Chapter 11

Chapter 11

TL-Mechatronic

The fortress at night was calm.

Adrian sat by the bed and heard Nina breathe in fever,

Wheeze, wheeze.

The sound of heavy breathing and the red cheeks that revealed the fever made Adrian’s heart heavy.

He wetted a new towel and put it on her forehead.

He first met her when he was nine years old.

He had already given up living at that time.

Even if he was a child, he knew that he only had little time left.

Then, one day, a young kitchen maid came in and then smiled broadly at him and said, ‘Hello, Young Master, he was perplexed and surprised even if he knew she called him by mistake.

At that time, no one in the mansion called himself “Young Master’.

Everyone noticed the new Duchess’ indifference towards him.

The title of Young Master was not for an illegitimate child. Only the first newborn of the duke’s wife should be called Young Master.

However, Nina persistently called him ‘Young Master’. She was on his side.

It was weird, so he even thought that she was a new type of assassin sent by the Duchess to kill him. But she wasn’t.

Strangely, Nina wasn’t.

Nina was the only one who called him Master, so Nina was the only one he had to protect.

Then came the shock when she called him “Adrian.” That feeling of freedom.

Adrian exhaled and carefully removed the hair sticking to Nina’s face.

Every time she gets sick, his heart drowns in pain. His mouth is dry and it is difficult to breathe.

“…..Young master…..?”

The murmuring voice was very cracked. Adrian gently gave her some water with a straw made by cutting a reed.

After a few sips, Nina sighed, closed her eyes, and muttered.

“It reminds me of the old days……”

I know what you’re thinking. Adrian frowned. That incident should not happen ever again.

The incident that kept Nina up all night trying not to die.

It was when Nina drank the tea the Duchess gave, instead of him.

The tea the Duchess provided was clear and transparent. The radiance of beautiful black tea.

Even if he didn’t drink it, he could tell it was poisonous, but there was no hesitation in the hand holding the teacup.

He had some tolerance to poison, and he weighed that it wasn’t too bad to drink it just to show everyone he was the victim.

But when Nina took the cup from his hand and drank it at once, everything changed.

“Nina…..!”

It was the first time that he called her name like that.

Seeing the crimson blood oozing through Nina’s hands covering her mouth, he raised his head for help.

Then he realized again.

There was no one on his side.

The bustling servants stood silently with their fine faces as if nothing had happened. The maid recovered the cup that fell on the ground and put it back on the table.

The duchess smiled gently and filled the cup again.

A noble and elegant smile.

The same smile she always had, she was laughing that way.

He hugged Nina whose body was getting cold and ran out of the mansion. He pulled out the horse and ran to the Knights.

In the dark night, he called his spirits. The darkness opened a quick path for him, and through that deep shadow, he jumped over long distances and reached his party.

That was the first time that he was so grateful for being a spirit contractor.

“There was no reason for him to deliberate if he had to use his powers back then.’

Nina, in his arms that time, spewed blood intermittently, and she’d stopped moving completely. Her rough breathing became small and weak, forcing him to beg for her to hold on to her life.

When he arrived at the Knights and put Nina in front of Kirill, even she said with a dark expression. I can’t guarantee her life.

He prayed for days.

Fortunately, Nina recovered, and Kirill said it was thanks to her spirits.

“But it happens again.’

The same thing all over again.

He sighed.

It was like she was hurt because she chose to stay together with him. He knows he has to keep her away from him, but he keeps deceiving his self and couldn’t let go of her.

Of course, it’s not Nina who will fall apart if they get separated.

Childhood friend.

Nina did not say that out loud between them but Adrian wasn’t denying it.

It’s not wrong.

It is not wrong, but he thinks that alone is not enough.

Adrian changed the towel again and whispered to Nina.

“Sleep more.”

She laughed at the words, he smiled unconsciously and Nina soon fell into a deep sleep again, like a good child.

Adrian leaned on the chair.

“It’s a magic circle.

He rubbed his eyebrows.

Troublesome things keep happening again and again.

The Duke of Luverne had three sons.

The illegitimate child himself, and the Duchess’s two sons.

The first of the two died three years ago, and Adrian was not killed by the poison. The Duchess probably does not like that he is in control of an armed group called the Dark Knights.

But he thought the Duchess would be quiet after that,

‘Are you trying to break the barrier?’

He couldn’t even imagine how much of the Bellacs would spill when pollution poured over the barriers

“It would be better to inform the temple.’

It is better to inform the temple, which manages the barrier, rather than to the Duke.

Adrian thought so and closed his eyes.

•*

.

-We can definitely meet again. If you just

,

The voice that was speaking was making a pledge. A sweet and gentle voice.

Nina opened her eyes.

Tears fell because the friendly voice was still clear. But.. .

‘I can’t remember what dream it was.’

She only remembered those last words. Was it a sad dream since she kept tearing up?

“But it was a friendly voice.

Is it because of the fever?

There was no fever when she touched her forehead. The fever went down, but the muscle pain remained,

Nina opened her mouth.

“My whole body hurts.”

“Complaining from pain is proof that you are alive.”

Kirill said, exhaling pipe smoke.

Turning away, Kirill was sitting on a chair wearing a white gown as always.

Sometimes, she also wears one-eyed glasses, but even if she didn’t wear them, she would say that her eyes were very good.

Kirill also was very rough, befitting the rough Dark Knights.

Healing touch, nonsense.

“Kirill, don’t you think that sometimes warm comforting words or gentle touches are needed for a patient?”

“Am I a doctor?”

“Aren’t you?”

“No, I’m a researcher.”

Kirill snapped her pipe out of the window with a face that tells Nina was talking nonsense.

“Unbelievable. All this time, I believed Kirill is a doctor, I can’t even……. I had been examined by someone who is a fraud.”

As Nina muttered in an absurd voice, Kirill said, “I’m better than some quack.” And laughed.

Then Kirill put her hands on the pockets of her coat.

“I’m glad you’re strong against poison. If you were other guys, you would have been buried there.”

Nina nodded at what Kirill said as she pointed in the direction of the cemetery.

She agreed.

Kirill stopped thinking about telling Nina that the commander had left after staying up all night nursing her.

Instead, she advised.

“But you still have to watch yourself for at least two weeks. Don’t move around too much, you just woke up after three days.”

“Three days? Oh my gosh.”

Nina opened her eyes in amazement and then raised her head.

It was a small rabbit-like movement as if sensing the presence in its surrounding. It was such a wild animallike movement, Kirill unconsciously flinched.

“Quiet.”

Nina said slowly, so Kirill nodded her head.

“The fortress is empty today.”

“Did they just leave me behind? They didn’t take Kirill too?”

Carefully lowering her bandaged ankles below the bed, Nina hugged her side and groaned.

“No, most of the members joined the barrier exploration today.”

“What?”

“The magic circle you reported. Someone from the temple came and went to look at it.”

“A person of the temple?”

“Yes, there are outsiders, so they took all the elite members as escorts.”

Nina took a deep breath.

The Dark Knight’s annihilation.

Although she knew it inside her head, something was strange.

The Young Master was always on the cautious side, and he always dispersed his personnel.

‘Is this it?!’

What was worse, it’s even a person from the temple. The temple.

Isn’t the final boss of the story a temple god?