CH 14

Does he not look like a living, breathing human being, but like a statue that has been standing alone and weathering in that place for hundreds of years?

Even the emotionally castrated assassins looking at Richard were slowly being engulfed by the unexplained reluctance and the hidden fear that flowed beneath them.

.

Around the time Richard encounters the assassins.

Quite a distance from where he was, Ophelia was running to death.

She was running out of breath and the soles of her feet were on fire, but she didn’t stop.

Because she had to find Richard in this vast forest.

“Behind.”

With that word alone, Ophelia understood.

She didn’t know why he suddenly wanted her to look for the person behind the assassination, but if she finds that person, it would mean that this infinite regression would stop.

In order to do that, they had to know how he would die, so she must find the person behind it… or do something.

“Ugh, haeuk!”

Feeling like she was going to throw up her guts, Ophelia put her hand on a tree near her at once and vomited several times.

A few stammering words slipped through the gaping lips with a rough breath.

“Uh… Where you’re going to go… didn’t… tell me… you should’ve told me!”

Ophelia chased after Richard until the soles of her feet were sweating, but there was no way she could pursue him, who disappeared in an instant even when she was looking at him with her own eyes.

She took a deep breath.

With both hands, she held her hair, which she had tied up in a ponytail, and tightened it as hard as she could. Thereafter, she immediately kicked off the ground.

Here and there, she wandered in search of Richard, and encountered several groups of people along the way.

But they, too, were panting and concentrating on their ‘other prey’. Ophelia, exhausted yet holding her breath, melted into the shadows, so they could not find her.

She passed a few rabbits and deers, even encountering a leopard. But she managed to escape from the spot thanks to the rushing knights, then she stopped again.

As Ophelia’s strength seeped out and her legs were forced to bend, she looked at where the leopard had passed.

“I almost died.”

She almost died without even seeing the ends of Richard’s hair.

“Ugh.”

When Ophelia saw the scratch on the tree she had been resting her hand against, she backed away in horror.

“I think the leopard scratched it with its claws…”

Ophelia paused as she inwardly thanked the unknown group of knights who unexpectedly saved her from the threat of the leopard.

However, her face darkened, a frown forming, as she re-examined the scratch on the tree.

“It’s a bear.”

Ophelia couldn’t even gasp or yell in fright. She covered her mouth with her hands and started running.

She had to get out of this area quickly.

If it’s a leopard, it might flee after hearing the knights’ weapons, but a bear… The men who were participating in this hunting competition had said that the bear was particularly ferocious.

If you bumped into the bear, it would rush towards you, roaring ‘it’s nice to meet you’.

Ophelia ran and ran, praying to all the gods that did not exist in this world, begging for patience.

When she got to a place like a small square where there weren’t many trees, wading through the bushes that were strangely wrapped around her legs and the branches that hit her face…

Ophelia’s eyes widened.

“Found you!”

At the end of the gaze of Ophelia, who made a loud noise without realizing it and pointed, there was Richard, who stood out so clearly that she could recognize him at a glance even from afar.

“Your…!”

—Puck.

However, within a few seconds of discovering Richard, the light from Ophelia’s eyes disappeared.

Fortunately or unfortunately, she didn’t even know what took her breath away.

Richard looked down at Ophelia, killed by a bear’s paw, her head crushed.

Immediately after that, he closed his eyes as he was hit by a sword that flew into his chest. Even though he could have blocked it.

.

Ophelia Bolsheik, the 4th infinite regression… 

“Here!”

The assassins paused for a moment when they saw a red-haired woman suddenly popping out of nowhere.

As soon as she showed up, the aura from Richard that grabbed their breaths and pressed their shoulders as if it would crush, disappeared like a lie.

Having emerged out of the blue, the woman stealthily approached Richard, being extremely wary of either direction but without caring about the assassins.

Richard, seeing Ophelia like that, turned his head.

His shoulders were trembling slightly, but the assassins had no idea why.

And Ophelia, having immediately realized that he was laughing, jutted her lips with a dissatisfied expression, but couldn’t make a loud noise.

Soon, Ophelia, who had been biting a handful of the sacred beans she had secretly stolen, widened her eyes.

“Uh-huh?”

Because the huge bear swung its front paws in a direction other than the one she was in.

—Puck.

With the sound of a watermelon breaking, the head of one of the assassins was smashed.

“Kreughhhh!”

The bear, whose front paws were dyed red, rose on its feet and roared, causing a commotion among the assassins.

“Eugh…”

“What!”

Bloody sounds were heard from the throats of those whose vocal cords were removed, and those who had not yet lost their voices instinctively shouted.

As the bear that was supposed to attack the crown prince were rushing towards them, it was understandable that their movements became chaotic in an instant.

They were assassins, specializing in stealth rather than head-to-head combat.

It was meaningless to hide from the crown prince, so a dozen people formed an appropriate formation to press him, and at least one tried to put a knife into his neck.

It was a brutal operation that didn’t matter if all of them died, but it would be a legend if they could kill the crown prince.

Of course, that’s a story for when the assassination was successful. Suffering and dying from a bear like now would just be a dog’s death.

“G-Get back to formation…”

“Wroaaaah!”

The voices of the assassins that became even desperate were soon buried by the howl of the bear. Helpless at the bear’s movement, they could not decide where to run.

The assassins fell like autumn leaves against a ferocious bastard that had to be approached with caution even by knights who specialize in head-to-head combat.

Of course, unlike the assassins, Ophelia was not at all flustered by this sudden situation.

She quickly chewed the beans and swallowed them, then raised her arms and cheered.

“Yay! Way to go. Bear! You’re doing good, bear! Kill them all!”

While eating the beans with divine power, Richard watched Ophelia’s enthusiasm and support for the bear’s strength, and stretched out his hand.

“Damn… huh?”

Ophelia, who was lifted by the hard arm wrapped around her waist, looked up at Richards.

“Did you find the person behind it?”

“Yes.”

“Where is it from?”

“It’s from the Marquis of Neir…”

“…As expected.”

Richard caught the long sigh at the end of Ophelia’s words.

“As expected? Do you know something?”

“No. How could I know something? Not even Your Highness knew, so how could I?”

There was not a single lie in the eyes of Ophelia, who raised her head up, still hanging from his arms.

It was natural.

The reason Ophelia said ‘as expected’ was not because she knew something about this.

She just knew that Marquis Neir was the villain of this novel.

It was natural for the villain to assassinate the main character.

“How did you know?”

“Would you like to hear the details?”

When Richard smiled at this, Ophelia immediately refused.

“I’m going to decline. I don’t want to make the already fierce dreams wilder with a cruel story that splashes blood and flesh.”

Ophelia waved her hands, vehemently refusing, then cheered as she watched the bear slaughter.

“Didn’t you say that your dreams are fierce because of things like that?”

“Oh, that’s cool. Good job, do more!”

Richard looked down at her with indescribable eyes, but soon brought up another story.

“Although the one behind this is Marquis Neir, something is not right.”

“What?”

“Can someone who is unconscious right now issue an assassination order?”

“Wouldn’t a reservation be made in advance?”

“Hiring would have been done in advance, but it is essential to check before the start of the assassination.”

“That’s such… new information that will come in handy someday. Then the information that Marquis Neir fell may be a lie.”

“That’s unlikely.”

At his resolute answer, Ophelia lifted her head up.

“Not at all?”

“This is information that Cooper confirmed three times.”

“Ah, then it is unquestionably true. There is no doubt about that… Ugh.”

Immediately after shaking her head and expressing strong trust in Cooper, Ophelia slammed a fist down the hard arm around her waist.

“Why are you squeezing me all of a sudden!”

“Ah.”

“’Ah’, what? What do you know… Ugh!”

Having released the arm that had wrapped around Ophelia’s waist, Richard looked at the empty arms and hands with indescribable eyes.

“No, really, why are you like that!”

Ophelia, who had landed on weeds all of a sudden, touched the ground with both hands and raised her head.

She was very upset, but because of the backlight, it was hard to see Richard’s face, so she had to tilt her head.

How long had passed without the answer she expected to come back right away?

As the strange silence continued, with the sound of a raging bear in the background, Ophelia got up, dusted her legs off, and walked over to Richard.

“Your Highness?”

Ame: Oooooh is that jealousy I spot? *smirks*