Vol. 1 - Ch. 50
Chapter 50
“Ahhh!”
A piercing scream echoed through the tranquil forest, accompanied by the splatter of hot blood.
Edmund swiftly dodged the blood flying toward his face and stepped back. Approaching him was Alec, who had just finished slitting the throats of the assassins.
“Is that the last of them?”
Instead of replying, Edmund drove his sword into the writhing body before him.
“Hah…”
He scrutinized the upturned whites of the dying man’s eyes closely. They weren’t red.
Edmund straightened his back but winced at the persistent pain in his shoulder, his brow furrowing. His right hand, which held the sword, was trembling ever so slightly.
Unaware of this, Alec drew closer to Edmund. Sensing his approach, Edmund clenched his hand tightly to conceal the shaking.
“None of them have red eyes.”
Edmund surveyed their surroundings. The assassins who now lay lifeless at their feet had appeared shortly after Carlito’s disappearance. Yet, something about them felt off.
First, these assassins were poorly trained. Though clearly killers, they lacked the skill to pose any real threat to Edmund. It was suspiciously similar to an earlier incident that he couldn’t dismiss from his mind.
“Nick was right.”
Everything had unfolded just as Nick had warned. Nick had shared with them what he had learned of the emperor and Sergei’s plans.
First, a swarm of assassins would attack. Then, once Edmund was sufficiently weakened, they would use a drug designed to send a Sword Master into a frenzy. In this state, Edmund would lose his rationality and unleash uncontrollable aura, resulting in massive casualties.
The Emperor intended to exploit this chaos to stage a situation where he would be forced to “reluctantly” kill Edmund.
“If you had followed Nick’s advice and pretended to propose to the Princess, this might not have happened.”
“And since I have no intention of actually marrying the Princess, they’ll keep trying this until they get what they want.”
The Emperor wouldn’t stop until Edmund married the Princess and fathered a child. If a child who could inherit the Winter Duke’s lineage were born, the Emperor would have no qualms about disposing of Edmund once he was no longer useful.
But regardless of the circumstances, Edmund couldn’t bring himself to fake a proposal to the Princess. Suddenly, he recalled what had happened at breakfast.
[“He promised to gift me all the animals he catches today.”]
Edmund, startled by Elizabeth’s abrupt action, didn’t immediately think about how to extricate himself from the situation. Instead, his first thought was:
‘What kind of expression did Daphne make?’
Did Daphne furrowed her brow at the sight of him with the Princess? Or perhaps bite her lip, clenching her fists so tightly her nails left marks on her palms?
When he glanced at Daphne, seated beside him, she was expressionless. While Edmund couldn’t discern her feelings, he was certain of one thing: Daphne cared. His sharp, persistent observation confirmed it when he noticed the faint trembling of her fingertips.
Rustle.
A sound snapped Edmund back to the present. He gripped his sword and focused on the source.
“!”
From the thicket emerged an unexpected figure, leaving Edmund no choice but to lower his blade.
“…Daphne?”
Daphne stood before him, panting heavily. Her gaze quickly scanned him, lingering with a peculiar weight, as if unable to touch but unwilling to look away.
“What are you doing here?”
“Is something wrong…?”
Stepping out of the undergrowth, Daphne’s eyes widened at the sight of the assassins strewn across the ground. Having sprinted so hard her lungs burned, she hadn’t yet noticed the scent of blood. But now, it struck her, making her flinch.
Still, she staggered forward, unsteadily stepping over the corpses, her movements hurried and anxious.
Noticing her trembling shoulders, Edmund sheathed his bloodied sword and approached her.
“What’s the matter…?”
“You haven’t been affected by any drug, have you?”
The mention of a drug made Edmund narrow his eyes.
“How do you know about that?”
“You’re okay, right? Tell me you’re okay.”
Daphne moved closer, her hands fluttering in hesitation as her gaze darted across him.
“Hah…”
Seeing that Edmund was unharmed, Daphne pressed her trembling hand against her lips, trying to stifle her relief. Edmund glanced behind her, searching for anyone else, but neither Chris nor any other ally was in sight.
“What exactly happened?
“Madam, how do you know about the drug?”
Alec, also sensing something amiss, approached them.
“My brother… he told me.”
Daphne explained how she had recklessly run through the forest in the direction Sergei had indicated, only to find Edmund much sooner than expected. It was as if Sergei had known Edmund’s exact location.
Daphne breathed heavily.
[“The father of the child in your womb, or the son you’ve spent five years raising at the cost of your own life.”]
At the same moment Daphne lifted her head, her eyes met Edmund’s. Daphne murmured absentmindedly.