The mercenaries sent me back as if to protect me, but I could clearly see Walter's distorted expression.
He cried out bitterly.
"You must go back!"
"..."
"The Grand Duke will be here soon! Come over here!"
He didn't shout at the mercenaries, but instead told me, so he seemed to realize that I had hired them voluntarily to escape.
If he had thought I had been kidnapped, he would have drawn his sword and attacked the mercenaries first.
Now that this had happened, there was no turning back.
Since I found out that all of this was my plan, I had to run away.
"I'm sorry."
As I hurriedly announced that I would not return, the mercenaries raised their swords to protect me.
Walter and the soldiers who followed him also took up arms and prepared to attack.
Even if we were numerically superior, we were worried.
As loyalty to the Kishian is so strong, Walter won't back down easily.
Soon, two groups clashed with their swords.
I couldn't see well because it was dark, but I could tell right away that the blade was swirling fiercely.
There may be casualties.
Even though I was prepared for this, I couldn't help but feel my heart sink.
I swallowed my nervousness in the back and waited for the situation to settle down.
Fortunately, the mercenaries Rodrick sent were highly skilled.
The two soldiers he had led soon fell, leaving Walter alone.
He faced the mercenaries without letting go of his sword, even though he was wounded in the side.
Two mercenaries were attacking him to defeat him, but it didn't end easily.
"I have no choice but to kill him, right? I was worried about the Grand Duke's retaliation, and I thought he was someone Your Highness knew, so I tried to keep him alive if I could.... If he's so persistent, there's no other way."
The suspicious mercenary, who had finished the other soldiers early and had come to watch the situation, muttered to me.
I thought it was a familiar tone, but I shook my head.
"...Please bear with the killing."
I didn't want to kill Walter.
He was a bit of a tough guy, but he apologized for his rudeness to me, and above all, he was a loyal servant of the Kishian.
The mercenary replied with reluctance.
"But he won't fall. I don't think it's good enough to deal with him clumsily so he doesn't die."
"I... I'll try to convince him."
When I said I would try to persuade him, the mercenary's body flinched for a moment.
He seemed worried that it would be dangerous if the Grand Duchess herself came forward.
Fortunately, he didn't stand in my way.
I knew that Walter would try to save me, but he wouldn't attack me.
He made it easy for me, and I walked past the mercenaries and stood in front of Walter.
"The Grand Duchess... Your Highness... You have to go back."
With a tattered face, Walter reached out to me.
However, we did not join hands.
Instead, I spoke in a voice that was quiet enough to be heard only by him
"Please keep your promise."
"Promise.... What?"
"Didn't you say that if I asked for help, you would help me without any condition?"
Walter apologized for the misunderstanding.
He had said that he would grant one of my requests without any conditions as a token of gratitude and apology.
When I mentioned it, Walter's face turned embarrassed.
"...This is a promise made on the condition that you will not leave His Highness's side. If you leave him, I don't have to keep my promise."
"Wasn't it a promise made as a thank you and an apology?"
"..."
"I have been very embarrassed by your misunderstanding, and as an apology for it."
Walter's mouth was firmly closed.
"Please keep your promise. Even if you think about the trouble you gave me."
There was a long silence.
As time passed, the mercenaries seemed to be getting nervous.
He must be wondering if he should cut off our conversation and deal with Walter in a hurry.
If I drag on any longer, the Kishian might come.
Fortunately, Walter's silence did not last long.
"Why do you want to leave?"
"If you have a convincing reason, will you let me go?"
"...I'll listen to it and decide."
Seeing that he didn't refuse at all gave me hope.
I replied carefully, but not too relaxedly.
"I... It's unpleasant and painful to him."
"..."
"What he wanted was a real savior. It wasn't fake. So I'm just a fake, and I'm just an unpleasant presence to him."
"..."
"That's why I'm leaving. I don't want to offend him. I can't stand that."
Walter spoke as if he were trying to say something.
Before that, I took the initiative.
"I'm not asking for a difficult request. Go back to the Grand Duke like this. You can go back and say that you chased hard but missed, and you can report it."
"..."
"Give him freedom yourself. Let me get him away from the fake."
If he misses me, of course, Kishian will be offended for a while.
He lost the opportunity to earn it with his own hands.
But that feeling would disappear in time.
An unpleasant woman named Elona would be classified as something he didn't need to remember, and it would slowly fade in his mind.
"..."
Walter was silent, and I could easily see the meaning of the silence.
I slowly backed away from him.
He didn't hold us any longer.
We were able to get out of there safely.
***
Knowing that the Grand Duchess was in a state of extreme depression, he allowed her to go out.
He sent his escorts with her, so he believed that nothing bad would happen.
However, the price of complacency came sooner than expected.
Just when he thought it was time to return, a soldier rushed to the Grand Duke's residence and announced it.
"Her Highness is gone!"
Despite the shock, Kishian did not lose his composure.
This is because he had anticipated this to some extent.
He calmly led the soldiers and moved to find the Grand Duchess.
He heard that she didn't come to the checkpoint.
Then there was only one way out, and he rode straight toward the eastern estuary.
Since Walter said that he was chasing after her, he believed that he would soon capture the Grand Duchess and come back.
And he paid the price of complacency again.
"... Did you miss it?"
Walter, who came down the mountain covered in blood, said so.
He did his best to pursue the Grand Duchess, but the number of mercenaries she hired was too large, and he lost in the end, even though he fought hard.
The soldiers who were following his wife with him were also seriously injured and collapsed.
To the Kishian, who was frozen and stopped, Walter reported again.
"They were all mercenaries of the highest level."
"..."
"They didn't suffer much damage, so they must have fled quite a distance by now. I lost consciousness for a while, so I couldn't really see which direction they were going."
It was a report that seemed to want Kishian to give up.
Kishian didn't miss the hint of Walter's words.
He approached Walter. After that.
Puck!
With a heavy sound, Walter's body fell to his side.
Walter was beaten by Kishian's fist and pressed to the ground to pick himself up.
Before that, Kishian grabbed Walter by the throat and lifted him up.
"No matter how good they were. If you had faced each other once, you would have been injured to some extent. Besides, they have to move with the Grand Duchess. Did you miss such an opponent?"
"..."
"You must have let it go."
Even in the darkness of the night, the golden eyes of the Kishian shone eerily.
It resembled the eyes of a vicious beast, and it was burning bright yellow with rage.
"Report properly on which direction the Grand Duchess went."
"..."
"This time, it would be better to speak without mistakes. I'm not rational enough to look after your situation right now."
His gaze was full of murder.
His trusted subordinate betrayed his trust and missed the Grand Duchess.
No matter how long he had trusted him like a close friend, he had such a radical urge that he wanted to blow his neck right away.
But Walter replied unwaveringly.
"There is nothing false in my words. They were not very injured. The Grand Duchess... She actively protected them."
The moment the story of the Grand Duchess came out, the power slipped out of Kishian's hands
Walter's body, which had been lifted by the throat, fell back to the ground.
Walter told his old friend and lord of that condition.
"Whenever I tried to attack them, Her Highness blocked them with her body. That's why we couldn't subdue them properly and missed them."
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment