Chapter 42

There was a scream next to her. It wasn’t Dahlia who shouted in alarm, but it was her who Jamie ran to.

“Run— it’s a runaway!”

As they ran away from the rampaging Sentinel, the auditorium became chaotic. The gallery was full of people that scrambled and pushed each other, wanting to live.

Jurgen looked up at Reynon, who was watching the situation with curiosity and amusement. He clenched his jaw and grinded his teeth.

“Of course.”

He had created this chaos. Reynon.

Jurgen twisted his lips in distaste and warped to Dahlia’s side. He grabbed Jamie’s hair and pulled him away from her just as he ran into her.

Dahlia’s power was transmitted to him through Jamie’s hair. The amazingly pure Liberty’s power surrounded the berserker sentinel.

If the power of Julia, a Senior Guide, was fragrant like a fir tree, Liberty had a calming scent that could not be identified with only one thing.

The scars from the confrontation began to heal slowly, and focus returned to Jamie’s eyes. Jurgen took in the sight of Dahlia shutting her eyes tightly and biting the back of Jamie’s hand.

The hem of her delicate dress was torn, and her hairpin fell and rolled on the floor. Tears welled up in her tightly closed eyes, but she was holding her tears back.

Ha, shit.

He grabbed Jamie by the back of her head and threw him under her podium.

A few chairs broke apart with a crash, but Jamie’s body was unscathed. Jamie, still drunk off Liberty’s power, stared blankly and dazedly fainted.

Jurgen stroked her cheek. He picked her up from the floor where she had fallen, up in his arms. Startled, her body trembled like an aspen.

“Dahlia, it’s me.”

She slowly opened her tightly closed eyes, sighed deeply, and looked up at his face.

“Sir Edelred… .”

“Are you all right?”

“I think I’m fine… . What about that man? Is he alive?”

Nodding in affirmation, Jurgen turned around and saw Jamie being supported by priests, grinding her teeth. The eyes of the priests as they checked Jamie’s condition changed. They looked at Dahlia with complicated expressions. At that, Jurgen covered her face and hid it in his arms.

A woman hid in the arms of Archduke Edelred.

That fact alone surprised the onlookers so much that they could not disguise their astonishment. No one could have guessed that the lady, Dalia Von Klose, was so close to the Duke of Edelred.

“That’s it for today. The exam will resume tomorrow.”

At the sound of Reynon’s voice from afar, the nobles gathered their wits about them and resumed decorum. But Jurgen still held Dahlia in his arms and did not show her face.

“Didn’t the lady get injured?”

Reynon’s gaze passed through Jurgen and pointed at the woman in his arms.

“You must have suffered a lot because of me.”

“Did you do this on purpose?”

“Well, how could I?. Thanks to me, didn’t you discover a great power?”

As Reynon got closer, Luster’s aura became clearer. It was tantamount to a warning that there was no killing intent and not to confront him.

Agonized, Jurgen raked through his brain. However, there were too many eyes around here. Things would get more complicated if he were checked by the temple again.

“Lady Von Klose.”

Reynon addressed her and reached out to her. His intentions were clear.

“My greed surprised the young lady.”

She raised her head and stared at Reynon’s outstretched hand over Jurgen’s shoulder. She also knew she was in a catch-22.

Her heart was pounding, and her breathing was laborious. As Rodrigo warned, it would have been better for her not to come to the Imperial Palace. But, biting her lip, Dahlia had to make a choice.

“It is not your fault.”

Jurgen was startled by Dahlia’s voice and grabbed her arm. But she had already taken Reynon’s outstretched hand. Then, the prince’s lips curled up beautifully, and his interest deepened.

Dahlia, who raised her body, looked alternately at Jurgen holding her left arm and Reynon holding her right hand, then slowly raised her strength.

This is the only way.

If her father knew… . he would be angry. No, he may be worried, but she would rather be respected as a sentinel than be harassed and humiliated as a guide.

The power that started at her fingertips spreads through her whole body and shimmering swarms of light shimmer and rise. At that, Jurgen and Reynon’s expressions began to change.

“Ah, this… .”

“Dahlia.”

The figure of a woman who resembled a trembling baby bird in the rain just a moment ago disappeared from place to place. Right now, the person in front of them is a Luster Sentinel, not Liberty. It was an unbelievable being with unbelievable power.

The two men, dazed and out of it, gathered their wits and pulled her towards themselves simultaneously. Pulled taut on both sides, she looked at the two men alternately with displeasure.

“If you don’t want to trouble me further, let’s move to a quieter place… . There I’d like to talk to you, Your Majesty.”