“……Did you kill him?”

Arne’s pupils met Cedric’s through the gaps between his fingers. A languid and weary voice flowed.

“Dead men tell no tales.”

“So you mean? Dead men tell no tales, right? But we needed to interrogate him to uncover who’s behind this!”

The Knight Commander, having finally come to his senses, muttered while clutching his head in despair.

Cedric stepped on the assassin’s shoulder and pulled out his sword on the recoil. Hot liquid splashed over Arne and Cedric’s faces once more.

“What happened to the other one?”

“We’re pursuing him but it’s not easy. Seems like this one used some kind of drug. Many knights are showing symptoms of paralysis, causing complications…”

Only then did the Knight Commander notice the woman Cedric was shielding with his body from seeing the assassin. The Commander was at a loss for words upon seeing her unflustered by the sight of the assassin.

“Complications… com…”

Feeling the Knight Commander’s gaze, Cedric fully embraced Arne with one arm, showing only the back of her head. The Commander was left speechless.

‘Lord Cedric was with a woman?’

The other knights who arrived one after another were the same.

“Commander-in-Chief, we lost one of them. The other one was seen heading this way… Uh…”

“Com…”

“Uh, uh, um… Uh…”

Like bears who had stolen fruit wine, all the knights from the north, with their massive statures, made only groaning sounds as if they were malfunctioning.

“It’s noisy. Deal with this, and keep your silence about everything that happened today.”

With that, Cedric threw the assassin to the commander and closed the door of the chamber. The commander and the knights stared blankly at the closed door as if they were out of their minds.

* * *

After making sure the door was firmly closed, Cedric’s gaze fell on the small head.

“Lady, are you alright?”

Arne looked up at Cedric cautiously and slowly nodded.

“I know recovery is a priority for you, but I have to ask. Did you know that jar contained paralysis poison?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know?”

She couldn’t say it was because he had told her on their first night together in her previous life, so she found a suitable excuse.

“In the Great Demon War, the Ronia ducal family was in charge of medical support and new medicine development. I helped the duke, so I know about most medicines and poisons. Paralysis poison was one of the poisons widely used during the Demon War.”

To be precise, she had been secretly trained as a knight of Ronia during the war, so she’s well-versed in herbs as well as poisons and antidotes. She even had resistance to paralysis poison from being exposed to it so often.

“……I see.”

Cedric, who seemed lost in thought while gazing at Arne, continued as he picked her up.

“I’ll issue a gag order on today’s events. Also, we’ll say that you accidentally entered the grand duke’s territory due to a surge in your magical power and happened to meet an assassin, got severely injured, and lost consciousness, which is why you received treatment before returning home. This should not tarnish the honor of a noble lady, what do you think?”

“…Okay. But please send the letter later. I want to explain today’s events to Duke Ronia myself.”

“As the lady wishes.”

After placing Arne on the bed, Cedric faced her and nodded.

“We’ll see a physician when the day breaks. I’ve promised, but if a noble lady, not an assassin, were to die in the grand duke’s villa, it could lead to conflict between families.”

“I understand.”

“And don’t do this next time.”

Arne blinked to understand his meaning. Cedric’s voice seemed to suppress anger somehow.

‘Is he angry because we couldn’t capture the assassin alive and had to kill it instead?’

Cedric pulled out an extra blanket and tucked it around Arne up to her chin. As he spoke, only her face peeked out.

“You’re not from Renigrad. It would be too unfair if you lost your precious life getting involved in this. This is Renigrad’s karma.”

As Arne’s red pupils widened in surprise, Cedric tightened his grip on the blanket. The tendons on his hand stood out as he lifted the blanket up to below her lips.

“And I’ll stand guard tonight. The assassin hasn’t been caught yet, and you might need emergency treatment.”

As Cedric lifted the blanket oppressively high, Arne peeked out her face and rolled her red pupils.

“Does emergency treatment necessarily require contact? Like how you were holding me earlier.”

Cedric missed a beat before answering, caught off guard by her unexpected question.

“……It’s not well known, but thanks to my mother… an elven god… I can use spirit mana. I’ve never formally learned it, so I just hope for healing through contact with a sincere wish for recovery.”

“So you were praying for me not to be hurt?”

“……Yes.”

“…Thank you.”

She was an open book with her expressions. Just that made her look strangely poignant with her surprised pupils and slightly curved happy eyes.

“It’s the first time someone has prayed for me not to be hurt.”

Cedric couldn’t take his eyes off Arne’s faintly smiling face.

“So we’re just holding hands while sleeping?”

Her red pupils peeked out from under the blanket and blinked. She wriggled a bit and then stretched out a hand towards him.

“Not now. When you’re in critical condition.”

“Ah, yes.”

Cedric felt like he shouldn’t take her hand. No, he had planned to watch over her tonight, but now it seemed like he needed to leave the room immediately.

“Sleep.”

“What about you, Lord Cedric?”

“I’ll sleep as well.”

Cedric pulled a chair next to the bed and crossed his legs.

“You’re going to sleep sitting on a chair?”

“It seems… more comfortable that way.”

“I’d rather sit on the chair…”

“Sleep.”

“Okay.”

Arne rolled her eyes as she saw Cedric, who was sitting in the chair and looking at her with his head tilted slightly. There was no way she could sleep comfortably. Besides, Cedric had developed a bruise because of her.

“Is your injury okay?”

“I’m healing it with the spirit’s mana, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Won’t sleeping like that worsen the injury or cause stiffness?”

“Lady.”

“Yes.”

“I was a knight who rolled on the battlefield every day until not so long ago. It’s very common to catch some sleep during missions like this. And.”

Cedric’s gaze, with a furrow between his brows, stayed firmly on Arne.

“You may be just a pretty corpse walking around, but your body is different. That’s why.”

Cedric grasped Arne’s hand.

“Stop talking. Just speaking seems to drain the mana from your core.”

“Ah.”

Embarrassed, Arne blinked. Indeed, the mana core, which should have been purple, was pale. Out of embarrassment, she blurted out anything.

“What if I let go while sleeping? Would I die then?”

“I won’t let go, so you can sleep without worrying.”

“…Okay.”

Arne felt her face heat up and pulled the blanket up to her chin. Despite feeling sorry, she fell asleep quickly after such a long day.

Cedric watched Arne breathing softly in sleep and fell into thought.

‘She sleeps well.’

The lady needed to be more cautious. Unlike him, who was always on edge, her defenseless appearance made Cedric chuckle.

‘Is this the naivety of a young lady at this time of year?’

Yet, she wasn’t entirely naive. Her boldness in making demands that sounded like threats or recognizing and handling paralysis poison wasn’t something a naive lady could show.

Seeing Arne kick off the blanket in her sleep, Cedric smiled wryly and covered her up to her chin again.

‘Interesting. It doesn’t seem like it, but how did such rumors spread?’

Despite being covered up again, Arne kicked off the blanket. She even sweated as if she was having a nightmare.

Seeing the thin bruise marks on her slender neck that he had caused, Cedric flinched.

‘She’s thin.’

Her body was full of patterns caused by a surge in magical power. For a knight, it would be like having scars all over the body.

‘She needs to eat well.’

He felt pity, but it was an excessive sympathy. It emerged from seeing the precarious secret side of someone who’s only known for their bold spirit and elegant threats.

‘I won’t have any more encounters with her after I finish treating her tomorrow, after all.’

It was just an emotion like the heat of a summer night that would disappear by morning. Cedric closed his eyes.

But Cedric overlooked one thing. This woman had never acted as he expected.

Contrary to worrying about letting go while sleeping, Arne suddenly pulled on Cedric’s hand so forcefully that he almost fell onto her on the bed.

Not stopping there, the struggling lady tightly hugged Cedric’s neck as if she couldn’t afford to lose him.

“This lady really…”

Frowning and lifting his head, Cedric couldn’t bring himself to be angry anymore.

Arne hugged Cedric desperately, tears streaming down her eyes as if she had lost the most precious thing in the world. It was as if a silent cry of despair was pouring out.

“Vivian!”

* * *

“Are you conscious now?”

Through heavy eyelids, she could see the figure of Cedric sitting in a chair. He put down the book about mana surges he was holding and brushed away the hair stuck to Arne’s sweaty cheek.

“Just lie down. It seems to be the aftermath of a mana surge. I should have paid more attention.”

Cedric’s brow furrowed deeply. The blood-stained white bedsheet looked as if someone had died on it, even though Cedric had clearly brought out a new blanket.

“Why are the blanket and sheet like this?”

“…Do you not remember?”

A low groan deepened the furrow in Cedric’s brow. Last night, Arne had clung to Cedric, mumbling pleas for her life before fainting.

And then she fainted several more times while convulsing. She had used so much strength that she vomited blood, staining the white sheets and blanket red again.

That was it. To Cedric, she…

‘Good thing I was beside her, otherwise, seriously.’

Cedric bit his lip. He had seen too much, unavoidably so.

When Arne tried to look closely at the sheet, she felt Cedric’s hand holding hers.

“I’ve been holding it the whole time?”