Severed tentacles flew out in all directions, spraying bright blue blood all around. The monster that was suddenly attacked screamed and ran wild.
“Dame Elaine! Protect Miss Lakers.”
A man with black hair passed Yulina and ran straight toward the monster. Next, an answer was heard, and a silver-haired woman appeared in front of Yulina.
Yulina’s eyes widened when she saw the woman.
“You’re…!”
She recognized the face, it was the woman who’d stopped her from taking her own life in her room.
“It’s not safe for you to be here, you need to stay back.”
Elaine said, moving quickly toward Yulina.
It was a bright moonlit night. She looked at Yulina, scratched and bruised, and stretched out her arms. She wanted to take her to safety, away from the fight.
“Let go!”
Yulina shook her hand away.
“If you plan on interfering again, don’t. Stop meddling!”
“I can’t do that. We came all the way here to find you.”
“If you’ve seen me, then you know I have no desire to live anymore!”
Yulina was not easily deterred, and even as they spoke, Ash was battling the demon that had gone berserk.
Dozens of tentacles flew toward him. Tentacles that were sharp enough to cut clean through the body. There were countless sharp teeth in the wide-open mouth. If bitten, he would turn into a monster, becoming one of them.
Ash parried the rain of tentacles with ease. It would have been a difficult opponent for a normal master to face in a one on one fight, but he seemed to have no difficulty.
In the meantime, Elaine tried again to persuaded Yulina.
“I understand how you feel, but this is still not the right thing to do. The Margrave and everyone else are looking for you.”
“How do you know what’s in my heart? Don’t pretend when you don’t know anything. I don’t care whether I die or not!”
“But-”
“Please, please leave me alone! If I don’t have Cesar, I’d rather die-”
“Enough!”
Elaine gritted her teeth and gripped Yulina’s shoulders hard.
“You’d rather be dead? Who are you doing this for? Do you think he’d be happy to see you like this?”
Elaine knew these eyes. Eyes that wavered with emptiness and self-pity, the eyes of a woman who’d lost her reason for living. She knows them because she was like that when she lost Bella. She knows them because she is so much like her, and that makes her all the angrier.
“Your lover didn’t die for nothing. He gave up his life to save you. Yours is a life that was saved, who are you to throw it away?”
She understood that feeling more deeply than anyone else. She can’t forget the person who died because of her, every day feels like she’s walking through hell, she can’t escape the suffocating guilt, and every moment is so painful that she just wants to die. And yet, to say this…
“You have a responsibility to live, because that’s why he protected you.”
That’s why she couldn’t die either. In fact, this may be far-fetched and unfair. Just because she had suffered similarly did not give her the right to force this way of life on others. But at least…
“You still have one person.”
Yulina’s father, who protected her, who bloodied his hands for her. He was the one who put her first even though he knew he would be resented.
Elaine’s eyes distorted.
“Don’t abandon the person you have left. Don’t let your sadness bring despair to that person.”
Yulina’s eyes shook greatly. Her strong resistance stopped, lips quivering.
“You…”
But before she could finish her words, at that moment, Elain moved and pulled Yulina towards her.
Kwaang-!
Countless black tentacles rose from their feet. Elain picked up Yulina and quickly jumped back. A large hole opened in the ground where they’d been standing just a moment ago. Almost simultaneously, tentacles sprouted from the other side.
Elaine jumped up and blocked the tentacles with the arm that wasn’t holding Yulina.
Were there two more? If she really thought about it, there was no guarantee that there would be only one monster. She cut down the tentacles flying from both sides of her with quick movements. Even while holding another person, she didn’t allow a single attack through her defense.
But a violent shaking caused the item to slip from Yulina’s hand.
“…!”
As soon as Elaine saw it, she recognized it as a magic tool. A faintly sparkling magic circle was visible. She didn’t know what kind of magic it was, but seeing as Yulina had brought it here, it was clear that it was dangerous.
As if to prove it, Yulina quickly stretched out her arms towards the falling magic tool. At that moment, a tentacle that she could not block flew toward Yulina’s arm. It was too late to avoid it. Finally, through gritted teeth, Elaine grabbed the magic tool from midair and wrapped her arms around Yulina.
The sharp tip of the tentacle sliced into Elaine’s forearm. Droplets of red blood spurted out. Ash’s eyes widened when he saw this while dealing with another monster. She got out of the monster’s range, put down Yulina, and adjusted her sword. And then she jumped forward, moving before the monster got close to them.
Her momentum changed from defensive to offensive. She dodged the tentacles shooting out from her left and rushed at the monster on her right. Pure white mana swirled around the blade.
She cut off the tentacles rushing at her feet, stepped on its upper limbs, and ran once more. In an instant, Elaine jumped right in front of the monster and swung her sword effortlessly. With tentacles flying, the monster’s body was split in half.
With a thud, the monster fell down and at the same time the tentacles from the remaining monster flew out from behind. She turned around and was about to swing her sword.
Kieeeeek-!
The monster’s head split open and collapsed.
“Your Grace.”
It was Ash who stood over the corpse. Blood still dripped from his sword as he had just defeated his opponent. Nervously running a hand through his hair, he stepped over the corpse and quickly approached.
“My lord, are you all right?”
His gaze landed on her forearm, where the tentacles had scratched. He frowned at the blood running down her arm.
“Oh, I…”
Elaine was about to reply that it was okay out of habit, but suddenly froze. Because really, she was fine. The burning sensation from her wound just moments ago had disappeared as if it had been washed away. She no longer felt pain.
She unconsciously grabbed the injured area. Smooth skin could be felt through her torn clothes. The wound had completely disappeared. This was something that couldn’t happen to an ordinary human. The color disappeared from her face.
“Fine… It’s okay. It’s no big deal.”
“But just looking at it, the bleeding is significant. We need to stop the bleeding.”
He was so focused on his wounds that he didn’t notice the change in her demeanor. He frowned at her as he walked closer, reaching out for her hand.
“Let me take a look at it, please-”
Her face went white as his hand, suddenly so close, tried to touch the wound.
Slap.
A reflexive jerk of her hand flung his approaching hand away, causing her to stagger and hastily take a step back.
She could never, ever show him. The moment he saw it, she would be found out. Humans do not heal that quickly, even from a small scratch. What’s more, seeing a wound that shed this much blood disappear within a few minutes, he will discover that she is not human, that she is a witch. When he finds out, he will hate her for it. He’d think she was a monster.
Just like people did to Bella. There was no guarantee that Ash would be different from them. This may be even more true as he has suffered for a long time because of his mother.
She stuttered and spewed out gibberish.
“I-I can do it.”
“…”
He stiffened and looked at the hand she pulled away, then clenched his hands tight at his side. Suddenly, something seemed to well up inside him. Even though she approached him first, she always pushed him away saying she doesn’t need anything, she does everything as she pleases and wouldn’t even allow him to do this much?
More than that, he was annoyed at how she was so sensitive to his wounds and yet indifferent to her own.
“What the hell are you…!”
He frowned and looked up, his words trailing off as he saw her pale face. The emotion clearly displayed on her face was fear.
Why, what was she afraid of? There was also panic. He’d never seen her behave this way before. He’d never seen her this scared before.
Why? That was all he could think about. Was it because he was trying to tend to the wound? He bit the flesh in his mouth impatiently, unable to comprehend her response.
“Your Grace!”
It was then that they heard someone’s voice behind them. The Margrave was leading his knights and running through the brush.
After discovering Yulina’s shoes at the entrance to the garden, Ash had a servant notify the Margrave, and Ash and Elaine came here ahead of them, following Yulina’s traces.
“Yulina…!”
The Margrave paused for a moment, surprised to see the corpses of the fallen monsters, but then he rushed over, asking urgent questions. The air between the two, where time seemed to have stopped, began to move again. Ash slowly turned his head towards the Margrave, and Elaine slowly came to her senses again.
Meanwhile, the Margrave arrived in front of them. She moved her parched lips, avoiding Ash’s gaze.
“…The young Lady is safe. She’s over there.”
When she returned to the place where she had left Yulina, the Lady had already lost consciousness. The hem of her dress was torn and she had many cuts, but her life was not in any danger. After confirming that she was safe, the Margrave finally wiped his face with a deep sigh.
They returned to the Margrave’s residence, taking Yulina with them. And just like that, the midnight commotion came to an end.
It wasn’t until noon the next day when Yulina Lakers opened her eyes again.
