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nTL: Lilac | PR: Faith

nAstelle understood the situation and nodded.

nClang! sfx

nAs the assassins began to attack, Kaizen came back to his senses and avoided the flying sword.

nHe deviated from the weapon and passed through the gap. His sword pierced the opponent’s body.

n“Ugh!”

nThere were several assassins, but Kaizen’s sword was much faster and more skilled than them.

nHe easily defeated the enemies one by one.

nThe last remaining assassin crept in, but Kaizen’s sword cut through his chest in an instant.

nThe opponent screamed and collapsed.

nAt that moment, another assassin appeared from behind Astelle.

nA masked man was holding his sword and running towards her.

nKaizen froze for a moment.

n“Astelle!”

nSurprised, Astelle leaned over to avoid the attack.

nKaizen’s sword blocked the one heading towards Astelle, but his posture was disturbed for a moment, and he lost his balance.

nAt that moment, the assassin pierced his shoulder.

n“Ugh!”

nIn an instant, the blade of the sword was pierced deep into his left shoulder and his blood gushed out.

nKaizen’s sword pierced the opponent’s neck.

nAfter a short struggle, the bodies of seven people were scattered on the floor.

nAstelle noticed that Kaizen was bleeding and approached him.

n“Your Majesty! Are you okay?”

n“I’m fine.”

nAs Astelle was walking towards Kaizen, the body of one of the assassins touched her feet.

nAstelle, who unintentionally lowered her gaze, was terribly surprised.

n‘This person…’

nEven earlier when Astelle saw the assassin, she felt strangely familiar with him.

nShe knew this man. He was someone she encountered occasionally in the mansion since childhood.

nAstelle had seen this man several times, enough to be able to recognize his identity just by looking at his half-masked face.

nShe doesn’t know his name, but she knows what he came to do.

nHe was one of the minions her father kept secretly by his side.

n‘Why is this person here…’

n“……”

nSeeing Astelle’s pale face, Kaizen sat down, clutching his stabbed shoulder.

n“Ugh…!”

n“Your Majesty!”

nAstelle suddenly came to her senses and approached Kaizen who was sitting with his back against a tree.

n“Ugh!”

nHe frowned in pain and groaned.

nHis wounded shoulder was drenched in blood.

nAstelle knelt down next to him.

n“Your Majesty, I will examine the wounds.”

nShe carefully unfolded the torn hem.

nThe wounds from the sword were deeply embedded in his hard shoulder, which was wrapped in muscles .

nBlood gushed from the sharp cleavage.

n‘It’s not wide, but it’s pierced deeply.’

nFortunately, there was no bone damage.

nStill, Astelle had to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.

nIf left as it is, he may bleed out and it could be very dangerous.

n“The wound is deep. It must be stopped immediately. I will use the herbs I brought with me.”

nShe took the herbs used to treat wounds just in case she needed them.

nShe was really relieved even though she never imagined the herbs would be used for this.

nAstelle wiped the wound with a dry handkerchief and applied hemostasis.

nShe then took out the herbs from the basket, wiped them with her handkerchief, and crushed them with her hands.

nWhen she pressed Kaizen’s wound with her hand, he cried out as he endured the stinging pain.

n“If you hadn’t fought to protect me, you wouldn’t have been hurt.”

nAstelle stared intently at him.

nIt wasn’t wrong.

nIf Astelle wasn’t behind him, Kaizen wouldn’t have been hurt.

nHe had the ability to block seven or more assassins alone.

nWithout her, he would have easily escaped the crisis.

n‘I knew he was good at swordsmanship, but I didn’t know he was this good.’ Astelle thought

nWhen he was the Crown Prince, he liked to hunt, but his swordsmanship skills were known to be slightly above average.

nEven when he occasionally battled with knights, he didn’t seem like a very powerful person.

nIt was just that he was good enough among the sons of high-ranking nobles.

nIt must have been that he wasn’t showing his real skills properly.

nIt meant that he did not trust anyone from the beginning.

nIt was comprehensible.

nFrom Kaizen’s point of view, of course, he had to hide his claws and act cautiously.

nEven with Astelle who was his fiancee of ten years.

nAlthough they had grown up together since the age of ten, he did not trust her at all.

nIt was a bittersweet feeling since they had a relationship with no trust.

n‘It must be unavoidable.’

nConsidering Astelle’s father and her family, it was understandable that Kaizen didn’t trust her and kept his distance.

n“Thank you, Your Majesty. I will never forget this grace.”

nKaizen protected Astelle until he got hurt. It was something she should be grateful for.

nAs Astelle calmly expressed her gratitude, Kaizen mumbled dissatisfied.

n“Is that all?”

n“Then what do you want me to do?”

nAstelle didn’t want to joke around in this situation, so she asked a bit coldly.

nIn fact, when Kaizen was hit by the sword, Astelle was very surprised.

nShe was so startled that she couldn’t even scream and was nailed to the spot.

nShe sounded so cold but Kaizen smirked at her.

n“Why, why did you just stand still instead of leaving?”

nAstelle didn’t know why this person was sneering even when she was doing good things.

nShe pressed harder on the cloth that was holding his wound.

nKaizen frowned in pain.

n“Ugh…”

n“I’m done.”

nKaizen gave her a pained gaze, but she ignored it.

nShe applied the crushed herbs to his wounds with her hands.

nWhen the extract of the dark blue leaves was applied, the blood from the wound gradually subsided.

nAfter the bleeding stopped, the wound became more visible.

nThe sharp cut was so deep that it almost touched the bone.

nKaizen saw that his blood had stopped and he pushed the hem of his robe as if nothing had happened.

n“I’m fine now.”

nWhen Astelle saw that, she felt bad.

nIt struck her heart that such a strong man had been badly hurt while protecting her.

n‘Isn’t there any aftereffects?’

nAstelle is not a doctor, so she doesn’t know.

nShe was worried about what would happen to him if he mistreats his shoulder by any chance.

nIt was then.

nFootsteps were heard from the other side.

nThe two were nervous because they thought more assassins were coming, but familiar people appeared among the trees.

nThey were the knights of the emperor.

n“Your Majesty! Are you okay?”

n“I’m fine.”

nKaizen noticed Lyndon running, startled, he got up on his feet.

n“Lady Astelle, are you okay?”

n“Yes. I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”

nKaizen looked at the knights Lyndon had brought and asked,

n“How did you know there was an attack?”

n“I spotted smoke rising in the forest, and I rushed in because I thought something had happened. ”

n“smoke?”

n“Yeah, over there…”

nLyndon pointed towards the smoke.

nAstelle realized where he was pointing.

nIt was where Theor and her grandfather were.

nShe was startled and rushed to the place frantically.

nShe heard Lyndon shouting from behind, but she ran along the forest path without looking back.

n“Theor!”

nAs she ran to the place where the tent was she noticed the smoke rising next to the fallen tent.

nThere were Vellian and the Marquis standing on either side of a pile of firewood producing smoke.

nTheor was in Vellian’s arms.

n“Theor, are you okay?”

nAstelle took Theor and hugged him.

nThe little boy wept and buried his face in Astelle’s arms.

n“Sob, sob… bad people have come…”

nTheor’s tiny body trembled faintly.

nAstelle grabbed him and patted him on the back.

n“It’s okay, it’s okay Theor.”

nAstelle calmed him with a soft voice to give him peace of mind.

n‘Assassins have also come here.’

nIt seems that they were trying to get rid of Vellian and her grandfather, who would probably be witnesses.

n‘If I did something wrong, I could endanger Theor and Grandpa.’

nJust imagining it was terrifying.

nAstelle hugged Theor’s tiny body tighter.

nHer grandfather who was standing by the fire, approached her and asked anxiously,

n“Astelle, are you okay?”

n“Is Grandpa hurt anywhere?”

nThere was blood on her grandfather’s wrist.

n“It’s not a big deal.”

nKaizen, who followed Astelle, showed up later.

nLyndon and the other knights followed shortly after.

nVellian walked over to him.

n“Your Majesty. Are you okay?”

n“I’m fine. Have the assassins been here too?”

n“Yes, there were only three people.”

nVellian pointed to the broken tent.

nThere was a human body covered in white cloth.

n‘It was a corpse.’

nIt seemed that they were keeping Theor from seeing it.

n“I built a fire to make smoke and call out the knights.”

nAstelle held Theor in her arms and handed the herbs to her grandfather.

nIt was the herbs that she had applied to Kaizen’s wound earlier.

n“Grandpa, please treat this first.”

nVellian, who was standing next to him, grumbled as he saw the Marquis taking the herbs.

n“I’m hurt too.”

nUpon closer inspection, there was a red bruise on his forehead.

n‘Oh, did you get hit while fighting? I don’t have any herbs for bruises right now.’

nThe Marquis who was handed the medicinal herbs looked at him pitifully.

n“How could you say that it hurts!?”

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