Chapter 10

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter Title: Chapter 109

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I rushed over to the window.

"Why are you here?"

Yurta, and now Dillon too. I was losing my mind.

Dillon opened his mouth as if to say something to me, but the window muffled his words, and I couldn't make them out.

I had no idea what he was saying. I shook my head, and Dillon furrowed his brow.

Then he waved his hand.

Was he telling me to step back?

What the hell was he planning...

Once he confirmed I had backed away, Dillon clenched his fist tightly and thrust it backward.

He inhaled sharply and then unleashed a ferocious punch.

Crash!

The thick glass shattered from a single blow of Dillon's fist. And not just that—the bars flew off effortlessly.

For a moment, I was utterly stunned.

When I had first been locked up here, I'd secretly tapped the glass when Yurta wasn't looking, and it had felt rock-solid.

'No way that could've been broken with a bare fist...'

Was that even possible?

"Hey there, princess."

"......"

"Come here, princess."

Princess?

Was he talking to me?

But there was no time to process the absurdity.

Bang! The knights waiting outside burst through the door.

"What was that noise inside...? Who the hell are you!"

The knights who charged in shouted at the sight of Dillon.

But Dillon ignored them completely, his eyes fixed solely on me.

"Hurry up and come here. You want to escape, don't you?"

He whispered as if he knew exactly what was in my heart.

"Miss! Get away from that thug right now!"

Thug?

He was the eldest son of the Herthas family. The knights must not have recognized him.

I turned around with a bright smile and looked at the knights.

The knights gave me awkward smiles and gestured frantically.

"Hurry and get away from hi..."

"No thanks."

I didn't even glance back as I ran straight to Dillon.

The knights lunged to grab me, but they were a step too late.

Dillon wrapped his arm around my waist and sneered at them.

"Tell that bastard Yurta."

"What the hell are you babbling about! Release the miss right n..."

"I'm kidnapping your princess."

With that, Dillon held me tight and leaped down.

A sharp blade came hurtling toward his throat, but Yurta deflected the sword with ease.

"Kuh...!"

The opposing knight groaned in pain, but Yurta showed no sign of fatigue.

Yurta sliced through the knight in one clean stroke and moved on.

Daring to raid the villa where his sister was staying.

It was outrageous, but Yurta couldn't figure out why Evantes's knights were attacking.

He had hidden her location meticulously to keep Evantes's knights from finding her.

He had even silenced the knight who had reported her attack by the pure white creature.

So why...?

At that moment, a knight bearing Evantes's insignia swung his sword at Yurta.

The attack seemed slow, but Yurta couldn't take his eyes off that knight for even a second.

This knight was definitely...

"Gah!"

Yurta kicked the knight squarely in the gut.

The fallen knight rolled across the ground, but Yurta impassively grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up.

"...You're definitely."

He knew this face.

"Ha!"

A laugh escaped him.

"Since when did Brother's knight become one of Evantes's?"

N-No!"

As his true identity was exposed, the knight reflexively denied it, but Yurta had no reason to believe him.

"Urk!"

Yurta roughly flung the knight aside.

"Clean this up."

He ordered his own knights and left the area around the annex, which had turned into a battlefield.

He needed to check on Rozhi quickly.

But when Yurta hurried to Rozhi's room, he was met with an empty space, devoid of its occupant.

"...Sister."

"......"

"Where is Sister?"

The knights sensed Yurta's sinking mood and bowed their heads deeply.

They feared the punishment to come. They might even have to forfeit their lives.

"Why are you all silent? Didn't you hear me ask where Sister is?"

Yurta's red eyes flashed menacingly.

Unable to withstand the pressure, the knights confessed.

"A-An intruder smashed the window and kidnapped the miss!"

"H-He had brown hair and red eyes!"

He had suspected something was off from the moment the villa was attacked. Seeing that knight earlier had confirmed it, but sure enough, it was Dillon.

Yurta clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, trying to suppress his surging rage.

Rozhi had chosen Dillon once again.

That damn Dillon! Dillon! Dillon!

"Find Sister immediately. If you fail, you'll have to offer up your lives."

"...Understood!"

His anger still hadn't subsided.

Yurta pressed the edge of his mouth with his palm.

To think he was still trying to get close to Sister even in 'that state'.

Not even trampling him could break him.

No.

Did he still not realize his place?

Yurta had thought the past three years would be enough.

"Maybe it's time I make Brother fully aware of my position."

That thought cooled his boiling rage just a little.

But it hadn't fully settled.

This anger was intertwined with the misery of having been bound for so long.

Yurta smiled chillingly as he gripped his sword.

It was time to go find Rozhi.

Dillon held me as he jumped down from the fourth floor.

I nearly screamed, but he quickly clamped his hand over my mouth.

How could you just jump like that!

I wanted to yell, but when Dillon landed below, my head was spinning so badly I couldn't speak for a while.

He immediately took off running with me in his arms.

We plunged back into that tiresome forest, but for some reason, having Dillon with me made me feel safe.

Why was that?

It had only been a brief encounter three years ago.

Was it because he knew about Korea and had protected me?

"How on earth did you get here?"

I wrapped my arms around Dillon's neck and asked.

His muscular frame tensed up as if on edge.

"...Whenever that bastard Yurta moves in a hurry, you're always involved somehow."

So he had come to rescue me after all.

No, not me—Rozhi, probably.

I felt grateful toward Dillon, but it still left a bitter taste.

It reminded me of three years ago, when I had been overshadowed by Rozhi's shadow.

Emily, Yurta, Dillon—they had all seen Rozhi, not me.

But after meeting Michel, I could finally live as myself.

That was why this suffocating sensation of being swallowed up by Rozhi again after so long felt so unwelcome.

"I was chasing Yurta and found out you were here."

"I see."

If he realized I wasn't Rozhi, would he just drop me and leave?

The futile thought crossed my mind.

"Baroness Seyblin is waiting for you."

"What? Michel? How do you even know that?"

"I'll take you to her."

"You've met Michel, then."

"Yeah."

Even after three years, he hadn't changed.

I was thankful, but it was still a little bittersweet that the one he was helping wasn't really me.

"Thanks, Dillon."

But there was no way I could show those feelings.

All I could do right now was play the part of Rozhi.

"...It's nothing."

Dillon's face flushed slightly, like he was embarrassed.

Why blush over something like that?

More importantly, there had been rumors that Dillon was crippled or had gone mad, but up close like this, he seemed perfectly fine.

Just baseless gossip after all.

Good.

Then why had he been ousted from the successor position?

"Over there!"

That's when I heard voices chasing us from somewhere.

"...Damn. Caught already?"

Dillon clicked his tongue and was about to speed up with me in his arms when...

"Cough."

Dillon spat up blood.

'Tsk. I did warn you.'

A voice echoed in Rihart's mind, sounding almost pitying.

'I told you it wasn't the right 'time' yet.'

Rihart ignored the voice and forced his unresponsive body to rise.

After downing the mana suppressant, the rampaging power gradually subsided. He was in better shape than before, but his body was still wracked with burning pain.

His body had been pushed to its limits.

He should have taken it sooner, but he hadn't. As if in punishment, his body burned hot.

Why had he hidden from Rozhi the fact that he could no longer detect her scent?

Even he himself wondered why.

For some strange reason, he just hadn't wanted her to know.

Was it an excuse to get closer under the pretense that her scent didn't hurt him anymore?

'Want me to tell you something interesting?'

Despite Rihart's disregard, the Savior kept talking to him.

'She's a good person.'

There was no subject, but Rihart could guess who the Savior meant. Rozhi.

"She didn't seem good to me at all."

'She's not good to you, but most other people judge her as kind. She's friendly.'

Rihart knew that too.

It twisted his guts whenever she was cold to him but kind to others.

'But where are there truly good people anyway? Everyone has their true nature.'

"......"

'The fact that she showed you her absolute bottom means it's irreversible now.'

"Irreversible?"

'She hates you solidly.'

He had known that for a while.

He had kidnapped her and locked her up, so he had to be prepared for it.

He had forcibly confined a woman who hated him, yet he treated Rozhi like a princess.

He wanted to cherish her, steeling himself for her hatred while paradoxically hating to be hated.

But now it was all pointless.

She had escaped in the end.

'Disappointed?'

The Savior asked Rihart.

'Because she's not what you thought? Or because she's selfish?'

He wasn't disappointed. He had never held any wild expectations.

'No need for disappointment. Humans are all like that deep down. Beneath the good facade lies the bottom layer.'

Rihart remembered the moment Rozhi had bared her absolute bottom to him.

To an ordinary person, it would have been quite an ugly sight. But...

'She was cute.'

Excessively lovable.

And it was better that she showed her bottom layer.

If she wouldn't give him the impartial kindness she offered everyone else, then he wanted to keep even her ugliest side.

Rihart ignored the Savior's incessant nagging voice in his head and stepped out of the castle.

Snow was falling outside.

He gazed at the pure white snow and turned his head.

It was time to go catch Rozhi.