Chapter 116

Defeating an opponent is harder than killing them.

In that sense, the Red Knights, even charging as a group, couldn’t subdue Latine, but Latine was different.

—Whack!

He suddenly swung a scabbard he had taken from a Red Knight, hitting a foe’s leg. He spun around and struck another’s back.

“Ugh!”

Two men went down instantly.

Those trying to climb over the wall in the meantime were met with…

—Whoosh!

…the scabbard, which Latine had thrown at them.

—Thwack!

With a sound so crisp it was questionable if it could be made by a person, the knights trying to scale the wall collapsed. They seemed to be breathing but were unable to get up.

“Just get inside! We have more men!”

As the situation became increasingly disadvantageous, a senior-looking Red Knight shouted.

Latine replied indifferently.

“The monsters said that too.”

He meant to emphasize that he was also outnumbered when he fought monsters, but the Red Knights, accustomed to noble speech, heard something else.

“How dare you compare us to monsters…!”

“Huh?”

‘I didn’t.’

While the misunderstanding grew, Latine’s body moved efficiently.

—Thwack! Smack! Crunch!

For what felt like an eternity, sounds that were more akin to a beating than a proper knightly duel echoed.

—Thud!

After the last Red Knight tumbled to the ground, Latine tossed aside the scabbard. He hadn’t gotten a single drop of blood on his hands and simply dusted them off.

“You knights over there, please check the surroundings. See if there are any suspicious people. I don’t feel any, but just in case.”

The chancellor’s knights hesitated at Latine’s words.

He then belatedly realized the reason for their pause and added, “As an old friend of the chancellor, I’m asking for a favor.”

‘Right, they’re not my knights.’

As Latine looked a bit awkward, the knights glanced toward the chancellor’s chambers in the distance. When they received a gesture from the chancellor who had come to the window, they scattered and began their search.

Latine finally looked back at the chancellor’s window. She was waving back at him.

“You’ve come out too far.”

An average person’s shot wouldn’t pierce that window, but it depends on the person. If someone like him were to fire an arrow, Ameris would be done for.

“Get inside!”

Latine gestured. But Ameris seemed to misunderstand his meaning and just smiled.

“I said, get inside!”

And at his frantic gestures, Ameris was seen bursting into laughter. It seemed the message didn’t get across.

And, as expected, the knights’ search found not even a single strand of hair from an assassin or any other suspicious person.

***

The situation at Port of Pomers was also growing urgent.

The situation at the imperial palace was to be relayed to Aivert by Royden’s people. It would take time as they were on the move, but a magical messenger bird would be able to find him.

Rodella and Aivert stood facing each other, with Aivert’s horse, brought by the Azure Knights, waiting beside them. Aivert looked reluctant. He wasn’t thrilled about this situation where he had to go save the emperor.

In truth, regardless of his feelings, the decision was made. There was only one thing bothering him.

“Why did Felix make it so the handcuffs can’t be broken?”

Well, in case the prisoner cuts the handcuffs in an emergency. It was a question both Rodella and Aivert knew the answer to. But Aivert’s reason for asking was because he had to visit the imperial palace, whose situation was unknown. The feel of the cold handcuffs on his wrist was unsettling. There was an option to wait here for more information before heading there, but by then, it would likely be too late. The time to leave was now.

Aivert ran his hand through his hair.

“Having to go because of the emperor.”

Rodella knew Aivert disliked the emperor, so she tried to comfort him.

“Think of it as saving the people around you.”

“The people around me?”

Aivert put a hand to his forehead.

“If I were to save you, I would have to smuggle you out of the country.”

The sincerity in his voice made Rodella pause for a moment.

He shook his cuffed wrist.

“If it weren’t for these damned handcuffs, I would have sent you away a long time ago. Or…”

He let out a short sigh.

“I’d rather you had left on your overseas tour earlier.”

‘Ah.’

Her heart sank. Even though she was the one who insisted on going with him. But Aivert’s next words were different from what she expected.

“Because then you would have been safe.”

The feeling of her heavy heart instantly floated to the surface. Rodella looked at him as if peering into his blue eyes. Since she had become aware of her feelings, the sturdy walls of her reason seemed to crumble like a sandcastle whenever she saw Aivert.

What was this feeling? What did he really think of her? The thoughts came like waves, swirling in her mind.

While Rodella hid her flushed ears with her hair, Aivert got on his horse without saying more.

“Let’s go.”

The chain linking the two of them clinked loudly.

***

Royden’s people decided to follow the two.

“Are they… Duke Royden’s troops?”

When the Azure Knights, who met with Royden’s people who had come out in a hurry, asked, Rodella didn’t bother to explain that they were a secret force, given the circumstances.

“Yes.”

At Rodella’s word, the Azure Knights looked at the differently-dressed Royden’s people for a moment before asking,

“So you’re saying we’re on the same side?”

It was clearly a deliberate attempt to feign simplicity. They didn’t look like regularly trained troops wearing knight’s uniforms. They were pretending not to know.

But Aivert made sure to be clear.

“If something goes wrong and you get caught, tell them you were forced to move by the vice commander’s orders, not Duke Royden’s.”

He said this in case Duke Benerix took control of the imperial throne. The Azure Knights bowed in acknowledgment, but they didn’t look like they would so easily betray Aivert.

As they were thinking about that moment, Aivert spoke.

“The Royden people in the imperial palace will buy us time.”

It was a strange skill to be able to speak so clearly even while galloping.

Rodella, who had no such skill, leaned into him and slightly turned her head to look up at him. She couldn’t tell if the thumping she felt was the horse’s hooves, her own heart, or Aivert’s.

“But there aren’t many of them, so it’s not a great situation.”

In any case, it meant there were people loyal to him even there. Rodella dismissed her complicated thoughts.

“Shouldn’t we go a bit faster?”

Instead, she hugged Aivert tightly and asked.

According to the information gathered, both the Red and Azure Knights had been ordered to gather at the imperial palace. Some of them had gone to the chancellor’s residence, but the rest were still heading for the palace. Chances were they would arrive before the two of them. With not-so-good intentions, at that.

“If we go any faster, the horse will get tired.”

Aivert’s voice was tinged with anxiety. Rodella wanted to look up at him again.

It was at that moment.

—Chirp!

A bird flew quickly towards Aivert from a distance.

It was a magical messenger.