John was still smiling like a mask. He couldn’t feel the slightest bit of agitation on his face. Leandro narrowed his eyes slightly.
‘Did he already know this?’
That couldn’t be possible.
‘I also found out by chance while researching the Marquis of Felsis.’
Even if Duke Blanchett had reached out to the entire empire, there was no way he could find out this secret.
“Well, I can roughly understand what you’re saying.”
John nodded his head indifferently.
“So what do you want to say?”
“I’m the only one who can help Estelle right now.”
“You have great confidence, don’t you?”
“I’m just stating the truth. As an outsider, there is nothing you can do.”
An outcast.
John’s eyes became sharp.
“It wasn’t confidence, it was foolishness. There is a limit to seeing foolish things.”
Leandro clenched his fists and tensed at the sudden change in momentum. John leisurely took a step toward Leandro and warned him.
“What is my wife’s fate that you have figured out?”
“That…”
Leandro swallowed his saliva.
[This is a document handed down to the later Felsis family head.]
The head of the family’s storage room hidden underground. There was a strange record there. It was a record written by Leandro’s father.
[I found the sacrifice. Fortunately, the sacrifice appears to have no memory whatsoever. The curse seems to have worked particularly well.]
[To make processing easier, the Libertan Duke family decided to adopt the sacrifice.]
[The protection provided by the sacrifice is greater than expected. It seems that the soul is not hurt by ordinary means.]
Instinctively, Leandro realized that the sacrifice meant Estelle.
[The situation has changed. For the honor of Marquis Felsis, I decided to quickly organize everything.]
[Currently, we are looking for an opportunity to end our relationship with the Libertan Dukes. There must be a reason that everyone can understand.]
Leandro wanted to find out more about the curse or the truth mentioned in the records. But he couldn’t find any further records. Of course, there was something that could be confirmed with these records.
‘The Marquis of Felsis joined hands with the Libertan Duke and made Estelle a sacrifice.’
Leandro, who had lived his entire life as a knight, was ignorant of curses and sacrifices. But he knew it was a terrible act.
‘I criticized her for being a wicked woman…’
He felt like he was stepping into a truth that was difficult to handle. But Leandro was determined to save Estelle and atone for her. So he shouldn’t have avoided it like he did in the past.
“I can’t tell you that. It’s just that the wound is so big that it’s hard for you to imagine.”
“That’s fun.”
John’s energy swirled like a storm.
“Did you think I would get away with saying something like that? If the Marquis of Felsis joined hands with the Libertan Duke and did something ugly…”
It was then. A tingling and electric shock rose from the bracelet he was wearing under his black suit.
-John! John!
Estelle was calling him urgently.
* * *
Prince Carlos shouted, drawing his sword.
“Save the Duchess from the raiders!”
Several knights rode behind the crown prince on horseback. The raiders became very nervous due to the unexpected appearance of reinforcements.
“Shit! Reinforcements are already arriving!”
“Anyway, this plan is…”
One of the attackers shouted solemnly.
“Don’t panic even if the number of opponents increases! There is no need to struggle to win the battle. Our goal is to kidnap the target!”
But Carlos had already arrived near her.
Carlos’s sword, which accelerated as he rode his horse, clashed violently with the attacker’s sword.
Perhaps the skills of the crown prince, who was famous throughout the empire, were not a lie, but the attackers were unable to properly resist Carlos’ sword.
‘It doesn’t seem like the crown prince and the attackers knew each other.’
The atmosphere was too serious to say they knew each other. The fierce clash of swords also seemed to be dealing with an enemy.
‘There were casualties…’
As the attackers disappeared one by one at the hands of Carlos, the attackers cried out anxiously.
“Aim only for the duchess! Aim only for the duchess!”
However, the atmosphere had already tilted for a long time.
“Don’t worry, ma’am. Although it was difficult to break through with our skills, protecting it is not difficult at all.”
As the saying goes, the escort knights began to protect me in a much more stable manner. She cautiously asked the knight right next to her.
“Do you have any guesses about the identity of the attackers?”
The attackers were all wearing black masks and their speech was normal, so she couldn’t see any distinctive features.
“Sorry. Honestly, I have no clue.”
“No, it’s worth it.”
She called John, but she thought it would be resolved without John’s help. After squinting at the faintly glowing magic tool, she looked for John.
‘Is John not coming?’
“This operation is a failure. Everyone retreat!”
The few attackers left eventually chose to flee.
“All knights, chase after those ruthless attackers!”
After giving orders to the knights, Carlos took a deep breath and approached her. The guard knight greeted the crown prince first.
“Your Majesty the Crown Prince, thank you for your help.”
“So, Duchess Blanchett…”
Carlos’ golden eyes stared at her. The eyes were filled with strange anticipation.
“Great, is the Duchess hurt anywhere?”
“Thanks to Your Highness for saving me, I am safe.”
It was true that she had received help, so she politely lifted the hem of her skirt slightly and expressed her gratitude. Then the corners of Carlos’ mouth twitched up.
“There is no need to be thankful. I just did what was natural as the crown prince of the empire.”
“It is not natural that His Highness the Crown Prince risked danger to save us.”
“Well, if you think so, you’re not wrong. Without my help, the Duchess would have been in big trouble. From the looks of it, it would have been difficult to respond to that number of knights.”
Carlos glanced at the escort knights with arrogant eyes. The escort knights quietly lowered their heads as if they were not being looked upon.
‘I don’t like it.’
Whether it was Carlos’ play or something else, she had the Prince’s help anyway. But she felt bad because she felt like she was looking down on those who did their best to protect her.
‘It’s not easy to offend someone after helping them like this’.
When she thought about it, she thought Carlos was always like this every time she met him.
“I didn’t expect to be attacked like this.”
“Aren’t the escort knights always there to prepare for an attack like this? At the very least, you should avoid creating a situation that will make the escorted person feel anxious. What do you think?”
“What the Crown Prince said is correct.”
The guard knight bowed his head and apologized.
“It is right to deal with it before Madam notices the attack in the first place. We deserve to die for putting our lady in danger through our incompetence.”
“That’s it…”
“Don’t defend them. Aren’t you admitting your own guilt?”
Carlos gestured at her as if to look at it. Like Carlos, who knows full well that he has a good face, he had an arrogant but handsome appearance.
‘I guess that’s why there are so many young ladies who still adore the crown prince.’
But she knew very well what an ugly heart was hidden beneath that handsome face. Perhaps that was why the appearance of the crown prince, who was as handsome as a prince on a white horse, seemed ugly.
“Lift your head. The story about the mistake is a matter for the Duke Blanchett’s residence to deal with.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She swept her platinum hair and turned her head towards the crown prince.
“Anyway, I’m really glad that Your Majesty passed by here at the right time. Your Majesty, how did you find us?”
“I happened to see it on my way there.”
“Really? Isn’t His Royal Highness supposed to be by His Majesty’s side right now?”
Just now, the emperor was greeting distinguished guests in the forest near the imperial palace. In such a situation, the crown prince had to be by his side.
“Originally, I was there too.”
Carlos, who understood what she meant, answered casually.
“I was on my way back to the imperial palace when I happened to find you.”
“What a happy coincidence.”
“Well, it’s true that I followed you because I was worried about you. I couldn’t stand to see you in danger.”
Carlos was talking to her earlier. It was strangely annoying, so even though she was a grateful person, her judgment continued to be distorted.
‘What did you think of all the rejections I’ve given you so far?’
Were Leandro and Carlos also under a curse that causes them to forget what she said? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be easy to ignore people’s words like this.
‘Should I say this more openly?’
She looked at the crown prince and asked in an innocent voice.
“So, Your Highness, are you stalking me?”
“…what?”
Carlos stiffened, perhaps because the words were unexpected.
“I was just trying to see if you were going well. Then I set out to save you.”
“Your Majesty, are you a good stalker?”
“I definitely…!”
At that time, the prince’s knights who had chased the attackers returned.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. As soon as Iweentered the forest, we lost track of them, so we couldn’t chase it any further.”
“The pretense of popularity has ended?”
“Yes. It seems that preparations were made separately for this forest. As soon as we chased it in, it ran away and disappeared as if it had been waiting for us.”
“They are quite dangerous people.”
Carlos said, nodding his head and looking at her.
“The situation has become complicated, so I will escort the Duchess from now on.”
For a moment, she thought she had heard wrong. But Carlos looked at her in surprise and raised the corners of his mouth.
“If you move with such escorts, you never know when you might be attacked by a dangerous attack again, right? So, I will especially protect you.”
“Ah, you’re taking me to Duke Blanchett’s residence?”
‘I guess they’re going to take me to the imperial palace.’
But Carlos was a much bigger hit than I thought.
“Of course we have to go to the imperial palace.”
“Why to the imperial palace…?”
“Didn’t the Blanchett family decide to stay at the imperial palace for this summer’s festival? You decided to go to the imperial palace anyway, so think about it that you went early.”
Carlos held out his hand as if he were going to escort me right away. It looked like he was trying to get her on his horse.
“Wouldn’t you feel safer that way than being with an unreliable escort?”
“Unfortunately, that’s not the case at all.”
Carlos’ golden eyes grew darker. She didn’t lose and smiled while looking into those eyes.
“I am truly grateful that Your Highness saved me. I’ll tell my husband and make up for it. But going to the imperial palace under His Highness’s escort is a different matter.”
“…”
“I hate you more than anything. It’s not like you don’t understand this, right?”
Carlos glared at her without saying a word. He lifted the attacker he had disposed of as he kicked the corpse, his eyes flashing dangerously.
“Even after seeing this?”
Carlos unmasked his corpse.
His face was distorted, as if he had been burned.
‘It’s terrible.’
She was not sure, but it gave her the feeling that the being who tried to kidnap her was a cruel being. At that time, a black light appeared beneath the miserable face.
‘Is something moving?’
The black light surrounding the masked man’s head stirred. The crown prince waved his mask and swaggered.
“You definitely don’t need my escort…”
“Your Highness, wait a minute…!”
The black, encroached body turned into ashes and collapsed.
“What is this again!”
Whiuuuuung-!
Other corpses around also turned into ashes and fell all at once. And on top of the corpses, a strange plant stem-like shape grew.
Kieeeeek-
Black stems pounded the floor, striking and swallowing the surroundings. Anywhere it touched the stem turned black and turned to ash. It’s a creepy sight just to look at.
“I’ve been doing this for a while, and this demon comes out of nowhere again!”
Carlos swung his sword sharply at Guy. But there was not just one stem. While Carlos was dealing with a few stems, several other stems continued to sprout from the ground.
“My lady. You have to get out.”
The knight tried to take me back, but the black stems grew wildly, as if surrounding her.
“What the hell is this…”
The knights swallowed their troubled silences, and she clenched her fists and tried to understand the situation.
‘Something is strange.’
As she looked at the black trunk writhing and struggling, she felt strange.
‘It feels like he’s talking to me.’
Was he really trying to tell her that that too is a plant?
-Trees! That strange plant appeared. These are black vine-like stems. Do you know anything?
-…Black vines?
-Yes. I felt like he was talking to me.
A black stem extends towards her.
“My lady! Run away!”
She spoke to the tree with as calm a face as possible.
-Hey! Can you hear me?
At that time, the black stalk rushing towards me stopped for a moment. A young man’s voice came into her head.
-…This situation… what?
-That’s what you’re going to say?
Her heart was pounding.
-Is it a fairy?
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on August, 5.
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