Boom, boom, boom! Amidst the deafening blasts, Ignis held my head tightly against him. Even as the world seemed to collapse around us, I knew. I knew that at that moment, he was protecting me. Thanks to that, I was still alive.
“Gasp, gasp, gasp.”
How long did the world shake? Ignis’s wildly beating heart throbbed against me as if it would burst. I realized for a moment, just a brief moment, that I had fainted.
“Damn it… really like a dog.”
Coughing, Ignis spat out a dry cough and slowly let me go. Only then did I see.
We were now deep in the forest, with the half-destroyed carriage, the horses gone somewhere, and then…
“Hey. You, stay here…”
As Ignis got up and moved to the side, bullets flew towards him from somewhere. Even amidst the chaos, I could tell. This gunfire was aimed solely at Ignis. Not a single bullet, truly not a single one, was aimed at me.
“Wow, hey. Danae, did you see that? I almost died.” Hiding behind a tree trunk, Ignis suddenly burst into laughter.
Bang, bang, bang! Bullets aimed at him embedded themselves into the tree.
“Hey! Danae Windsor!” Ignis shouted out loud, his voice tinged with laughter. “Raios Geranze is indeed a madman!”
Yes, that’s right. I think so too.
Instead of responding, I got up. Surprisingly, I was almost unscathed.
Was this because of the attacker’s calculation? Or was it because of Ignis’s consideration? Probably both.
That’s why I was so certain about what I needed to do now.
“―!”
I moved forward. Stepping over the debris of the carriage, I walked towards Ignis. Avoiding the bullets pouring down like rain, barely hiding behind the trees, I walked straight to him without hesitation.
“Hey, Danae!” Then Ignis screamed in horror. “Don’t come here, it’s dangerous! Are you crazy?!”
What’s with this guy? Is he really unexpectedly naive?
“Hey! You’re gonna get shot, you idiot! Hey!”
Bang, bang. Bang bang bang, bang bang.
With every step closer to Ignis, I could feel it clearly. The bullets that had been pouring down like mad were slowly, gradually thinning out like raindrops. And then they subsided.
Everything was so absurd that I smiled broadly at Ignis and kept walking, meeting Ignis’s wide-open, convulsing eyes. I staggered and stood right in front of Ignis. And then…
It quieted down. The bullets that had been pouring down like a torrential rain stopped. Not a single shot was fired.
The wonder of it all made me shiver. It felt as if thousands of arrows had missed me alone. A sensation as if I had become the protagonist of a myth.
The meaning behind the abruptly halted rain of bullets was clear. Finding it hilarious, I laughed without hesitation.
* * *
When was the first time I met Raios?
“What are you staring at?”
It was when I was seventeen. Just two months after coming to this world. When everything was new and strange.
Raios and I met for the first time at the imperial banquet. It was during Emperor Yustio’s coronation ceremony.
At that time, everything was so unfamiliar and difficult for me that I sneaked away during the ceremony. And then, I got lost in the vast maze of the imperial palace. There, I saw a boy crying.
“What are you staring at?”
Drip, drip. Tears streamed down the boy’s sculpted cheeks.
“If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”
“…”
“Answer me. If you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”
His black eyes blazed with anger, resentment, and sorrow. He threatened me as he wiped his wet eyes.
“If you tell anyone—”
Stubbornness with fierce pride shone in his eyes.
“I won’t tell anyone,” I answered as if enchanted.
It would be strange to say it was love at first sight at that moment.
Raios often visited me after that. He frequently checked to see if I was revealing his secret.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“I didn’t.”
“Really? Can you swear?”
“Yes. I can swear.”
“Good. I’ll trust you. But remember, if you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”
“…”
To that boy, that secret was extremely important. The fact that he had secretly cried during the emperor’s coronation ceremony.
“I’m the man who will become an emperor. Tears don’t suit me.”
Though the words were funny, the boy seemed serious.
“So if you tell anyone I cried, I’ll kill you.”
“I won’t tell.”
“No, just forget about it altogether.”
It was later that I found out why the boy had cried.
Originally, the person who should have been crowned emperor that day was Raios Geranze. But suddenly, an oracle came down, and the throne was taken away by his uncle. Even worse, his uncle didn’t even want the throne. The pride of a boy who had longed for the throne all his life, only to have it taken by someone who didn’t want it, was withered like a dry bone.
Perhaps that’s why. Three years ago, in front of the dimensional gate, when Raios cried and held onto me, I might have already known. That I couldn’t go anywhere, leaving behind the man who could only cry in front of me.
I should have just left everything behind and gone.
* * *
“Milady! Are you alright?!”
Returning to the mansion, the servants were in turmoil.
“Milady! Are you really alright?!”
“I’m fine.”
In truth, I was quite alright. My hair was a mess, and my clothes were torn, but I was barely injured. However, the problem was Ignis.
However, the problem was Ignis.
“Ah, damn it. My arm’s broken.”
Having protected me during the carriage accident, one of Ignis’s arms was shattered.
“Take responsibility. Marry me as compensation.”
I ignored that statement.
I was only slightly scratched.
Viego Windsor showed a very angry reaction externally. He was the epitome of an ideal older brother.
“Who did this?”
And then, in front of me, he asked calmly.
“Who do you think did this?”
Wow. Look at that expressionless face. I couldn’t help but laugh, astonished by Viego’s unchanged expression, to the point where it was almost fascinating.
A hamster getting hurt would have startled him more than this. But I decided not to care much about it.
I spoke calmly. “I’m not sure.”
“Not sure?” Viego lifted the end of his sentence. “Why do you answer like that?”
“Pardon?”
“Your answer differs from Ignis de Windsor’s.”
“…”
“Before the carriage accident, Crown Prince Raios gave a warning, right? Is that true?”
I looked blankly at Viego. Come to think of it, I noticed one thing that was different. His usually perfectly combed hair had three, no, five strands out of place above his forehead.
“What did Lord Ignis say about who did it?”
“You know that as well, don’t you?”
Viego’s voice was colder than ever before. That much was clear.
Ah, is he angry with me?
“You…”
At that moment, crack. The cane Viego was gripping tightly split. I was surprised, but Viego seemed unaware of it.
“Even now, you still defend the crown prince?”
Was it because of the splinters from the cane? Blood flowed down the cane from his clenched hand. That must hurt.
“It’s not like that.”
I cautiously reached out his large, fair hand with prominent veins. The moment my fingers touched it, Viego roughly shook me off. And then retreated rapidly, so fast it could only be described as such.
One step, two steps, three steps, four steps. Hesitating for a moment, he ultimately took one more step away.
Hi, now you can purchase 5 advance chapters in here.
