Chapter 19

‘Make sure not to let a single one come near Elisabeth.’

Dylan swung his sword at the approaching beasts to create a siege.

Aura has been amplified to an enormous size. Every single stroke of Dylan’s sword brought down all the beasts within the radius.

“Grrrhh!”

When the chief beast saw his fallen colleagues, he roared and ran. Dylan realized the direction he was heading towards was Elisabeth, and he threw himself. As Dylan’s sword cut the beast’s neck, the beast’s sharp claws pierced Dylan’s arm.

“Ugh!”

Elisabeth’s eyes, which were tightly closed as she sat, suddenly opened.

“Dylan?”

Elisabeth sprang to her feet and looked back. On the bodies of countless beasts, Dylan stood holding on to his bleeding arm.

“Dylan!”

Elisabeth ran to Dylan. Dylan held out his good arm to stop Elisabeth.

“It stinks of blood. Don’t come.”

“Is the smell the problem? You’re hurt. You’re bleeding.”

“This wound is nothing. You stay put.”

But Elisabeth didn’t care and approached Dylan. He was pretending to be fine but seemed to have lost his strength. She couldn’t stand to see Dylan like this.

When Dylan realized that Elisabeth’s golden eyes looked at his arms, he hid his arms behind his back. Then Elisabeth pulled her head out and struggled to see Dylan’s arm.

“Hey, don’t look.”

“Why are you hiding it?”

“Don’t look because it’s embarrassing.”

“Why is that embarrassing? You got hurt trying to save me.”

“Just don’t!”

“I’m worried. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Elisabeth walked right behind Dylan. Elisabeth’s eyes quickly grew bigger when she saw the blood on Dylan’s wound.

“Dylan’s arm, because of me…”

“Don’t cry. One might think I’m always making you cry.”

“That’s true.”

“Hey.”

“Thank you very much for today, but… huk.”

Elisabeth’s tears dripped over Dylan’s wound.

“Stop looking.”

Dylan brought Elisabeth forward with his unharmed arm.

“It’s just a little scratch. It doesn’t matter.”

“Lies.”

Elisabeth was about to burst into tears again. Dylan got hurt because she acted like a child. I wanted to get along with him, but I kept getting out of touch with him. It was unbearable.

“Don’t cry.”

“No…. hupp….. I’m not.”

“Really, don’t cry, please.”

“Hupp….No…. hupp… not.”

“Look.”

Dylan shook his injured arm deliberately.

“Oh, no! You’re gonna get more hurt!”

Elisabeth leaped from the ground. Dylan was playful and moved his arms more violently.

“Dylan! Don’t!”

Elisabeth screamed. At that moment, Dylan realized something was wrong and slowly lowered his arm. Then he rolled up the hem of his blood-soaked garment.

“….”

Dylan’s arm was intact with blood on it. Elisabeth opened her eyes round and looked alternately at Dylan’s face and arms.

“Did you… deceive me?”

“N-no!”

“You’re fine.”

“It’s not true. Look, there’s blood! I was really stabbed by the claws before. It hurt so much.”

“You said this was nothing! I’m sure it’s because you’re joking, right? How did you come up with the blood? The blood of beasts was on it, right?”

“I was trying to comfort you because you were crying. Actually, it really hurt?”

Dylan cried out in resentment.

“I’m glad you didn’t get hurt anyway.”

Elisabeth said with a sigh of relief.

“I was hurt.”

“Let’s say you did.”

“It’s true.”

Dylan was mad with resentment, but Elisabeth had a bright face before he knew it. When she checked Dylan’s good arm, she grinned.

‘The wound healed suddenly.’

It was really incomprehensible even for Dylan. However, as Elisabeth was smiling with tears in her eyes, he thought it was okay.

‘Maybe I’m really mistaken.’

Dylan looked at his arm again. It was clean without a scratch.

“Now let’s go back. Everybody’s gonna be worried!”

“Did you make this fuss knowing that?”

“It’s all because of Dylan.”

Elisabeth pouted her mouth.

Dylan looked up at the sky. The darkened sky was seen between the thick branches and leaves.

‘It’s too late.’

Dylan gave Elisabeth a big hug. Suddenly Elisabeth, held in Dylan’s arms, opened her eyes like a rabbit.

“You’re slow and I’m burnt out, so if we keep going like this, we’ll be chased by a beast again.”

“Do you have to say that? I knew that.”

Elisabeth was held tightly in Dylan’s arms, depressed.

‘That’s a realistic rabbit.’

Dylan cherished Elisabeth in his arms and began to speed up and run.

The whole place began to recede with the advent of darkness.

The sound of trees swaying and the sound of owls crying over the darkness. The cold wind brought by evening and the roaring roots of trees that may turn into traps at any time. And the cries of a wild beast somewhere else.

The darkened forest seemed to have no intention of hiding all this anymore.

Elisabeth was terrified and hung on to Dylan even more. The little tremors of the girl were delivered to Dylan.

Dylan felt strange as Elisabeth leaned heavily in his arms. A pleasant aroma came from the small soft Elisabeth. Above all, it was the warmth of the girl that made him feel strange.

Marquis Dalton’s voice echoed in Dylan’s head.

When Elisabeth disappeared into the woods, when he found out she was in danger, Dylan felt his heart was wearing out.

When the beast appeared and threatened Elisabeth, Dylan thought he would save Elisabeth because he could do whatever it was.

I’ve never felt that way before in my life.

‘Can I send this kid away? Will I be able to bear it if this child even disappears before my eyes?’

Not anymore. No, it’s been like that for a long time. I couldn’t send Elisabeth.

I wish this child was next to me. I tried not to admit it, but it was now a limit.

Dylan couldn’t deny the words of Marquis Dalton at this moment.

“Don’t be frightened.”

“…..”

“You have me.”

“But Dylan…”

“Don’t worry, this brother will protect you.” (t/n: he called himself ‘oppa’)

Like a lie, Elisabeth’s tremors stopped. Dylan hugged Elisabeth more tightly. Elisabeth also leaned on Dylan gently.

‘There’s no turning back now.’

He was beginning to see the drill hall over the forest.

‘I admit it.’

Dylan accelerated his pace toward the moonlit drill hall.

‘I have to protect this child forever now.’

He was always afraid to be like this. To have entered someone’s heart and that someone becomes unbearably precious.

But Dylan now realizes that the idea is wrong.

He didn’t hate having something precious.

***

I was lucky.

That there is a child neglected by the Duke of Cabezo.

The fact that the kid rolled in front of Victoire’s feet.

Everything was lucky.

God gave Leschine bad luck and Daughtry good luck.

Through the misfortunes of a little girl.

For Victoire, it was a routine to monitor every move of the Duke of Cabezo.

To avenge, you had to know your enemy. To destroy the red castle by targeting both the advantages and weaknesses of Cabezo, the overflowing and the deficiencies.

Ferdinand Cabezo, the Duke of Cabezo, who owns a vast expanse of land, was a worse human being than Victoire thought. Like his father, who brought down the Duke of Leschine, he was mean and greedy, but he was not good at learning, martial arts, and calculation in any way.

His wife, Filena Cabezo, on the other hand, was too much for her husband.

The failure of Ferdinand’s business, fraud and gambling money, and the reputation of the Cabezo family was still high thanks to Filena.

But far from thanking his wife, Ferdinand was jealous of her.

Ferdinand, who was tightly united with the inferiority complex, used to release his pent-up desire for control in the brothels. It was Diana, Ferdinand’s concubine, whom I met then. Diana knew how to please Ferdinand. She licked his feet to please Ferdinand’s moods, even though she was being coy.

At the same time that Emilie, the daughter of Filena, was born, Ferdinand was with Diana. A year later, Polia was born.

Since she was a child, Polia has known how to please Ferdinand like Diana. Emilie, on the other hand, grew up to be a girl who looked like Filena who knows her dignity. And knowing dignity was the beginning of misfortune for Emilie.

One day the Marquis of Dalton gave Victoire some surprising news.

Less than a year later, however, it turned out that Dalton’s ideas were too naive. The prostitute Diana was transformed into a fallen aristocrat and entered the ranks of the Duke of Cabezo. With his daughter, Polia.