Chapter 104: Gradually Finding Its Place

Latte wasn’t a trained swordsman. Though her wielding of the dagger and throwing poison pouches was threatening, it wasn’t impossible to dodge. The problem was where Bliss was standing now. More precisely, the bookshelf behind her. If the poison pouch caused a reaction and triggered a large explosion when it hit, not just Bliss but the entire palace could be blown away.

‘I’ll have to block it with my body.’

Though she was afraid of what pain might come to her body, preventing a bigger disaster took priority.

As she watched the incoming poison pouch, unable to dodge, a black shadow covered her front. Before she could identify what it was, her view was further blocked. The shadow in front of her, Caelan, swung his sword to deflect the poison pouch.

“Ah!”

When the poison pouch flew back toward Latte, she yelped and dodged sideways.

“What are you doing!”

Bliss laughed in disbelief as Latte was the one shouting in protest.

“So it’s okay for you to throw poison at me but not the other way around?”

After dodging so many poison pouches, Latte was making a huge fuss over just one. She was even waving her arms in the air to keep it away from her, though the pouch hadn’t even opened.

“Because I didn’t bring the poison to get hurt myself!”

Latte shouted boldly while glaring at Caelan who had deflected the poison pouch. She wondered how he had come when she had made arrangements to keep him from entering the palace.

“How did you come?”

And Bliss seemed to have the same thought as she grabbed Caelan’s sleeve and asked.

“I came because I thought you might be in danger.”

Since Caelan’s answer didn’t fully satisfy her curiosity, Bliss tilted her head. Just as she was wondering if she should ask if nothing had happened, Latte interrupted.

“Caelan, why are you here? Surely…”

“If you’re talking about someone who tried to block my way, I cleared them out.”

Caelan cut off Latte’s words. As if there was no need to listen to what she would say since he knew, he cut off his monotone voice.

“…Cleared them out?”

As Latte asked in disbelief, she belatedly remembered the poison pouch Caelan had deflected.

“Aren’t you afraid of poison?”

At Latte’s muttering, Bliss also just realized and looked at Caelan’s sword.

“Details later.”

Caelan squeezed Bliss’s hand once before pushing her aside. She thought he was trying to protect her, but there was nothing blocking her front.

When Bliss couldn’t hide her confusion, Caelan held out his sword to her.

“I’ll lend you the sword.”

“Aren’t you going to protect me?”

“Protecting this place seems more important.”

Caelan looked at the shelves full of dangerous items.

“Don’t you think?”

“No, you’re right.”

Bliss, who had wondered if this was normal, belatedly laughed. Well, whatever.

“I’ll use the sword well and return it.”

Bliss awkwardly gripped the sword. Though she had never thought she would hold and swing this…

“Since I decided to live in a world with swords.”

She intended to adapt to this place. Bliss raised the sword and pointed it at Latte. Latte looked at the sword tip aimed at her and sneered.

“You’re going to swing that at me?”

“Why not?”

The smile disappeared from Latte’s face at Bliss’s nonchalant answer.

“When you can’t even hold it properly.”

“Actually, clumsy swinging is more dangerous.”

Caelan nodded beside them, seemingly agreeing. His face suggested he wouldn’t interfere as long as they didn’t come his way, though he was listening to everything.

“How impudent.”

Latte glared at Bliss while grinding her teeth, then charged forward with her dagger like before. Her movements showed no concern for Bliss holding the sword.

Latte, now very close, raised her dagger and swung it at Bliss’s neck.

Bliss pulled her upper body back to dodge it, but this was within Latte’s calculations as she instantly closed the distance. When their bodies collided hard, a short scream rang out.

“Ugh.”

“!”

As Bliss staggered, losing her balance, Latte continued her attack. Taking advantage of Bliss’s moment of confusion, she slashed horizontally.

A maniacal smile spread across Latte’s face as if imagining blood spurting from Bliss’s neck.

“Now it’s over.”

Latte imagined pushing Bliss away and standing beside Caelan. Though trying to kill Bliss in front of Caelan now was troublesome, she could handle that however she needed to.

She was confident and had made some plans already.

So she just needed Bliss gone.

If only Bliss was gone…

“Huh?”

When blood didn’t spurt out as she had imagined, she felt something was wrong, but it was too late.

She thought she had received a strong impact to her head during the collision earlier, but apparently it wasn’t from the physical clash.

As Latte’s vision blurred, she lost consciousness and collapsed sideways. There was a loud crash as she hit the desk, causing all the surrounding objects to fall.

Bliss opened her tightly shut eyes and looked ahead. The commotion had masked the sound of Latte falling, and only when she saw where Latte was did she realize her attack had worked.

As Bliss sighed while looking at the sword she was holding, Caelan approached from the side.

“I thought they reduced the weight compared to regular swords, but it’s still heavy.”

Her tone didn’t consider at all that it might be because she was a beginner rather than the sword’s fault.

At Bliss’s joke, Caelan came over and took the sword from her.

“You really hadn’t swung one before, huh.”

Caelan had watched the entire process of Latte falling without missing anything. He thought it would be better for Bliss to handle it rather than intervening himself. The emotions entangled with Latte were Bliss’s, not his.

Instead, seeing Bliss with nothing against Latte who had both poison and a dagger, he lent his sword to balance things out, and she had knocked Latte unconscious by hitting her temple with the handle.

“You shouldn’t swing sharp things carelessly.”

Bliss approached Latte while advising Caelan to keep his sword in check as if lecturing a child.

She had thought Latte would try to close the distance somehow since she had a dagger. So she deliberately backed away and raised the sword when Latte approached again. She had been prepared to get hurt if the plan failed.

A chill ran down her spine as she recalled the dagger barely grazing her neck.

“Bliss.”

As she approached to examine Latte further, Caelan grabbed her arm. When Bliss looked at him questioningly, Caelan’s hand brushed her neck.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Ah…”

It seems she hadn’t completely dodged Latte’s attack. Bliss just smiled. She smiled because she didn’t want Caelan to worry more, but she felt it probably looked awkward even without seeing it.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t expect me to believe that literally, do you?”

“It does sting a little.”

Caelan’s expression softened as Bliss groaned and exaggerated. She hadn’t known she was hurt due to the tension, but showing pain made things better. When Caelan pressed a handkerchief to her neck, Bliss held it and bowed her head.

“Thank you.”

“The bleeding will stop soon, but get treatment.”

“I’ll get it right after this is resolved.”

Bliss looked down at Latte.

“First we need to deal with her crime of trying to kill Princess Jasmin, right?”

Caelan directed the knights who had entered sometime earlier.

“Imprison her.”

As the knights moved in unison to take Latte away, Bliss let out a sigh of relief.

“I thought I was going to die.”

Just thinking about the poison that could have come flying at any moment made her body tremble.

“But why did you provoke Latte? You should have waited for me. We promised to protect each other.”

“We did. But things got complicated.”

Bliss had wanted Caelan’s protection too. But what could she do? Things had gone wrong when Latte attacked Princess Jasmin.

“Latte must have tried to kill me…”

“How is Princess Jasmin’s condition?”

Caelan, who had finally thought of others, looked at Bliss’s expression.

“She seems fine?”

“I didn’t say anything though?”

Bliss shook her head and tried to play innocent, but she couldn’t avoid Caelan’s gaze.

“If she had really collapsed, you wouldn’t be here like this.”

“Well… I guess so?”

Though she should have been overwhelmed with sadness and anger, Bliss was too calm.

“I’m glad Latte didn’t notice.”

The thought that Princess Jasmin was already dead had been crucial in clouding Latte’s judgment.

“I don’t think I’m cut out for acting.”

Bliss turned around while keeping the handkerchief pressed to her neck.

“Where are you going?”

“To see the Princess. Want to come?”

It seemed the lack of explanation meant she wanted him to come see for himself. At Bliss’s invitation, Caelan silently stood beside her. Though the playroom was completely wrecked, neither Bliss nor Caelan, nor anyone else paid attention to it.

“So what happened?”

Walking alongside Caelan, Bliss asked about what kind of scheme Latte had planned.