I became aware of three things at the same time.

One, a gentle breeze was blowing, alleviating the suffocation of a reduced space and bringing the smell of humid earth and putrid leaves common of the forests directly to my nose.

Two, I could hear the sound of night insects, including crickets and cicadas that stayed up late to play their songs.

And three, the place I was laying on was no longer a hard and cold corpse, but soft and pliable earth that although still cold, was much more agreeable to my rattled senses than the body of the deceased viscountess.

In other words, I was no longer inside the coffin.

I opened my eyes, the first sight greeting me being that of overgrown vegetation and trees covered in moss. I blinked, once, twice, making sure I wasn’t seeing things, but my other senses told me it was real. I was outside, in the forest, no longer inside the castle, inside that coffin waiting for my life to reach its end.

My breath caught in my throat.

I was free. I was free. I was free!

After so much planning, so much anxiousness and waiting, I was finally here, outside the castle, away from that evil viscount and his evil plans to revive his wife.

I was going to live!

With a big smile on my face, I stood up, taking in my surroundings. The tall wall of the castle was behind my back, with the forest extending beyond my vision. The full moon gave enough light for me to see. Everything was coated in a silvery light that made the whole ambiance ethereal.

Without realizing, I felt tears escaping my eyes. I quickly dried them with the back of my hand and took another deep breath of the forest air.

It was so nice to be free.

Now what?

“I need to get away from here” I murmured to myself, taking another look at the castle wall before finally taking my first steps towards the forest. Whatever I did, it was most important to get as much distance between me and the castle first. Everything else could come after that.

Without a destination in mind, I walked decisively forward. Anywhere would do, as long as it was far away. As I did that, my eyes travelled from tree to tree, from shadow to shadow, attentive to any sign of movement.

Part of me was still in disbelief. As expected, I could not truly believe the plan was a success. Not taking into account… I looked back, to the castle once again, and bit my lips in worry. Lucas was still there. Tomorrow there was still a full moon, Adela told me. I was going to be safe, sure, but what about him? Would his father truly sacrifice him? But… surely Mathias would protect his brother. Right now, he finally had the chance to do what he was supposed to all this time. Protect his brother without having anyone else pay for it. I was sure he would do anything to save Lucas.

This was why I had to quickly leave. He would find out soon enough what happened, and he would come. I needed to leave the premises immediately.

Then why was I hesitating so much?

“Stop it, Elaine. You can barely help yourself…” it took so much effort to finally escape. I worried about Lucas, sure, but I didn’t have an overprotective brother to protect me, unlike him. And Adela was still there, too. Surely, surely they would find a way…

I shook my head, prompting myself to just walk. With uncertain steps, I kept going forward. Meter by meter, I was finally leaving behind everything. The uncertainty, the suffering, the anxiousness. If I just kept walking…

I halted, suddenly remembering something important.

“The heroes!”

Of course! They were on their way to the castle, probably not very far away from here. I knew the route they were taking, and I also knew they would arrive somewhere around midnight, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after. So, if I went in that direction and brought them over faster, Lucas could be saved!

…It was a half-cooked plan at best, but then again, the replacement plan was also thought of less than twenty-four hours ago. What’s to say mine can’t work as well?

That’s considering my escape plan worked at all.

When I was running in the other direction, getting closer to the path leading to the main route, I saw something strange standing a few meters ahead of me. For a moment I thought it was a wild animal, but my guess was shattered the closer I got.

There was a shadow waiting for me under the trees. I couldn’t see his face clearly, but even without that, I knew in my heart who he was. I slowed down, until my steps completely halted.

Mathias was breathing heavily, obviously having come running all the way from inside the castle. How he found out my exact location when the perimeter of the wall was so vast and I could literally be anywhere was anybody’s guess, but the thing was, he found me.

He found me, and now things would get unnecessarily complicated. Again.