Special Side Story 6

As the warships entered the Nubigea Strait, the thick fog made it difficult to distinguish even the rocky islands right in front, despite it being midday.  

The wyverns that had gone out for reconnaissance returned to the deck, folding their wings.  

“I know the map. There are many rocky islands to the right, so I’ll keep watch on the starboard side.”  

When Rose threw off her cloak and stood at the bow of the ship, people looked at her with doubtful eyes.  

“How do you know this?”  

“I’ve studied a lot about naval battle history.”  

When even Felix asked with lingering suspicion, Rose quickly came up with a plausible answer, her eyes darting.  

“Is that so?”  

Felix gave a curt reply and stood at the port side of the bow.  

‘What is this? This feeling of déjà vu?’  

As the commander of the Wyvern Unit, he had never been here before. Yet, despite it being his first visit, the place felt oddly familiar.  

“There’s a rock close to the left. Use the oars to push against it!”  

When a dark rock appeared through the fog, Felix instinctively gave the command.  

“Yes, Commander!”  

“A rock has appeared at two o’clock on the starboard side! Turn the ship to port!”  

“What? Y-Yes, sir!”  

Following the commands of Felix and Rose, the knights and sailors moved in perfect unison, skillfully navigating between the rocks.  

Creak, scrape—. The sound of oars scraping against rocks echoed several times before a rather large island emerged in the distance.  

“There will be sentries. If we fire guns, the pirates will notice immediately, so I’ll use a crossbow.”  

Rose loaded arrows onto two crossbows and looked at Felix.  

“I brought archers. We’ll take out the sentries on the cliffs first, and then proceed to fire.”  

Felix pointed to the knights holding longbows as tall as an adult man. Though their size was a drawback, they were ideal for discreetly hitting distant targets.  

Felix and Douglas divided into two teams, transferring to smaller boats to head ashore.  

***

“The more we hit, the safer the other knights will be during the operation!”  

“Yes, Commander!”  

The archers stopped their boat just below the coastal cliffs. Due to the length of their bows, not all archers could shoot at once, so they took turns firing.  

“I’ll shoot the sentries on the shore with my crossbow.”  

Rose aimed her crossbow at the pirates on the beach rather than those atop the cliffs.  

The thick fog obscured visibility between them. Occasionally, when the wind dispersed the fog, she fired at the spots she had marked earlier. 

‘Bullseye! The fog is preventing the pirates from even firing their guns!’  

The natural defense of the Nubigea Strait’s fog was now working against the pirates, blinding them.  

Rose leisurely took down one pirate after another with her crossbow.  

Meanwhile, Felix, having reached the shore, signaled his subordinates.  

The pirates’ base had two main locations: one resembling an underground prison and another that appeared to be their operational headquarters.  

Felix decided to attack the headquarters, while Douglas and Cecilia headed for the underground prison.  

It was likely that the employees of the Bettran Trading Company, who had been kidnapped earlier, were being held in the prison.  

As the operation began, gunfire echoed in all directions. Rose and the archers landed on the shore. 

“First, support the headquarters operation!”  

Under the command of the archery captain, they all headed to the right side of the island.  

“Commander!”  

Fortunately, before they even reached the headquarters, Felix emerged from the building, dragging what appeared to be the pirate leader by the scruff of his neck.  

“Rose. Close your eyes.”  

“Why?”  

Before Rose could even shut her eyes, Felix threw the pirate leader to the ground and pressed his boot against the man’s back.  

‘Wait! Is he going to kill him right here? Without a trial?’  

Could he do that? 

Considering how many Imperial citizens and foreigners had died at the hands of these pirates, maybe it was justified. But still, k*lling a captured enemy without trial seemed wrong.  

As Rose wavered, trying to decide, Felix spoke.  

“Speak quickly. I’m not very patient.”  

Click. The sound of Felix cocking his rifle and loading ammunition echoed. The archery captain beside him hurriedly covered Rose’s eyes.  

“Spare me! I’ll reveal all the spies from the Tiola Empire and the Empire of Ernst! I’ll even expose the nobles who’ve backed us!”  

The pirate leader, pinned under Felix’s boot, crawled on the ground, begging for his life.  

Seeing their leader’s pitiful state, the captured pirate subordinates lost their will to fight and slumped to the ground.  

“Commander, where is the Crown Prince?”  

“He’s rescuing the hostages in the underground prison. Follow me. I know the way.”  

Felix took Rose and ran swiftly.  

‘Even though it’s his first time here!’  

He moved without hesitation, as if he had been here before.  

“This way. That’s a decoy!”  

Avoiding the convincing trap set up by the pirates, he pointed to a small cave beside it.  

***

As the commotion outside the underground prison intensified, the hostages from the Bettran Trading Company gathered near the prison door.  

Gunfire, clashing swords, and anguished screams echoed for a while before the sound of footsteps descending the stairs reached them.  

The steps were lighter than those of a man…  

“Young Master!”  

The hostages beamed with joy at the sight of a familiar face, their smiles bright enough to reveal their teeth.  

“Shh! Stay quiet. I’ll get you out of here!”  

Cecilia and Douglas, who had entered the underground prison, killed the pirates guarding the cells and began searching for the keys.  

“Gunfire was heard!”  

“The situation outside has been handled. Felix must have cleared the headquarters by now.”  

Douglas and his subordinates searched the fallen pirates’ clothes for the missing keyring but couldn’t find it.  

“Find the keys!”  

Douglas, frustrated, ran a hand through his hair.  

The prison door was made of iron. Though old, its thickness made it difficult to break through by force.  

“Search more thoroughly! If we can’t find it, we’ll break the door down!”  

Just as Douglas decided to force the door open if necessary, a voice interrupted.  

“Is this what you’re looking for, Your Highness?”  

A man in an Ernst Empire naval officer’s uniform aimed a gun at Douglas’s head, twirling the keyring on his finger.  

“You b*stard!”  

“Oh dear, oh dear. Your Highness, if you get too worked up, Lady Cecilia might get hurt. We wouldn’t want this pretty face to be scarred, would we?”  

Another man, also in a naval officer’s uniform, smirked as he held a blade to Cecilia’s face.  

“K*ll them all before Felix arrives! Erase all traces!”  

“Eliminate the enemies!”  

When the man in the naval officer’s uniform gave the order, chaos erupted inside the prison.  

Swords clashed without giving anyone time to reload their guns, and suddenly, a gunshot rang out.  

One by one, the pirates collapsed, clutching their chests and vomiting blood.  

“Let Cecilia go!”  

“Are you insane? She’s my lifeline! Stay back! If you take one more step, I’ll stab her for real!”  

The pirate, who had been wildly brandishing a dagger, finally drew a thin line of blood across Cecilia’s neck. Rose aimed her crossbow at him.  

“You think I’ll just let that happen when I can see you so clearly?”  

Hearing the pirate’s sneer, Rose fired her crossbow. Then she immediately flipped her hand.  

“Pathetic!”  

The pirate deflected the arrow with a swing of his dagger as soon as it was fired.  

No knight would fail to deflect such a predictable shot.  

“Huh… why?”  

He blinked at the red liquid soaking his arm, staring blankly at it.  

“Delayed attack. My crossbow has two bolts.”  

Rose grinned as she flipped the crossbow back and forth.  

It was a small, dual crossbow she had designed to cut reload time in half.  

“Cecilia!”  

Douglas, having defeated all the pirates, ran toward Cecilia.  

He thought he had embraced her, but in his arms was the pirate, bleeding and still bewildered as to why he had been hit.  

“Rose!”  

“Cecilia! Thank goodness. I’m so glad you’re safe.”  

Rose held Cecilia tightly as she collapsed to the ground, repeating the same words over and over.  

Her shoulders trembled so much it was hard to believe she was the same woman who had just confidently taken down pirates.  

“You saved me, Rose. Thank you.”  

Cecilia gently stroked Rose’s back as she held her.  

There was no avoiding it now. She had to admit it. This girl, Rose, suited Felix far better than she had expected.  

“Let’s go back now.”  

Douglas separated Cecilia and Rose, who were still holding each other.  

“Rose, you did well.”  

“I’m glad Felix is safe too.”  

Felix looked at Rose with deep affection as he draped a cloak over her shoulders.  

Douglas, watching this, took off his jacket.  

‘Seriously, bringing a cloak to battle just for show?’  

He regretted not bringing a cloak himself. All he could offer Cecilia was his jacket.  

“I don’t need it, Your Highness. It’s stained with blood.”  

Cecilia scrunched up her shoulders in distaste, gingerly pinching the jacket between her thumb and forefinger.  

“Just wear it until we get back to the palace.”  

Douglas even buttoned the front of the jacket for her.  

Meanwhile, Rose clutched her blood-stained cloak tightly, as if it were precious.  

Cecilia, on the other hand, was infuriating in every way, from start to finish.  

***

“Cecilia Bettran. Rose Arnes. You are hereby arrested for interfering with a military operation.”  

Before they could even catch their breath after safely returning to the palace, the knights under the Crown Prince’s direct command arrived to detain Cecilia and Rose.  

“Rose, are we really under arrest?”  

Confined—or not quite confined—to the third floor of the Banquet Palace, Rose and Cecilia spent their days pacing the hallways out of boredom.  

The Banquet Palace, when not in use for events, served as a guest residence. The two were allowed to roam only the third floor.  

“I heard there’s an imperial decree to keep us here until the remaining pirates are eliminated. It’s probably also to show others that we’re being punished for interfering in a military operation.”  

Rose stood in front of a portrait in the hallway, sharing what Felix had told her.  

The sun had already set, and the hallway beyond the windows was bathed in a deep red glow.  

‘Lexion. Adelina… and me.’  

Seeing the familiar faces in the painting brought tears to her eyes.  

If only they had forgiven her a hundred years earlier. If only they had let her out of the mirror a hundred years earlier.  

At the very least, before he died… if only she could have told him she loved him.  

She knew it was wrong to resent the gods, but she couldn’t help feeling bitter.  

“Rose.”  

Hearing the familiar voice, she turned her head to see Felix approaching, faintly smelling of gunpowder.  

Why did he have to resemble him so much, even in voice, making it all the harder?  

‘Felix is not Stephan. He’s someone else.’  

She knew that. Her mind understood, but her heart kept racing toward him.  

“Have the pirates been completely dealt with?”  

“Yes. Let’s go outside.”  

Felix extended his hand to Rose. Strangely, no one ever corrected her for speaking informally to everyone, not even him.  

When Rose glanced at Cecilia, who was awkwardly standing nearby, she smiled bashfully and waved.  

Rose placed her hand in Felix’s and walked alongside him.  

“I got permission for us to stay here tonight.”  

Felix led her to an old, small annex of the Imperial Palace.  

It was the same annex where her grave had once been. The bedroom, which she had loved as a princess and often stayed in, had been cleaned and prepared.  

“Just so you know, nothing beyond level two is allowed.”  

“Ha. Do you think I’m that kind of guy?”  

“Are you not? Never mind, then.”  

She drew a line in advance, just in case, and he left the room with a serious expression, leaving her behind.  

***

Tonight was a new moon.  

The stars shone brightly, trying their best to illuminate the garden, but they were no match for the absent moonlight, leaving the area dim and shadowy.  

Taking advantage of the darkness, someone was diligently digging near a grave under a rose tree in the garden with a dagger.  

“Found it!”  

The disheveled woman grinned widely as she pulled something from the ground near the grave.  

“As expected… a witch.”