I stepped forward and spoke firmly. Then he chuckled and drew the sword at his waist.

“Everyone says that.”

His sword seemed to reek of the dead. In the suffocating atmosphere, Fazel and I quickly grabbed the swords the collapsed knights wore. When we raised our swords and took our stances, he looked at us with curiosity.

“You learned swordsmanship?”

He seemed not to have heard the information that we’d learned swordsmanship.

“But miss, you won’t die even if you don’t interfere. Is there really a need to step up for the boy?”

At his question, I spoke firmly.

“He’s my fiancé.”

“Ah, I see.”

He nodded at my words. Then he scratched his head and licked his lips with his red tongue.

“Other people regret it later. Wondering why they didn’t run away faster.”

He also raised his sword and shouted at us.

“If you want to live, struggle. Who knows, a miracle might happen.”

At his explosive killing intent, I gritted my teeth.

Nertian.

No one but Nertian would want me to live and only Fazel to die.

The assassin must have been sent by Nertian.

We raised our swords and lunged at the man to survive.

* * *

When he accepted this commission, he thought it would be very easy. He only had to kill one boy, and they were paying this much, so he thought it worked out well.

But unexpectedly, the two worked well together. The two rushed from both sides in a coordinated attack.

The client had definitely said not to kill the girl. He had no intention of killing her either.

Louelle Asnel.

The Emperor’s niece.

If he killed her, the Emperor would step in directly.

D*mn it.

They were more persistent than expected. Moreover, he didn’t know the girl would be this skilled in swordsmanship. So it was incredibly difficult to find an opening. 

Still, like a fairly skilled assassin who had attempted and succeeded in numerous assassinations, he didn’t miss the opening once it appeared and struck Louelle.

“My lady!”

Fazel quickly called out to Louelle. The attack must have landed properly because Louelle couldn’t get up from where she was.

“Oops, I only knocked her out.”

He panted for breath.

“I see.”

Fazel also let out ragged breaths. His shoulders were heaving.

“This girl is pretty good, huh? Even in a scary situation, she tried to protect you.”

Then Fazel just smiled.

“Is this a first for you too?”

At the man’s words, Fazel looked at Louelle with a strange gaze.

All his assumptions that she treated him kindly for some reason, so once her purpose was fulfilled she would turn cold and reveal her selfish heart, crumbled.

The stubbornness he’d been building up all this time seemed to shatter.

Why was she protecting him?

A surge of emotion rushed over him.

She might die protecting him!

Louelle Asnel.

“Now the sleeping pill’s effects are wearing off, so I should kill you soon.”

He slowly approached Fazel.

“I don’t want to.”

However, he wasn’t compliant.

“What?”

It was because of the hope that if he just stalled for time, if he just held out until the knights woke up, he might survive.

But this man would kill him before that. Even so, he couldn’t give up.

“I’m confident in running.”

Fazel left his sword behind and ran.

He’d been better at running than anyone since childhood. He could escape into the forest and then return to the villa.

Fazel thought that and ran.

His breath grew short, but he ran with all his strength. However, things didn’t go as well as he thought. Had he run in the wrong direction?

A massive cliff blocked his way. Fazel stopped walking and looked down. It was a precipice where he’d die immediately if he fell.

“Nowhere to run.”

The assassin walked toward Fazel. Fazel clenched his trembling hands. Without a sword, he couldn’t resist the man.

“That’s true.”

Fazel’s lips curved up. Hidden by the darkness, the man couldn’t quite see it.

“Now die.”

A smile formed on the man’s lips.

“That can’t happen.”

In an instant, Fazel threw his body off the cliff.

“No!”

When he ran, Fazel had already fallen off the cliff.

* * *

Louelle.

I heard someone calling me.

Survive alone if you have to!

You can hold on!

D*mn it!

He whispered to me while I was exhausted from protecting Fazel and fighting. But I said let’s survive together.

I opened my eyes wide.

“Fazel?”

I was facing him and the assassin, then I lost consciousness!

“Are you awake? Miss.”

The knights were looking at me with worried eyes. Tears welled up in Marlene’s eyes.

“Fazel!”

I quickly looked around.

He wasn’t there.

“Well…”

I asked in terror.

“Don’t tell me he’s dead?”

Then the knights quickly spoke with dark expressions.

“We searched the area, but only traces of him escaping to the cliff remain.”

Then did Fazel jump off the cliff?

“There’s no possibility the boy survived that cliff.”

“No.”

I recalled one fact.

He knows how to use flight magic! It was written that way in the novel. He jumped off the cliff because there’s a possibility he could survive too.

“Miss, I’m sorry, but Fazel…”

I cut off the words and spoke firmly.

“That’s an order. Search until a body appears.”

Fazel must be alive.

“He’s alive. I believe it.”

At my firm words, the knights looked at me with pitying eyes, but soon nodded at my gaze.

“Understood.”

Since day had broken, if they searched openly, the possibility of that man appearing again to attack us was low.

They had to find him within the time Fazel could hold on after falling from the cliff.

I gritted my teeth, stood up, and began giving specific instructions to the knights.

* * *

Fazel knew well that he wasn’t in a condition to move his body.

Thanks to drawing up his mana to the maximum while falling, he’d been able to save his life.

Magic had been his friend since childhood. Jumping from high places and landing lightly was one of his favorite games.

It was a secret others didn’t know.

To think this would save him.

Jumping off the cliff had been a gamble.

“Haa.”

He exhaled. He’d used too much mana in midair, just before his mana could reverse flow. If he used excessive mana all at once, his life became endangered from mana reversal.

It had really been close.

But the most important thing was the fact that he’d survived.

“Really foolish.”

He knew well who had done this.

It was the doing of that bastard who looked down on him for being illegitimate. Even thinking about it was disgusting.

“I barely survived though.”

He caught his breath on the ground.

The assassin probably couldn’t jump off the cliff, so here was safe.

The problem was he didn’t know where here was.

“Will my lady look for me? Won’t she think I’m dead?”

Fazel wrapped his arms around his body.

“Mother.”

Though it was summer, the mountain was cold.

He looked up at the sky. He could endure for a few days, but no longer than that.

“I don’t want to die.”

Fazel desperately prayed to one person who came to mind. The person who always helped him.

Louelle.

He sincerely hoped she wouldn’t give up and would find him.

When learning swordsmanship with his master, he’d often practiced together with Louelle. That had been helpful like this.

Louelle thought she was bad at swordsmanship, but that wasn’t true. Though not as much as him, she also had talent in swordsmanship.

Only she didn’t know it. He recalled when she’d asked him to spar. Back then he’d really done it without any particular thought. If he survived, he felt he could spar with her quite happily.

Had Louelle given up on him?

Honestly, Louelle might not need him. She could choose another man as her fiancé. Anxious thoughts overflowed. There was no reason she should be desperate for him.

Yet one thought filled him.

That Louelle had raised her sword to save him. Her face flickered before him, the one who fought even though she could have run away.

He wanted to trust her. That’s when it happened. He saw fire in the distance. Seeing the flickering light, Fazel used his last strength to create light with magic. Light that drove away the darkness of dawn rose into the sky.

Then people rushed over.

“Fazel!”

Louelle was among that group.

“I knew you were alive. Since you can use magic, I naturally thought you’d be alive.”

Louelle approached, panting.

Her expression twisted at seeing his condition, and she shed tears.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

“Really.”

‘Aren’t I just a consumable to you?’

“Of course. Why would I die?”

Fazel spoke confidently and tried to stand up, but immediately collapsed. He had no more strength to stand.

“Right?”

Louelle approached and supported him.

“He really was alive, just as Miss Louelle said.”

“Good heavens.”

He heard everyone murmuring.

Louelle hadn’t given up on him until the end.

The reason they searched until this late hour must have been because Louelle ordered it.

“Thank you.”

He took Louelle’s hand.

Whatever her ultimate purpose was, the fact that she treated him sincerely was true.

“Fazel?”

It wasn’t pure, but so what?

Seeing her raise her sword to protect him at the moment of death, the sharpness he’d held until now melted away.

“You found me. Thank you so much.”

Then Louelle spoke like it was obvious.

“You’re my fiancé.”

He no longer doubted these words of hers.

“…”

Fazel quietly looked at Louelle.

“Fazel?”

He took the hand of Louelle who was supporting him.

“May I call you by name from now on?”

It was the first sincerity Fazel showed to Louelle.

“Of course!”

Louelle smiled brightly.

At that radiant smile, Fazel’s face momentarily flushed. Her smiling face was so beautiful.