Ryan didn’t understand what had just happened to him. Why did his vision suddenly spin? And what was that slap sound that seemed to ring through his head?

A moment later, feeling the stinging pain amid the chaos, Ryan realized that Eloise had slapped his cheek.

“Eloise…?”

As he stared at her blankly in surprise, Eloise also looked at her own hand in shock.

Then.

Slap! Slap!

Though with less force than before, she slapped both his cheeks again, one after another.

“What are you doing!”

“I-I’m trying to wake up if this is a dream!”

“Shouldn’t you normally hit yourself in that case?”

“I also wanted to hit you!”

Amid the commotion, Eloise shouted with genuine feeling.

She still wondered if she was dreaming.

After all, Ryan was standing before her at his own funeral.

When she heard his voice, she thought she had truly gone mad, and after seeing his face, she thought it must be a dream.

At first, she considered embracing him out of joy even if it was a dream, but seeing him looking so perfectly fine suddenly made her feel overwhelmed.

So her hand went up without her realizing it. If it was a dream, she wanted to wake up. But it would be unfair if she was the one in pain, so wouldn’t it be better if the Ryan who was just an illusion anyway felt the pain?

Besides, she was also angry that he never told her who he really was until the end, making her attend his funeral like this.

With such complicated feelings, Eloise struck him forcefully.

But far from waking up from the dream, only her hand hurt.

Ryan also didn’t disappear but looked at her in disbelief.

***

Meanwhile, gunshots continued to be heard from inside the cathedral.

As the two stared blankly at each other.

“Lensk spies, d*mn it!”

Suddenly, a man among the crowd stood up.

He had a gun in his hand. People who were already fleeing in fear screamed even louder.

Soldiers guarding outside the cathedral spotted him and immediately aimed their weapons at him.

Gunshots filled the cathedral sky again, and blood splattered with screams.

The man holding the gun collapsed to the ground.

But his body was full of bombs.

At that bizarre scene, people who were running away paused for a moment.

Then an explosion occurred with a loud noise.

It wasn’t enough to blow everyone away, but it was sufficient to damage the fallen man’s body and send nearby chairs flying.

People who were already panicked by the gunshots now couldn’t even scream from the added terror.

Some people sat down where they were, some fainted, and others trampled on people while trying to get outside, crying.

“Stay calm!”

A sharp voice was heard then.

“Don’t forget the pride of the Albion military! Don’t retreat!”

The people shouting were the well-built Richard and Cliff, who had hurriedly arrived.

They looked through the crowd and shouted.

“From now on, we must capture the people we name! You may shoot to kill! They are all spies from Gilia and Lensk!”

Gilia. Lensk.

The soldiers’ eyes flashed at the names of enemy countries.

Anger surged against enemies who, not content with destroying their port, were now defiling a funeral.

Those who had been in disarray instantly regained their formation.

“It doesn’t matter, you’ll all die today! Long live…!”

Perhaps startled by the suddenly changed atmosphere of the military, a Lensk spy took out explosives from his pocket.

Seeing this, Ryan immediately pulled out a pistol from his pocket and aimed at the opponent.

As the gunshot rang out, the man dropped what he was holding.

Several nearby soldiers rushed in and subdued him.

Richard gave Ryan a thumbs up before turning back to address the crowd.

“Our informant has obtained your list from Sinclair. If you surrender now, we will take that into consideration. If you report others, your crimes will be greatly reduced.”

Though said playfully, everyone could feel that he really meant it.

A rather composed person shouted at Richard.

“Our resolve isn’t so light that we would fall for such…”

“I-I surrender!”

People’s attention turned to where the voice of surrender came from.

There stood a young man trembling with blood on his face.

He took off his shoe and removed the explosives he had received, throwing them toward where someone had died in the explosion.

“I-it doesn’t just explode! You need to light it, and it’s like clay—the more you gather, the bigger the explosion… A-anyway, please spare me!”

He knelt down with both hands raised high, showing no intention to resist.

“Coward! Do you know how much everyone prepared for the cause!”

As if telling him not to make more noise, the soldier who was on top restraining him pressed his neck, causing the man to collapse with a painful sound.

“B-but to die like this…”

The man who surrendered even wept as he constantly wiped the blood on his body.

Then he shouted loudly.

“I-I also met some of my people at Sinclair’s mansion! There and there too!”

Those suddenly named were terrified and rushed upward.

Soldiers immediately ran and knocked them down.

Among them were those who spread their arms saying they would also surrender, while others resisted by struggling violently.

But one thing was certain.

As the identity of the enemy became clearer, people’s fear disappeared.

Anger began to take its place.

“Catch them! Catch the terrorists!”

“Here, this person! They have a gun!”

Not only the military but also people who had been fleeing joined in, and the area outside the cathedral became chaotic again.

Seeing this, Ryan looked at the cathedral, witnessing a situation that still felt unreal.

Fortunately, it seemed they would succeed in subduing the outside area.

The problem was inside the cathedral.

At that moment, several explosion sounds were heard from inside the cathedral.

Ryan, who was about to dash toward it without thinking, realized what he was doing and looked at Eloise.

“Eloise, I’ll explain everything later…”

But before he could finish, Eloise grabbed his hand tightly and shouted.

“What are you doing? Run now!”

“But…”

“Hurry! Baron Stanford and His Highness the Prince are inside! And!”

Eloise shouted again with a slightly tearful voice.

“If you leave me behind again, I’ll kill you with my own hands this time!”

At those words, Ryan squeezed his eyes shut.

Though spoken in the heat of the moment.

In Eloise’s voice, he could feel the intense pain she had experienced during the time she thought he was dead.

Ryan looked at Eloise’s hand holding his.

Her hand was ice-cold from being outside for a long time.

Nevertheless, Ryan felt warmth.

He held her hand firmly too.

He knew there might be traces of defilement in that coffin.

It might have become a terrible place he absolutely didn’t want to take Eloise.

But…

Ryan began running toward the cathedral, firmly holding her hand.

He too didn’t want to let go of her hand ever again.

***

“D*mn it!”

Sinclair roughly pushed back her hair.

Even in her all-black dress, bloodstains were visible all over it.

Of course, it was the blood of many people.

When the first gunshots rang out, they had sounded like celebratory shots for their victory.

Unaware, high officials would meet their deaths in confusion, and the flag of Lensk would rise above them.

But after the first gunshot, Sinclair instantly sensed that something had gone wrong.

She expected a nearby lady to scream, curl up, or faint, but instead, as if she had anticipated this, the woman calmly bent down and took out a pistol from her bag.

‘That can’t be?’

It wasn’t just that lady.

Even among the priests, some immediately pulled out guns and aimed at those trying to take out explosives nearby.

Seeing their behavior, Sinclair realized.

Their plan had leaked.

The prince!

When she turned her head, the prince and Baron Stanford had already hidden themselves on one side of the altar.

From that sight, she could tell.

They too knew everything that would happen today.

Also, that they attended despite knowing was all part of the plan.

Where did it leak from?

Amid the battle, Sinclair thought about who the spy might be. At that moment, she saw two people entering against the flow of fleeing people.

When she saw the woman among them, Sinclair’s eyes widened. It was Eloise, who had left her house that morning.

And the moment she saw her, she sensed it.

That their plan had been distorted because of her.