Chapter 7

Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi

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Chapter 7

“I beg your pardon…?”

Celine couldn’t believe what she had just heard and asked again. However, Leonhard frowned as if it was normal and replied.

“It has been a long time since our family withdrew from the Imperial Capital. I had no choice but to borrow the power of His Majesty Ricardo.”

As her silence grew longer, he hurriedly explained why.

“Anyway, this is an imperial mission. So, it is only natural that the imperial family will support me with whatever I need.”

“You said you were going to take a girl with you?”

“Yes. His Majesty knows that you are the Lady I brought from the North. So, if you just say the right thing…”

Celine patted her head.

Leonhard, who was the heir to the Northern Prince, and seemed to have grown old enough, must have had a fiancee.

“Now, do you know how that word sounds to someone you don’t know?”

At that moment, Leonhard reacted in a moment of bewilderment, and an understandable expression appeared on his face.

“Is it because you’re a Lady of the North? It’s not a lie, because you’ll be in the North soon, anyway.”

“No, I sound like your lover! A cherished one from the North, too, as it seemed!”

“…Ah.”

A groan escaped Leonhard’s mouth while his pupils visibly shook.

“Right…”

Celine shot triumphantly.

“Yes. That’s right. You must have even been engaged!”

“I’m not engaged.”

Leonhard replied sternly.

“I don’t plan on doing anything in the future, so I’ll let go of my feelings of sorry for my future fiancé.”

“Yes…?”

At that, she was more surprised than when she found out that he had told the prince that he would take her.

“Why?”

“….”

When Leonhard stared at the air instead of answering her, Celine quickly settled the situation.

“It’s all right if it’s hard to say. I’m just a little surprised. Anyway, if we say we’re lovers, it would be difficult, right? Just be nice to me later.”

“…I get it.”

For a moment, a thought flashed in Leonhard’s mind that the description of lover would be the easiest, though he refused to speak because Celine seemed to hate him.

She glanced at Leonhard’s eyes, which had suddenly darkened.

“I must have asked something wrong. Sorry.”

He let out a long sigh.

One day, Celine will find out, but for some reason, it was not easy for him to tell the truth to her, who now lighted her eyes in front of him.

The reason why Leonhard Bernoulli, the successor of the North, had never been engaged, let alone married, and would not do so in the future was an open secret known to everyone. He had slaughtered countless monsters and warlocks since he was only fifteen.

Monsters were evil spirits with no heart, so even if they cut them, there are no side effects.

But, warlocks were different.

They devised a defense against the young wolf wielding Rashir, and with each death, they cast a powerful curse on Leonhard.

Leonhard himself was directly affected by the curse due to his innate magical powers and constant training. However, his successor was bound to be exposed to black magic.

The warlocks aimed at that very point.

Every time they were torn to death by Rashir, they cursed that the descendants of Leonhard Bernoulli would be rotten and ruined from generation to generation.

Naturally, he had no intention of having children or getting married. Since he has two younger brothers, he should take his nephew as his successor.

—Clatter!

The wagon made a sudden stop. Celine, leaning against the chair, relaxing her tension, almost pierced her nose into the floor in an instant.

If it wasn’t for Leonhard, who had held her.

“Thank you.”

Celine noticed that Leonhard was tense. He jumped straight out of the carriage and held out his hand to her.

“Lord, I think you will have to go alone from here.”

The voice of the Knight Commander, which the Crown Prince had given to subdue monsters, was trembling. He wasn’t very talented, though he was experienced and deserved to be heard.

“Why already?”

Leonhard frowned.

Demons were usually executed together with the Knights. The only time he faced it alone was when only the head of the monster was left.

“Look at this.”

At the commander’s beckoning, a soldier approached with an unknown mass in a cart.

“Gasp…!”

Celine took in her breath. The cart was left full of bloody objects.

It looked like a cicada skin, but its sharp teeth and claws, as well as the size of a human, showed that it was completely different from a cicada.

“…It’s already too late.”

“Yes. It seems to have devoured all the people and metamorphosed.”

“I understand. I’ll go in alone. Everyone just wait here.”

Leonhard’s gaze rested on Celine for a moment.

“Uh… Who is this lady?”

“We go together.”

“Yes…?”

The Knight Commander and the soldiers around him were startled and dissuaded.

“Lord, don’t you know! It would be unreasonable to carry out a mission with a Lady!”

“Yes. Besides, what about the scene? The Lady will be stunned.”

Leonhard met Celine’s eyes.

“That could be a problem. Do you think you will faint?”

“No.”

Celine answered confidently.

“I don’t pass out very well.”

“Well, even worse, she didn’t faint.”

He then nodded his head and squeezed Celine’s hand, and replied to the knights. “The Lady agreed, too, so I’ll go with her.”

The Knight Commander nodded his head with a look of helplessness, and called the medic.

“…Medic, wait at the entrance!”

“You don’t have to.”

“I think we need it!”

Leonhard no longer spoke, and cautiously pulled Celine. He strode forward. Meanwhile, she ignored the dozens of gazes that fell on her back as she walked, looking only in front of her.

The deep forest path was narrow enough for two people to walk on, and the forest was quiet. She couldn’t even hear the sound of a mountain bird that she would normally hear, so she got goosebumps.

“Whatever you see, stay behind my back.”

Celine nodded her head. Leonhard’s character was well known through the gameplay. He himself will be safe no matter what the monster boss was.

The two continued walking down the road without a word.

“I am so nervous.”

“How can you not be nervous…”

At that moment, a piercing sound as if ripping through the air struck Celine’s ears. She instinctively covered her ears and clasped behind Leonhard’s back.

Thump, thump, thump.

Her whole body trembled with the sound of her heart. Even though nothing had happened yet, tears were about to come out, so Celine gazed only at Leonhard’s back.

‘Whatever happens, whatever you hear, whatever you see…’

He said that she just had to cling to his back.

…Because Leonhard promised.

—Hurr!

Hearing the sound of the fire burning, Celine tilted her head slightly and peered in front of her.

“….!”

A blue flame engulfed Rashir and was blazing. And, where the fire points… a monster the size of a beautiful tree was wriggling.

She felt like she was going to vomit out of disgust. The claws and teeth she had seen in the cart were nowhere to be found. Again, it was shaped like a maggot the size of a house.

“Listen. Don’t move. He’s coming to get us, and it’s all over if you don’t stay behind me.”

No voice came out at all. Celine could only nod her head.

The monster twisted its heavy body and slowly approached them. When she just felt the disgusting breath of the monster, Leonhard took a step in front of her.

—Chang!

Goosebumps appeared all over her body. It was a monster that only looked like a chunk of flesh. Still, when it was hit with Rashir, it sounded like it had been struck by metal.

“…Damn it.”

He muttered softly, then changed his body position slightly and uttered an incomprehensible spell.

“Quoeeekk!”

As the demons shook their bodies and were about to attack them, an iron barrier covered them. The steel gleamed like silver.

‘Rashir.’

Celine noticed right away. Leonhard turned Rashir into a barrier to protect them.

“It will be gone soon, so be prepared.”

Shutting her eyes tightly, she slowly opened them again. Leonhard once again held the sword-shaped Rashir.

“Get down!”

She didn’t even think about it, and she rolled her body as small as possible.

—Chang! Chang! Chang!

Leonhard didn’t step away from where they were standing. The nape of his neck was drenched with sweat.

Looking at the scene in front of her, anxiety rose from Celine’s mind.

No matter how it was Leonhard, he would never have had the experience of fighting the head of a monster without moving even a single step in place.

There was nothing she could do about it, and Celine’s heart pounded. She prayed to a God she had long since believed.

‘Please, please don’t let him lose because of my existence.’

—Thud!

Suddenly, the ground rumbled with a heavy roar.

Celine looked up in surprise. The monster was lying on the floor, bleeding pitch black without moving.

“It’s over. You did well.”

She was so thirsty that she couldn’t utter a word.

Leonhard put Rashir in the sheath and held out his hand.

“According to the calculations, we should have arrived during the transformation, but it was a little difficult to arrive after the transformation was completed. Still, it wasn’t very difficult in the early days.”

None of Leonhard’s explanations came into her ears.

Celine leaned over her trembling body and grabbed Leonhard’s arm. The hem of her caught robe was soaked with monster blood, but she didn’t mind at all.

“Is it very difficult?”

At Leonhard’s worried question, she shook her head.

“Let’s go. Let’s go quickly.”

“Wait a minute.”

Leonhard took a few steps from the dead monster. Celine couldn’t keep up with him, so she stood idly in the place.

“We need to get this guy’s core.”

“Core…?

“Think of it as the heart of the monsters. Scientists need to have a cure to study these things. I don’t need the minion ones, but the head is different.”

Leonhard climbed on the monster and slashed it in the middle with Rashir.

—Chaeng!

“What…?”

Leonhard uttered a single word in disbelief, though Celine, who had no knowledge of monsters, did not move even a single step.

“Get closer!”

At that, Celine immediately moved her body to him.

But, it was already too late.

Dozens of monsters resembling the skins she had seen earlier burst out from the core of the head and covered the forest. Of course, their first target was an ordinary human without any weapons.

“Aaackk…!”

She could feel the pain of her body shattering in an instant, and she died.

“No…!”

Leonhard roared madly and swung his sword. It shouldn’t be like this. All his calculations were correct. According to his experience so far, it was safer to have Celine behind him than to be in a hotel without any monsters.

He completely slaughtered the head.

But, why…!

All of a sudden, Leonhard’s handsome face and dirty clothes were covered with dark blood.

After finally slicing the last monster, he wandered all over the place to find Celine. His heart was pounding with anxiety.

So far, Celine has never had her body damaged. At best, she broke her head.

However, what if her head was cut off by the demons? What if she was shattered to the point where he could not find a single piece of flesh? Will she still be resurrected?

“—hard.”

At that moment, in front of Leonhard’s feet, a groan was heard from under the corpse of the monster. He frantically removed the monster’s corpse and faced a horrific sight.

Celine was moaning as she bled from her body.

Not the black blood of a monster, but her red blood. Her blonde hair was so entangled in blood that her hair color could not be seen, and her dress was torn to shreds. Leonhard lifted her up in haste.

He tried to say something to her, though his hardened tongue couldn’t utter a word.

It was Celine who broke the silence first.

“This is a bit… hurt. It must be hard tonight.”

Something hot rose from Leonhard’s throat. Feeling unfamiliar, he didn’t realize what it was until Celine pointed it out.

“Are you crying now?”

“….”

Leonhard did not answer. He himself was ignorant.

And, he was arrogant…!

It made his heart ache at the thought of the pain Celine must have suffered.

“…It was only now that I realized that it was not enough.”

“What?”

“My strength…”

Celine shook her head and tried to deny his words. Though Leonhard hugged her tightly, as if she would disappear if he let her go even for a moment, and said nothing.

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