Before I knew it, the man who had drawn his sword instead of his bow was taking care of the snipers first, then splitting the rear of the assassins.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!”
The man, and the Knights of Aratus behind him, were terrifyingly strong.
They had rendered half the assassins helpless in the first charge, and now they were slashing at their throats in an endless stream.
In that exquisite movement.
Agatha could not take her eyes off Enoch Aratus. The piercing grey glare of his eyes seemed to have struck her like a bolt of lightning.
The strangely bloody gaze that lingered in her mind, the hand clutching his sword, the overwhelming ineffectiveness with which he cut down the assassins.
Only then did Agatha realise.
This man must be the reason her kin had taken such hasty action.
“Are you all right, young lady?”
“……I’m fine.”
Even as she tended to his hastily torn head and calmed the restless imperial knights, Agatha stared at him mesmerised.
Finally, the man who had finished slaying the assassins stepped forward, leading his knights into the dust.
With his hood pulled back and his face fully exposed, the man’s features were unexpectedly battle-hardened, yet beautiful enough to suggest nobility at a glance.
“Are you all right?”
A low, serious voice.
A voice that could be pinpointed in the midst of battle, and a face so sweet.
Agatha couldn’t stop her ears from burning. Her heart was racing in a frenzy.
“…… Marquis Enoch Aratus?”
“Yes. I’m Enoch Aratus.”
He took the back of her hand and kissed it, then removed his cloak and draped it over Agatha’s shoulders.
She could feel the heat from the man’s body as he stepped closer.
“……Thank you for saving my life, Marquis.”
What face am I making now, and is my voice trembling?
Despite her confusion, she was still speaking, but Agatha’s gaze was fixed on him.
“I’ve done what I had to do, and I’d like you to come with me on horseback, in case there’s any left over.”
Enoch deftly greeted the imperial horsemen and took charge of the procession.
Enoch Aratus’s horse was a black steed, one and a half times larger than the one Agatha had ridden.
Agatha sat in front, and Enoch, who rode behind her, took the reins in his arms.
“Lord Basley. Have you brought news of the crown prince?”
A shiver ran down Agatha’s spine at the voice from directly behind her.
“Yes, my lord marquis. He will probably be coming this way.”
“Then we’ll meet up and pick a route. Let’s go.”
Dag-dag, dag-dag.
The pace of the march was surprisingly slow, and Agatha winced as she felt the throbbing pain from the slow movement of her horse.
She hadn’t thought anything of it when she fell off.
As she relaxed, the aftermath slowly came over her.
The hand that held the reins reached up and pulled the cloak open a little more.
“Here we go.”
It was a gentle touch, uncharacteristic of the man who had wielded his sword so mercilessly just moments before.
It wasn’t long before Agatha ran into the crown prince’s entourage, who had come running with the news.
“Agatha!”
The crown prince, Anthony Roxiba, was pale even from a distance. The imperial knights who accompanied him formed a thicker escort and stood guard around him.
“Your Majesty.”
“There’s blood……!”
Anthony’s gaze darted to her bloodstained hair and face, her body covered in dirt and raw flesh. Red-faced, Anthony sputtered.
“How dare they attack a noble under the protection of my knights, are they truly insane?”
“Your Majesty, you must attend to your lordship first, and I will order transport arrangements shortly.”
The crown prince’s aide hastily left the couch and brought in the councilor.
Enoch and the imperial knights helped Agatha down from her horse, and she was tentatively examined by the doctor.
Anthony, who had followed, stiffened.
“How is she?”
“The tear has been stitched up. It’s not life-threatening, but she has a few bruises all over her body. I’m guessing she’ll need to rest for at least two weeks.”
“At least it’s not too bad, Agatha.”
By this time, Agatha had lost so much blood that she was dishevelled.
A makeshift bedroll was hastily laid out on the wagon the servants were riding in.
When she was ready and barely able to lie down, Agatha slowly glanced through the window at Enoch, who was being praised by Anthony, who had relayed the situation to the imperial knights.
By the time the escort had reformed and was ready to leave.
Agatha opened her dry lips.
“……Marquis.”
Her voice was as thin as the wind as she began to fever. But the man who had caught her voice with ease drove his horse closer.
“Yes, my dear.”
“……I apologise for not being able to keep my appointment at short notice, but I will send another invitation to the Marquis when the fever is down, and will you come to see me?”
When I wake up, there will be a lot going on.
Perhaps there was something more serious going on than the escort could possibly know, but Agatha knew she wanted to meet this man.
To repay him, and even if things turned out to be fortuitous and she could afford an escort.
It would be nice to be able to see this man again. A small smile tugged at the corners of Enoch’s mouth as he glanced at Agatha.
“Is that what you’re worried about in the middle of all this?”
……I thought I heard something like that.
With the fever, I wasn’t sure if I heard it right.
“Get some rest, young lady. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”
Having gotten the words she wanted, Agatha closed her eyes, and soon the carriage rattled off.
* * *
A feverish Agatha was carried back to the palace.
The crown prince, Anthony Roxiba, was entering the emperor’s office with Enoch Aratus.
The Emperor, who was watching the proceedings with his ministers and some of his deputies, was furious as soon as he heard the news.
A bang!
“A raid! Where is Agatha? What has become of her?”
The Emperor didn’t care that his chair tipped backwards.
While he had taken advantage of Nobilis’s situation to his own advantage, it was the Emperor who would be most troubled by Agatha’s death.
All that wealth and land would go to another country!
“Hold fast, father. Lady Agatha is here, safely rescued by Marquis Enoch Aratus. She is slightly injured, but not life-threatening.”
“Oh, Marquis Aratus, great is your merit!”
The Emperor, who immediately praised Enoch, was soon seething with anger.
No one would dare to fight in a noble house, much less on the Emperor’s watch, and it was a major raid on an imperial hunting ground.
Worse, it had happened in broad daylight, while Agatha was under the protection of the Imperial Knights.
“How can these men be so insane as to commit such heinous acts in your capital, where you have been so merciful to them?”
“Your Majesty, you must make an example of them by rooting them out at once!”
“The Minister of the Interior is right, Your Majesty; how dare they attack a lady in broad daylight, and that too under the protection of the Imperial Knights? I demand that you hunt down the raiders and their masterminds at once, and bring them all to justice!”
“The Minister of Military Affairs, immediately!”
The emperor immediately summoned the captain of the guard, the head of the army, and the head of intelligence to hunt down the beasts and their masterminds.
It was a declaration of intent that this time he would not get away with it.
The emperor, who had given Agatha a palace in the crown prince’s palace to recuperate in, and assigned her a number of imperial councillors and healers, spoke wistfully.
“This is why I did not welcome the divorce,” he lamented, “my goddaughter, who does not recognise Jim’s heart.”
The crown prince, Anthony’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he heard the words; he, the ministers, and even Enoch, who had just returned to the capital, knew what the next emperor meant.
“‘Princess, Agatha says she has no intention of marrying yet?”
Father. It’s only been two months since her divorce. It would be hard for her to find a suitable man in that time.”
“Only two months? It’s been two months. Look at her today.Would this have easily happened if Agatha had married earlier? “You wouldn’t have imagined that Agatha would attack them so openly that she might use her husband to raise an army!
The emperor had a point. And it was no more than a declaration that the emperor was going to begin his search for a suitable husband again.
“We must find someone who will be a good match for Agatha.
“Father. Will Agatha not choose her own mate when the time comes?”
“The situation is urgent, and Agatha is ill. She needs help, and Jim is her godfather.”
“…….”
At the side of the crown prince, Anthony Roxiba, whose face had begun to rot in public.
