"I guess your hearing is also quite flexible?"
"Can you give me your arm? I need to change the bandage."
Erne clicked his tongue at Judith's attitude, which had been showing her annoyance until just now, but now actively changed to change the subject.
Regardless, Judith unwrapped the bandage on Erne's right arm.
The doctor said that it was fortunate that the stinger was not deeply embedded and was quickly removed, preventing the venom from spreading too much. However, the wound where the stinger had been inserted was swollen and dark red.
"Even if it stings, please endure it."
Although he wasn't very good at applying ointment, he was still pretty good. Erne had been injured countless times, but this was the first time someone was there to give him medicine and change his bandage.
There were many cases where the doctor would come to check the wound and do something about it, but that was all. When the bleeding stopped, he would just take off the bandage and throw it away, and when the wound opened, he would just pour some strong alcohol on it.
That's why Erne felt strangely unfamiliar with this situation. Of course, he was the one who ordered it, but it was something he did to tease Judith. He didn't know that she would actually do it.
She's doing it because she's worried that the medicine will cost more if it's added, but doesn't that mean she takes him to the doctor even if it costs more?
Whether it's added or not, she can just pretend not to know, but if he thinks about it that way, it's also kind of admirable...
What is that? I guess my head started going crazy because I was always next to Jud ith who was always talking about money.
Since he got hurt while protecting Judith, it was morally right for Judith to pay the hospital bills.
But are you surprised to see that? Is it not fully deciphered?
"You really don't have any grudges?"
"Why are you picking on the person who is taking care of you?"
"You don't seem that scared even though someone is dying right before your eyes. Did you work in this field in the past and then quit?"
Erne bent down, leaned close to Judith, and whispered.
"Be honest with me. Even if you were an assassin. I wouldn't ask for a divorce."
"Can't you see that my hands are shaking because I'm scared?"
"You're not shaking your fist because you want to hit me?"
Are you a ghost with a keen eye?
Judith coughed loudly and avoided his gaze. Erne laughed in vain as he watched Judith not even denying it.
"Well, Miss Harrington, you're most afraid of money, aren't you?"
"..."
"I see."
You were afraid of money. Are you really possessed by some kind of money ghost?
Erne looked at Judith's back for no reason. He wondered if something was really possessed.
"Erne, if you look into the scary things that happen in the world, most of them are about money."
With a look that said, "What would you know?" Judith finished tightening the knot of the bandage.
"Anyway, are you sure the assassins won't be coming for a while?"
"That's what I said."
In the case of ordinary assassination groups, the tactic of attempting to assassinate a target immediately after failing to eliminate the target was rarely used.
Not only will the assassination target have to be guarded more, but the mere fact that he or she almost got assassinated will cause a nervous breakdown for several days.
"Usually, you send them out at intervals when you feel the target is letting their guard down. Unless there's someone you really want to kill, you can't even wait a day to do it again..."
Erne stopped talking and grabbed Judith's wrist as she finished wrapping the bandage. An ominous feeling of foreboding enveloped Judith.
No way.
You said you weren't coming, you said you were never coming!
As Judith gave him a look of protest, Erne muttered while gathering his sword.
Whoever it was, they were desperate to kill them.
***
"What, failure? I sent six and it's still a failure!"
The glass flew out of Cliff's hand in a parabolic arc, shattering against the wall. He trembled nervously and filled it.
At first, he sent four assassins. When they failed, he gave them a bonus and sent six more. And they failed again? What if Erne also had a burden called Judith?
"Sir Erne is not just a knight. Calm down, my lord."
That was the problem. The fact that Erne was no ordinary knight made Cliff even more anxious. If he regained his memories...
Given Erne's personality, he would have rushed in the moment he remembered that the last person he had a drink with was Cliff. However, judging by his silence, it seemed like he hadn't remembered.
Or are you wasting time trying to find evidence even though you remembered it?
Cliff, who was scratching the chair handle, shouted in a fit of rage.
"Send eight. No, send ten."
"Instead, why don't you try contacting 'them', Master?"
He lost his mind with fear and drank the entire bottle of alcohol, becoming angry.
"What are you doing uselessly? I'll decide whether to inform them or not, so you go and send an assassin!"
***
A few days later.
"Ugh!"
"...No, if you have a sword, use it, you punk!"
Erne screamed as he slashed the assassin's back, who was cornering Henry.
"Why did your skills decrease further?"
"Even if your mouth is crooked, you should speak straight."
Henry grumbled as he pushed the falling assassin aside.
"I originally had no skills."
Henry had originally been appointed as a knight through his connections. When that connection was cut off, he was dragged to the battlefield. It wasn't like he had any great skills.
"How many days has it been, really? Huh, somehow my fortune hasn't been good this month."
Henry barely managed to get up, using his sword as a cane. It's already been three days since he came to the Rhineland mansion to ask to watch over Judith.
For three nights, assassins came rushing in. Erne fought mostly alone, but he was still tired. Erne, too, seemed tired and ran his hands over his sweaty hair.
The bandage wrapped around his right arm, which had clearly been fine until just a moment ago, had become tattered. Since he hadn't left it alone, the wound from the poison sting hadn't healed yet.
Not only that, the wounds on Erne's body increased day by day.
"Everyone died again."
Henry and Erne, who had been bickering, simultaneously turned their heads at the sound of an ominous voice coming from behind. Judith was quietly mumbling as she examined the sprawling corpse of the assassin.
Judith's eyes, full of poison, gleamed menacingly beneath her messy hair as she tried to avoid the assassin.
"I told you not to kill anyone today! When are we going to find out who's behind this?"
"Yeah, why do your eyes roll back whenever you hold a sword?"
Erne was furious when Judith and Henry blamed her.
Thanks to whom are the two of them alive right now? Judith thought to herself, biting her lips, regardless of whether Erne was speechless or not.
This won't do. If we keep thinking about how to keep the assassin alive and find out who's behind it, we'll end up ruining our own lives...
"Who could it be?"
Instead of wiping the blood in the hallway, Judith chewed her lip. Even if she couldn't find the mastermind, she could at least make a guess.
"A person with the wealth and reason to constantly send assassins."
Judith searched through her memories, but Judith had never done anything to deserve a grudge against anyone.
If there was one thing she held a grudge against, it was that she refused Cliff's offer to steal her title.
"So you sent an assassin?"
Cliff clearly has a motive. He's a lawyer, so he probably has some money. But his methods really bothered her.
Sending four assassins to kill one woman? And from the beginning? One assassin would have been more than enough to kill Judith.
Then, could it be an assassination targeting Erne?
"But isn't Sir Henry the only one who knows that Erne is alive?"
When going out, Erne always covered his face. If there was something that required meeting people and investigating, Henry would step forward.
Even though the con artist medium knew of Erne's resurrection, it was unlikely that someone who only scammed people for a pittance would spend a lot of money to send an assassin.
"Who is your wife talking to now?"
"I'm just talking to myself. Leave me alone."
Judith tried not to lose focus, even though Henry and Erne were whispering and interrupting her thoughts. Who else but Henry would know that Erne was alive?
"Leon."
Leon knows.
The last time he came to cause trouble. Leon saw Erne's face. As he entered the mansion, Erne absentmindedly took off his hood and pulled down the cloth covering his nose and mouth.
In that state, Leon must have seen Ern's face because he heard a loud noise and ran to stop him.
But even if he recognized Erne, there would be no reason to send an assassin. Above all.
"I don't think he has the money for that."
As Judith crossed her arms and muttered.
"Hmm."
Henry whispered to Erne.
"She talks to herself too much. Did your wife hit her head earlier?"
"She's not usually that sane."
No, you can't help but interrupt someone in the middle of an important thought.
Judith glared at him with her wide eyes, and Henry flinched and hid behind Erne.
Judith continued her deduction, regardless of whether Henry and Erne were bickering or not.
"Leon saw Erne. Then who did he go to?"
If you are a gambler who needs money to gamble, you will naturally want to turn that information into money. Who should Leon sell this information to to make money?
"There is only one person who can sell it."
A person who is involved with Erne, Judith, and Leon.
The one who gave Leon money to sell his sister. Cliff Ackerman, who had the most to gain from Erne's death and this marriage.
"Just before he died, Sir Erne said he had an appointment and left the inn, right? Mr. Cliff often paid for Sir Erne's drinks."
Then, wouldn't it have been Erne who had made an appointment to meet Cliff? Since he knew him, Erne wouldn't have been wary and would have drank the alcohol Cliff bought him.
"It certainly seems suspicious. But the evidence is weak, Ma'am. Even if Mr. Cliff is the real culprit, we cannot report him to the police based on circumstantial evidence alone."
Henry was right. Judith tapped her fingers on the hallway wall impatiently, then snapped her fingers as if a good idea had occurred to her.
"Isn't it necessary to report it to the police first? Why don't we go and ask around?"
"Are you going to try?"
"Yes. We can't just sit back and deal with assassins forever. Even if Mr. Cliff isn't the culprit, if we keep stirring things up like this, we'll end up getting caught up in something."
Whoever it is, I will definitely catch them. I will definitely get compensation for the damages, definitely!
"But you know."
Henry, who had been quietly watching Judith burning with determination, carefully opened his mouth.
"Even if you're just trying to sneak a peek, you need to have a card that can put pressure on him. Just talking about it won't do any good."
"It's a card worth pressuring..."
Judith's gaze, which had been pondering for a moment, turned to the floor.
"I think there might be something useful there."
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