Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Cassion’s footsteps stopped.

This was already the third time.

No matter who it was that walked near him within the span of ten steps, his heart seemed to drop to the ground, so he would naturally stop walking.

His anxiety stopped him from taking any more steps.

The planned carriage accident…

He was a victim who survived.

It was the first time that he clearly felt death, so everyone passing by him looked suspicious in his eyes.

He was afraid that there would be people on his trail because he disappeared from the scene of the accident.

Pushing the carriage he was riding off a cliff was incomparable to just pushing him off the stairs like back then.

That’s why he was feeling incredibly anxious that someone was chasing after him to finish the deed.

If he returned home safely, he might be able to save himself for a while.

Once Leo and his mother had done something, they usually took some time to execute their next plan.

Knowing that they had received help from the Valentine Duchy’s Princess this time, they would feel more complacent for the time being.

However, if he would meet the person who would finish him off before he arrived home…

‘I’ll be dead on the spot.’

Cassion, who had thought until this point, weighed this on his mind.

It felt like his heart was going to stop because it kept pounding out of his chest.

Fear, anger—feelings that filled him that seemed to strangle him.

Just hiding underneath the hood of his cloak had its limits.

Huu. With a deep sigh, Cassion turned to the alley without any hesitation.

‘Let’s give up walking by the main road.’

The alley that was shrouded with the ‘darkness’ that he wished for.

He already knew which direction he must go, so he thought that it would be better if he went down the alley where there weren’t any people.

If anyone looked towards that place, they would naturally think that the quiet alley without any light was leagues more dangerous.

Unfortunately, his pounding heart was truly affected by the planned accident.

He was afraid of running into people, so he decided to avoid them.

What would be so different from playing hide-and-seek with your eyes covered?

And yet… Cassion belatedly realized that he had misjudged the situation.

He realized this when people popped out of the dark as he walked along the alleyway.

There were two people on the winding road.

They were both men, and their faces were red, seeming as though they were very drunk.

As he suddenly saw people on the path he needed to take, Cassion reflexively fixed the hood over his head.

He tried to hold his breath and blend into the shadows.

But just because he tried didn’t mean that he was successful.

The drunken men noticed Cassion.

He didn’t make eye contact with the men, but Cassion felt that one of them was looking at him.

Hiccup. The sound of the man’s hiccups echoed along the narrow alley.

“Huh? I’ve never seen your face before. No, wait, I can’t even see your face.”

Even though he was a few steps away, the stench of alcohol wafted through the man’s open mouth.

Cassion pretended not to hear anything and continued walking.

“Hey! Where are you going? You’re ignoring me?”

He heard the indignant voice behind him, but he continued his strides as though there was no one there.

And yet because he was only limping, he couldn’t move as fast as he wanted.

That’s why even as the drunkards were stumbling over their own feet, they were able to catch up to him in no time.

Tak.

A thick hand weighed heavily over the black cloak.

“Hey, are you really ignoring me? Do you know who I am, huh?!”

The indignant voice shouted even louder, echoing several times in that narrow alley.

The man, who yelled and expressed his anger, gripped Cassion’s shoulder and turned him around roughly.

The legs that barely kept him up faltered at once.

Cassion had barely managed to get this far, so he tucked face even deeper under the hood and bowed his head so that he wouldn’t be recognized.

‘Judging by the scent of alcohol, I don’t think they’ve been sent by Leo.’

Leo was a cool-headed schemer.

He was cruel and thorough.

Even if it was his own person who made a mistake, he would kick them out without hesitation. Either that, or he would severely punish them.

In short, it was impossible that a person who moved under his orders would drink alcohol during a mission.

As soon as Cassion realized that these men weren’t sent by Leo, he felt relieved.

Immediately after that relief, misery soon followed as he reflected on these thoughts.

But this wasn’t the time to do that.

‘These men were just looking for someone to pick a fight with.’

There were people of this kind in any alleyway.

Fools who thought that the dark alleys were their territory.

While Cassion was lost in thought, one of the drunk men continued to talk to him.

“Hey. If a person has a question, ya have to answer. Right now, I’m askin’ ya if you ignored me just now.”

“Hey, hey. Take it easy. This kid will get scared.”

The man who turned Cassion around was the one who kept yelling at him, and the man next to him kept giggling.

“No, this punk—hiccup—he’s ignoring me—hiccup.”

For a moment, Cassion thought of what he could say to get out of this situation, then he opened his lips and spoke with a polite tone.

“I’m not ignoring you. I’m just in a bit of a hurry because there’s somewhere I have to be, so I’d appreciate it if you could let me off.”

If anyone saw him like this now, they would point their fingers at him while asking him where his pride as a noble went, but Cassion was a realistic rather than prideful man.

There was no need to get swept into a fight when his body was already so injured.

Since it was a matter of getting out of this situation unscathed, it was simple for him to just bow his head. His pride wouldn’t be wounded.

However, the two men just wouldn’t let him go easily.

Rather, they seemed to have gotten more incensed because of his polite tone.

“Haha, what’s up with that? With the way you speak, it sounds to me like you’re a noble. Why did our oh so noble blue-blooded fella come to the back alleys alone?”

“Ahh, I know I know. Did’ja come to a place like this to find somethin’ fun? Because yer fancy banquet got a bit boring? But what should we do? If ya wanna have fun over here, it’s kinda a rule that ya gotta give money to poor people like us fellows.”

With a cheerful tone, his threatening hands jutted out to Cassion as if to peel off the hood over his head and reach into the pockets of a naïve, weak nobleman.

In a situation where he was suddenly threatened, Cassion bit his lower lip.

Huu.

The breath that came through his lips expressed his frustration.

‘About two people is still fine.’

His condition wasn’t the best, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t stand a chance against them. Especially since they were drunk.

They were right in assessing that Cassion was a mentally, physically weak nobleman.

As far as even his family, he was weak not just against other people.

It wasn’t easy to live on the edge of his seat every single second.

And it wasn’t just a coincidence that he survived thus far after learning how to sense the threats that reached him.

“Get your hand off me.”

Cassion warned the man whose hand was still on his cloak.

“What the…”

The man’s words stopped there.

Because Cassion grabbed the man’s arm and twisted it.

“Argh!”

As soon as his arm was twisted, the man screamed.

At the unexpected turn of events, the other man looked at them blankly, flustered.

But tension and anger quickly tinted their drunken eyes.

“Hey, let go of his arm!”

The previously stunned man rushed in with his fist heading towards Cassion, who let go of the arm he held and evaded the fist.

The bear-like man couldn’t beat his speed and instead rushed into the wall.

With a huge bang as he collided, the man lost consciousness.

The man who had his arm twisted was also rolling on the floor.

After looking at the two men, Cassion tried to leave this place in a hurry. But.

“What’s that.”

Surprised by the loud noise, the alley was blocked by other men.

As if they were on the same side as the first two men, they alternately looked at the faces of the drunkards lying on the floor, then at Cassion. Then, they shouted loudly.

“That punk!”

“Catch him!”

People began to chase after him one after another.

Two were easy enough, but it was impossible for Cassion to deal with more people in his current state.

Cassion was forced to turn around and run.

It felt as though his back was going to split in half, and it felt like his legs were being twisted, but it couldn’t be helped.

And so, back in the present.

He somehow escaped them and managed to hide himself, but that was all.

As he sat on the cold stone floor, he stared blankly at the night sky.

“He ain’t here.”

“Look harder. He was limping, so he couldn’t have gotten far. Once he’s caught, make it so that it’s impossible for him to walk at all.”

He continued to hear the voices of the persistent men who searched every corner.

He had to hold back even his breath.

How long had it been? He couldn’t hear their voices anymore.

‘They might have given up.’

Thanks to the clouds covering the moon, he couldn’t guess just how long had passed.

Cassion silently struggled to his feet.

His body was stiff, so he had to hold onto the wall next to him for support.

However, the old walls wouldn’t withstand the weight of Cassion.

Rubble that fell from the wall bounced to the ground. The sound echoed.

‘Damn it.’

At the unexpected noise, Cassion forced himself even more to his feet faster, to leave this place somehow.

The sound of numb legs dragging across the floor could be heard.

And at the same time—

“Found ‘im.”

The man’s voice was louder than the sound of Cassion’s limping footsteps.

“Ah, sh*t.”

Seriously. All he could do now was laugh.

The threatening group of men slowly approached him. Cassion limped and took a few steps back.

Now, on his fifth step, Cassion’s back touched the wall behind him.

“Now let’s take a look at that face. How precious could that face be, huh?”

The man who fainted after hitting his own face against a wall smiled threateningly and prowled across the narrow alley.

There was no chance for Cassion to escape anymore, so he closed his eyes tightly.

Even if his body would become mangled, they wouldn’t be able to see the color of his eyes at all.

However, his resolve didn’t last long.

“What? After you ran away like that, you’re being harassed by these guys here?”

Because the familiar voice of that woman resonated in his ears.

His eyes widened and followed the sound of her voice.

Forward…

And, upward.

Underneath the hood over her head, her cascading silver hair could be seen fluttering against the wind.

Even in the dark, her golden eyes flashed clearly amidst her porcelain face.

His red lips were curled up as if amused.

Rosetta Valentine.

Sitting atop of an old building, she was strangely relaxed, an atmosphere that was out of place here.

“What do you think?”

A beautiful voice and mesmerizing face that would captivate people and take their hearts away…

“This time as well, will you ask me to save you?”

‘Monster…’

Just like the one from the legends.