CH 12.2

The fireball-shaped beasts screamed and turned into a handful of ashes before they scattered in the air.

Isabella stared at the scene in apprehension as a palm-sized tiny ball of fire squeezed through the narrow gap in the barrier and shot out towards them.

The size was much smaller than other beasts, but their speed was beyond their imagination.

All of it seemed to happen in an instant.

The fireball had avoided the knights’ swords and flew straight toward her.

“Isabella!” Duke Kyar called her name urgently, but it was too late to avoid.

Blinking into space, she felt herself losing consciousness.

A hot sensation seemed to press against her shoulder.

The last thing she felt was an intense pain that seemed to burn her whole body.

‘I need help.’

Isabella heard a faint voice come from her distant consciousness.

“I’ll call you when my strength gets stronger.” It continued, but she still didn’t understand what he meant.

She had a lot to ask, but she couldn’t say a thing as if she was frozen and paralyzed.

Another wave of terrible pain came.

It felt so hot that her shoulders seemed to be burning.

Unfortunately, she wanted to move, but she couldn’t for some reason.

“Isabella!”

At that time, she heard Ignis’ voice calling her so desperately.

“—-Nis.”

Isabella struggled to call Ignis by his name.

The instant she opened her eyes again, Isabella didn’t expect what she had witnessed today at all.

Archduke Kyar looked worried as he glanced down at her.

Duke Kyar called her name and somehow interrupted her focus.

“Isabella! Are you okay? You were unconscious for two days!”

After affirming that Isabella had woken up, Ignis circled her and shouted.

“What happened?”

Isabella thought she had lost consciousness for a while.

When she woke up, it turned out that she had been unconscious for two days.

She couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

She talked to him in a slightly guarded voice, and Duke Kyar simply reached out his trembling hands at her.

He hugged Isabella and patted her on the back while her body shook at his worried touch.

She couldn’t say anything for a while.

**

Ignis had told her she lost consciousness for two days when magic suddenly attacked her out of nowhere.

During those two days,  the doctors at Rubella Castle had suffered tremendously from  Duke Kyar.

The doctors couldn’t sleep for two days because of his brutal words.

If she didn’t wake up, everyone would have to die.

While listening to Ignis’ explanation, Isabella suddenly recalled the doctors’ sunken faces.

She felt sorry for the doctors who suffered because of her.

Fortunately, she was not that sick.

The beast had flamed her shoulder and left a burning scar, but luckily, everything else was fine.

She was in good condition, and she had no problem walking right away.

However, the doctors were so worried that they recommended resting in bed for a week.

Thanks to that, she was forced to stay in bed with the exemption of going to the bathroom or washing up.

She wanted to tell them that their concern was too excessive, but she couldn’t say it since the doctors almost gave up their lives because of her.

Since she was forced to rest her body, she requested Archduke Kyar to fetch her books about herbs and bring them to her.

But shortly after, she regretted asking Duke Kyar for such a favor.

Isabella stared at the books piled up next to her bed in bewilderment.

“You brought me all  the books about herbs?”

These are books written in other languages.

It seemed that he had managed to obtain all the books from the neighboring countries adjacent to the Acnis Empire.

“Some books haven’t arrived yet. It will take some time since the book came from distant kingdoms.”

The books he got for her were already too many, and some books are still to arrive.

He was an extraordinary man who was willing to walk a mile for her.

“Do you need anything else?”

He asked her, and she quickly shook her head, ‘no.’

“I don’t have one. This is enough.”

At that moment, she was afraid that she might say something wrong, but she was also eager to fill the silence in her room.

“If you need anything, you can tell me. I am willing to put my Kingdom into your hands.”

Her hands shook at the gravity of his words because, no doubt, Duke Kyar would make it happen.

“I don’t need it. I am content with living like an ordinary citizen in this Empire.”

Of course, her goal was to become rich, but she felt like he would offer all his assets if he found out about her dream.

“Your dream is straightforward.” He laughed at her small, humble dream, and she suppressed a sigh.

Well, how would he understand the mind of an ordinary citizen such as her?

He was the powerful Archduke Kyar.