The more Angela thought about her relatives’ bold yet cowardly actions, the more exasperated she became. She wanted to mock them thoroughly, but those emotions quickly faded away.

Creeak— Strange sounds began echoing around her, and her anger transformed back into fear.

“Kyaah!”

Rustle, as leaves fell and simultaneously caw, a crow took flight. Angela screamed at the sound. Though she only heard the cries of birds and insects, an inexplicable terror that something unknown might attack pressed heavily on her heart.

Angela slowly drew in her breath and carefully surveyed her surroundings.

“Is there a weapon, or at least some minimal tool to protect myself…”

She searched for something to respond to a sudden attack. Since she had already drawn the dagger she usually carried, she felt she needed something similar to feel secure.

Desperate, her hands frantically groped the ground. But all she touched was rough dirt and fallen leaves.

At that moment, she felt something bump against her foot with a thud. Angela reached out to check what she had just struck. It was a tree branch thick enough to grasp in one hand.

A bit disappointing…

Though it was too weak to protect her body, she had to be grateful even for this in her current situation.

Angela raised the tree branch high and slowly began walking toward what seemed like the direction of a village. Even if she got lost, moving seemed better than staying still. In her current situation, getting out of the forest somehow was what mattered.

That’s when it happened. She heard rustling sounds near her ear.

Judging only by the heavy sounds, she had an ominous feeling that a considerably large beast would appear.

“Is this place really going to be my grave? I don’t want that.”

Angela carefully walked in the opposite direction from where the sounds came, trying to distance herself from the unknown presence. But somehow, even though she thought she had walked far away, the rustling sounds grew closer and closer.

‘Could it be that a wild beast is tracking me by scent?’

As the rustling sounds drew nearer, her heart began pounding frantically. Please, anything but a predator.

“Kyaah!”

When the rustling sounds amplified, Angela closed her eyes and wildly swung the tree branch in her hand.

Naturally, it couldn’t serve as a weapon, but she wanted to hold onto the hope that if she was lucky, the opponent might get scared and run away.

However, her hope was cruelly shattered. The source of the sound was a forest outlaw—a wild bear. Seeing how it was preparing to attack Angela, it seemed very hungry.

“Why is there a bear in the forest…”

At that moment, her motion of swinging the tree branch that couldn’t reach her opponent stopped. Seeing a creature she couldn’t easily encounter right before her eyes, Angela’s body began trembling.

“I don’t taste good, so couldn’t you just leave?”

Though she spoke pleadingly, the bear couldn’t understand her words. Rather, it seemed ready to approach with even more ferocious momentum.

To become bear food the moment she became wealthy… the more she thought about it, the more truly unfortunate her life seemed. Still, she had briefly experienced being a noble and being rich, so should she be grateful?

Angela began preparing her heart with death before her. For now, unless a sword fell from the sky, there was no way to survive.

‘Mother… I’ll follow soon, so don’t be disappointed that I came to meet you early. It would be good to meet Father too, wouldn’t it?’

She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, crying out inwardly.

“A woman?”

At that moment, along with more rustling sounds, a man’s voice reached her ears. A low yet deep voice of a young man.

Huh? Is it not yet time to die?

Angela turned her head toward where the man’s voice came from with a grateful heart. A person encountered in such a remote place would likely be a hunter, so hope seemed to emerge.

Even with thick darkness covering everything, his prominently high nose bridge, sharp jawline, silver hair, and spotlessly clean green eyes that suited him well were clearly visible…

The moment Angela’s eyes met with the man who alone displayed vibrant colors in a world shrouded in darkness, she felt her breath might stop.

He’s handsome…

Since he was a pretty boy she could never see in the rural village where she used to live, she admired the man’s beauty and couldn’t take her eyes off him. Intoxicated by the man’s face, her plump reddish lips parted slightly without her realizing it.

‘No. What am I doing right now?’

When her temporarily paralyzed reason returned to its place, Angela immediately shook her head left and right. Now was not the time to admire the man’s appearance. Since she might die, she needed to stay alert.

Looking over the man’s entire body, even in the darkness she could sense his neat navy uniform decorated with gold trim and his solid, sturdy build.

A knight?

Looking at the sparkling, ornate golden decorations on his shoulders, he seemed like an imperial knight.

Is it okay for a knight’s face to be that beautiful?

When the man’s face came into view again, her gaze kept turning in that direction.

‘No. What does being handsome have to do with me?’

Though his refined appearance kept drawing her gaze unconsciously, these were completely useless things for now, so Angela shook her head again and suppressed her instincts.

The man also remained silent, simply wearing a puzzled expression. His eyes seemed to ask why a person was in such a place.

He won’t ask first, will he? Wasn’t this a dangerous place?

“Sir Knight, please help me!”

When there was no question about what was wrong, Angela first requested help from the man. Though it didn’t seem like he would leave her to become bear food in such a place, she sent him pleading eyes asking for help.

At that moment, the man’s puzzled gaze instantly turned cold. Just from meeting his eyes, Angela felt her heart sink with a thud.

‘Surely he doesn’t plan not to save me.’

Though she naturally thought he would help, strangely, an ominous thought arose in one corner of her mind.

“Tch. How troublesome.”

Soon after, hearing words from the man’s mouth that suggested he had no intention of helping at all, her heart felt like it was falling into a deep abyss.

The hope she had briefly held turned to despair in an instant.

“…”

‘What should I do?’

If the bear’s attack target turned toward the man instead of herself, her chances of survival would be higher.

Therefore, Angela looked away from the man and glanced at the bear that had tried to attack her. Normally, it would have already attacked by now.

Huh?

But the bear didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking the man. Rather, it seemed overwhelmed by the man’s presence, watching him nervously and hesitating about whether to attack.

However, having decided on Angela as its prey, its gaze remained fixed on her. It seemed like it would immediately attack her the moment the man disappeared from view.

“Please save me.”

Angela cried out desperately to the man again.

Right now, the only way to survive was to request help from the man. So she had to stake her life on this last remaining hope.

“Why should I?”

But another heartless response came from the man’s mouth.

“You seem to be a knight—isn’t there something like a knight’s duty?”

“I have no duty to help others. You seem to be looking for a guard or sentinel, but unfortunately, I’m just a knight who only does what he’s ordered to do. You shouldn’t have entered such a dangerous forest in the first place.”

“I didn’t come here because I wanted to.”

“That’s not my concern. Just go back the way you came. I can chase away that bear, so handle the rest yourself.”

Even if he chased away the bear, there was no guarantee other wild beasts wouldn’t appear. And even if he drove away the bear right before her eyes, it might return to attack once the man disappeared.

“Please.”

‘I didn’t want to come to this place either.’

But no matter how much she pleaded, he still had no intention of helping. The arrogant and insolent man simply tried to continue on his way, seemingly unwilling to get involved in troublesome matters.

Is he really just going to leave like this?

Angela couldn’t understand the man’s behavior.

An ordinary person might reasonably leave without helping. They wouldn’t be safe from the bear’s threat either.

But the man before her eyes was not ordinary. He was clearly a knight. Moreover, an imperial knight.

He must have come searching under imperial orders, yet he’s leaving someone who needs help? How can he do that while receiving taxes that are precious like blood?