The reptile had already collapsed, but it was only then that reinforcements came, accompanied by a procession that's headed by the imperial family's carriage.
The priests treated the injured, and the knights decided to scour the forest with Duke Valentine at the vanguard.
They were thinking of the possibility that the monsters might leave the forest and reach the civilians' homes.
So with that in mind, the knight order headed towards the forest.
Duke Valentine headed directly towards Alicia and Rosetta.
Rosetta's breath hitched.
She was nervous for no reason because of what she had recalled for a moment.
Hilarious, really.
It seemed like it was only yesterday that this man laughably asked her that question before, as if he wanted to play pretend parent and child.
The duke examined the two young women for a moment without saying anything, then he finally spoke.
"You both, are you hurt anywhere?"
It was a stiff, awkward question.
As usual.
Still as ever.
Tearfully, Alicia nodded, while Rosetta hesitated for a while before she nodded as well.
Then, Damian came running in a hurry.
Just how much did he run that his entire body was now drenched with sweat?
But that was not all.
So much debris and blue blood were scattered across his body here and there.
He looked at Alicia and Rosetta with such urgent eyes, and only after confirming that the two were safe did he drop to the ground, as though he had collapsed.
One knee touched the ground.
He could be heard repeatedly murmuring the words 'thank you', like a praying knight.
Alicia immediately hugged Damian and wept loudly. With how tender her tear ducts were, there's nothing that could be done about it.
Rosetta took a step back.
And she looked away for no reason.
It felt strange. She had a headache.
The duke was still standing there, acting the same as usual.
Damian came back safely without any grave injuries.
Just seeing him made her feel relieved.
A great deal of relief.
But she just looked into the air, rubbing the pad of one fingertip with a nail.
* * *
"You looked quite funny."
The situation was still enmeshed with tumult.
The man turned his head when he heard someone else laughing behind him.
There stood a man.
He stared at that man without saying a word, then he snapped back.
"I don't know about that. I thought your face was equally laughable earlier."
"Aha. Is that so? True, actually. I'm sure I looked quite funny, too. Haha."
Watching the other man laugh away without a single sign of displeasure, the first man bit his tongue.
In the meantime, the other man continued smiling as he spoke again.
"But, well, it doesn't matter. I achieved the result I so desired, and I finally met my lover again after such a long time."
That insect beside her grated on my nerves a little, but…
His voice towards the latter half of what he said turned unusually cold.
As if his voice was poisonous, the first man felt a chill run down his spine just listening to those words.
"Insect, you say. Then do you mean Maxwell?"
"Yes. Our shy-looking escort knight. That insect."
"Are you going to kill him?"
"Of course I will."
It was a rather harsh question, but the answer was equally quick and unrelenting.
Neither man showed much surprise towards these words.
"He bothers me. He doesn't even have a significant supporting role or anything, but he keeps sticking to what's mine. I wonder why the hell is that."
The first man briefly asked back to the other man.
"Supporting role?"
It was an exceptionally alarming term.
It's not the kind of word that would be used in real life.
Wasn't that something used to refer to a character in a play?
Obviously, this seemed to be part of the other man's secrets.
Whether that train of thought was right or not, the other man smiled and spoke again.
"Something like that. But if you find out about it, you'll only get hurt."
The first man nodded without any further questions.
If he were to question the other man further, it just might trigger his temper.
In the first place, that man had a lot of secrets, he was capable enough.
The first man thought that, rather than poking his nose to know more, as long as they both did their respective jobs properly, then it would all still be beneficial to him.
"Sure, I won't be curious about it. Instead, just keep your end of the deal."
"Of course. I make sure to keep all my promises."
When the other man uttered this with a smile on his face, the first man's brows crumpled.
The other man noticed this, then he laughed again.
Then suddenly, he stopped laughing.
"Oh, but I have a question."
"What?"
This time, the other man filled the air with his curiosity instead of his laughter.
The other man rummaged through his inner pocket and pulled something out.
It was a small, round black bead that was the size of a nail.
As if it was a piece of candy, he popped it into his mouth and chewed it.
"If you don't actually have any questions, then…"
Despite the other man saying that he's curious, no question followed, so the first man motioned to get up from his seat. The crunching sound continued.
But at that moment.
As soon as the first man let go of the tension in his body.
The belated question was uttered.
"Do you like her? Alicia Valentine."
The way the first man froze where he was made it apparent that the other man had hit the nail on the head.
Watching the first man turn rigid, the other man chuckled.
"Oh, how fun. Truly."
* * *
The next day—
As soon as the sun broke through the horizon, a procession of carriages commenced.
As soon as they heard the news, so many households' carriages ran all night to reach their respective families.
Left in shambles, the nobles hung around the carriages.
It was unimaginable that this forest had once been where an aristocratic event took place.
Rosetta looked around with a clouded gaze, then she soon headed towards House Valentine's carriage, which had just arrived.
She was all by herself as she walked towards the carriage.
Damian and the duke would remain here for the reconnaissance mission to the woods, while Alicia and Diana had boarded the carriage meant for patients. Priests were also there to accompany them.
Diana was injured, and Alicia had yet to wake up when she slept as though she fainted last night.
'And Cassion…'
She wasn't sure.
If he wasn't feeling well, she made him promise to get into the carriage meant for patients. He must be heavily exhausted right now.
She last saw him by the barracks earlier, so it seemed like he had already boarded the carriage.
So, she was all alone now.
All the way to the family carriage, people's eyes followed after her.
Every step she took roused a small stir.
Doubts towards the ducal ladies had flared up overnight.
'Everyone's excited, huh. Really excited.'
Hearing the noise around her, Rosetta raised one eyebrow.
But that was all.
She showed no further signs of agitation.
In any case, she'd been prepared for this since yesterday, ever since the crowd had looked at her like that.
Those who experienced tragedy.
Those whose nerves had been sharpened to the fullest.
After all those doubts had been raised regarding Rosetta, they would not subside.
Once bloomed, it's difficult to get rid of such doubts.
Right. And that's why Rosetta slipped some pills into Alicia's drink, too.
She gave her some sleeping pills just to make it look like she had fainted.
As Alicia was carried into one of the patients' carriages, still asleep as if she was dead, Diana asked Rosetta a question.
"Do you have to do this, Milady?"
There was no answer back.
With her forehead forlornly wrinkled, Diana opened her lips to speak again.
"This will only draw attention to you, Lady Rosetta. They'll ask themselves why you never fainted even once, and they'd cling onto all sorts of ridiculous details."
Indeed, it was just as Diana said. Rosetta's predictions weren't that far off either.
Her golden gaze quietly examined Alicia's sleeping face.
As she was asleep, her face was a bit swollen from all the tears she had shed. Strangely, Rosetta found her adorable again, so she smiled.
Soon, she spoke.
"That's what I want to happen."
If it was going to be between her and Alicia, then she would rather take full responsibility.
To make sure that not a single gaze would turn towards Alicia until she'd be cleared of all doubts.
To make sure that Rosetta alone would be cornered.
She said this before and she'd say it again— she liked good-natured people, but she did not care about becoming one herself.
And what she's facing were just strangers' eyes.
In the end, all they could do was look at her.
She felt not a single blow to her from receiving just their gazes.
So, whether or not they were looking at her.
Whether or not they'd raise such noise around her.
It did not matter.
Shrugging once, Rosetta had an unfeeling expression on her face the entire time she walked towards her household's carriage.
As she waited for the coachman to open the door, a familiar scent was carried by the breeze. Then, a hand reached out to her.
She turned to face the owner of that hand.
And, she saw Cassion's smiling face.
"Maxwell, why are you…"
She spoke to him with a whisper. At the same time, her expression—which had remained cold all this time—finally loosened a little.
"Shouldn't you be with Alicia and Diana in their carriage? The one meant for patients… Not here."
When Rosetta asked, Cassion shrugged and raised his hand to her again.
He was wordlessly telling her to take it.
Then, as Rosetta now laid her own hand over his, he answered back.
"I'm not currently a patient because a certain someone saved me yesterday. Besides, my job is to protect you."
Those smiling lips were smooth.
"Then, where have you been?"
"I went back inside the barracks for just a little bit, but when I came back outside, I thought I got abandoned when I found that no one was there."
The man's playful tone made Rosetta let out a peal of laughter, and she soon got into the carriage.
After confirming that she was seated, Cassion tried to close the carriage's door.
It was customary for a knight to ride a separate horse, following after the carriage to guard it.
However, Rosetta was faster than him.
A slender arm popped out of the carriage door before it was closed, then grabbed the man by his collar.
Just like that, she pulled him in.
And inside the carriage, the distance between the two quickly narrowed.
While she was sitting upright, Cassion was underneath as their faces became so close together.
They could feel each other's breaths.
Ka-chak.
Soon after, the carriage door that the man and the woman entered through closed by itself.
Controlled by qi or magic.
Or perhaps both.
There were many ways to make a door close without touching it.
Even though the space they're in now was not quite small, the only thing that could be heard inside the carriage was seemingly just their breaths.
"…Did you think anyone saw it? You pulled me into the carriage so aggressively."
When Cassion stared blankly up at her, Rosetta just grinned.
The arc drawn by her red lips was beautiful.
"I don't care. I'm already being treated as the master of monsters anyway."
Unlike her lovely smile, the words she spoke were vicious.
"Stay with me, Cassion."
And the short words that followed sounded like a request, or an order.
But what's certain was this— that the look in her curved eyes did not look too pleasant.
Beneath her eyelashes, the thickly blooming shadows made her look very tired.
And lonely.
"I will always be with you."
Cassion gave a quiet answer. Compared to the lightness of the question, the answer carried a little too much weight.
But Rosetta did not laugh.
The woman's golden gaze and the man's black gaze stared straight into each other.
Then, without giving any particular response back, Rosetta let go of her grip on Cassion's collar.
"Ah."
The man sighed out as he regained the ability to breathe freely again.
However, it was strange.
The hold on his collar was finally released, but he was strangely disappointed.