I Will Disappear, Grand Duke

Although Julia was trembling, she captured the scene clearly in her eyes. The demonic creatures engulfed in blue flames were burning.

The fire that spread in an instant to the ground and spread to the beasts that were rampaging on both sides. Julia looked at the scene with her dazed eyes for a moment, then suddenly came to her senses.

 Now it was time to run away.

Julia, who had fallen down several times with her shaky legs, struggling to get up.

She forcibly pulled her hardened footsteps, and, not knowing where she was going, she just ran recklessly.

But she couldn't run away for long as someone grabbed her by the hair.

 "Ah!"

 Jukia looked up with terrified eyes as she fell down.

The white-haired man, whose eyes were stained with bright red blood, was staring at her with her angry expression.

 “Where are you running away to, huh?”

 “…  Let go of me!”

 The man easily dragged the struggling Julia away.

Despite her trembling, Julia revived her previous feelings and raised her power once more.

 But this time there was no spark.

 "Ah!"

 At that moment, the grip on her hair grew stronger.

As Julia yelled painfully, the man laughed and continued to talk like a crazy person.

“You dared to rip my eyes apart, so I would have to tear your limbs apart.”

 “Ahh…”

“But you have quite a strange power, so I’ll take you without killing you in particular. Well, whether you die now or die later, the sacrifice is the same."

The man continued to mumble in a creepy voice.

Julia couldn't even listen to the man properly, and she struggled desperately.

Julia, who was trying to raise her power again several times, felt something gushing out of her body at that moment.

 At the same time, she vomited blood.

 After being dragged for a while in that state, she was thrown hard into a carriage.

Bang, Julia groaned softly as she bumped into the window.  She endured the pain and tried to open her eyes, but her eyelids kept getting heavy.

 She bowed her head and exhaled.  At the same time, the carriage shook slightly.

Perhaps he was trying to drag the carriage, the man in the seat in front of her threw the limp coachman at random.

Then there was the sound of a strange incantation.

 Hearing the sound of the spell, hordes of creatures from all directions ran and surrounded the carriage.

 And with a rattle, the carriage began to move slowly.

 At this moment, the first thought that came to Julia’s mind was her concern for the people of the monastery.  Will Gabrielle and the children be safe?

Now, of all the times, the priests were absent and there was no one to protect the children.

 ‘Is this the reason the knights disappeared?’

Julia, who began to grasp the situation at that moment in her blinking mind, exhaled heavily.

The strength of her whole body drained out in a hurry.  With her droopy body leaning against the seat, Julia struggled to lift her eyes and looked out the open space in the carriage.

A while ago, the man completely ripped off the door, leaving a large hole in one side of the carriage.

She could see monsters with hideous appearances running frantically following the carriage.

What would happen if she was dragged by them like this?  Earlier, she seemed to have heard the word ‘sacrifice’ from the man.

 "no……"

Julia muttered in a dying voice. As her mind wandered, the thought arose that she didn't want to die helplessly like this.

 She was once very tired of living, but now she was not.

 She wanted to live longer, happier, and safer than anyone else.

That was the moment.  Along with the hilt of a sword that flew from somewhere, the monsters that were close to the carriage turned around.

 "What is that!"

 She heard the man shouting in astonishment.

Soon, someone rode on a horse and started slashing nearby monsters.

 “Aaaah! Ahhhhh!"

Looking at the monsters that fell easily, the man began to scream.

The angry man shook the carriage precariously to and fro.

 With that recoil, Julia's body fell helplessly out of the carriage.

 Suddenly, the cold air permeated her skin.

But what touched her body was not the hard frozen ground, but someone's arms.

His large arms gently embraced her. In that state, her body slowly began to rise.

Julia looked at her own two legs floating helplessly in the air, and then she raised her head to the person holding her.

Her gaze, which had been collapsing without focus, shook greatly for a moment.

‘Am I seeing nonsense?  Am I dreaming?’

There was a man in front of her who shouldn't have been there.  Distorted eyebrows visible through dark black hair. Beneath them, his golden eyes gleaming under the dim sunlight.

The man she had been trying to forget for a year was right in front of her.

 "… Julia."

 Julia stared blankly at Fernan's face through the blurred vision.

He was saying something to her, but Julia couldn't understand it properly.

In her ears, the sound around her was humming heavily, and her vision was getting darker.

Looking at Fernan’s moving lips for the last time, Julia slowly lowered her eyelids. Her body immediately shriveled up.

As if all senses were cut off for a moment, she fell into a deep sleep.

 ***

 It was quite an impulsive step towards the Holy Land.

Deep in the dawn, Fernan couldn't stand sane and swallowed his medicine. It was because he hadn't slept for a week.

The doctor said he would fall asleep quickly if he took the medicine because it had a strong effect, but there was no effect on Fernan.

Far from being able to sleep, the drugs only stimulated the urge that was hard to suppress. Despite the time he had endured for half a year, Fernan led the castle with a hazy mind. He wanted to meet Julia. He wanted to capture Julia in his eyes once more.

Even if he couldn't bring her back, he wanted to meet her. He wanted to hear her voice. He wanted her eyes to reach him.

 A dark, snowy morning. So Fernan left for the Holy Land.

However, after taking a long time to arrive, the land was suddenly in a state of chaos.

“Your Majesty, we annihilated all the demons that attacked the monastery. However, the Grand Duchess……"

His lieutenant, who had been planted in the Holy Kingdom under the pretext of checking Julia's current situation, was belatedly escorting the monastery.

 However, many had already died, and Julia was not even there.

After that, Fernan couldn’t even remember what kind of spirit he went to find Julia with.

Frantically slashing the demons that had taken over the entire village, Fernan searched for Julia's whereabouts like a person who lost his reason.

It didn't take long to find Julia. She had not gone very far from the monastery.

After holding Julia, who had fallen from her carriage without strength, Fernan's head flickered for an instant. Julia, whose lips were all wet with blood, was exhaling as if she would break at any moment.

Her blue eyes, which were always clear, lost their light and quickly closed.

 Holding her tightly in his arms, Fernan regretted his decision that day.

The day he let Julia go like that.

Had he known it was going to be like this, he wouldn't have put her in a place like this.

Fernan, who looked down at her, who had lost her consciousness, vainly stared at the man who had made her to this point.

He cut the man who was using magic to summon the demons in two with a single strike of his sword.

It was so cruel that even the screams of the man could not be uttered.  

“Do not allow anything to enter.”

Fernan, who gave the command in a hoarse voice, drove his  horse while holding Julia deeply in his arms.

A horde of monsters that appeared again from somewhere collapsed one after another by the hands of only three knights.

 The whole street was stained with blood.

 ***

 Julia couldn't open her eyes for a long time.

Since they could not afford to cross the empire with the wounded Julia, they were temporarily staying in the Principality adjacent to the Holy Kingdom.

 Several doctors came and went to treat Julia.

They said the injuries were not serious. However, the problem was the traces of bleeding and the consciousness that did not return.

 "Um, so, this is…"

The doctor, who had been holding Julia's wrist for a long time to find out the cause of the bleeding, could not easily speak.

 After a while, the doctor, who shook his head, looked at Fernan.

"I can't feel the pulse. Something blocked the flow of blood…." 

All the doctors said the same thing. Because her pulse wasn’t working, it was impossible to pinpoint her condition.