Chapter 45

“Mm.”

Aivert was stiffly staring at the ceiling.

If he was going to tense up, it should’ve been when their wrists were bound together. It made no sense for him to be more nervous now. Even when she had hugged him like a teddy bear while wearing handcuffs, she had slept peacefully. But now, his body was rigid.

It was probably because her hands were now free—free to wrap around him on her own.

He could feel her touch clearly on his arm. Unlike when they were shackled together, she was touching him directly now. It was driving him insane.

“Mmm…?”

To make things worse, she started feeling around his body like something seemed off.

Then her eyes snapped open.

“Huh?”

She looked down and realized the ‘teddy bear’ she had thrown her leg over… was him.

She jumped in shock.

“Why?”

Aivert was surprised by her reaction.

He had expected her to fall asleep without a care in the world.

Wasn’t that the kind of person she was?

‘So you’re finally surprised?’

Just as a sliver of hope began to flicker within him—

Thud.

A teddy bear was shoved between them.

“I thought that teddy bear felt kind of stiff.”

Rodella buried her face into the stuffed animal and began to fall asleep again.

“……”

Maybe he should’ve worked out less.

Aivert glared at the teddy bear with a dumbfounded expression.

He felt an irrational urge to punch the thing obscuring her face from his view. But if he hit it now, it would probably explode from the force.

Anger quickly gave way to disbelief.

Was he… was he jealous of a teddy bear?

Unbelievable. He shut his eyes tight.

Of course, doing that didn’t bring back the warmth of her embrace that the teddy bear had stolen.

Meanwhile, Rodella…

People need sleep!

With that desperate thought, she hid behind the teddy bear.

Her face was burning with embarrassment.

She’d been pressing her leg hard against the ‘stiff’ bear, only to realize it had been Aivert’s thigh. How could she survive this?!

“Why?”

He looked totally unfazed, which only made her face feel like it might explode.

Thank god the teddy bear was big.

She buried her face so deep into it she started to wonder if she could even breathe properly.

“……”

Was she suffocating because of the bear, or… was it just…

Something else?

Her heart was pounding.

Am I crazy? What is wrong with me?

This is so pathetic—in front of a friend, no less!

Regardless of how tired her body was, that night, she barely managed to sleep.

When you’re too exhausted, sometimes sleep just… doesn’t come.

That’s what she told herself, again and again.

The next morning.

From the same bed, where they had spent very different nights, the two were awakened by a sound.

Thud, thud.

“Vice Commander! Quartermaster! The Commander has called a meeting!”

Whenever Latine issued a summons, it was usually for one reason.

Sure enough, a knight’s voice rang out from outside:

“A murderous robber crossed into our jurisdiction!”

Another murder? Couldn’t people value life a little more, please?

Rodella shot upright from her spot.

“During the monster war, we risked our lives to save humanity, and now people are out here killing each other.”

Latine sighed as he scanned the documents.

As a retired hero who had thrown himself into danger to protect others, it was a bitter report to read.

“If they have that much energy, they should go work for a mercenary guild or something…”

But some people, unable to control their overwhelming power and violent urges, used that power to make an ‘easier living’—as criminals.

Others got addicted to the adrenaline of killing. The ones who had gone completely mad with bloodlust.

This time, it seemed to be the former.

“There are 39 victims total: 32 dead, 6 critically injured, and only 1 with minor wounds.”

A reporting knight began to speak.

“Thirty-two dead?”

Rodella’s eyes widened.

Shouldn’t this guy be more notorious than Thousand Faces by now?

But she was only now seeing this person’s wanted poster for the first time.

“He was originally under the jurisdiction of the Red Knights. All the injured and the one survivor are Red Knights.”

“None of the dead were?”

Lanark, another knight present at the meeting, asked with a strange look.

“Unfortunately, no.”

You’re sad about the death count, right? Not about the Red Knights surviving… right?

That’s what you meant… right?

“How did those 32 people die?” Aivert asked, clearly troubled.

“It all happened in the city… in one go,” the knight said gravely.

Latine handed Aivert the document he had been reading.

Naturally, Rodella, standing beside him, could also see the report.

[Slaughtered passersby near the crime scene without hesitation and fled.]

“……”

There are no words for such a man.

“He was stealing jewelry, got caught by the Red Knights, and did this while fleeing.”

The reporting knight continued.

“He used to be a mercenary during the war, but had such a bad reputation that even the guilds stopped giving him work.”

That drew murmurs from the senior knights.

“That’s rare, even during the war.”

“Wasn’t that when the guilds would take almost anyone?”

Some of their fathers had been mercenaries, so they knew the truth.

“Wait, is this the guy with the scar running diagonally from his right ear to his cheek?”

Latine suddenly asked, having been thinking deeply.

“Ah—yes. I was going to show you a large sketch, but… you’ve already seen him?”

The reporting knight, who happened to be a hobbyist artist, had drawn a full portrait for clarity.

Rather than putting little drawings in every report, he preferred to make one big visual for everyone to see.

Latine shook his head.

“I’ve seen him before. He was infamous for ripping jewelry off corpses during the war.”

He frowned.

“People who tried to stop him back then ended up dead, too. He ran the other way the moment he saw my face.”

No surprise. Avoiding Modilac’s Blade was always good for survival…

Even back then, Latine’s face had been well-known. He’d probably saved lives just by being recognized.

Still, his expression was grim.

“……”

The room fell silent.

Unlike the Red Knights, everyone here still had the capacity to grieve the dozens of lives lost.

“Now we know why he crossed into our territory. They knew he’d be killed, so the Red Knights let him through.”

“Ugh.”

Aivert grimaced, clearly disgusted.

But someone always cracked under the weight of a heavy mood.

“So… if we catch this guy, we’ll have beat the Red Knights again, right?!”

Lanark boomed triumphantly, and the knights’ mood shifted instantly.

This was how the Azure Knights dealt with things—they had to pick themselves up and keep moving.

There was no room for despair when you were the ones responding to death first.

The problem was—

“Woooo!”

“Let’s crush him!”

“Let’s show them the difference in class!”

They were way too excited.

Latine chuckled, watching them.

“That just means this one’s going to be a real pain to catch, you idiots…”

He looked at them like a father watching his incorrigible sons.

Rodella, who had clearly heard him, looked up at Aivert in concern.

Will you be okay?

Her eyes seemed to ask.

But instead of the usual confident smile he would flash, Aivert’s expression was stiff.

He simply nodded slightly, as if to say don’t worry.

But Rodella could sense something was off.

Aivert?

She blinked in confusion, watching him.

He did smile—briefly.

But deep in his eyes, a storm of complicated emotions was stirring.