“Aren’t you going to ask why I kidnapped those women?”

He tried to engage Rudfelix in conversation to somehow buy time.

“I’m not actually a bad person, but you know, there are circumstances……”

Before he could finish his sentence, he blocked Rudfelix’s sword.

It was actually the scabbard, but it was still enough to send him flying backward.

“Argh!”

Mikeil screamed in pain as his entire body felt shattered upon hitting the wall.

He collapsed helplessly in a fight he hadn’t even properly engaged in.

After hitting the wall and bouncing off, Mikeil forcibly steadied his trembling body.

“Ugh.”

Mikeil forcibly suppressed the phlegm rising in his throat and raised his flexible sword. However, he almost lost consciousness due to a strange light.

The sword Rudfelix had drawn from its scabbard was glowing.

Despair rose in Mikeil’s eyes as he saw the golden light that soldiers had reportedly seen in the valley. To think it was real. Then was the rumor about turning rocks to powder also true?

Rudfelix was about to use on Mikeil the same power that had crushed rocks. If rocks had disappeared without a trace, how could a human body withstand it!

“No more.”

Mikeil tried to turn and flee. Preserving his own life was now the priority.

“What a fool.”

Rudfelix’s voice seemed to disappear behind the golden crescent.

“Argh!”

Mikeil collapsed forward, feeling a burning pain across his back. Blood pouring from the wound soaked his back with heat. Mikeil was barely trying to hold onto the thread of consciousness.

He had been told he couldn’t escape.

Wasn’t that what Rudfelix had meant?

Mikeil lost consciousness, lying face down in the same spot where Elena had first fallen.

“Haa.”

Elena, who had stepped back to avoid interfering with the fight between Rudfelix and Mikeil, took a breath that had been constricted by tension. It was a trembling experience just to watch as Rudfelix swung his sword as if he would truly cut through skin and sever limbs.

“Alix.”

Elena took Rudfelix’s hand. His body, tense and trembling with anger, instantly settled. Her large eyes turned into a calm lake, pulling him into their still depths.

Only then did Elena relax, as the sharp pressure of Rudfelix’s aura softened into gentleness.

“Did you kill him?”

Blood from the fallen man was soaking the floor in concentric circles. The wound didn’t appear deep, but she asked because he seemed likely to die from excessive bleeding.

“We’ll see.”

Is he dead or not?

“Thank you anyway.”

Elena rested her forehead against Rudfelix’s chest.

Though her clothes were wrinkled and soaked with sweat, even that made her smile.

Thinking about how he must have run everywhere to find her made her feel both sorry and grateful.

As she leaned against his firm yet warm chest, she could feel his heartbeat gradually slowing. Then, when his chest hardened again, Elena raised her head.

“What’s wrong?”

Looking up at Rudfelix, she saw him watching outside while pulling her waist into his embrace.

Had someone else appeared? Just as Elena turned her head to look, she heard footsteps.

Rudfelix pointed his sword at the approaching Suharto.

“Should I consider this hostility toward the imperial family?”

Suharto tapped the sword tip with his index finger and pushed it aside. The sword, which had moved aside obediently, aimed at Suharto’s Adam’s apple again. It was a moment that made observers tense.

“How did you get here?”

“You think only you were out looking for people.”

Suharto extended his hand toward Roina, who was trembling in the corner.

“Ah, Roina.”

Roina, who had barely been able to breathe deeply, walked toward Suharto as if enchanted by his gesture. Her face was wet with tears from the sadness of not having received comfort from anyone.

“My whole body is soaked with sweat from looking for you.”

As Suharto gently smiled while brushing back his wet hair, Roina clung to his arm while sobbing.

“Let’s go back.”

Suharto put his arm around Roina’s shoulders. As Roina walked half-leaning on him, Rudfelix tried to stop Suharto.

“Alix.”

Elena called to Rudfelix.

“I’m in pain.”

She pointed to her throbbing arm. Rudfelix’s gaze briefly cut across Suharto before returning to Elena. To him, Elena was everything and she was the priority.

“Alright.”

Elena smiled faintly. It didn’t make sense to respond “alright” to someone saying they were in pain. In other words, he was agreeing to her intention to stop him, which made her smile. His arm moved from Elena’s waist to her hips and then lifted her up.

“Though my legs aren’t injured, I’ll lean on you for a while.”

She didn’t even pretend to say she would get down and walk.

“Whenever you’re tired, put me down. But only ten steps before.”

Elena exhaled comfortably and returned to her usual self.

“Let me prepare mentally too.”

Elena closed her eyes, feeling Rudfelix’s laughter through her body.

The time of being kidnapped and toyed with by the kidnapper. She would probably never forget the fear that accumulated during that time.

‘But I survived.’

She decided to bury in her heart the fear she had felt thinking she might die.

As her eyelashes trembled at her stinging eyes, a single tear flew away silently in the wind.

***

“Ugh……”

Mikeil, who had barely regained consciousness, coughed up a handful of blood.

Though the bleeding seemed to have lessened, indicating he wasn’t going to die, an excruciating pain washed over him that prevented him from getting up.

It was a miracle that it ended like this, as he had thought he was going to die. While Mikeil was just enduring the pain with small groans, someone entered the log cabin.

“You didn’t die.”

A woman’s voice came from above his head.

“Did you…… save me?”

Mikeil relaxed his limbs without even being able to lift his head. He couldn’t move a finger anyway.

“I haven’t saved you yet.”

The woman answered indifferently as she uncorked a glass bottle. Then she poured it onto Mikeil’s wound.

“Argh!”

Mikeil screamed as the wound felt like it was burning and the pain seemed to devour his entire body.

“Are you…… haa. Are you trying to…… kill me?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t kill you.”

The woman exhaled a deep sigh, as if she truly meant it. She poured a potion on Mikeil’s wound and forcibly opened his mouth to feed him some of it.

After giving him time until he could move, she tapped his head lightly with her foot.

“Get up.”

“Don’t…… rush me. Aah.”

He had really almost died.

Only after sweating profusely as if he had been to hell’s fire and back did Mikeil slowly lift his body from the floor. It wasn’t poison after all; after the intense pain, the wound healed quickly. His body was gradually regaining a little vitality.

“Where were you? I almost really died……”

Mikeil’s voice faded as he noticed presences he hadn’t felt until now.

Knights pointing swords at both him and the woman finally released the energy they had been concealing.

It was similar to the Grand Duke’s energy, though not as strong.

“You should have just died. Then I could have denied knowing anything.”

Irritation gathered between the woman’s brows. Having been caught while trying to escape with Mikeil, she was in no position to extricate herself.

“What is this……”

“Can’t you see? You were caught while waiting for you to come out.”

The woman lifted her neck demonstratively. She showed the marks of being choked by the Grand Duke and waved both hands.

“Then……”

Mikeil finally began to grasp what had happened. He had thought the Grand Duke had come straight to rescue his lover, but instead, he had searched the mountain and captured his hidden companion. Then he came to the log cabin, completely caught in the net he had set.

“We were never a match for him from the beginning.”

The woman looked at the knights with terrified eyes. Their fate now rested in the Grand Duke’s hands. Mikeil, who had not realized the Grand Duke had temporarily shown mercy and had simply thought he survived due to good luck, touched his forehead with a despairing expression.

“We’re ruined.”

***

Rudfelix followed behind Suharto, who was walking at Roina’s slow pace.

Rudfelix descended the mountain steadily while carrying Elena, showing no signs of strain. As it seemed he would continue carrying her all the way down, Elena wiped the sweat that had formed on Rudfelix’s forehead.

“Haven’t we reached ten steps yet?”

Recalling Elena’s request to let her know in advance when he would put her down, Rudfelix silently nodded.

“You must be tired.”

“I’m not tired.”

“But you’re sweating so much.”

“That’s not because I’m tired.”

As Rudfelix tightly embraced Elena, their already-touching bodies clung together without even the slightest gap.

“Even while holding you like this, I feel anxious and can’t relax.”

Rudfelix’s voice broke intermittently and trembled slightly. He seemed unable to shake off the sense of loss he had experienced when he thought he had lost his lover. Elena, feeling sorry, unnecessarily wiped his sweat.

‘I was only thinking about saving myself and didn’t even look out for others……’

She felt guilty, wondering if things might have been different had she been more careful.

“I’m really terrible.”

As Elena rested her head against him, his lips pressed close to her ear.

“I only thought, ‘You would have known right away that something happened to me since I was on my way to meet you,’ and felt relieved about that. I didn’t have the consideration to think about your feelings.”

She had been so preoccupied with figuring out how to survive that she had no room for other thoughts. That’s why she felt so sorry toward Rudfelix.

‘He would be sadder than anyone if I died.’

Elena slightly turned her head and mumbled with her lips.

“I really want to stay right by your side.”

“……Elena.”

Whether moved by Elena’s words or choked with emotion, Rudfelix forced his voice out.