I Became The Younger Sister Of A Dying Woman - Chapter 44

Chapter 44: I’m Worried About You

“L-Lord Lenox!”

Ignoring the cries of his subordinates, the red-haired man, Lenox, remained unfazed. He simply stared straight ahead at the spear flying towards him.

The spear narrowly grazed past the side of the man’s head. At the same time, a sound of “Kweeeek!” echoed.

The spear had pierced through the heart of an intermediate troll lurking in the dense forest with precise accuracy.

Hernan turned to Lenox with a warning.

“But remember this. I am not in a position to be threatened with all your excuses.”

“…….”

“I could easily make a hole in your skull right now. In my eyes, your heads might as well be troll skulls.”

An indomitable force emanated from Hernan, an aura that could make his opponent shrink back.

The corner of Lenox’s eyes twitched slightly, despite not flinching when the spear was aimed at him.

“I hope that we don’t appear as anything other than humans, Your Highness.”

“Neither do I,” Hernan replied coldly. “We do not wish to hunt anything that is not a monster.”

Lenox took a step back but did not leave without a trace of sarcasm.

“Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

After exchanging glances, Lenox and his party left the scene.

Lenox Cardis. 

He was the successor of the Cardis Duchy, a noble lineage.

 With the current Duke’s health deteriorating, he was almost taking over the duties of the duchy and could be considered the next Duke in the near future.

Lenox was known among the nobles for his aggressiveness, often engaging in clashes whenever he encountered someone like Hernan.

However, this was the first time he had openly displayed such aggressiveness.

“…..I don’t know why, but I’m worried about Linzel.” 

(T/N: Okay, now I wouldn’t mind the first eyeball for his graveyard :>)

“Jackson, go to the base camp right away and relay my message to Gatt.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Tell him to either bring Linzel to the palace or assign more knights around her.”

“Understood.”

Jackson attempted to turn around quickly, but Hernan stopped him.

“No, actually, I’ll go myself. I’ll make sure she’s safe, and then we can resume the hunt.”

Of course, with what he had captured so far, he would likely secure first place in the hunting competition.

Hernan stared at the handkerchief wrapped around his sword.

It hadn’t even been an hour since they had parted ways, yet he already missed her.

***

Izekiel was pulling out a sword lodged in the body of a low-level monster. 

‘I’m never going to get used to hunting.’

He wiped off the blood carefully to avoid staining his clothes.

“He’ll be used later, so carry him well.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Izekiel ‘s subordinates began to dispose of the monster’s corpse while Izekiel watched the scene from a distance. The smell of thick blood was nauseating.

To put it bluntly, it had been years since he participated in a hunting competition.

In the midst of a civil war, there was no need for him to attend since Hernan was not present at the time.

This year, Hernan participated, and Izekiel couldn’t defeat him, (ultimately he would lose anyway, but he didn’t want to appear like he was fleeing), and…

‘In this forest only open for the hunting competition, there are monsters that are particularly effective in restoring energy.’

It is said that if you eat the meat of those monsters, even someone who has been suffering for ten years would instantly recover.

Since they were not particularly difficult to capture, Izekiel was able to catch enough of them, even though he was not an extraordinary hunter.

The monster he had just caught was intended as a gift for Linzel.

Linzel was weak, and she might even be subjected to abuse, so it seemed natural to do so.

However…

There were other weak women around him.

Among them were people even weaker than Linzel, perhaps barely surviving. However, he didn’t feel the desire to give them anything.

Why?

The question Linzel had asked came to mind.

‘Why?’

Why did he want Linzel’s support more than any other woman’s?

“Because…….”

He wondered if it was because they had something in common: being abused.

(E/N: my guy does not have great listening skills…)

That was the only explanation. The reason his attention was focused only on her.

Izekiel leaned against a sturdy tree trunk and sat down.

He had caught enough low-level monsters to use as medicine. And he had slightly strained his legs while hunting the monsters.

Since he had no ambition to win first place in the hunting competition, he planned to rest as it was.

Izekiel momentarily loosened the heavy sword belt he was wearing.

As the belt loosened, Letty’s handkerchief, which was tightly wrapped around it to prevent the scabbard from falling to the ground, came undone.

Unaware of this fact, he closed his eyes.

With his eyes closed, the thought of Linzel’s handkerchief came to mind.

That seemingly shabby handkerchief.

‘It’s really a worthless item… but I want it.’

How would he have felt if he had received a handkerchief from Linzel?

Since encountering Linzel, Izekiel had been solely focused on her, unaware of the fact that he was only thinking about her.

Izekiel, who had a moment of rest, stood up. He had planned to rest at the base camp, using the excuse of a strained leg.

That was his intention as he left the forest.

But, in the distance, he saw two women walking with lowered postures.

Surprisingly, it was Linzel and her maid.

It was strange enough that they were near the forest, but their crawling-like postures were also peculiar.

Thinking of Linzel, he wondered if he was seeing things.

Ignoring the ache in his ankle, Izekiel approached them with quick steps. He wanted to confirm whether she was real or just an illusion.

What if she was real? What would he do?

“Hey, Linzel.”

Then he heard the voice of the woman he thought might be an illusion.

“…Eep! Make some noise when you approach! You scared me.”

The woman who turned to face him was indeed Linzel.

She wasn’t a fake. And he was glad.

A faint smile appeared on his lips.

“What are you doing? This area is dangerous.”

“I went out for a moment and was planning to return to the base camp, but it seems like I got lost.”

It was such a Linzel-like response.

“But why are you in that posture?”

“Well…”

Lindsay trailed off, and Izekiel could see the crimson color on her cheeks.

“Are you hurt?”

Her maid answered on behalf of Linzel.

“Your Highness Izekiel, Someone aimed an arrow at Lady Linzel!”

“…..What?”

“So, she lowered her posture to avoid another arrow.”

Izekiel felt a surge of anger.

He examined Linzel’s body from head to toe.

“A-Are there any other injuries in other places?”

Linzel shook her head.

“No.”

“Why did you leave the base camp? Why don’t you consider yourself in danger?”

Why did the fact that she was injured make him so angry?

Izekiel couldn’t suppress the boiling anger, even though he knew he shouldn’t be angry at her.

“There was a reason I temporarily left my post. But I can’t tell Your Highness the reason.”

Come to think of it, it seemed like Linzel had moved away from her position after Letty arrived.

Could it be that she wanted to create a time for just the two of them?

Izekiel felt an unnecessary sense of guilt. There was no need to create such time.

Why did she do something he didn’t ask for…

Unknowingly, Izekiel pulled Linzel’s delicate shoulder.

Linzel helplessly followed and leaned slightly against him.

“Don’t wander off alone.”

“Y-Your Highness……?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“…….”

Linzel didn’t answer. Instead, she moved away from his embrace.

Izekiel finally realized his inappropriate actions of pulling Linzel into his arms.

“I’m sorry for suddenly hugging you……. Let’s go back for now. I’ll take you. You can follow.”

Izekiel unsheathed the sword he couldn’t handle properly. His demeanor became more serious than when hunting monsters.

* * *

Izekiel, who was leading the way, appeared to be limping.

Although Izekiel ‘s injury wasn’t as severe as in the original work (probably a minor injury with some bleeding), it seemed like his leg was bothering him.

Not only was his swordsmanship not exceptional, but he was even injured, and yet he was protecting her.

To be honest, Linzel was a little surprised.

Izekiel is generally kind, but it’s a shallow kindness. He wouldn’t unnecessarily involve himself in things that could harm him.

Yet, there were times when he unconditionally intervened for others….

‘It was always for Letty.’

That’s what the original Izekiel did. He did it because he liked Letty.

‘Surely, it couldn’t be that Izekiel had developed a crush or some sort of feeling of affection towards me…’

Linzel and Izekiel had very little interaction, and there was no event that could make them fall in love.

Their exchanges were nothing more than childish arguments about abuse or exaggeration.

Hm. Could it be that her becoming a member of the palace made him care more about her than others?

There was a valid reason for it.

Following Izekiel for a few minutes, the little group finally started to see the base camp.

Seeing that it wasn’t far from the area where they got lost, LinzeI wondered if she and Mini had been wandering around the same area.

It was at that moment that she heard another person’s voice.

“…..Linzel?”

She called out to him before even seeing his face.

“Your Highness Herman?”

She couldn’t understand why he appeared when he should have been hunting.

Although she didn’t know the reason, Linzel  was glad to see him.

She ran towards him and embraced him.

‘This sense of security. I missed it so much.’

“What’s the matter? And why are you with Izekiel?”

He seemed to find the somewhat unexpected combination strange.

The answer came from Izekiel.

“We happened to meet each other.”

“…….”

“Linzel almost got hit by an arrow… so I was escorting her.”

“An arrow? You almost got hit by one just now?”

Herman separated from the embrace and examined his wife closely. His gaze was so intense that Linzel involuntarily flinched.

“Your Highness, I just got a little scratch on my cheek. The rest is fine.”

“Cheek? A little?”

“…..Yes.”

“You…! Why weren’t you being careful!”

Herman threw aside the spear he was holding and then lifted her up in his arms.

“I’m going to find out who’s behind this. Even if it was an accident, it is unforgivable.”