No sooner had the Imperial Princess finished speaking than a breathy laugh escaped the Crown Prince’s lips.

“I see. Bringing that bitch’s corpse to the Empress wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”

As though merely imagining the scene delighted him, the smile on his face deepened.

He abruptly seized Sir Siorcan’s shoulder and whispered darkly,

“Fine. If you insist on doing this, I won’t stop you any further. Go ahead and tear through the mountains all night looking for that woman.”

After patting his shoulder firmly, the Crown Prince turned and strode away toward the chaotic camp.

Following after her brother, the Imperial Princess directed a composed remark at her fiancé.

“Then, I’ll leave that child to you.”

* * *

As soon as the two royals departed, they headed north.

Edrick crossed through the forest buried beneath thick darkness, a torch clenched tightly in one hand. He was painfully anxious that the traces left behind by the wyvern might have vanished during the brief argument.

“Careful. At this rate, you’ll tumble into the ravine yourself.”

Sir Theoric Hart, a senior knight keeping close beside him, murmured worriedly.

Without answering, Edrick merely inclined his head and raised the torch, illuminating the uneven dirt path ahead.

Rows of straight conifers emerged from the darkness, along with jagged boulders and a steep descending slope.

“Here.”

As he pointed toward the sharp incline, his superior, who had been following in silence, approached like a shadow.

Edrick stepped aside to give him room to inspect below.

After spending a moment surveying the ravine with the torchlight, Varkas pulled a hooked chain from a pouch hanging at his belt.

Securing it firmly between the rocks, he immediately threw himself down the slope that was little different from a cliff.

Edrick remained above, holding the torch and lighting the way. Only after confirming that Varkas had landed safely at the bottom did he begin descending the rocky wall himself.

Fortunately, the ravine was not particularly deep.

Carefully making his way down the slope by stepping from one protruding rock to another, Edrick finally reached the bottom and raised the torch high above his head, signaling the knights still waiting above.

The knights began climbing down after them one by one.

Watching them briefly, Edrick soon turned and surveyed the surroundings.

The wyvern’s crash seemed to have delivered a tremendous impact to the cliffside. Rocks and mounds of dirt were scattered everywhere.

Searching through all of this debris would take considerable time.

Anxiously sweeping his gaze through the pitch-black darkness, Edrick leapt over a large boulder.

After traversing the uneven ground for some distance, he spotted a dark shape rising beside a collapsed pile of stone.

He brought the torchlight closer.

‘...Looks like we found it.’

The wyvern’s corpse lay sprawled among the rubble, one wing shriveled black as though scorched by flame magic.

Edrick thoroughly searched the surrounding area in case the Imperial Princess had been trapped somewhere beneath the monster’s massive body.

Then he froze.

A short distance away stood another dark silhouette.

Bringing the torch closer, he saw Varkas standing beside an enormous rock.

Edrick immediately ran toward him.

“Commander! Have you found anyth—”

His hurried call cut off abruptly.

A pale figure lay limp before Varkas.

The torch hanging weakly from his hand cast a faint glow over the woman’s bloodless face and tangled hair.

Staring blankly at her, Edrick noticed the countless rocks covering the lower half of her body and released a heavy sigh.

He had known the chances of her being alive were slim.

He had prepared himself for something like this.

Even so, seeing the woman's ruined body with his own eyes made the blood drain from his face.

After hesitating, he slowly approached her.

Her upper body was relatively intact.

Her legs, however, had been nearly crushed beyond recognition.

Examining her left leg, twisted at an unnatural angle beneath a massive boulder, Edrick shoved one of the larger rocks aside.

The moment he did, the pile of stone beside it collapsed with a crash.

His expression darkened in dismay.

He immediately lifted his head to ask for help.

Then he froze.

Varkas was standing there with an expressionless face that looked almost like a mask.

With his back straight, he quietly observed the woman.

There was not a trace of emotion in those dry eyes.

A chill ran down Edrick’s spine.

He knew these two were practically enemies.

Even so, they had known each ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ other since childhood.

How could he remain so calm after seeing her in such a state?

Unable to understand it, Edrick shouted almost accusingly,

“What are you doing?! Help me!”

But Varkas did not move.

Not even slightly.

Glaring at him, Edrick rose to his feet.

If he had to do it alone, then so be it.

He planted both hands against the stone crushing her legs and began trying to push it away.

Then he heard it.

A faint sound from below, like a small animal struggling for breath.

Edrick instantly lowered his head.

The pale face illuminated by the torchlight twitched ever so slightly.

For a moment, his legs nearly gave out beneath him.

Overwhelmed with relief, he shouted,

“She’s alive! She’s still breathing!”

As if responding to his voice, her thin eyelids fluttered open.

Unfocused eyes appeared beneath them.

One glance was enough to tell she was barely conscious.

Edrick immediately straightened.

They needed healing magic at once.

Without wasting another second, he reached for the torch he had set on the ground, intending to summon the knights searching elsewhere.

Then he noticed it.

A faint smile had appeared on the woman’s paper-white face.

Without realizing it, Edrick stopped moving altogether.

From her cracked lips, stained with blood, came a voice so weak it was almost impossible to understand.

“Varkas...”

At that pleading whisper of his name, Edrick’s eyes widened.

The man who had stood motionless as a statue finally bent down toward her.

Recognizing that quiet face, the woman’s eyes trembled faintly.

They looked like the eyes of someone gazing upon a sliver of salvation emerging from the abyss.

“I... knew it. I knew... you would come save me...”

The corners of her eyes curved gently.

Tears spilled past her thin lashes and soaked her colorless cheeks.

Firelight flickered across the cold face of the man silently looking down at her.

The light glimmered within those empty eyes that seemed devoid of life.

Yet he still appeared submerged somewhere deep and dark.

For some reason, Edrick found himself holding his breath.

Without thinking, he reached out and grasped Varkas’s shoulder.

“A-Are you all right?”

Varkas lifted his head and looked at him.

A slight crease formed between his elegant brows.

It was the expression of a man who genuinely could not understand why such a question had been asked.

Edrick himself did not know why he had said it.

Why had this man looked as though he was not all right?

He stared at the familiar calm face in confusion.

Then hurried footsteps echoed from somewhere nearby.

Only then did Edrick snap back to himself.

He hurriedly raised the torch high overhead.

Several knights who had spotted the signal came running toward them at once.