Prior to the Flora Festival, Eun-woo heard that the Commander of the central Knights of Mezzolin had come back, a few days ago. Some of his men had arrived early before him and caused a commotion.
However, the fact that she had not recognized the main character even when he was in front of her until now made her astonished.
Who would have thought that this unique-looking man and gambles in the street is actually the leader of Knights Templar? She struggled to get back her sanity which seemed to go out, with a lot of difficulty.
Karzxion muttered annoyedly as he dusted his golden hair which seemed to glitter under the sun.
"What… was my lady your woman all along?"
At his vulgar remarks, Tashian frowned and responded coldly.
"Your mouth is still like a rag. Don't tie me up with her that way. She is just a younger sister of a close friend."
After EUn-woo heard that, she could see Karzxion's face that spread astonishment. In Tashian's arms, with her in between, Karzxion's eyes flashed with curiosity but hearing Tashian, he felt a bit disappointed and something he wanted to hear was evident in his face.
He murmured in disbelief.
"Then… As soon as the War of Genova was over, you postponed the duel with me and ran away…"
"I don't think now is the time to talk about such private things."
Tashian twisted his mouth and cut off Karzxion's words, and immediately turned to the gangsters again. And he carefully dropped her on the floor in an incredibly gentle manner, compared to a few moments ago when he poured out warnings in an angry voice.
She saw his hand fall from her body and dropped it.
"Ah, Tashian, your arm..."
Eun-woo murmured anxiously as she looked at his forearm, which she had never been able to take her eyes off of.
But without blinking an eye, he pulled out the dagger from his arm. Blood gushed out like a tiny fountain in an instant, but he didn't wrinkle an eyebrow, he just threw his knife to the floor.
He stood in an aggressive stance while guarding and blocking Eun-woo's front like a dog.
"You stay here."
Tashian growled fiercely and opened his eyes to the scoundrels. He drew a sword from the black scabbard around his waist and wrestled with it.
"You guys…. don't even think that one will be able to survive."
Eun-woo could immediately notice that the table was flipped. Even though only one man had intervened in the fight, Eun-woo could visually confirm that their determination had decreased somewhat.
Some of the men had already escaped to the point where their tails fell through the onlookers with their scared appearances. The remnant also stood around them with a half-doubt attitude, as if examining the new enemy's capabilities.
"This reminds me of the old days, doesn't it?"
Karzxion put a half smile on his lips and grabbed the knife he was holding in his hand. Tashian growled without turning his head toward him.
"Ubera. You are a patient, so stay away."
"The patient must be you, Verk. You haven't fixed that habit of yours to solve things on your own."
Ubera giggled and smiled intoxicated with a sense of victory.
Although there were only two men protecting her, the story would be different if those two were 'Notem Knights'. The enemy's will had already been significantly dampened by the momentum of the newly emerged reinforcements.
Eun-woo grabbed the clothes that had been torn from the dust wind and bloodstains. She looked at the strong backs of the two men. The way they pulled out their swords and posed in front of her looked different from the way the thugs did.
Shortly thereafter, the counterattack began without any signal. The gangs were swept away helplessly as if they were stones who hit the floor, without using any special means to the two knights. It also appeared that he couldn't boast his full ability earlier, as he was focused on keeping his eyes on her. Karzxion's sword slashed through the enemies roughly.
There was nothing to say about Tashian. While escorting Eun-woo in a circle with Karxzion, he suppressed the men approaching them with one shot.
Although these two knights had never been a team before, they had already experienced countless battlefields, and attacked upfront like a flowing water. Some onlookers even shouted while they witnessed how the thugs were being defeated, as if they were only toys in front of these two men.
Eun-woo stood tensely in the area protected by the two men one after another with their sharp eyes as the crowd cheered for them.
Within a short period of time, the two men's indiscriminate attacks, which were close to genocide, were completely wiped out. It only took them a few minutes to do all of that.
Tashian obtained some rope-like strings from several onlookers surrounding them. He covered the mouths of the brave men who attacked Eun-woo like a gag and caught them by tying their hands and feet, arresting them.
"You guys will be issued to the Pisval Court Territory, where you will be sentenced. Don't even dream of going out with your hands and feet intact."
He mercilessly warned the half-fainted men who had already been beaten so hard that they couldn't even open their mouths. Not satisfied with only them, the Duke expressed that soon enough, he would catch those others who managed to escape.
No one thought to intervene in front of him, who handled the thugs with a vicious force and left behind without a mess. He swept the situation and ended it with a ferocious attitude.
After he arrived, Eun-woo tried to grasp the situation by rolling her eyes and turning her eyes to the situation in which Tashian worked hard without even taking a breath to solve the problem in an instant.
Their surroundings had already been strangely still. It was a street strewn with operations organized by Tashian and Karzxion like bags. In front of Tashian, who was running wild like an angry horse, no one dared to come close.
It was a time when everyone was holding their breath in fear of his turbulent momentum.
Eun-woo saw Tashian approaching with a grim expression like a general who came to annihilate the enemy. Eun-woo, unknowingly, withdrew her body at his eerie expression as if he was angry with her. Who wouldn't be intimidated when such a gigantic man strides forward, clenching his fists and twisting his lips? Eun-woo guessed that he must have been very angry at her. Before going to the festival, he was the one who had warned her so strongly that it was dangerous around and that she had to stick with him all the time to avoid getting hurt.
But after a few hours of separation from him, she already caused such a fuss, and she had nothing to say anymore.
What's more, she forgot his necklace.
Eunwoo bowed his head with a gloomy expression on his face. But Tashian's touch on her chin was a thousand times softer than she had imagined.
"El…? Let me look, are you okay?"
A soft gesture like a feather touched her cheek. With a worried look on his face, he gently stroked the scar on her cheek with his thumb.
Eun-woo, who had already expected that he would yell at her, was startled by the unexpectedly approaching fluffy and careful touch. Then his hand quickly fell off when he saw her face.
"Are you in a lot of pain? … D*mn. D*mn assholes. I'm going to pluck their heads right now and hang them in front of the gates."
Contrary to the soft gesture that touched her skin, the words that came out of his mouth were terrifying. He gritted his teeth and flashed his ferocious eyes.
"I will cut off their dirty hands and feet, find and destroy the three generations of their children, and bury them for their sins...!"
He gave strength to his hand holding his sword as if he was going to cut off the heads of the crowd right now. Eun-woo was startled by the words and hurriedly grabbed his collar. She stroked his arm, assuring him.
"We, well, Tashian more than that. How about the arm you injured earlier? Doesn't it hurt?"
She said these words to divert his gaze elsewhere, but Eun-woo could not hide her genuine concern.
The guilt of having his body scarred, whose body is important, weighed heavily on her heart.
But Tashian didn't seem to care about the wounds on his body, and he was busy stroking her hands, which were mercilessly mutilated and covered in blood with shards of glass.
He murmured rapidly, twisting his brow in pain, as if his body was in pain.
"A wound like this is nothing. …. Your wounds are more critical than that. I'll have to go back to the duke's house and treat you right now. Now that we made a fuss, their minions will arrive here soon. Until then, please be patient."
Eun-woo knew that he was worried about her and felt her heart warm like a spring day.
She looked at the palms that hugged earlier and are now stroking her hands with gentle strength like feathers, she only wishes that her cheeks won't turn red.
"… The world's Tashian Verk is no less than a dog in front of my lady."
At that moment, a twisted voice was heard from their side.
Karzxion was approaching them with a blunt gait, inserting the blood-stained sword into its sheath. A sneering smile hung from his lips as if he was seeing a very strange sight.
Eun-woo felt uneasy as she saw Tashian's hand, who was holding her hand, stopped for a moment.
".. I said it before, didn't I? She's just a friend's younger sister. It is disrespectful to her, the sister of the noble Marquis, to tie with me like that unnecessarily. Apologize right now, Ubera."
Tashian held her hand and turned his head to Karzxion, giving a fierce command. But Karzxion didn't seem to listen to him, and put his arms behind his back and looked relaxed.
Eun-woo could sense that Karzxion's eyes, watching them, were flashing with a strange hostility disguised as a lively curiosity. What he didn't like was that his disapproving eyes were secretly wandering around her fingers, which Tashian held dearly.
His golden eyebrows, watching them, twisted in confusion.
Eun-woo couldn't understand him. Wasn't he the one who cleared the enemy by showing a great collaboration with Tashian just a moment ago?
Soon afterward, Karzxion twisted his lips and opened his mouth with a scornful taunt.
"The man who kicked out the prostitutes out of his tent without giving them a penny knows how to hold a woman's hand and rub them with such gentleness. My men's eyes will be turned upside down when they know that there is no such thing in a war ghost like you with wicked blood."
Wicked blood. Eun-woo frowned at the unexpected word.
The title 'war ghost' was merely a name that praised his inhumane achievements in awe. However, it was the first time he had heard the modifier 'Wicked blood' in front of him.
Eun-woo, contemplating what that means, stopped thinking when she saw Tashian put his hand on the scabbard and took a step closer to Karzxion. He warns Karzxion, revealing his displeasure without hiding it.
"I knew it, but I'm curious again if there's even a single chivalry in you, Ubera. I warn you, I'll cut your tongue off here as soon as you make a mockery of her."
Eun-woo broke out in a cold sweat at the atmosphere between the two men that quickly became harsh. She slowly pulled the hem of Tashian's wrist, which she was still holding, trying to break the tension between them.
"Tashian. I'm fine. I have to go find His Majesty and Selena sooner than that..."
But before she could finish her words, Karzxion Ubera also seemed to accept his challenge, putting his hand on the scabbard of wood, and posed.
"That was all along what I wished for, Verk! I'm going to fight the duel in which you ran away the other day with your tail! I am ready anytime!"
Eun-woo looked at the two men alternately, feeling confused by the sudden situation.
The two men were unleashing their hostility towards each other, as if a hunting dog on the other side's leash freely exposed each other's teeth.