Grand Duke, I Like You, But Please Die! - Chapter 23

‘I’m immortal, so if I get hurt, I can heal. But if Kaiel dies, he’s really dead, a corpse!’

Thinking of him dead made her feel unpleasant. It was right for her to step up.

When Delia finally freed herself from his arms, Kaiel frowned.

“Listen to me. Come here…”

At that moment, before he could finish speaking, an arrow flew from somewhere and embedded itself deeply into the tree trunk just behind them. The arrow was so well-crafted that it almost pierced through the thick tree.

Kaiel quickly scanned the direction the arrow had come from.

‘Over there.’

While identifying the assassins’ positions, another arrow flew from the opposite direction.

This arrow flew even closer to them, but Kaiel remained unperturbed. Instead, he placed his hand on his sword, intending to deflect it.

‘Not sure how many there are. I’ll just find and kill them all.’

Kaiel swiftly deflected the incoming arrow and blocked several more that followed.

Then he shouted in a low voice to Delia.

“If you don’t want to die, stay close!”

He pulled her, who kept moving forward, back with one hand.

“They’re after me. If you don’t want to get hurt…”

“I’m fine.”

“You…!”

Kaiel, whose patience was wearing thin with her calm demeanor, suddenly stopped talking. Her body was trembling slightly.

What does she mean she’s fine when she’s shaking like that?

Kaiel continued to cut down the arrows flying towards them.

After pinpointing the assassins’ locations, he sighed softly. Then he dragged Delia to a nearby tree and stood her against it.

“Wait here.”

With that, he disappeared from her sight in an instant.

Soon, a desperate scream came from behind the tree on the left. Then, from the tree behind them and the tree on the right, there were sounds of blood being spilled and bones breaking.

‘His skills are good enough to be a villain.’

Delia calmed her wildly beating heart. Although she had bravely stepped up to protect him, her resolve couldn’t overcome the fear she felt in her flesh.

If this were an important event in the novel, she would have knowledge to use, but coming to Fourpeak Mountain to gather herbs was her choice, it wasn’t part of the original story.

As if confirming the kills, there were final cries of agony from Kaiel’s direction.

‘He handles it well on his own. Maybe I don’t need to worry?’

Kaiel, who had finished the job, came into Delia’s sight. He looked calm and composed, not like someone who had just killed three people.

Approaching her, he sheathed his sword and checked her condition.

“Are you okay?”

Delia nodded, but the ominous feeling that had started in her chest wouldn’t go away.

‘Is this really the end?’

As a writer, she wouldn’t have ended it with just one attack.

Suddenly realizing something, Delia urgently called for the system.

‘Show me the Character List!’

A window popped up.

When multiple people are present, the Character List window displays arrow icons to switch between different characters.

Since there were more than two people present, the arrow icons appeared as usual.

Delia flipped past Kaiel’s window to check the Character List of others.

[Character List]
Name: John Dare (Deceased)
Abilities: Vision 64, Accuracy 61, Stealth 58 ….

Next to the names of the deceased characters, there was a red ‘Deceased’ mark. The favorability of the deceased wasn’t displayed, only the name and ability information were shown.

It was the same for the other characters she checked.

After confirming the third person, Delia clicked the arrow icon again and found the source of her persistent unease.

‘There were four, not three!’

Realizing this, Delia used all her strength to push Kaiel, hoping he would move back even a little.

“What are you doing…!”

His expression, which had been glaring at Delia for her sudden action, soon turned cold.

An arrow, shot so quietly that they didn’t even notice, had grazed her cheek, leaving a red, clear line.

Dark red blood began to flow down her cheek.

***

The fourth Character List window that Delia had flipped to was displayed.

[Character List]
Name: Sera Appel
Abilities: Accuracy 89, Agility 78, Flexibility 72 ….
Favorability: 32

She pushed him without even thinking because the highest ability of the character was accuracy, which was an incredibly high score of 89.

Considering that Kaiel, the main protagonist, had top ability scores around the 90s, 89 was a very dangerous level.

If she hadn’t pushed him out of the way, the arrow would have hit some part of his body.

So her stepping in was the right thing to do.

‘But Kaiel… what’s with that look? Why are your eyes like that!’

His expression as he looked at her was extremely chilling.

“Uh… hey.”

She called him cautiously as he stood there silently.

“Kaiel…?”

Was he angry?

She could feel a thin liquid flowing from her cheek, but the atmosphere around him was so intense that she didn’t even have time to feel the pain.

But it wasn’t the first time he had been angry.

‘Angry or not.’

Delia feared that he might blame himself further. He absolutely hated it when someone got hurt because of him.

Unable to touch her cheek, she exaggeratedly fumbled around it and said,

“Wow, this feels like a battle scar… It’s not as bad as I thought…”

Kaiel grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t touch it.”

His breath still sounded angry.

Meanwhile, there was a rustling sound from the bushes, followed by running footsteps that quickly faded away. It seemed the last assassin who shot the arrow had fled.

Delia let out a small sigh of relief.

‘I’m glad it ended with just a scratch on my face.’

To lighten the mood, she asked him a question.

“Do you know who sent them?”

“……”

“The last person seemed pretty skilled. Have you always faced threats like that?”

“……”

“Did I get in the way…”

“Enough.”

His voice was low, as if he was suppressing his anger.

“Stop talking.”

Every time she opened her mouth, the wound on her cheek reopened, and the blood that flowed from it trickled down to her chin.

She wouldn’t realize how serious it was until she saw her face in a mirror.

Feeling unjustly treated, Delia couldn’t help but speak up.

“I said I’d save you whenever you’re in danger. I didn’t act on my own, I gave you a heads-up, so you can’t be mad. That’s really too much.”

“I said stop talking. The wound is opening.”

As he spoke, he gently lifted her chin with his fingertips. He pressed her head down with his other hand, seemingly intending to make her keep her mouth shut.

When he unexpectedly held her face, Delia blinked her eyes, unable to do anything.

Still holding her chin, Kaiel pulled out a handkerchief from his inner pocket with his other hand. He folded it once, then again, and pressed it against her face.

“Ow, it stings…”

“Hold it there.”

She obediently followed his instructions, gently placing her hand over the handkerchief. Unintentionally, her hand overlapped with Kaiel’s, which was holding the handkerchief.

“Let’s go.”

His hand, which he quickly withdrew, lightly brushed against her palm.

“Kaiel…”

“If you have something to say, say it later.”

Since he kept preventing her from speaking, Delia had no choice but to keep her mouth shut, grab the basket of herbs, and start walking. The pain from the wound covered by the handkerchief became more pronounced over time.

With one hand holding the handkerchief and the other lifting her skirt to avoid stepping on it, Delia struggled to make any progress on the steep path.

‘Are we going to get caught in the dark at this rate?’

Her concern wasn’t just about the approaching night. In the novel, Fourpeak Mountain was a place teeming with hungry wolves once darkness fell.

‘That’s why I wrote that people couldn’t easily come here to gather herbs. If night falls and the wolves appear, we… hmm.’

She imagined Kaiel fighting off a pack of wolves.

Undoubtedly, the winner was Kaiel.

He could easily handle a pack of mindless wolves, given how quickly he dealt with multiple thinking humans.

‘…But I still don’t like it.’

She shook her head lightly.

She didn’t want to witness a fight between wolves and humans.

Especially if that human was Kaiel.

Eventually, Delia stopped in her tracks.

Knowing it was impossible, a thought from deep within her heart finally came out.

“Carry me.”

Kaiel, who was walking behind her, stopped.

Fearing he hadn’t heard, Delia turned to face him and repeated more clearly.

“Carry me.”

“……”

Kaiel just stared at her silently. Feeling frustrated, Delia added.

“At this rate, it’ll get dark…”

Before she could finish, Kaiel snatched the basket hanging on her arm and started walking as if nothing had happened.

‘Hmph!’

Delia shook her head inwardly.

‘Of course.’

After all, the idea of Kaiel carrying someone was unimaginable even to her as the author. If there was any chance, it would be with his sister or mother, and even that was unlikely.

Still, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

‘Someone! Someone saved your life! It’s too much! …But I can’t hate you, so I’ll let it slide.’

She felt it would be impossible to truly hate him in this lifetime.

Delia grabbed a handful of her skirt and lifted it.

‘Well, at least he’s carrying the basket. I’ll just walk faster!’