CH 86

The sword struck the duke in an instant.

The duke quickly rose and threw his hand in the air. Carlos’ sword hit the invisible surface.

“You still possess strange tricks.”

However, Duke Hart wasn’t as relaxed as usual. He seemed to be blocking Carlos’ sword with all his might.

Spark flashed from Carlos’ sword and hit the surface. Soon after, the frightening blade pierced the protective surface and headed toward Duke Hart.

Nelia hugged the duke and they rolled on the floor. Fortunately, he managed to avoid the sword, but the duke couldn’t pick himself up. 

Carlos walked up slowly and stood in front of the duke who had fallen.

“Get out of the way, Nelia.”

Nelia embraced the fallen duke even tighter than before.

“If His Grace gets hurt here, Your Highness will have to take responsibility.”

“You said someone should be responsible for seeing him in an empty place?”

Nelia looked at Carlos fiercely.

“Although there were times when Your Highness acted ruthless, I never expected that Your Highness would do something like this.”

“Even if you’re disappointed in me right now, there’s nothing I can do about it. However, if you stay here and wait for me, your thoughts will slowly change.”

Duke Hart, who was lying down on the floor, put his strength against the ground and adjusted his posture.

“Who’s locking up whom?”

Carlos looked down at Duke Hart with an indifferent look on his face.

He looked down at the duke.

“After you die here, Nelia said about staying here and waiting for me all day.”

Something burning began to come out of Duke Hart’s mouth as soon as he let out a grunt.

‘This smell……’

Nelia knew this kind of sign meant he was about to burst in anger.

The duke’s silver eyes were still blurry, making it impossible to see what he was looking at.

Then something firm touched Nelia’s palm.

‘This is…….!’

He realized that scales had risen on his forearm in the darkness. She saw his nape had turned into silver scales just at first glance.

Nelia has her eyes wide open. At this rate, she already had an ominous feeling that the duke might turn into a monster he saw on the day of the total lunar eclipse.

There would be no turning back if he changed.

“Your Grace……! Please don’t lose your mind, keep yourself together!”

Nelia shook him as if to get the duke back on his senses. Carlos also put down his sword for a moment as if he realized that the duke’s condition was strange.

The duke slowly rose to his feet.

He was muttering something as if he had lost his mind.

“I’m going to kill you…….”

When the energy coming out of the duke felt unusual, Carlos raised his sword again.

“You must have gone crazy when you were cornered.”

The moment Carlos swung his sword at the duke, the duke grasped it with his bare hands. He’s got some strength in his hand.

However, even though he held the sharp sword with his bare hands, his palm didn’t emit any blood at all. As if the skin has become a hard steel.

Carlos frowned and looked at his appearance.

“I knew you weren’t a normal person, but……”

Carlos pulled the sword forcefully from Duke Hart’s hand.

Carlos, who quickly got away from the duke, grabbed and drove the sword. A threatening energy fluttered over the sword.

Carlos threw his sword very quickly, as if he were going to throw the last hit.

The same to Duke Hart. His eyes were still unfocused, but he gathered a mysterious red spark in his hand. The collected spark reminded her of a strong burning fire.

Soon, Carlos launched himself to Duke Hart first as if he had finished preparing. Duke Hart also prepared himself to attack Carlos as he saw him (Carlos) coming.

It was the moment they were about to bump into each other.

[How dare you launch forward!]

Zenuit appeared with the shaking ground.

When the floor suddenly shook, both Duke Hart and Carlos stopped their attempt. And surely, they weren’t able to see him.

Nelia, who could see Zenuit, couldn’t have been happier with his reappearance.

‘Zenuit…….!’

He was the subordinate of the powerful dragon, Sigrid. Maybe he can stop these two by force.

Zenuit flew up to Nelia. Nelia whispered softly while repressing the urge to welcome her.

“Zenuit, where have you been and how did you appear only now?”

[How ignorant of that human duke to break the wall and flew away quite far at its power.]

…….It was a disappointing appearance of the dragon, but she couldn’t get her hopes up any further.

“Good job, Zenuit. Sh*t’s about to go down, so I think Zenuit have to stop these two.”

Zenuit averted his eyes and rubbed his chin.

[That is probably a difficult thing to do.]

“What?”

[This small body has limitations in using its strength.]

Zenuit spoke after Nelia lowered her head at the hopeless remark.

[Of course, it’s not that there’s no way for that.]

Nellia raised her head again.

“What is it?”

[You probably won’t like it……]

“I really don’t mind, as long as it can stop them.”

[Really?]

“Yes!”

Zenuit flapped his wings to move and stopped in front of Nelia’s face.

[That is to get into your body.]

“Wh……. What?”

[When I enter the human body, the amount of power I can exert increases. Of course, it will just take a moment.]

It was a somewhat embarrassing condition, but Nelia thought there was no way as she looked at Duke Hart and Carlos, both were getting ready to attack again.

“Wait…….?”

[I don’t intend to stay in your body for too long either.]

“……I see.”

Zenuit nodded.

And when he muttered something, Zenuit’s floating body in front of her gradually disappeared.

In the meantime, Nelia wouldn’t move, but she sensed her hands moving out of her will.

Zenuit was moving inside her body.

Soon, the voice that she didn’t intend to speak came from her mouth.

“Hey, you two!”

Nelia was flabbergasted by the powerful voice coming out of her throat.

“If you’re in my body, please at least imitate the way I speak…….”

Nelia shouted inwardly, but it didn’t seem to reach Zenuit.

However, despite her strange way of speaking, both of them still weren’t aware of Zenuit who had entered Nelia’s body.

Zenuit walked up with a frown and muttered, ‘These jerks……’ and stood as if blocking them from each other.

“You can stop when I still speak nicely.”

They looked at each other as if they were aware of Zenuit. Zenuit folded her arms.

“You crazy jerks. There’s someone weak here, and where are you going to go?”

Nelia wanted Zenuit to shut his mouth.

Can’t we just quietly stop both of them?

However, Nelia’s strange tone didn’t seem to matter to Carlos, whose eyes were shining sharply.

“Get out of my way, Nelia. I have to fight him today.”

In response to Carlos’ words, Duke Hart turned his eyes gaze without saying anything and stared at Carlos.

The air grew heavy again.

“I can’t help it.”

Zenuit shook his head.

The moment they tried to lunge into each other, Zenuit lost his energy.

The ferocious energy spread out of Nelia’s body and attacked Carlos and Duke Hart.

Carlos, who was pushed off by Zenuit’s energy, couldn’t support his body and was pushed far away and got slammed against the wall.

“ARGH!”

Carlos uttered a painful sound.

It was the same with Duke Hart. He was flew away by Zenuit’s energy, he slammed himself against the wall and fell to the floor.

Zenuit, who saw it, clicked his tongue and spoke.

“Now you’re a little quiet.”

Zenuit walked up to Carlos. Carlos, who fell on the floor, looked up at Nelia as if he were looking at a strange creature.

“You…… You’re not Nelia.”

Carlos seemed to recognize that Nelia was unlike her usual self as her expression and tone changed.

“Yes, you’re talking to Nelia’s guardian now.”

Zenuit responded moderately, as if he didn’t try hard to pretend to be Nelia. Soon after, Zenuit opened his eyes sternly.

“So you must know that. I’m always by Nelia’s side, so if you try to fool around with her again, then…….”

Zenuit spat out in a cold voice.

“You may be very disappointed.”

Disappointed……?

Nelia thought Zenuit’s words were strange. As if he had known Carlos before……

Is it because Carlos bought her refreshments last time? For such a thing, the depth of emotion in his voice seemed quite deep.

As if dealing with someone he had known for a long time.

Carlos put off his sword and didn’t try to resist, as he thought he couldn’t beat the overwhelming difference in power.

Zenuit took his eyes off the quiet Carlos, and walked up to Duke Hart this time.

Duke Hart raised his head and stared at Zenuit.

Fortunately, the focus has returned to the duke’s eyes. Not only that, but the terrible smell of burning has disappeared, and the scale has also returned to human skin.

“Where is Nelia…….?”

Duke Hart also seemed to have noticed that there was another presence in Nelia’s body.

“You two almost put Nelia in danger, but I don’t get why you’re saying as if I’m her kidnapper.”

Zenuit grunted.

Duke Hart could barely raise his upper body in the awry chaos. He had returned to his senses, but his eyes were still wide open.

“Tell me, where’s Nelia?”

“Nelia’s soul is safe within this body, so you don’t have to concern yourself about useless things.”

Zenuit crouched down and drew his face close to Duke Hart.

“You still have that nature.”

Tsk tsk, Zenuit got up after saying words he failed to figure out.

Zenuit looked at Duke Hart and Carlos, who lied on the floor, alternately.

“If you put Nelia in trouble one more time, I won’t let you both go, so know!”

“……”

“……”

Nelia thanked Zenuit for speaking it out on her behalf, but she still couldn’t get used to the way he spoke in a firm voice.

Zenuit murmured something like before, she wondered if it was the time to regain control of her body again.

Soon after, Nelia felt that Zenuit had gone out of her body.

Her hands and feet were moving again according to her will.

As soon as she came back to her senses, she immediately ran to the place where Duke Hart landed after the fall.

Nelia hugged Duke Hart.

“Your Grace!”

Duke Hart had a weak smile on his lips as he hugged Nelia.

“You’re back to Nelia whom I know…….”

Carlos stared at Nelia and the duke who were doing so, and then closed her eyes.

***

When he saw Duke Hart who returned to the mansion that day, Ton was beyond shocked.

It was because Duke Hart’s appearance was a mess.

There was dust all over his clothes, and his hair, which had always been neat, was also disheveled.

“Ton, can you help me lay His Grace on the bed?”

Duke Hart seemed to have struggled so much and had difficulty walking after leaving the palace.

Nelia helped Duke Hart walk, but her strength was slowly reaching its limit.

Ton, who seemed to notice Nelia’s struggle, quickly took over in helping the duke by carrying him on his back.

The duke’s clothes were changed and he fell asleep as soon as he was laid in bed. The sound of his breathing made it seem like he slept well.

Then, Nelia looked up and saw Zenuit, who turned into a little dragon.

“Zenuit……. Thank you for today.”

[I had a rough time today.]

Zenuit was unusually stiff.

“But if you count it that way, why were you pushed away by the magic barrier powerlessly earlier?”

[As I said, there’s a limit to using this small body. The magic barrier was quite strong, so I couldn’t get in until the duke broke it.]

Zenuit clicked his tongue while looking down at the duke, who was sleeping soundly.

[After all, he was so clueless at breaking the barrier earlier. I was worried that my body would break first.]

Nelia looked down at the duke with a gloomy expression on her face.

[You don’t have to feel guilty. After all, you’re a victim as well. The crown prince has done the wrong thing earlier.]

Despite Zenuit’s clunky consolation, Nelia’s eyes still turned red.

After seeing that, Zenuit flapped his wings as if in confusion.

[Don’t cry! I didn’t mean to make you cry!]

Nelia sobbed quietly and hugged Zenuit.

“Zenuit is really my guardian.”

[Wh-what do you mean guardian…….!]

“You said it to His Highness earlier, ‘I’m Nelia’s guardian’.”

Zenuit flapped his wings shamefully when Nelia imitated his words.

[Don’t try to make me laugh! When did I?!]

Zenuit remained still as if he had given up struggling when Nelia barely let him go.

He looked at Nelia, who was crying, with a tender face for a moment.

However, Nelia didn’t notice it as she hugged him with closed eyes.