Chapter 61

A chilling silence filled the room. Noah stared at Mathis outside the door. It was a familiar face, but he didn’t seem like himself. A thick hand forced its way through the slightly open door.

“Forgive me, Your Highness.”

In the blink of an eye, Mathis’s hand grabbed Noah’s collar and yanked him forward.

The strength was tremendous. Noah used that force to press his back against the wall, then pushed Mathis toward the door.

Mathis grimaced as his back hit the door. Noah twisted the arm holding him. With the sound of bones twisting, Mathis grimaced at his now-broken arm.

“Stop this. The soldiers will arrive soon.”

“Ugh…”

Perhaps hearing the loud commotion, the murmuring of soldiers grew closer.

Nevertheless, Mathis didn’t give up and once again lunged his body toward Noah. Holding his broken arm behind him, Mathis gripped a dagger. Then, he locked the door.

“Your Highness… you must not leave this place.”

The hand holding the blade trembled slightly. Noah didn’t respond.

By now, the soldiers had arrived and were banging on the door. With a shout, Mathis thrust his blade forward.

“Your Highness! Your Highness!”

“Commander! Are you inside?!”

Though the soldiers’ urgent calls drowned out the sound, it seemed Mathis had achieved his goal.

Cornered, Noah lowered his gaze to the blade pressed against his neck. Crimson blood trickled down from the sharp edge digging into his skin.

“Gah… urgh…”

But that was all. Noah’s knee had already struck Mathis’s side faster than he could act.

Struck in a vital spot, Mathis collapsed, unable to maintain his posture.

“Your Highness! Are you all right?!”

The door was soon broken down, and soldiers poured into the room. Everyone was shocked at the scene before them.

Noah brushed past the soldiers who were restraining Mathis and approached him.

“Why did you stop the blade at the last moment?”

It was only after a long silence that Mathis raised his head to look at Noah. With sorrowful eyes, he opened his mouth and spoke in a cracked voice.

“Your existence will hurt many people again.”

“……”

“The past must not repeat itself. Your Highness… you know this well, don’t you?”

His final words, tinged with emotion, were particularly clear.

At that moment, Noah felt a burning sensation in his neck, as if a wound that had stopped bleeding had reopened. He raised his hand to his neck again. This time, he felt hardened blood.

‘Now that your identity has been revealed, you’ll face threats worse than before.’

As Essis’s words came to mind, Noah looked back at Mathis, who had lowered his gaze.

“Your Highness! You mustn’t!”

“What are you doing?! Stop him now!”

Noah stepped out into the hallway, dodging the soldiers who belatedly tried to stop him, and ran to the opposite side. The past repeats itself. Precious people are lost. The precious people he had now, too.

He had a bad feeling. An unavoidable misfortune seemed to be tightening its grip around his throat. Whatever it was, it had to be severed. If he didn’t want to run away again.

***

Fallen petals from the bushes were crushed underfoot. Karina was walking behind the mansion. Despite her leisurely pace, her mind was far from calm.

‘He’s not going to show up, is he?’

Even though it had been a long time since she arrived, there was no sign of Noah. As she hoped for another stroke of luck, she faintly heard voices from inside the wall.

“…there? Over there…”

“He’s not here. I told you, he’s not.”

The voices grew clearer and closer. Karina quickened her steps toward the small gate she saw ahead.

“Let’s just go back. He must’ve noticed and run away.”

However, as she neared the gate, Karina felt something off about the conversation. Instinctively hiding her body against a nearby wall, she saw the owners of the voices. Karina covered her mouth.

“Should we have come earlier?”

“It’s no use. That Baine guy is already here. He must’ve seen us.”

“That’s impossible. We handled it so quietly.”

Two men, one wearing a black mask and the other a white mask, walked out through the small gate.

The man in the black mask held a sword in his hand. The blade was soaked in red blood.

“Ugh, how annoying. Why couldn’t he just stay put?”

Clicking his tongue, the man in the black mask swung the bloodied sword to the side.

The red stain left on the green grass unsettled Karina. She tightly closed her eyes.

At that moment, footsteps suddenly sounded from behind. The two men immediately turned around, on guard.

“Who’s there?!”

Karina widened her eyes and looked toward the source of the sound. Ron emerged awkwardly from behind a tree.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I seem to have taken a wrong turn…”

“What?”

The man in the white mask tilted his head suspiciously at Ron’s sudden excuse. Meanwhile, the other man discreetly hid his sword behind his back, watching carefully.

In the tense atmosphere, Ron waved his arms and pointed in the direction he had come from. It seemed he was signaling for Karina to retreat. Karina held her breath and moved.

“A wrong turn, huh… That’s unfortunate. Which knight order are you from?”

“I’m not affiliated with any. I’m just a trainee.”

“What brings you to this area?”

“I came to practice with a crossbow. My skills are still lacking.”

Ron joked lightly as he walked further away from Karina.

Karina forced herself to move her frozen feet and retraced her steps as Ron indicated.

“Ah, I see. I thought it might be something serious.”

The man in the white mask casually followed Ron, stepping closer. Karina hesitated but continued forward.

Then it happened. Someone collapsed in her peripheral vision. Karina froze in place.

“You startled me. I was wondering if I should just let you go.”

“Wha… what is this…”

“Don’t scream. It’s noisy.”

Ron, who had slumped into the man’s arms, looked down in disbelief. Blood was seeping from his abdomen where a dagger was lodged.

“What, trying to kill him?”

The man in the black mask spoke indifferently and walked toward the two in front of him.

“Why are you asking something so obvious? It’s not like you didn’t think this would happen.”

“I didn’t think you’d do it yourself.”

The two men conversed nonchalantly, as if this situation was nothing new. Ron, clutching his stomach, turned his head toward Karina. His pale face moved as if to speak, but it didn’t last long.

“More importantly… there’s a little rat hiding nearby.”

The man in the white mask muttered as he turned his body in a circle.

He turned precisely in Karina’s direction. Their eyes met.

“There she is.”

She was caught. The brief eye contact sent every danger signal through her body.

‘I need to run.’

Her instincts told her so. She had to leave this place immediately. Even so, Karina couldn’t move. If she ran now, Ron would die.

As Karina hesitated, unable to choose, the man in the white mask began to move.

“Stop… right there.”

Ron gritted his teeth and pulled the crossbow’s string. But even that was kicked away by the man in the black mask.

“Oh, how scary. I almost died.”

“Ron!”

The man in the white mask mockingly exaggerated his movements, raising his hand. He then approached Karina again. However, just as he was within a few steps, he stopped abruptly.

Karina slowly lowered her gaze. An arrow was embedded in the ground right in front of the man’s feet.

“Young Lady!”

It wasn’t Ron’s. It was the urgent voice calling her from above.

“What are you doing?! Run already!”

Kaya appeared atop the wall, drawing her bow. Before she could think, Karina’s legs were already moving.

***

The arrow flew fiercely, slicing through the air. The man barely dodged it and approached the wall. Kaya drew her bow once more and glanced downward.

‘Why on earth is she here?’

Karina was helping the fallen man to his feet. It seemed like she intended to escape with him.

Kaya let out a deep sigh, released the bowstring, and jumped down from the wall. The black-masked man nearby stepped back. Kaya removed her bow.

“Do you even know who’s really been inconvenienced here, you guys?”

She couldn’t figure out how things had gotten to this point. All she had done was come to retrieve her furry companions and her pillow.

“What’s she saying?”

“Who knows? Maybe her last words before dying.”

The masked men shrugged their shoulders and pointed their swords at Kaya.

Kaya sighed deeply once more and pulled out a dagger from her pocket.

“Let me ask you one thing. Were you the ones who turned Baine into a half-dead corpse?”

She had to buy some time for Karina, who was still struggling to lift her companion. Of course, she was also curious. After all, Baine was quite a skilled knight.

“Who… oh, the guy inside?”

The black-masked man swung his blood-stained sword indifferently.

“I did it. Got annoyed when no one came looking for him.”

At his words, Kaya gripped the dagger tightly in her hand. She had already confirmed Baine’s condition. He had been lying at the mansion’s front entrance, where he usually stood. On her way out after flipping the mansion upside down in search of her beloved pillow, Kaya had thrown the pillow aside and rushed to Baine.

“I didn’t kill him. I just used him to vent for a bit.”

“……”

“We didn’t even do anything that bad, did we?”

She hadn’t particularly grown attached to Baine. She had always known he was assigned to keep an eye on her. So this wasn’t anger. Kaya repeated that to herself as she loosened the grip in her tingling hand.

When she glanced across, she saw that Karina had finally entered the forest. The masked men seemed to have noticed as well. The white-masked man smirked.

“Looks like you know them?”

Kaya didn’t respond. The black-masked man then pointed behind him.

“They seem to be running away… don’t worry. We’re not going after them.”

“Right. We’re not that petty.”

“Really? That’s so touching.”

“Of course.”

The white-masked man nodded cheerfully and suddenly lunged at Kaya. The thick longsword and the dagger clashed violently. Kaya gritted her teeth and glared at the masked man in front of her.

“I’ll kill you first, and then I’ll go after them.”

The gleaming eyes staring back at her carried a threat unlike anything she had ever faced before.