette, all he’d received was rejection. Caesar could feel his pride crumbling to shreds.

He ground out his words in a low voice.

“…If Odette is seen leaving the Hoan District, just follow her from a distance.”

“L-Like in Raon Town last time?”

“This time is different.”

The first time she fled, he had her tailed to find out who her allies were.

But now, he planned to do nothing—at least until she was at death’s door.

Perhaps when she was moments away from being dragged to the sacrificial altar.

Perhaps when the Emperor’s secret knights held a blade to her throat.

Unless Odette begged him for help, pleaded for her life—he wouldn’t lift a finger.

That way, she’ll be forced to kneel and beg.

‘Why do I feel so uneasy?’

Odette paused her steps through the forest and glanced over her shoulder.

She had sealed the barrier herself, so no one should be able to follow them—but the persistent sensation of someone’s gaze prickling at the back of her neck wouldn’t leave her.

Because of that, she couldn’t feel relieved, even though she had deviated from the original storyline.

Jacques and Emma’s faces were also clouded with worry and concern.

‘Jacques betrayed Caesar, after all. Of course he’d feel burdened.’

Jacques had helped the heroine escape even in the original story. He had tried to protect her to the end, which was why Odette chose to trust him.

‘He helped me too when the annex was on fire.’

It was Emma who worried her more than Jacques.

Perhaps because she had never left the Count’s estate for so long, Emma’s face was filled with unease.

But Odette couldn’t leave Emma behind.

‘Who knows what Katarina might do to her.’

Lost in their own thoughts, the three of them walked silently through the forest for quite some time.

The one who finally brought the group to a halt was Jacques, whose legs were the sturdiest among them.

“Milady, would you like to rest here for a moment? I’ll go find a spring.”

As Jacques disappeared down the ravine, Emma quickly approached and whispered,

“Can we really trust him? He’s the Count’s mercenary.”

“He’s a spy.”

“What? W-Whose spy?”

“Caesar Maïs’s.”

“H-He’s Caesar’s spy, and now he’s betraying him to protect you? How can we trust someone like that?”

“In that case, wouldn’t I be the most untrustworthy of all?”

Odette offered a brief summary, both to revisit her own past and explain.

She had been the Count’s false Amelia, then surrendered herself to Caesar, pretending to be his ally.

After that, she escaped from Caesar and returned to the Count, becoming his adopted daughter.

‘Wow, I’m practically a bat—flitting between both sides.’

Summarizing her actions like that, she seemed like someone who had no sense of loyalty.

But it had all been in the name of survival—a desperate attempt to stay alive.

Jacques was no different.

‘The reason Jacques worked as Caesar’s informant was also to survive.’

Unlike Caesar’s retainers who had served his house for generations, Jacques was a commoner with five younger siblings to feed.

In search of money, he had gone to war, and there, Caesar had recruited him as a spy for the Anderson family.

It was safer than risking his life on the battlefield—just deliver information from the rear, and the pay was good. So, he’d agreed readily.

But after getting entangled with Odette and rescuing the maid trapped in the western annex, Jacques seemed to have experienced a profound awakening.

Perhaps he had come to understand the value of a life that prioritized helping others over chasing money.

‘That’s why he offered to help me escape.’

To aid her flight, Jacques had blocked Caesar’s knights who had been standing guard in the corridor.

That’s how they’d come to flee together.

After hearing Odette’s lengthy explanation, Emma seemed to accept Jacques’ presence. She nodded.

“It’s better than just the two of us setting out on a long journey alone. Still, Sir Caesar is the real problem.”

“That’s why I acted so coldly toward him—so he wouldn’t come after me.”

“How can you know so little about men?”

“…What?”

Was she implying that she knew men better?

Odette raised an eyebrow, and Emma let out a deep sigh.

“Sir Caesar is both a knight and a hunter. A rabbit just scratched a predator’s snout and ran off. How do you think he feels?”

“He’ll catch me and skin me alive… He won’t have time for that. I left him with an urgent task.”

She had handed Caesar a mountain of clues—leads he had longed for to exact his revenge.

Surely, he would be too absorbed in that task to focus on anything else for a while.

Besides, even without the Emperor’s illegitimate child or the daughter of the Grand Saintess, Caesar could carry out his vengeance. There was no reason for him to go to great lengths to find her.

‘This feeling… It is relief, right?’

Odette lifted her gaze, trying to ignore the dull ache that throbbed in her chest.

“It’s the perfect weather for an escape!”

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