There Is No Mercy

                                                                                         Chapter 31
Aden had finished contacting the participants he had pre-selected to fill the vacancies in Rippleton’s knights and headed to Sierra’s room before returning to his own.
The silence of the night had fallen, and only his footsteps echoed in the castle.
His steps were heavy and firm, but not slow.
As he approached Sierra’s room, Aden heard a strange noise – the murmuring of people.
Sensing something was off, he quickened his pace.
Turning the corner, Aden saw a commotion in front of Sierra’s room. He rushed over and grabbed the shoulder of a man at the back of the group.
“What’s going on?”
“Some young men barged into the lady’s room and tried to… Ahhh! Your Grace?!”
Ignoring the man’s scream, Aden rushed into the room.
The man’s words and screams did not reach Aden’s ears.
Only the words that they were about to do something terrible raced through his head.
‘No, not her.’
The nobles, annoyed by the person pushing them, backed away in fright at the sight of Aden’s face.
Aden didn’t care if they screamed or not.
He was only concerned about Sierra.
Aden forced himself to bite his lip to hide his nervousness.
He hurried through the crowd which was now parting on its own and approached Sierra’s door, which was slightly opened.
He pushed the door open, hoping that the horrifying sight in his mind wouldn’t happen.
“Argh!”
As he opened the door, Aden saw two men being restrained by the knights, with Altas sprawled on the floor, beside Sierra.
“…”
Aden stood frozen for a moment, unable to react to the unexpected sight, then hurried inside, slamming the door behind him.
“Sierra.”
“Oh, you’re here.”
Sierra greeted Aden’s call with a calm voice.
Aden hurried over, glancing at the fallen man, and then checked Sierra’s hands.
He remembered what the man had said earlier and wanted to ensure Sierra was okay.
“What happened here?”
” Just some punishment, as you can see.”
Sierra spat out a breath, pointing her finger at Altas on the floor.
Sierra’s voice drifted into Aden’s ear as he stared at Altas’s back, clutching his shoulder as he crawled to the corner.
“He came out of nowhere and tried to do something suspicious, so I took him down.”
“What was he trying to do?”
“Exactly what it looks like.”
Aden’s eyes narrowed as Sierra adjusted her clothes, disheveled from throwing Altas.
“Guess I’ll have to make sure he can’t like a man anymore.”
It’s not like that. Should she correct Aden’s misunderstanding?
Sierra hesitated for a moment but then decided to ignore it.
Aden pressed his foot down on Atlas’s back, stopping his crawling, and kicked him to the side.
Altas, pale with fear, screamed as he saw Aden pull a small dagger from his coat.
The dagger glowed frighteningly, Altas cried out with a white face in panic.
“Sah, spare me, I’ve done wrong, I’ve done wrong, I won’t do it again, I won’t do it again, please……!”
“Don’t you realize that what you’ve done is unforgivable, even if you’ve only tried, and You deserve the appropriate punishment for such a disgraceful and filthy act.
“Please, please…….”
“Forgiveness is earned once you’ve done something worthy of forgiveness.”
Aden swiftly brought down the sword.
“Aaah!”
Altas’ scream echoed as he finally lost consciousness,
Aden’s sword stopped just in front of Altas’s private part.
Aden glanced at Sierra’s hand on his shoulder and straightened up.
“There are too many eyes on us. Besides, there’s no need to dirty yourself with his blood.”
Sierra leaned down slightly and brought her lips to Aden’s ear.
“…And since I deliberately drew him in to create this situation. We can’t lose a target I’ve worked hard to catch.”
“…”
Aden smirked at Sierra’s admission that she had planned this whole situation.
Aden stared at Sierra, then nodded slowly.
“…Alright then.”
Aden replied briefly and retrieved his sword.
Meanwhile, Count Ricardo had entered the room and looked surprised to see what was happening.
Aden jerked his chin and pointed at Altas, Hautman, and Rick.
“Take those three into custody, Count. I’ll interrogate them personally, and don’t touch them.”
“Understood, sir. Is Lady alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“It’s my fault. We’ve never had an accident before, so I didn’t pay attention to internal safety, I apologize. This accident wouldn’t have happened if we’d had a little more security…”

“It’s not your fault, Count. If anyone’s to blame, it’s those guys being dragged away. Don’t worry about it.”
Sierra looked around the room in Count Ricardo’s defense.
The three idiots had made a mess in their struggle to escape.
Pots were broken and chairs were overturned.
The Count said he’d have Sierra’s room changed, then left.
Sierra gathered her belongings, straightening up.
“I’ll have to change rooms.”
“My room next door is empty, you can stay there. I’ll make sure those jerks don’t come near you.”
As she packed her bags, Sierra glanced at Aden and nodded.
Sierra’s fingertips trembled slightly as she gathered her bags.
Not out of fear, but out of anticipation of what she might gain.
But Aden, who was unaware of this, thought she was just startled.
“I’ll help you.”
Aden suddenly approached, causing Sierra to stumble over her scattered belongings.
Before she could even gasp, he lifted her up.
“Oh, thanks…Huh?!”
Sierra thought Aden was going to carry her bag, but she was surprised to find herself in his arms. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck.
“What are you doing all of a sudden?!”
“You were stumbling like you’d fall, and looked too weak to even carry your bag, so I just picked you up. Why is there a problem?”
“This isn’t about carrying a bag, you’re carrying me!”
“Whether I carry you or the bag, it’s the same thing, isn’t it? Besides, stay still. Your clothes are slipping.”
Aden calmly walked out, holding the flustered Sierra.
Though Count Ricardo had dispersed the crowd, a few people lingered and started whispering when they saw Sierra in Aden’s arms.
Surveying the situation, Sierra sighed, covering her face.
“Another rumor. I don’t like rumors.”
“Don’t worry about silly rumors. The main story will be that you came out in my arms. People will only remember this part and spread it around.”
Removing her palm from her face and looking up at Aden, Sierra narrowed her eyes.
Aden gave a small chuckle at Sierra’s questioning gaze as if she was asking if he had planned this all out. He just looked ahead.
“Where did you learn self-defense, by the way, you’re pretty good.”
“Believe it or not, I’ve trained with swords before. My parents believe everyone should know how to protect themselves, even women. It’s been a while, so my reactions were a bit slow, but I definitely landed a good hit.”
“Where?”
Sierra smiled slightly at Aden, who was subtly asking.
“Where do you think?”
“…I think it’s better if I don’t know.”
Even without seeing or hearing, Aden could almost feel the pain, tensing up spontaneously.
Sierra, smiling weakly, rested comfortably in Aden’s arms as they headed to another room.
Richelle, watching them from behind, bit her nails.
“This isn’t right…….”
Richelle muttered quietly, her eyes darting around nervously. The situation had gone in a completely different direction from what she had planned, and Fiorette’s voice in her head warned her not to do anything stupid.
“What am I going to do……?” she repeated, then turned quickly.
The sound of her footsteps rushing away was urgent.

* * *

“What the hell were you thinking?”
Fiorette’s voice was filled with irritation and anger.
Fiorette hadn’t stopped Richelle from attending the party, thinking she’d stay out of trouble while enjoying herself.
However, Richelle’s unnecessary actions disrupted everything.
Fiorette glared at Richelle, who was skulking in the corner, with a look of frustration.
Sighing, Fiorette finally looked away from Richelle and ran a hand through her hair in frustration before collapsing into a chair, looking tired.
Seeing that Fiorette’s anger had subsided a bit, Richelle cautiously approached her.
“Lady Fiorette…”
“I should have just left you behind and spoken to the Princess. That was my mistake.”
At the mention of Belietta, Richelle, who had been stiffening, her eyes widened.
She knelt on the floor, leveling her gaze with Fiorette’s.
“Why are you bringing up the Princess all of a sudden? Are you planning to tell her about this? Please don’t. I was just trying to help Lady Bayron to strengthen the Princess’ position…”
“After messing everything up, you have the nerve to say you were trying to help?” Fiorette’s brow furrowed in disgust.
“But I…”
“You’ve made the relationship between the Archduke and the Count’s daughter even more obvious in front of countless nobles. The Princess will be thrilled.”
“I only wanted to humiliate Sierra for disgracing the princess…….”
Fiorette frowned at Richelle’s excuses.
Richel flinched, her shoulders trembling.
Fiorette closed her eyes, trying to calm her anger and relax her tense body.