Shadow Emperor

As his name suggests, Ezelle was nothing compared to Leonard’s skill and strength.

Leonard’s position doesn’t have any sparse opening; however, it had to be penetrated.

“Ha!”

Ezelle—who had redirected the sword—thrust it toward Leonard’s neck. Regardless, Leonard was just staring at her sword as though his eyes could pierce it through at once and casually stated.

“The sword is sharp yet lacking in strength.”

As he talked, Leonard swiveled his sword swiftly. When he found a hint of a gap on Ezelle’s defense that was barely discernible to the naked eye—his sword sunk sharply.

Instead of heading towards his neck, Ezelle’s sword veered off and blocked Leonard’s. No, she tried to.

The moment the two swords collided, Leonard gave strength to the sword he held.

“Keug!”

Ezelle swallowed her scream as the sword bore into her shoulder. When Leonard fueled the sword stuffed between his hands, its sharp blade painfully lodged on her flesh. Instead of bellowing at the pain tearing through her body, Ezelle gritted her lips and glared at Leonard.

A smile wound up into Leonard’s lips at Ezelle, who refused to admit defeat despite the pain.

Ezelle’s stature was clawing to the ground enough to be embarrassed by her title as a knight. However, her spirit was more viciously flaming than any enemy Leonard had ever encountered. Despite being oppressed by him, Ezelle did not back down. No, on the contrary, she sprinted even unflinchingly towards Leonard.

“Do you want to die?”

Leonard made sarcastic remarks, giving strength to the sword buried in her shoulder. It was ridiculous to see Ezelle rushing as though she was impatient to wait for her death. And it was fun.

Regardless of whether she rebels in the face of a lion, Leonard aims to kill Ezelle.

It was only a matter of deciding whether to kill them by playing with them or kill them immediately without pain.

At the time, Ezelle struggled to open her lips at the searing pain she fought hard to endure.

“If there are no more options…… If there’s no way out after all…….”

Was it a momentary illusion? Or did the voice change while bearing those pain?

Leonard thought that Ezelle’s voice had changed.

That’s not the same voice as before.

Leonard’s eyes narrowed at the ridiculous thought. His musing, however, was cut in a flick of a second.

Holding his arm, which controlled the pressure of the sword, Ezelle threw herself in front of Leonard.

As if it didn’t matter if the wound deepened, Ezelle stabbed her sword the second she grasped him.

Leonard took a few steps back, kicking Ezelle in a flash.

Although the wound wasn’t severe, the sharp sword that came in through the armor was an unexpected wound for him. He looked at Ezelle with a glint of disbelief, examining the cut.

Ezelle, who vomited a handful of blood, pulled Leonard’s sword out of her shoulder. She stares at Leonard as though she could still move, shifting a few steps and eventually crashing to the ground.

The blood from the fallen Ezelle’s shoulder drenched the cold shadowed soil. Leonard then used his foot to turn Ezelle’s body lying close to his feet.

The blood gushing from the deeply stabbed shoulder quickly soaked her clothes like a wildfire. Leonard snatched up the sword that had tumbled to the floor and aimed it at Ezelle’s throat.

Just a drop of the sword like this, and you’re done.

However, unlike usual, Leonard’s sword stopped around Ezelle’s neck as if he had gone insane.

The appearance of the fallen Ezelle was displeasing. He couldn’t clearly point out what it was, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was overlooking something.

What was he thinking?

Leonard’s sword—which was supposedly aimed at her neck—reversed direction and slowly sliced off Ezelle’s top.

Leonard’s eyes widened as he peered through the cut clothes.

“Your Highness!”

Leonard turns Ezelle’s front to the ground on the call from a distance. The man who ran as it seemed the situation had ended knelt before him.

“All of Lena’s forces have been subdued.”

Even after the report, Leonard’s attention was still set on the fallen Ezelle. The man kneeling beneath his gaze also cast his eyes on Ezelle lying on the floor. Then uttered a few things as though it were insignificant.

“It’s Lena’s Ezelle.”

“That knight is…….”

“Take care of the surroundings. We will proceed to Lena’s capital as soon as the ranks are stabilized.”

Suha hurried to lower his head and leave at the tone of Leonard’s words as though he was irritated by more meddling. Leonard returned his gaze from Suha to the lying Ezelle.

He is too little to be considered a man. Particularly delicate features. The aesthetic tone of voice.

Ezelle’s sword skill is sharp but lacking in strength.

The curiosity that rarely arises outside of the tensions of life-threatening war was piqued.

“Lena’s Ezelle is a woman…….”

If you leave it like this, he or she will die.

He had no sympathy for Ezelle or any inclination to save her—whom he mistook for a man—simply because she was a woman. After all, it was enough for the person to die.

But…….

‘If she survives, it would be fun to have her by my side.’

Leonard strode to his troop, abandoning the unconscious Ezelle.

Cadelle immediately advanced to Lena’s capital after defeating Lena’s final army.

Three days later,

Lena was subjugated by Cadelle.

* * * * *

Cadelle, who subjugated Lena, quickly took control. Contrary to the words that Cadelle’s army was brutal, the civilians remained unharmed. The only thing Prince Leonard thoroughly destroyed was Lena’s forces and the aristocrats that rebelled against him.

Leonard, who overpowered Lena, accepted the king’s surrender and returned to Cadelle, leaving only soldiers to deal with the aftermath. Although he was absent as the head of the army, his experienced subordinates quickly resolved the issue following the enemy’s defeat.

『 Although the war’s defeat was unacceptable, it had to have been inevitable. I will not hold the knight Ezelle accountable any further. Prior to anything else, focus on healing the wound. 』

Despite the fact that she was not punished for the defeat, her current situation was already a punishment. She frowned as she exited the audience chamber from the pain in her shoulder.

“Sir Ezelle, are you hurt… won’t you need a physician?”

Perhaps because her expression was not good, the servant standing in front of the audience chamber approached. Ezelle shook her head at his question.

“No, you don’t have to worry.”

“But–”

“I should get going.”

Ezelle cut off the servant’s words and hurried her steps. Like the king said, this was not the time to report to the royal palace but to rest and mend at home. As soon as she returned to the capital, she wandered around frantically for three days without being able to get proper rest.

Even if she insisted that she was okay, her body appeared to have reached its limits; she gritted her teeth instinctively to the pain she felt every time she took a step.

‘The pain is unbearable.’

Ezelle stopped walking at the thought that crossed her mind.

Without even being able to adequately resist the overwhelming swordsmanship skill, she was dumbfounded. It was fortunate that she did not die, but the secret she kept until now was discovered.

Without even tending to the wound on her shoulder, the first thing Ezelle did was put on the armor that was taken off to cover her exposed body.

‘Did the swordsman discover the truth?’

But Ezelle vehemently denied it right away.

For war alone, the swordsman was famous for being cruel. A person who regarded everything as a means to an end other than the throne of Cadelle, there was no way he could spare Ezelle’s life just because she was a woman.

“Sir Ezelle.”

Ezelle paused in her thoughts and turned her head in the direction of the voice she heard not far away. The servant, who asked about her condition in the audience chamber, came rushing in.

The servant bowed his head and took out the letter he had been in his arms, holding it with both hands to Ezelle.

“His royal highness, Prince Winston has sent you a letter.”

“Is there anything else?”

“He said you’d know if you read the letter.”

When she accepted the letter, the servant quietly disappeared after bidding her farewell. Confirming that no one was around, Ezelle unfolded the letter with a cautious hand.

Ezelle delicately placed the letter in her arms a few minutes later, seeing the written order to be cautious. Ezelle, who appeared unkempt, went out of the palace as if nothing had happened.

As she walked out of the palace, a carriage from her family was waiting for her. The coachman who had been waiting for her bowed his head.

“My father?”

“He’s already in the house. Madam as well…… and…….”

“I understand you don’t have to tell me. Let’s go.”

Her face was grim, even though she was on her way home, where she could rest comfortably. She got on the carriage with a stiff expression and closed her eyes.

The carriage door was closed and soon after departed at a rapid pace.