CH 93

“For my sake?”

“Yes, because Countess Hilbert and Duchess Euclid consider Lagrange as dangerous.” 

She wore her act of being unfairly accused as if it was a burden on her. She pouted as she continued. 

“If they could be convinced that I can enlighten the Lagrange as a Saint, they wouldn’t ostracize the North this harshly.”

It was only then that I started to understand Charlotte’s, no, her actions as a person.

‘Her aura is so clean I thought it was manipulated in some way.’

“It’s also the way for you and His Grace. I’ll lead the unification of the Bernoulli Empire.”

Charlotte wasn’t particularly a hypocrite, nor was she pretending to be good. 

‘She really believes it’s her duty.’

Without discovering her own erroneous contradictions, she sincerely thought she was doing it for our sake. As I stared at her clear, transparent brown eyes, I swallowed my words. 

‘What more can I say?’ 

“....I see. I understand, Charlotte.”

“Please call me Charl. Isn’t our relationship quite deep now?”

I didn’t want to be involved with her anymore, but if I refused now, she would cry again and say strange things in front of people. 

“Charl.”

“Yes, please call me like that.” 

Perhaps she was really glad that I called her a nickname because Charl’s aura was tinged with pure joy. 

‘Still, I should treat her well since she’s someone who would help Dietrich later.’ 

I smiled sweetly following Charlotte and got up. Baal had at some point already disappeared into the shadows. 

“Then, shall we go back now?”

“Hehe. I’m glad that Anissa’s walls seemed to have given away a little.”

Charl smiled beautifully and linked arms with me, sticking by my side. I looked at the fluffy silvery hair falling over my shoulder and started walking. 

“Kyaa!”

‘What’s that sound?’

I looked at Charlotte, my expression stiffening at hearing the scream from afar. Her complexion turned pale in fear. 

“It would be best if we hurry, Charl.”

At first, I thought I heard it wrong, but as I got closer to where the barracks were huddled together, I became certain that the sound was indeed a scream.

“Kyaa! Kyaa! It’s a monster!”

‘A monster?’

It’s not even the North, so how could a monster appear in the forest near the capital?

I stepped on Baal who was trying to come out again and put strength on my leg. 

“Oh my god! Madam Hilbert!”

Charlotte opened her mouth wide and pointed her finger at one side. I followed her line of sight and saw Dorothea who had climbed up a tree, shaking. 

Her dress, made of green velvet, had already been torn in half and blood flowed from her bare legs. 

Krung. Krung. 

The beasts wept wildly under the tree. I tilted my head, looking at the people who couldn’t come closer. 

‘Why are they only after Dorothea?’

Since it was an empty space where all the trees had been cut down, only one zelkova tree had been planted for shade around the barracks.

Dorothea was hanging from that very tree and three agitated bears were circling around it. 

“It’s definitely a monster! Their eyes are too strange for them to be just wild bears!”

According to someone’s cry, their bright red eyes are too out of the ordinary for them to be a normal bear. 

I could glimpse blood through the thick hide of the poorly shot bear, however, it did not care about the wound and began to scratch the tree Dorothea climbed with its fingernails.

“Kyaah!”

Whenever the bear with its claws stuck on the tree wiggled its body, Dorothea wobbled as if she would fall. 

‘I’ve never controlled an animal’s aura before.’

I glanced at Charlotte in case she could help, but she was just sitting there with a pale complexion as if she would faint at any time. 

‘You’re no help at all.’

I clicked my tongue and looked up at Dorothea who was screaming like a nervous wreck. 

‘Should I just leave her alone?’

The bears were only oddly aiming for Dorothea, and when the knights would come back they could easily catch those bears in no time. 

“It’s not the Lagrange family getting revenge, is it?”

At that moment, a whisper among the roaring gossip of the crowd pierced my ears.

”At the last ball, didn’t His Grace and Countess Hilbert have an argument? The bears are only after the madam, you see.”

Everyone was looking at me as if they all had similar thoughts. 

I had no choice but to move forward and stretch out my hand. 

“Cresco.”

The roots of the zelkova tree rose in an instant, wrapping around the three bears who stood with their front paws up.

“Kwang!”

The bears, who were suppressed instantly, let out a loud cry, but the roots of the giant tree didn’t let the animals so easily.

‘I’m pretty sure they’re not monsters.’

Although the bears' auras were running wild, it wasn’t as disgusting as that of a demon. 

I suppressed the beasts with enough strength so as not to kill them and looked up at Dorothea. 

“Countess Hilbert.”

When I called out to her, she clutched her disheveled hair and screamed. 

‘She’s completely out of her mind.’

I moved all the rebellious bears near the forest. All the people shut their mouths, looking at the strange wiggling tree roots. 

“Countess, you can come down now.” 

It was only when the bears completely disappeared from her line of vision did Dorothea slowly climbed down from the tree. She pointed at the direction of the wooden bear cage and started her tirade.

“Why do those bears only aim at me!?”

She raised her voice as if she thought I knew the answer.

‘I pulled you out of danger and you’re telling me to hand over my parcel.’

I burst out laughing in disbelief. 

“How would I know that?”

“Weren’t those monsters? And you’re a princess of Lagrange where monsters live.” 

“They weren’t monsters. They were just bears. Isn’t that right, Charl?”

Charlotte, who had similar abilities to mine, would know the difference between a monster and an animal.

“What Anissa said is true. I didn’t sense a monster’s energy.”

“If that’s not the case, why were they only attacking me!”

“The Countess must have been to the bears’ taste.”

I retorted sourly and approached the bears confined inside the wooden cage. Their eyes were strange as if they had eaten some kind of drug. 

Dorothea nervously smiled and grabbed my shoulder. 

“Are you sure it’s not your brother’s prank?”

“....What did you say?”

I really shouldn’t have saved you. I tore my gaze away from the three bears breathing heavily and looked at Dorothea. 

“Can you inflict such an insult on me just because I said something to a princess who didn’t know about etiquette?”

Dorothea stretched her legs toward me as if telling me to look at her torn dress. 

‘Is it a big deal that the dress is torn?’

I couldn’t comprehend the reason why her face was painted red with humiliation.

“Why are you bringing up my brother who isn’t even here?”

“Is there any other family who bears a grudge against me other than Lagrange!”

“But I’m also the person who saved you, Countess.” 

“If harm was really done, even if he’s a Duke, he wouldn’t be able to get away with it.”

I walked step by step towards her who kept babbling nonsense.

“Shut.” 

Grabbing the carefully pearl-inlaid lace, I pulled her towards me as her mouth dropped open in bewilderment. 

“Your mouth.”

“.......”

“Before I put you inside the bear cage.” 

There was a strange smell coming from the back of her neck but she didn’t seem to notice it. 

‘I think this smell lured the bears.’

Bears were originally omnivores. It’s not like there wasn’t anything to eat in this forest, and there was no reason to rush at people either. 

“Wouldn’t it be better to say thank you for saving your life first, Countess?”

I smiled broadly, caressing the area around Dorothea’s neck, pretending to clean up her lace. 

“Tha-thank you.”

Dorothea hastily backed away from me as I swiped the branches like I would open the cage. 

I turned to the people watching us from afar. I could hear the sound of horseshoe running in a hurry to announce something. 

“Her Majesty has returned!”

Dietrich was the first one to dismount his horse before the emperor who was supposed to be the lead. He quickly approached me, oblivious to the people’s eyes.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m not hurt. No one is.”

Dietrich didn’t even listen to my words and started turning my face here and there to examine me. 

‘Even if I resist because I’m not hurt anyway, he’ll still insist on examining me carefully.’ 

With my arms wide open, I circled around to give Dietrich peace of mind. 

“I’m really fine. The few bears were only after Countess Dorothea.”

“That’s odd. There shouldn’t be a beast as dangerous as bears around here.” 

I tilted my head at Dietrich’s murmur. Whether it’s the strange smell on Dorothea or the bears who lost their minds, it was full of absurdities. 

‘Someone must have done it on purpose.’

I narrowed my eyes and survey the families gathered together.

‘It’s not Dorothea.’

Her aura genuinely trembled with chilling fear. The countess wouldn’t be that scared if she did it herself. 

I turned my head to Dona Euclid, who was chewing on her lips as if something was wrong. The moment I moved my hand to look at her aura –

“We need to hurry up and find the mastermind!” 

The Duke of Euclid, who was standing next to the emperor, spoke in a loud voice. 

‘But why are you looking at me?’