The Guardian Knight of Affection-Starved Young Ladies

36 – Selassie (04)

037.

“Over there!”

At the entrance of Mount Hiatt, now filled with makeshift tents.

A knight who had lost sleep standing guard pointed and shouted.

As the fog began to lift, there were several knights around, prepared for any eventuality.

Their gazes followed the pointing finger of the shouting knight.

What they saw were the silhouettes of two people.

A boy, recently appointed as a guard, was carrying a lady down the mountain.

The boy’s appearance was so horrific that it was almost unbearable to look at.

Especially the right half of his body, which looked as if the flesh had been burned off.

Even from the sight of the blood that had soaked and hardened, it was easy to guess that the treatment had been inevitable.

What on earth had happened while they were trapped in that mountain?

And why was Selassie, who wouldn’t let anyone touch him or even come close, being carried so quietly?

Arriving in front of the gathered knights,

Selassie got off Kallen’s back with his help.

Then, in a voice so small that the knights could not hear, she whispered.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes. As I said earlier, I am fine.”

Kallen does not betray herself.

She does not abandon her faith.

Though it may be something that could become untrue at any moment, she simply wants to believe it.

For now, that is all that remains.

Selassie, who nodded slightly, asked the knights.

“Makbel.”

Her voice was so stern that it felt as if it belonged to a leader of all.

“Where is Makbel?”

*

“I’m glad you’re safe, my lady.”

An old man with a short mustache.

Makbel had just arrived at the temporary shelter built at the foot of the mountain.

The mountain fog had lifted, and news had come that Selassie and her escort had returned safely.

For Makbel, who had hoped she would quietly die in the mountains, it was rather grim news.

But he could not show such feelings.

Not even a fool, let alone Selassie, who originally did not trust others, would fail to hold him accountable for this incident.

How much effort had he put into gaining her trust?

Standing by the side of the prince, who was favored by the grand duke,

There was not much left to realize his worn-out, shabby desires.

Failure in such a futile manner was not an option.

With a slightly awkward expression, Makbel approached Selassie, showing a worried look.

However, something was different.

The feeling Selassie exuded was different from before.

Makbel, feeling this, stopped in his tracks.

“My lady?”

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Towards him, Ruby…

There was no faith left anymore.

Makbel couldn’t believe it.

Makbel, who had risen to that position with superior intuition and tact compared to others.

He was not unaware of the twisted heart that Selassie possessed.

Wasn’t it his plan to exploit that weakness?

As the people around him disappeared, Selassie, who had to rely on him, no longer sent a gaze of faith.

“…Is it you?”

As mentioned, Makbel had good intuition and tact.

He could instantly recognize the culprit who had twisted and corrupted Selassie’s heart.

The one who stuck around as a guard.

It must be the stranger who visited a while ago.

Makbel was convinced of this as he glared at Kallen.

At the same time, a question arose.

How could Selassie be captivated by a stranger who wasn’t even from the North, someone who had only been with them for a few years?

No matter how twisted Selassie’s heart was.

On the contrary, because of that, he had learned to be more cold-hearted than anyone else.

When in a situation where he had to trust someone, he could gauge which side would suffer more losses.

And naturally, he had to be the one to win.

The words Kallen had said to Selassie knocked on the walls of his heart.

The fact that he had finally taken responsibility for the weight of those words by risking his life.

Makbel, who had no way of knowing this, was just confused.

It was at that moment that Selassie’s command was given.

“Kallen.”

The boy, whose body was inexplicably alive.

When he drew his finger towards him.

Thud-

“Ugh…!”

A burning pain arose in both thighs.

Hyatt, the ruler of the North.

Even if he was a vassal of such a place, his personal martial prowess was not outstanding.

Makbel is nothing more than a frail old man.

Enduring magic with such a body is, in a way, an impossible task.

His old knees were forcibly made to kneel in the cold snowfield.

The head that fell from the recoil, and what he saw because of it.

It was the sight of a thin, burning line piercing through his thigh.

Confirming the source of pain with one’s eyes is undoubtedly a terrible thing.

Because it makes the pain feel twice as intense.

“Ah, Miss… What is this…”

“Do you not know what happened in the mountains?”

Makbel forcibly lifted his trembling head to face Selacia.

Her eyes, which entrusted her body entirely to the boy, were colder than anything.

It was the moment when worries became reality.

As expected, a person like that, who is the embodiment of suspicion, would not let the crime go unpunished.

That’s why he had hoped to die quietly inside.

Makbel clicked his tongue repeatedly inside and made the most pitiful expression he could.

“How can you suspect me…! How many years has this old man been by your side, and there is no evidence that I orchestrated this!”

Literally.

There is no evidence that this was orchestrated by Makbel’s hand.

It’s also true that Selacia easily suspects the relationship she has built with Makbel over the years.

Makbel might have purely suggested cleaning up the monsters to help Selacia.

However.

“Even though you have been by my side for so long, you still don’t know me.”

That is the case for ordinary people.

For Selacia, it is a wrong statement.

At least for someone like Selacia.

“Regardless of the intention, I was put in danger. That alone is enough reason to punish you.”

At the same time, it is true even if Selacia is not an individual.

Even if the Grand Duke’s love is directed towards Prince Thorn, Selacia is the eldest daughter of the Grand Duke’s family.

A mere vassal cannot be exempted.

It is a fact that Selacia’s life was threatened.

It is also true that Makbel provided the pretext.

That is the only thing that matters.

That is all.

“And…”

Selassie said so, following the sound of applause that started coming from somewhere.

“It seems your words are not true.”

Clap- Clap-

Starting with Selassie, Kallen, the knights lined up around, and finally Makbel.

Everyone’s gaze turned backward.

“For the first time, you are saying something right, little brother.”

Where the gaze stopped, the Duke of Thorn, accompanied by numerous knights, was clapping exaggeratedly.

“Oh my. Brother. What brings you here?”

“You no longer wear that strange smile. It was one of your few merits.”

Makbel’s sin.

The Duke of Thorn appeared simultaneously.

Most people couldn’t easily understand the situation, but recalling Selassie’s words that Makbel betrayed and plotted, they could accept it.

“My lord… if you reveal yourself…!”

“That’s not it, Makbel. No matter how much I trust you, would I miss such a golden opportunity?”

Tsk.

Thorn clicked his tongue lightly and leisurely looked around.

The knights, tense and not knowing what to do.

Makbel, kneeling with his thigh pierced by magic.

Though his appearance was still tolerable, his brother’s condition was beyond words.

And, the mysterious guard who looked so severe that one might believe he was a corpse.

“What a perfect opportunity this is. The foolish girl who is my sister doesn’t even know she’s going to die and doesn’t come to the front line. And the guard protecting her looks like he would die with a single touch.”

Step, step.

With endlessly light steps, he headed towards the center where Makbel was kneeling and Selassie was glaring.

“If left like this, it seems you won’t be safe either. Am I wrong, Makbel?”

“…”

Not wrong.

Selassie will question her own sins.

And that possibility is never low.

However, there is a difference as vast as the sky and the earth between certainty and doubt.

The moment Thorn appeared, the justification that was only circumstantial became certain.

That is the shortcut to being unable to avoid punishment.

Given the situation, the only answer is for Thorn to secure a definite victory here.

Makbel gritted his teeth and answered.

“…As expected, sir. It was an excellent choice.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

Thorn nodded.

And then he stood in front of Selassie.

“Why did you covet my position, sister? You should have quietly found a suitable man and gotten married.”

“…”

“With that face and body, there would have been quite a demand. Well, it seems it’s too late now.”

Thorn clicked his tongue and spoke with a condescending look at Selassie.

He also asked the surrounding knights.

“What will you do? Will you follow my sister’s hopeless dream, or will you advance with me towards the North, towards the Empire?”

It was a situation where the outcome was clear to anyone.

The knights, who had been watching cautiously, slowly moved.

In a way, it might have been decided from the beginning.

The knights favored by the Grand Duke, and the sorceress who was practically abandoned by him.

Finally, the situation where everyone’s sides were divided arrived.

Selassie quietly.

Without the slightest movement, she quietly watched the scene.

All the people of the North turned their backs.

No, saying they turned their backs is too hopeful.

The knights facing her were practically enemies aiming for her neck.

Then she turned her head and looked at a boy.

As always, an utterly calm demeanor.

The appearance that had not changed at all since Mount Hiatt made me feel reassured, as if it would protect me forever.

He must have been more afraid of this situation than of dying.

Even if he knew that Makbel’s behavior was strange.

He must have been afraid of being left alone like this.

Just one person.

Just having that one person by my side made me feel fine.

Rather, it made me feel reassured.

So I smiled.

“…Smile? Have you finally gone mad?”

Selassie hid that smile deep within her mask.

The pure, innocent smile that only a young girl could have.

So that others could not see it.

She smiled so that only Kallen could see her purity.

Eyes gently curved and lips curling up.

Thorn could only see that much.

He could only know that Selassie ‘smiled.’

“Please, Kallen.”

“Yes.”

What on earth is that unwavering demeanor?

In such a disparity of power, is that unreliable guard so trustworthy?

It was more convincing to say that his mind had gone mad and he couldn’t make proper judgments.

In Thorn’s eyes, he could only see the boy in a terrible physical state, walking nonchalantly.

Thorn, feeling a bit uneasy, ordered the knights to dispose of him.

The charge was treason.

-aaah!!!

What is this?

-Ugh!

How should I explain this?

-Save me!

This situation unfolding before my eyes.

How on earth should I explain it?

Begging for life despite no one taking it.

The knights of the North are retreating in fear.

Is what I see with my own eyes truly reality?

Am I to believe that the knights of the North are afraid of just one boy?

Elegant.

The simplicity in his gestures.

The magical spectacle that moves in sync with them.

“Prince Thorn. Do you know why magic emerged and the era of the sword ended?”

Covered in blood, the way he unleashes magic is nothing short of elegant.

He’s just one boy.

A boy who hasn’t even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet.

Why does he seem unbeatable?

Thorn unintentionally listened to the boy’s words.

“Even though swords are better for dealing with monsters, magic is the exclusive domain of the chosen.”

How could one not listen to the words of the one who dominates the battlefield?

“The essence of magic is for killing. Even if its meaning has faded, it still depends on the user.”

I don’t know much about magic, but I vaguely remember what my father told me.

My father, who had the absurd idea of combining magic with the sword, was knowledgeable about magic.

I didn’t pay much attention, but I remember the basics here and there.

“Even a single rank in magic makes a huge difference.”

The red thread that pierced through Machvel’s thigh crosses the battlefield.

“He said that ancient battle magic could handle dozens of swords alone.”

A chilling wind cuts through swords and armor again.

“It might not be to that extent now, but…”

And that thing beyond it…

It was indescribable.

Behind the boy, who remained eerily expressionless even as he coughed up blood, a dark world.

A dark hell was unfolding.

The icicle spear glittering at the fingertips was undoubtedly his brother’s, but its power was incomparably stronger.

“This was also one of the reasons I originally came here.”

It wasn’t when magic first appeared.

It was even more difficult for Kallen, who was not a great magician, to handle dozens of knights.

No matter how advantageous magic was against swords, it was a daunting task.

There was only one thing that twisted that logic.

It was the mental image that Kallen unconsciously began to unfold.

As he had learned from Blamia.

Kallen, who believed that swords could hardly win against magic and had achieved one of his purposes for coming here, judged it possible.

But such a thing was inherently burdensome.

Kallen, unaware that it was due to the practical experience from the life-and-death situations he had crossed and the mental image he had unconsciously unfolded, just laughed.

Because he had finally succeeded.

The third rank.

It was the moment he achieved one of his purposes for coming to the north.