Return of the Female Knight

Both were able to successfully evade the enemy forces longer than expected.

Swiig! Swig!

However, the number of assassins in hot pursuit gradually swelled to several times more than before. Arrows were coming from several directions at once now, and making it difficult to evade.

“Caril, watch out—!”

No sooner had Carlisle dodged left, another arrow flew in the air right at them.

Hiiiiing!

An arrow struck Carlisle’s horse, and it twisted sharply and reared up its front legs, tossing its riders onto the ground. Carlisle quickly covered Elena’s body and rolled them away.

Tak tak tak tak!

Several arrows struck the ground where they had been moments earlier. After safely dodging all the attacks, Elena raised herself up and clutched her dagger. Her dress was torn and dirtied from her tumble to the ground, but no one ridiculed her appearance. Waves of fierce energy was radiating from her.

“Caril, let’s get rid of some of the men on horseback. If we drag our feet here, more of them will come after us.”

Carlisle rose from the ground as well and pulled his sword from his waist.

“At your command, my wife.”

No more words were needed. Carlisle and Elena rushed at the group of soldiers closest to them at the same time. Carlisle was ruthlessly efficient, targeting the enemies’ vital points to quickly dispatch them. Elena was similarly making quick work with her dagger, appearing in front of the enemy in a blink of an eye and slashing their throats.

Together they took down three or four people, and their eyes blazed with such bloodlust that the remaining assassins were forced to slow down their approach. It was then.

Tadadadada!

The sound of dozens more horse hooves began to ring in the air. It was too early for Carlisle’s reinforcements to have arrived, and the sound was not coming from the direction of the Imperial Palace. That meant that more assassins were coming their way.

Carlisle pushed off one of the dead men from his horse and climbed on.

“Elena!”

She knew what to do without any further communication, and she pushed off another dead man from his horse and clambered on.

“Hyaaa!”

At Elena’s cry, the two horses leapt forward and galloped on. A single horse would have been slowed down carrying the both of them at the same time. Despite their new advantage, however, the new pursuers seemed different from the assassins from before, and their clothes were embroidered with conspicuous golden flowers on their shoulders. It was strangely more ominous. Elena couldn’t put it into words, but she knew that these new soldiers were far more skilled. Elena wasn’t the only one; Carlisle’s expression turned grim as he saw them.

“We need to split up.”

“What do you mean?”

“If we stay together, the forces will concentrate in one place. We need to split up and meet up again later.”

She didn’t like this plan. Even if Carlisle and Elena split up, the enemy would likely pursue only the Crown Prince instead of dividing their forces. Elena’s position as crown princess was meaningless once Carlisle was removed, and they had no heirs anyway. As the situation became more dire, she realized that Carlisle was only trying to protect her.

“If you say that again, I’ll be very angry.”

She had told him the first time she met him—I will be the one to protect you. She had no intention of breaking that vow.

“Caril, I’ll be dead before I leave your side.”

Carlisle’s expression turned grave, but a faint smile played on his lips.

“I’d love to hear such romantic words somewhere other than this situation.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. But if there’s someone that has to escape first, it has to be you.”

“…I didn’t hear what you just said.”

The pair of them smiled at each other. Even in the face of death, they looked at each other clearly as if through a mirror. Each of them cared about the other more than anyone else.

Elena and Carlisle were riding fast in the wind, when suddenly a stiff rope appeared between two large wooden pillars.

‘How is this here!’

There was no time to avoid it, and their horses collided with the rope and went down.

Kwadang!

Carlisle and Elena were tossed from their rides. Elena rotated herself in the air, but couldn’t avoid a hard crash into the ground.

“Ugh!”

Pain shot through her body, but she quickly lifted herself up. Several men with the embroidered golden flowers swam into view, as if they had been waiting for them. Elena spoke first.

“Who are you?”

She couldn’t identify them as their faces were masked, but one of the men spoke.

“I wondered if you would come this far, but we were lucky.”

The man ignored Elena’s question, and Carlisle stared him down with his icy blue eyes.

“You were waiting for us to run right here?”

“Yes. The further you were the harder it would be to kill you. We were controlling the route to the palace just in case.”

Elena’s eyes darkened. There were more assassins in waiting for them then, and they seemed to have predicted the route in which they would make their escape. She wondered who was pulling the strings. Empress Ophelia, or perhaps Paveluc?

There was no time to get answers for that now, as the assassins who had been chasing them were arriving at the scene. Some were the ones that attacked them at the lake, while the others had the unidentifiable gold flowers on their shoulders.

‘We have to get out before more come.’

Elena glanced at Carlisle to see if he had the same idea.

They couldn’t wait any longer, and they immediately jumped forward in different directions.

Chaeng! Chaeng! Chaeng!

There was the sound of weapon clashing on weapon as they fought their way out fiercely. It would have been difficult if Carlisle was alone, but he had Elena’s unexpected explosive force by his side. The soldiers underestimated her ability, and several of them fell to her blade.

The battle drew on, and someone arrived to whisper to the man who had exchanged words with Carlisle and Elena earlier.

“The Crown Prince’s reinforcements are close.”

“That’s faster than expected.”

“What should we do?”

The man narrowed his eyes, but he had a mission to complete.

“…Take him out with arrows.”

“What about our allies fighting against the Crown Prince?”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re here to kill him at any cost.”

“I understand.”

On command, several men quickly gathered and pointed their bows at the center of the battle.

Seuseuseueu—

Elena whipped her head around when she heard the sound of arrows being notched, and saw that the enemy was aiming at Carlisle.

‘…I have to stop them!’

She flung her dagger and immediately took out one of the bowmen. Without stopping, she took away a weapon from an assassin in front of her and knocked down another one. However, it was impossible to overpower so many men in such a short time.

The arrows were about to let loose, and Elena made a run towards Carlisle. Her body moved instinctively before she could think. It wasn’t about saving Carlisle so she could save her family. She just had to save Carlisle.

Dadadadag!

Her heart pounded in her ears as she willed her feet to fly faster towards Carlisle, but time seemed to move by sluggishly.

Pusyug!

An arrow meant for Carlisle flew through the air and struck her back. She went down like a petal falling to the ground, and her eyes met Carlisle’s in midair.

“…Elena.”

Carlisle’s blue eyes widened. This was the first time she had ever seen him so shocked.

Finally, Elena’s body crumpled to the ground. Her back burned where the arrow pierced her flesh. She had been hit with arrows several times in her past life, but this was the first time she felt this kind of excruciating pain. She looked down at herself and saw dark red blood dripping out of her.

‘…Is it a poison arrow?’

She coughed, and blood spewed out of her mouth.

Suddenly, there was the roaring sound of dozens of horses. A voice in the distance yelled out to them.

“Your Highness! Are you alright?”

Just by hearing the voice, she recognized who was leading the support forces.

‘Thank God…’

If Elena fell here, Carlisle would be left alone in danger. Thank goodness the reinforcements arrived in time. The battlefield turned into confusion as the bowmen shot their arrows at the arriving forces, and Carlisle took the chance to rush towards them and cut them down. He hurried to where Elena had fallen, and gathered her in his arms.

“Wake up! You can’t pass out!”

Carlisle’s face swam in her vision. She didn’t know he could look like this. His expression looked right about to crumble.

“Caril…”

Blood trickled from the side of her mouth.

“Shh. You’re fine. Don’t talk.”

“Don’t make that face. I’m not fine.”

Despite Carlisle’s attempts to reassure her, his expression grew darker and darker.

‘I’ve only…just reached it.’

She had tried to honestly express her feelings, but danger threatened them before she was able to do so. Somehow, fate always seemed treat Elena more harshly. She struggled to form the words she wanted to say.

“I…I don’t think I’ll go, Caril. But if I’m wrong…save my family.”

“All right, all right. Don’t say anything.”

She lifted her hand and touched his cheek, smearing some of her blood on his face.

“There’s something I haven’t said yet. I wanted to say…”

“You can say it to me later.”

There might not be another chance. If this was their last time together, she wanted to tell him now. Tell him that she shared the same passionate feelings as he did, feelings that she couldn’t control. She coughed up more blood, but she forced her mouth to move.

“I…love…you…”

There were so many things she wanted to say, but this had to do. Carlisle eyes widened at her sudden confession. She had hoped that he would give her a bright smile, but his eyes were filled with cold despair. Something black started to spread across his face, but then her vision went dark. She couldn’t distinguish whether what she saw was an illusion or reality.

Her hand slipped from his cheek.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Carlisle’s desperate cry rang in her ears before she finally lost consciousness.