The Maid With a Child

9. I’ll Die Either Way.

 

“?”

Even though she was as pale as a blank sheet of paper, Adelen harbored doubts. By this time her head could have been cut thirteen times already.

However, the stranger did not move his sword any further. Instead, he asked a question.

“Do you know me?”

It was an absurd question that did not fit the situation.

Adelen could not speak because of the blade in front of her neck, so she just shook her head.

Then the stranger asked another question.

“Is it possible that your parents are from an foreign country?”

“?”

This was a scene in an assassination attempt, not a parents’ meeting.

The stranger did not seem to have any intention of killing her right away. Instead, he asked for personal information as if they were acquaintances.

There was no way she was someone the stranger knew, but this situation was an opportunity.

“P-please spare me…I’m just a maid who doesn’t know anything.”

Adelen pleaded with a trembling voice resembling a goat’s cry.

Unexpectedly, her plea worked. The villain narrowed his eyes and looked at Adelen, then slightly moved the tip of his sword away.

“I have no intention of killing useless people. So just hand over the baby quietly.”

As expected, that was his main objective.

Adelen bit her lips.

She never thought what she was afraid of would happen this quickly.

Was it possible that the maids’ ancestor spirit was watching and testing her from somewhere? To see how outstanding her qualities as a maid are?

If she said, “Yes, please spare my life!” and handed over the baby, she will die as a great maid. And if she said, “I can’t do that because it’s the master’s order!” and resisted, she would die as a human being. ¹A maid wants to survive and follows whatever grantee that while a human would be compassionate about a child this small.

However, even if she handed over the baby and survived right now, wouldn’t she eventually die by the master’s hand?

Even if he didn’t kill her, she would be executed for disobeying the king’s orders.

Adelen held the baby tighter and resisted.

Seeing this, the villain’s eyes narrowed even more.

“Do you know who this child is to resist like that?”

“I, I know.”

“You know?”

“I, I know, so I can’t hand him over. Either way, if I hand him over or not, I will still die.”

And even if did as he said, the villain could kill her to keep her mouth shut.

Come to think of it, all the choices ended in death, death and death.

Feeling her life was hanging by a thread, she almost laughed at her own strange situation.

It seemed that she had gained courage after experiencing things like this often. Or maybe she had just lost her mind.

“That’s true. Then, I’ll make a different suggestion. Why don’t you just come over to Morn with me?”

In the midst of all this, the villain strangely seemed convinced by those words and made a new suggestion.

What on earth was this weirdo doing?

But it wasn’t something she could just overlook.

“If I refuse, will I die?”

“If you leave with me right now along with the child, I’ll let you settle down wherever you want. Even if it’s not Morn.”

“…!”

She wavered, greatly.

Either way, it’s the same whether she lived here or there. She had no family or connections in Teplan. So, it was possible for her to take this opportunity and live quietly in hiding somewhere.

“Decisions should be made quickly.”

The strange man who noticed Adelen’s hesitation urged.

“I, I…”

But, would the master really forget about me?

If I ran away like this, it would be like throwing Sigelion’s honor into the trash can.

Would he really forgive me for that?

If it were the master, he would definitely search everywhere to find me, even if he had to go to the ends of the earth.

Just thinking about his cold eyes made me certain.

He was a mad dog that wouldn’t let go once it bit. The Emperor’s blood-stained sword.

That nickname suited him perfectly, so he would definitely kill me with his own hands.

“T-that’s…”

Adelen’s conclusion was set in the end. If she was going to die one way or another, she needed to find a way to die as late as possible.

“Please save me, master!”

There was only one chance.

She now needed to fall down to avoid the villain’s blade that was approaching her little by little.

Adelen screamed with all her might and threw herself to the floor.

Clang!

“?!”

A different sound from what she imagined rang out.

Originally, she had planned to avoid the sword that was following her, roll around the floor two and a half times in style, approach the hallway wall, and then crawl away from the villain like a cockroach…

Of course, since it was a plan in her imagination, the possibility of it being realized was significantly low, but she did it, hoping that her survival instinct would work a miracle.

However, the villain’s sword was blocked by another sword that had flown in from somewhere.

“…Master?!”

And surprisingly, the master really appeared as if responding to the call.

How could he appear at such a perfect time, as if he had been waiting for it?

At the miraculous moment of his appearance, the master passed by Adelen, who was sitting with her eyes wide open, and left some cold words.

“I saw you waver and almost agree to his offer.”

“…”

I’m dead now.

I should’ve just refused from the beginning.

As expected, being greedy leads to punishment.

The master took out another sword instead of the one he had thrown away. At the same time, knights swarmed in from all directions.

“?!”

Adelen became a stone pillar.

Were all these people watching her just now? If she said or did anything wrong, she could’ve really been shot by an arrow and died.

“You do have some courage. I didn’t expect you to come here on your own.”

Rakalt spoke to the stranger.

The stranger didn’t show any fear even when he was completely surrounded.

“General Rakalt is walking around just fine. I thought you were so badly injured that you’d be lying down for a while.”

“I can move enough to cut off your neck, General Kias.”

If the situation had been different, it would’ve sounded like a conversation between old friends.

“It’s a shame that I’ll only get to see our face after my head falls off.”

“The sightseeing will come later.”

The conversation between the two didn’t last long as Rakalt signaled to the knights.

Immediately, all kinds of arrows, spears, and nets flew toward the villain.

Clang! Bang!

However, the villain did not stay still.

I thought he was alone, but from somewhere, a crowd of similarly masked villains came rushing in.

“!”

Rakalt’s eyebrows twitched. He had clearly thought that some assassins would be hiding, but there were more than he expected.

In an instant, a melee that was almost a brawl broke out.

“Aaah!”

Even as they indiscriminately attacked each other, the villains did not forget to target Adelen.

Adelen screamed in shock at the dagger that flew past her hair. There was nowhere to run since they were fighting each other on all sides.

All she could do was lie face down on the floor, hold the baby tightly, and pray for her master.

Currently, her fate depends heavily on her master.

The effect of the prayer soon appeared.

“Chase them!”

The villains fled the moment they saw an opening, perhaps because their goal was to take the baby away.

The knights ran after them at Rakalt’s command.

The heavy footsteps grew distant.

“Sob…Please save me…”

However, Adelen, who was scared and crying, couldn’t tell what was going on.

“I’ll think about whether or not to save you now.”

“!”

At that moment, the master’s voice fell like an ice block.

Thanks to that, Adelen, who came to her senses, raised her head.

She swallowed hard at the sight before her eyes.

Blood was spurted out here and there, as if to prove that a fierce battle had taken place.

“Uuh…!”

The blood drained from Adelen’s face.

She turned her head and met the master’s cold eyes looking down at her, holding a sword dripping with blood.

The intensity in his eyes seemed to say, ‘will you be next, or not?’

“Master, I was wrong! Please spare my life!”

Adelen grabbed Rakalt’s trouser leg and sobbed.

“…ha.”

Rakalt was almost betrayed, but he was contemplating whether to kill or spare the traitor. However, no matter how cold-hearted he was, he could not choose to kill a civilian, a maid belonging to his family and a weak woman’s plea.

“Get up. Don’t you think we should negotiate again?”

Rakalt spoke coldly to Adelen. At the same time, he shook his legs to free himself from her clinging body.

“Ah, y-yes…”

Adelen, whose life was saved, tried to get up before her master changed his mind.

“?”

However, something strange happened.