IBWCD 37

Chapter 37

“Eek! I’m sorry, who told you to hide in the straw like that…?”

The floating body landed softly on the ground.

Dwayne was stunned to see a human roll out of nowhere, and horrified to see the blood spattered across her face.

“This can’t be my knight!”

Dwayne stared at the human flapping like a piece of paper in front of him, his thick eyebrows knitted together.

“Where did you come from, you pile of dog bones?”

Evelyn pressed her lips together in embarrassment.

Apparently, this man hadn’t thought of her as a prospective grandduchess, much less a woman.

‘I suppose so…’

The mansions of the capital were a long way from the training grounds.

She rarely encountered knights, as she mostly stayed in her mansion.

Besides, she had changed into the leather pants and tattered tunic she’d found in the wagon.

With her hair pulled back into a loose ponytail and a shaggy hat on top of her head, no one would mistake her for the grand duke’s consort.

“A pleasure Sir Dwayne.”

The way he shot her a suspicious glance was quite menacing, but Evelyn didn’t back down.

She took a step toward him, giving him the most friendly smile she could muster.

“I know this must be very embarrassing for you, but.. I’m Evelyn, promised to His Highness for the future.”

For a moment, Dwayne was silent.

They weren’t the only ones who stiffened.

The eyes of the knights, who had been watching the confrontation between her and Dwayne with interest, slowly dawned with a gleam of alarm.

“Hic!”

A gasp escaped Dwayne’s lips, and his eyes widened, and he jerked back as if he’d seen a ghost.

“No, don’t freak out!”

Evelyn cautiously approached him, as one might soothe an angry brown bear.

Then she calmly added

“I saw you on the field of battle the other day, and I was very impressed with the way you commanded your troops with such charisma, and that’s when I learned your name.”

Dwayne’s thick eyebrows raised in a ready baptism of praise.

It was common knowledge to all of them that Evelyn Lawrence’s mother, the Countess of Lawrence, had been exiled for practicing witchcraft.

The daughter of a wicked woman who had done great harm to the Empire.

Dwayne, unaware that the prospective grand duchess was illegitimate, was naturally wary of Evelyn.

‘With that graceful and lovely face, she must have baited my lord!’

The woman’s appearance was so clear and blue that she could be mistaken for a spirit, but she held a fascinating color within her like an ember.

But having survived the succubus’s brainwashing, he was not about to fall for her tricks.

“Look who’s falling for it!”

With her family on the brink of collapse, she seduced his lord in search of greater power.

With Benjamin and Max on his side, he would have reason to persuade his lord, and they felt no pity for her.

They didn’t know what made the slender woman wish to become a northerner, but as long as their lord approved, her identity was of no consequence.

Dwayne disagreed.

House Rictor is a longtime vassal of Johansen. Their loyalty was to their lord, and by extension, to Grand duke Orpheus.

‘What if the woman who had inherited the wicked woman’s extraordinary powers was up to no good?’

“Everyone back off!”

Dwayne gritted his teeth.

“Excuse me, then.”

Dwayne replied bluntly and turned away, his expression suddenly subtle as if he had witnessed something unbelievable.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Just a moment, my lord.”

Without permission, the woman who had grabbed him by the hem of his robe quickly ripped off Dwayne’s gauntlets, which were lined with demon skin, before he had a chance to fiddle with them.

“You unholy—!”

Born a warrior, Dwayne reflexively threw his hands up in the air, offended by the unauthorized touch.

He slapped her tiny hand, less than half the size of his, away with all his might, but he couldn’t.

“…What the hell.”

As soon as her hand touched his gauntleted bare skin, an unrecognizable mauve aura began to spread.

Dwayne shuddered at the unfamiliar sensation of warmth and comfort.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, my lord.”

When he flinched, Evelyn applied a little more pressure to the hand holding his arm, as if to calm a raging beast.

“I have no impure intentions, I’m just trying to heal the wound.”

“If it’s healing…”

Evelyn countered calmly.

“Yes, I do have healing powers, and I was the one who calmed the… rampage the day you visited the Countess.”

“You mean your healing powers worked on His Lordship?”

“Yes.”

Dwayne pursed his lips and frowned.

He still found it hard to believe, but Evelyn didn’t bother to explain.

Time would tell anyway.

“By the way…, it’s pretty stubborn of you not to use a purifying agent when you’re so badly injured.”

Dwayne was a man with a strong sense of responsibility.

He’d given up his scarce salve for the lesser knights, neglecting his own wounds.

Perhaps he was overly trusting of his own physical strength, but the Empire’s lack of support was the problem in the first place.

No matter how much he tried, he allowed the wound to fester…

If Evelyn remembered correctly, Dwayne would soon have his left arm amputated.

He hadn’t treated the demon’s wound in time.

‘We’ll have to keep an eye on it.”

Evelyn was glad she hadn’t tried her healing powers on someone else.

She wouldn’t have gotten this chance if she’d cowered away from the temple.

She may have suffered a terrible headache, but she was able to help many people, and that’s a great outcome.

“So please, take care of yourself.”

Evelyn glanced at Dwayne’s wounds, where new flesh was beginning to sprout, and urged him once more.

“The Grand Duke needs your strength.”

She picked up the gauntlets from the floor and placed them on Dwayne’s large hands.

“If you don’t take care of yourself and get hurt badly, it’ll be a problem for the grand duke, and then…”

Even in that moment, she could feel it.

A complex light flashed across Dwayne’s face.

It was a quantum leap from the past, when he’d gnashed his teeth like a raging beast every time he saw her.

‘Yes, this is enough for now’

Evelyn bowed with her eyes and stepped back silently.

* * *

Sometime later.

When Kalian finally reached the campsite, the forest was no different than when he left.

There was nothing out of the ordinary.

Nevertheless, the corners of Kalian’s eyes slowly began to crinkle as sweat drenched his body and his heart pounded.

Even the presence of a superlative demon could stir his heart, which had always been so dormant.

‘What a woman.’

Besides, it was the first time the Guardian’s Mark had ever reacted to anything, and he was terribly nervous.

‘She’s a variable.’

There were no words to describe how he’d felt a moment ago, when the mere thought of something harming her had made his blood boil.

A breeze blew in, cooling the rising heat.

He sighed, brushing a stray strand of hair out of his face, and someone came up behind him.

“You’ve had a long day.”

“Uh.”

Kalian replied briefly to Max, who handed him a wet towel, and then walked away, looking around nonchalantly.

Everything looked the same as usual.

The straw bales arranged in a circle, the bonfire burning fiercely in the center, the clinking of glasses and the din of men talking.

Familiar, yet disturbing. He wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel and looked around, feeling strangely out of place.

It was definitely business as usual, but with a different vibe.

‘What’s wrong with this place?’

Pondering, Kalian turned to Max, who was following him.

“Dinner.”

“We simply…”

“I wasn’t asking how you guys are doing.”

“Ah…!”

A myriad of speculations flew past in that short exclamation.

Finally, Kalian ruffled his bangs, realizing that his annoyance stemmed from Evelyn’s absence.

“Where is Evelyn now?”

“She’s out for a walk, she said the scenery is pretty and she wanted to take a look around…”

“So, you didn’t just send her out without an escort.”

“Uh, well, there are no demons in the Empire, so she should be safe…”

“Damn!”

Max straightened his shoulders as he felt the forest air drop even lower.

“I’ll get her to safety!”

“Never mind, I was a fool to trust you. Start securing the perimeter, there could be an ambush.”

‘Had she left?’

Of course it would be easy enough to find her.

He hadn’t yet broken the tracking spell he’d cast on her.

A diligent walk on the palm of his hand would only take him so far.

He turned toward the clearing where he had tethered his horse, thinking nothing of it, and came to a screeching halt.

“The ring.”

The loot from the fifth floor of the Bellatra Dungeon.

It was a ring inlaid with a dreamstone of priceless value.

The problem is, when she wears it, she is immune to all manner of ailments and spells.

It was given to her before she infiltrated the temple to protect her from any possible danger.

“It must have negated the tracking spell.”

Kalian’s face hardened in horror at the realization.