[Portia's POV]
"Move! Move!"
"Don't block the escape path!"
"Mamaaaa!"
"Someone please call the royal soldier!"
The situation is a whole mess. All the guests fell in dreadful panic and scrambled around screaming, trying to save themselves from the assassins.
I, too, go from Raeliana's place in a rush and try to find Adeline. She must not be too far from here.
"Portia! Here! Here!" I turn around, and there I found her with Yuri, safe under the royal's soldier protection. The rest soldiers surround this place and prepare to fight with the assassins.
She comes to me with a worried expression. "Where have you been all this time?"
"I—"
"Forget it. Let's go home now." Adeline cuts my words and holds my hand tightly. She takes me to Yuri, who seems frightened because of this chaotic situation. "Come on, Yuri. We will be safe under the soldier's escort."
"Wait, Mother—" She does not even hear me. We are walking fast through a secret passage behind the palace garden that leads to the carriage parking lot. Other nobles also walk behind us with scared faces and trembling hands.
I feel a little guilty about Nathan, who will be the victim in this incident, but I do not want to involve in a problem that might ruin my new and peaceful life.
As I remember from past life memories, he would get injured in several places and be unable to walk for like two until three months.
Oh, what a poor little boy.
"Intruder!"
When we just need a few steps away from the exit door, two assassins come and block our path.
The short-haired soldier moves forward and holds tight to his silver spear. He said in a loud and vibrant voice as if no one could beat him inside his heavy armor. "Tell me, Crook, what is your purpose in attacking the palace! Tell me before I chastise all of you with this judgment spear!"
"Yeah, beat them all, soldier!"
"We believe in you!" The rest nobles look relieved by his speech and start to support him.
I am starting to feel uncomfortable. Somehow, I think this will not lead to a good ending. I whisper to Adeline, "Mother, we must get out of here as soon as possible."
Adeline nods as if she agrees with me. "Let's sneak out from here. Follow me. Come on, Yuri."
But we can not sneak out when those assassins keep blocking the path. We need to find the right moment to escape from here. After that, both assassins look at each other for a moment before bursting into a loud laugh.
"Freud, it's funny! Them thinking could go past us!"
"Hahaha! Yer will not go anywhere! Yer will die here like a dead rat! Hahaha!"
"Kill 'em all, Freud!"
"Yeah, George!"
They charge forward and strike the short-haired soldier with full speed when he is not ready to receive the attack, leading to his downfall. He fainted after getting a hard hit in his neck.
"Look who's getting the judgment now!" Freud laugh. He turns to us with a dreadful look, which thirsts for blood and screams. "Now, let's clean the rest."
The spark of hope in those nobles' faces soon fades away by the moment they realize that they are now in big danger. This group falls into chaos when they all start to jostle to get to the exit door.
"Mama!"
"Yuri!"
Yuri almost gets dragged out of the crowd when Adeline succeeds in holding her inside her arm and sneaking out between people who are running in a panic state. Meanwhile, the assassins are now busy fighting with other soldiers coming from every direction to catch them all.
"This way! Fast! Fast!" A soldier guards the exit door and ensures the assassin can not pass through. One by one, nobles get out with a relieved face. Adeline and Yuri also made it out safely, although both looked tired.
Adeline gasps. She suddenly realizes something wrong.
Her tired expression turns into horrific. "Yuri, where is your Sister?"
"Sister?" Yuri tilts her head in confusion. "She is not here. Where is sister, Mama?"
Adeline gets up in an instant time and tries to go inside again.
"No one allowed to go inside! It is too dangerous! Please wait here!"
"Shut up!" The soldier was startled when hearing a cursing word come out from Adeline's mouth. She is known for her gentle and polite attitude. Is she mad or something?
"My daughter is still inside! I need to go get her! NOW!"
"But—"
Adeline pointed to that poor soldier with anger. "Do you want to take the responsibility if my daughter gets injured or caught by those intruders, huh? Now, let me in."
"Your Highness, you know I can not do that without—"
"Duchess Adeline." She turns around and finds one of the princes standing with a line of soldiers behind him. "Please calm down. I will go inside and find her. You will make the situation get worst by going inside. Please wait here and pray for her safety. That is the best thing you can do right now. Moreover, don't you have another daughter that needs your comfort?"
Kazech looks in Yuri's direction. His unemotional gaze makes Yuri feels frightened. She lowers and hides her face so she will not meet Kazech's eyes. Adeline lets out a frustrated sigh and walks back to Yuri's place, pulling her into Adeline's arm and giving a soft pat to comfort her.
It is Adeline's fault for not noticing Portia's missing. She will not forgive herself if something happens to that child.
"Alright. Please, find Portia. Please find her for me."
"I will try my best."
After that, Kazech and his soldier go inside the palace garden, where the battlefield happened. Adeline hugs Yuri tight. She begs God to keep Portia safe and escape from the danger lurking around her.
*
"Shit." I curse as soon as I wake up from the bushes. I look around to find that I have been left alone behind.
When the crowds started to run and jostled, my hand detached from Adeline's grip and tumbled backward, thanks to some nobles that hit me so hard. I lost consciousness for a moment. After I got it back, no one was there anymore.
Did the battle is over yet?
"Let me go! You moron! I will tell my Father to hang all of your necks in front of our castle gate! Your corpses shall be food for the bird and wild animals!"
Ah. I know this voice.
"He is so awfully noisy and annoying. Can I kill him now, Boss?"
"What—"
"Not now. Just shut his mouth. We still need him to provoke our main target."
"Alright."
"No, I tell you not to—mmph! Mmph!"
Not far from where I am now, two assassins confine Nathaniel with rope and shut his loud mouth with a duster. They are probably the leader and the rest assassins just to divert the royal soldier's attention from them.
"Pffft." I force myself not to laugh when I see his awful condition. Untidy hair, red nose, teary eyes, and sulking face. Is that the same person who talked to me with high pride in the past?
Hmmm, do I need to save him or not?
His awful face makes me feel emphatic to him. But remembering all the bad things he has ever said to me makes all those empathic feelings disappear within a second.
However, he will be saved later. I do not need to be worried and stay silent here, waiting for help.
"Puh!" The duster inside Nathan's mouth falls to the ground as he starts to scream. "Help! Help me! Please help me! Mother! Father! Kaz—I mean, Brother! I am here with the leader! He wants to kill me! Help me!"
"You brat—Fence, hold him tight. I will give this little Prince a nice punch in the face so he can't scream again for a week or a whole month." One of the assassins clenches his fist and is ready to punch Nath when the other assassin, called Fence, holds his arm tight so Nath can not escape.
His eyes trembled in fear. His brain thinks fast to find a way how to escape from them. "No! No! Please don't do this! Spare me! Please spare me, and I will spare your life too!"
"What? Pffft, can you hear this brat's words, Fence? Uwww, our little prince will forgive us and spare our life if we let go of him now, right?"
"Hahaha, dumb."
"Yeah, dumb. Get ready, boy. It will be a lot of pain, hiattt—"
"Boss, look at that." When he was about to punch Nath with full strength, Fence suddenly stopped him and pointed in the south. He turned around with a confused look on his face.
"What … is that?"
Nathan also raises one of his eyebrows. A girl? No, it is not just a strange girl.
'She is that girl! The Palmerston girl! What is she doing here?'
Honestly, I do not know too.
What am I doing here, actually?
I stand in front of the bushes and hold a big rock inside my palm. I look at them fiercely and gulp my saliva hard, trying not to shrink back when I shout at them. "Let go of him, now. Or I will punish you by God's power."
"Is she joking now?"
Nathan also thinks the same. He underestimates her inside his mind. 'Is she joking? That's not funny at all. She just makes the condition worsen. Ugh, I need someone to beat them all in a single punch!'
"Do you think I'm joking around? I can make this rock as big as a mountain." I draw a little grin as I concentrate on the mana inside my body. I still remember the mana's flow and how to turn it into illusion magic.
He chuckles and turns to Fence. "Nah, that wouldn't be true—"
"Boss! Look! T-The rock is turning big! It's getting big and bigger!"
"What? Holy shit!"
"What should we do, Boss?"
"Go! Now! I don't want to die crushed by a mountain, you fool!"
I success projected the rock in my hand and made it bigger like a mountain in their eyes. Hope that it will be enough to scare them because I do not have mana left inside me. I can feel my feet start to numb, and they can not hold my body for a long time.
"What about this boy?"
"Let's bring him."
"No! Oi, Palmerston girl! Help me! Don't just stand there like a fool! Help me!"
Ugh. He is so fucking annoying. Can you guys just bring him and kill him somewhere quiet? He never let me go in peace, even for a second. What a tiring day. I … just want to sleep …
Bruk!
I fall into someone's arms, but I can not clearly see who that person is. However, it is warm. It is so warm that I can sleep in peace without thinking about that ungrateful brat who did not even thank me after I saved his life.
Before I completely shut my eyes, I could hear his livid voice whispering in my ear. "You're doing a great job, thank you."