CH 86

Ella, who was nearby, also raised her eyebrows.

Although she rarely missed social gatherings, Ella noticed that Nia was not wearing a dress she had designed herself.

Feeling offended that Nia had deliberately entrusted her dress to another designer, Ella snorted at her.

Despite Nia’s effort to find the most glamorous and eye-catching dress, Asha noticed a bruise on her bare arm when she glanced down at her.

Nia awkwardly smiled and slightly pulled her arm back to conceal the injury, possibly sensing Asha’s gaze.

Looking closely, she was beautiful, but also sick in some way.

Asha could recognize it at a glance. 

As someone who had experienced pain, Asha instinctively recognized the pain in others.

Asha calmly accepted her greeting.

“Lady Nia, nice to meet you.”

“It is an honor for me to meet Lady Vanessa. So, I prepared a present for you.”

However, Nia’s smile seemed fake as she handed over the gift box.

“What is this?”

“Oh, it’s a gift! What great sense you have. We’re all so curious to know what the gift is. Lady Vanessa, hurry up and open it!”

Curious about the contents of the gift box, the noble ladies crowded around Vanessa urging her to open it.

Asha opened the box surrounded by them. 

However, Asha’s expression stiffened as she opened the box.

Inside was a ‘bow’.

Nia said with a smile.

“I heard that you were part of a hunting group before becoming an imperial butterfly. You must be more interested in hunting than crafts, right?”

The noble ladies around them coughed awkwardly. 

Her words were laced with subtle disdain and contempt towards the hobby of hunting, which was considered unsuitable for noblewomen. No empress in history had ever had such a hobby.

Thinking it was just another amusing incident, the other noblewomen smiled and played along with the joke.

“I didn’t realize Lady Vanessa enjoyed hunting!”

“I heard she likes horseback riding too. It must be tough for her not to have her blue-gray horse with her.”

Their words were spoken too openly, and they burst into laughter, their eyes widening in amusement.

Asha was the only one standing there without smiling. 

It was clear the purpose was to openly shame her for leaving the emperor to play with wild horses.

From the start, it was clear that this tea party was not organized to select a lady-in-waiting for Asha. 

Their expressions made it apparent that none of them had any interest in being her lady-in-waiting.

Or perhaps, they were even betting with each other on who would be the unfortunate one chosen as her lady-in-waiting and gossiping about her every move.

For nobles, scandals involving the imperial family were always exciting.

Asha tightened her grip on the fine wooden bow.

The bow was also a blue-gray color as if to remind her of Sheppy’s color. 

If she were to lash out in anger now, she’d only become the only woman to lose her temper.

It was all too easy for everyone to turn a sane person into a crazy one in a situation where they all stood together.

She was accustomed to being insulted, but she could not tolerate seeing Jackal being insulted and ignored by others.

Just as she was about to retort with a sharp glare, a guard from the Duke’s household came running frantically from afar.

“…… Everyone, hurry up and evacuate!”

But in an instant, he fell to the ground, his body soaked in blood.

In the sudden chaos, everyone froze for a few seconds before breaking out into screams.

Asha looked in the direction of the commotion, her eyes trembling with fear.

Behind the guard, a monster resembling a giant tick was attached to his body, sucking and drinking his blood.

Every time the giant monster moved its mouth, its stomach jiggled. 

This was a shocking situation that had never happened before.

While there were rumors of demons appearing in the empire, they had never shown up in the capital.

Although Karaf was a flower that did not bloom, it was because it was the land he protected.

One of the main reasons the empire’s flowers needed to bloom was to become safe from attacks by monsters like this.

In Etzheim, the Empire of Flowers, monsters that damaged flowers mostly appeared especially aphids and pests.

The noble ladies ran frantically to the mansion, their faces turning white.

Some stumbled and fell due to shock, but none of them helped each other, as their only focus was to escape and survive.

Then, another spider-like monster appeared far away, targeting Nia, who was struggling to run away.

The sight of its creepy legs moving frantically gave chills just by looking at it.

Nia, wearing an uncomfortable and excessive dress, was slower than the other ladies, and it seemed that she would soon be caught by the monster.

Asha aimed her bow, which was a gift from Nia, in that direction.

It was ridiculous, but she didn’t feel good about letting Nia die.

If Nia died, Kiam Delphinium would openly attack the palace and become an enemy.

She could no longer ignore the exhausting situation.

She shot an arrow towards Nia, and the golden wind around it created a whirlwind as it flew towards the monster’s mouth, precisely piercing its throat.

Nia, who had been freed, fell to the ground and her fancy dress was covered in dirt.

Despite her disheveled appearance, Nia stared at Asha with trembling eyes.

However, Asha calmly lifted the bow Nia had given her and smiled.

It meant that she had used it well.

Nia’s eyes widened, but Asha raised the bow again and began to kill the rest of the monsters one by one.

As she tried to counterattack, the monsters that had been hiding revealed themselves as if they had been waiting.

A spider-like monster spewed out webs, but Asha agilely dodged and immediately shot another arrow into its mouth.

The gold-colored wind whirled around her hand as she shot arrows one after another, hitting each monster precisely.

Her drawing and releasing speed was so fast that it was almost invisible.

Everyone was watching with their mouths wide open as Asha ran across the meadow like a fierce warrior.

Her purple dress fluttered like she was dancing passionately on the battlefield every time she avoided an attack and struck back.

Her movements as she shot arrows felt less like a battle and more like a dance or a sword fight.

When another caterpillar-like monster charged towards her, Asha gracefully stepped aside, gliding along the ground in her dress, before hitting it right in the center of its mouth.

She then spotted a few knights struggling in a distant fight and quickly rescued them with her sharp arrows.

Unfortunately for the nobles, all the flying arrows hit the monsters’ mouths as a warning to “watch your mouth”. The noble ladies and gentlemen realized it too late, causing their faces to turn pale.

The monsters fell down helplessly without even being able to scream in pain from the piercing wind hitting their throats.

Her demeanor was like that of someone who would turn off an unpleasant piece of music during a venomous dance.

Asha, in her own way, had managed to startle not only the monsters but also the noble ladies and gentlemen.

The once peaceful tea party had turned into a hellish scene with shattered tables and chairs, and monster fluids spilled everywhere.

After the battle, the soldiers and knights who fought alongside her rushed to her, bowing their heads in gratitude.

“Thank you for saving us, Lady Vanessa!”

“Thanks to Lady Vanessa, we were able to protect the duchy!”

Asha replied as she casually brushed back her slightly disheveled hair with one hand.

“It was nothing.”

As the soldiers carried their wounded comrades into the mansion, the noble ladies and gentlemen gathered around the doorway, staring at her with a look of horror as if they had seen a ghost.

Asha glanced briefly at them before turning her attention to Nia, who was lying on the ground.

When Nia looked up at her with a dazed expression, Asha reached out her hand and smiled gently.

“Are you alright, Lady Nia?”

“Lady Vanessa…… I…….”

Nia was unable to continue speaking and lowered her gaze, feeling ashamed of her rude behavior.

But Asha, appearing innocent and unaware of Nia’s hidden intentions, spoke.

“Thank you for the gift. It’s a very nice bow. How did you know that I like bows and that I’m good at handling them? It’s a perfect gift for me.”

Nia couldn’t bring herself to lift her head at Asha’s words.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to display the gift in this way and, more than anything, I am happy to be able to help the person who gave me the gift.”

Asha smiled brightly. 

Her smile was so dazzling that it was hard to believe that she had just fiercely fought the monsters.

In a hoarse voice, Nia spoke up.

“I’m sorry, Lady Vanessa……”

The situation they had just been in had put the Empress in danger, but Asha had managed to save everyone.

Asha slightly erased her smile and lowered her head, speaking seriously only to her.

“Go back and treat your wounds. Even the ones you can’t see. If you leave them untreated, they’ll only get worse.”

Nia’s eyes widened in astonishment as she looked up at Asha.

Asha looked at her as if she knew everything.

“If the situation is not good, come to the palace. You can receive the best medical treatment there. You can’t let your body and mind suffer, can you? If you feel in danger, come find me anytime. I’ll protect you.”

Asha smiled again. 

Her words contained a hidden meaning that if something happened in the Count’s household, Nia should come and find her immediately.

Nia trembled in disbelief as she looked at Asha.

Even though her hair accessories were loose and her blonde hair was disheveled due to the fight, Asha looked like a noble goddess.

Asha’s warm and welcoming demeanor made Nia feel as if she would embrace her at any time.

The butterfly that always gracefully fluttered over the flowers was a lofty existence that they could not dare to treat lightly.

Nia finally realized that the woman in front of her was a ‘real’ butterfly that she couldn’t overlook, and a shiver ran through her body.