“—my lady.”

“Coco—”

“My lady...”

“...!”

Coco grabbed Hugh’s forearm.

They came! The rescuers came!

Coco staggered to her feet. Her legs were numb from sitting too long, and she nearly stumbled, but that didn’t matter.

Lady Coco hurried to the edge of the hollow’s cliff and waved toward the dizzying height above.

She didn’t do anything vulgar like scream at the top of her lungs, but inside, her heart was nothing but screaming.

It’s a miracle! It has to be a miracle! This fast, this unbelievably fast...!

With a body full of fractures, Hugh somehow managed to stand and caught Coco’s hand so she wouldn’t fall. Temar dutifully slung the physician over one shoulder, while holding Dell Belkerman’s head in one hand and Dell Belkerman’s sword in the other.

Coco glanced back, went pale, and quickly turned away again.

“Here...! Over here...! Hurry up!”

Her voice sounded accusing, but there was no missing the relief and hurt tangled inside it.

The moment they saw the gray hair disheveled under the moonlight, both Coco’s and Hugh’s faces clouded over.

Not every life could be saved.

Lady Coco’s life had to come first.

That was why the two of them, who had to say goodbye to a life already gone, could only wear those shadowed expressions.

The face of the knight who had given his life came back to Coco then, a life she had forgotten in her terror.

She forced back the sob rising in her throat.

“My lady. My apologies for making you wait.”

Leaving behind a blurred shadow, the man appeared before them and dropped to one knee before the lady. Beside him, two robed mages slipped in among the group and took hold of their hands.

At the unexpected face, Coco and Hugh froze.

“...”

The mage who flinched at the sight of Temar grabbed his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. Shawn...”

“Let’s go.”

Coco was about to speak, to ask how he had gotten here more than anything else, but the gray-haired man, after sweeping his gaze across the group, shook his head as if to say there was no need.

His eyes lingered for a long moment on Hugh, whose hair was the same color as his own. They had similar faces.

At a signal from the man they had called Commander, the mages began chanting, and golden sigils formed above and below them. As the patterns turned, the group vanished like they were being sucked into the light.

The gray-haired man who had silenced Lady Coco was named Seton, commander of the First Knight Order. He was Shawn’s older brother—the youngest knight who had died protecting Hugh and Lady Coco.

At last, a sob broke from the lady’s twisted mouth.

***

“My lady!”

“My laaady... sob... are you hurt anywhere—good heavens, your hand!”

“My lady! Thank God you’re safe!”

“Who are those people?”

“Who is it?!”

“You’ve returned, Commander!”

“Shawn...”

“He’ll be back soon.”

“And them?!”

“If it’s them...!”

The mages brought the group to the first floor of the old castle.

“This is... why are we here?”

Hadn’t they gone to the estate in the capital?

As if they had been waiting for them, the head butler, maids, and knights packed the hallway wall to wall. Hiding her confusion, Coco pushed through the maids who came running toward her in tears, patting them with one hand and shoving them aside with the other.

“Eek!”

“Eeeeeek—!”

The maids who had been shoved aside by Coco went wide-eyed at the sight of the massive Temar—

and the moment they noticed the bleeding head and sword in his hands, they screamed. The physician slung over one shoulder looked enough like a corpse to finish the picture.

The maids stumbled backward in a wave and crashed into the knights behind them.

The castle was clean, but it felt wrecked. Glass that had clearly been replaced recently caught Coco’s eye. That was unmistakably the trace of an intrusion. Dell Belkerman... Coco bit down on her lip. He had been wrong when he said all of Duke Gannion’s people would have gone to the capital because of the death notice. There were people who had been desperately searching for Coco. The lingering smell of blood inside the castle was proof enough of that.

“Everyone, quiet!”

“Hhk. Hhk!”

“Sniff...”

What reason would the women working in a ducal castle ever have to see something this gruesome? The worst they usually dealt with was bugs. Tears rolled down the startled maids’ faces.

Embarrassed, Temar pressed his lips shut. Then his eyes met one maid’s.

“Are you all right?”

The voice that came out of him was remarkably warm for how he looked.

Just like when he stepped between the villagers and Ren, when he helped others, that polished kindness of Temar’s worked again this time.

As if he were a set of perfectly entered values.

It was warmth measured exactly right.

His dark brown eyes and thick lashes helped too.

“Yes! Yes, I’m fine...!”

The maid stopped crying on the spot, and now her face flushed for an entirely different reason.

Is that really the same man who looked like that earlier?

Lady Coco, who watched the sight with some disbelief and exasperation, hardened her face.

“Ren? Take us to the people who arrived here.”

“That won’t do. The physician first needs—”

Shut up!

Coco barely swallowed the curse that leaped to her tongue and narrowed her eyes.

“I decide the order of priority. Since when did you start giving me orders?”

“...”

“Take us.”

“Yes.”

“Hugh. Go with the physician.”

“Yes...”

“When your treatment is done, tell me where the body is.”

Her voice was low enough that the others couldn’t hear.

“Yes. I’m sorr—”

“Enough.”

At Seton’s step, the private soldiers moved aside and opened a path.

“I ask that you treat this man as well.”

Temar politely held out the young man who had been slung over his shoulder. Seton looked back, then signaled with his eyes, and one of the soldiers nearby hoisted the physician onto his back.

After passing through a corridor crowded with expensive ornaments, they reached the third floor, and noise could be heard from a room on the outer side.

When Lady Coco headed that way, Seton, walking ahead, opened the thick oak door for her.

At once, the smell of blood washed over them.

They had been smelling it all day.

Temar’s expression stayed calm, while Coco’s face turned white.

“Wouldn’t it be better to put the head somewhere else?”

“Yes. May I leave it on the floor?”

“Go ahead.”

At Seton’s words, Temar set Dell Belkerman’s head down in the corner by the door.

But the gleaming black sword remained in his hand.

The private soldiers were still on guard against Temar, their hands resting on their hilts, ready to draw at any moment.

Temar paid no mind to the wariness stabbing into his back.

As if he had forgotten calling Ren’s name earlier, Temar simply stood still, like he was waiting for orders. He calmly drank the water a maid brought him and didn’t ask for either Ren or Luman.

The only one trembling was Coco.

“My lady.”

“...”

Even at Seton’s call, Coco stood frozen in place.

He’s not dead... right?

The senior priest’s profile looked grim. A young man dressed in pure white, who had been speaking nonstop about something, spotted Coco and came running over.

“Lady Coco!”

He had that bright, sunny face no matter when you saw him.

Without even looking at the priest rushing to her, Coco stared past him.

She couldn’t even bring herself to tell him to move.

Not with the floor strewn with bloody cloths that hadn’t yet been cleared away, and smears of blood everywhere.

There was enough blood there that it was hard to believe it had all come from a single person.

But a senior priest had treated him, so ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) of course he had lived.

And yet she could barely breathe.

“Huh? Lady Coco?”

The senior priest waved a hand in front of her face.

She wanted to see for herself, but she didn’t want to see it.

The kind of fear that seemed like it would only be relieved once she saw it with her own eyes was tightening around her throat.

It was impossible to understand how Temar could be standing there so calmly.

Was he really the same man who had been screaming like that earlier?

Just when it felt like her heart might burst, the young priest followed her line of sight and broke into a grin.

“You don’t trust how good I am? Lady Coco!”

“Cough, cough. Coco...? Brother? You came too...?!”

And then, from behind them, came Ren’s small voice, growing brighter by the second.

His face was full of unmistakable delight.

Unlike just before, when he had looked like the light of life was burning out, his pale face was now cleaner and clearer than ever. There wasn’t a trace of sickness left on Ren’s face, and joy flooded Coco’s own.

“Ren!!”

“Coco!”

Coco ran to him in a single dash and grabbed his thin wrist hard, as if trying to make sure he was really alive. Ren’s arm hurt in her grip, but he didn’t show it and smiled obediently instead. With all the little pains gone, even Ren’s usual touchiness had vanished from sight! Seeing that smile, Coco, suddenly embarrassed, smacked his hand away and abruptly turned her body aside.

“...”

“...”

This sudden display of tenderness didn’t suit either of them. Hiding her embarrassment, Coco tried to calm the commotion inside her and wrapped one trembling hand around the other.

She’d thought he would live, but what if, just in case—those thoughts had been tearing through her mind.

Ren was just as embarrassed by that honest relief. His face stiffened awkwardly.

He decided to leave Coco alone in her turned-away silence and looked at Temar, who was standing blankly by the doorway.

“Brother!!”

Brother! Hurry up!

Only when Ren beckoned to him again and again did Temar finally move.

Probably because his build was so big, he hadn’t walked far before Temar already filled Ren’s entire field of vision.

Before that awkward silence could even settle in, the senior priest Kirky pushed between them with a long, theatrical sigh.

“Honestly!! Not even a word of thanks to the savior who preserved your life!!”

“Shut up. Can’t you read the room?!”

Watching Kirky interrupt the brothers’ reunion, Coco snapped at him with an incredulous look.

But as if he was long used to being treated like that, Kirky only burst out laughing, folded his arms with a smack, and busied himself explaining just how incredible the divine power he’d shown in that life-or-death moment had been.

And he was so sincerely devoted to praising his own merits that he actually grabbed armfuls of the blood-soaked white cloths piled on the floor and waved them around with both hands. Only after the sharp metallic reek of blood made Coco retch did Kirky stop his atrocity.

Seton’s murderous stare helped too.

“Kirky. See to the lady.”

“I’m fine! More importantly, is he really okay?”

Coco waved Seton off sharply and asked in a serious voice.

Ren looked perfectly fine right now, but there was no telling.

This brat never says things straight. I won’t be able to relax unless I hear it clearly.

But the moment Kirky, who ought to have given Coco a clear answer, heard the question, his expression darkened at once.