Since the attack was invisible, carelessly deflecting its trajectory with my sword could cause an even bigger problem.
‘Dodging is best.’
Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to riding the same horse, changing direction seemed easier. I tried to sharply turn the reins to change direction greatly, but Rel, knowing it wasn’t the master’s touch, didn’t move as much as expected. Thanks to His Highness helping after noticing my intention, Rel belatedly turned sharply.
‘Still, this should be fine.’
Just as I felt relieved, something grazed past my left collar. It seemed to be an invisible iron needle. Only after seeing blood flowing shallowly between the torn collar did a faint stinging sensation follow.
“I knew this would happen.”
His Highness, who gazed at my wound, muttered lowly while skillfully leading Rel.
“It’s an invisible magical beast!”
The knights who realized the situation from seeing my small wound moved busily. Though they murmured that there was no report about magical beasts capable of invisibility, the knights were orderly. What differed from the premonition was that His Highness wasn’t dealing with the invisible magical beast but staring intently at me.
‘No. I can’t just stand here dazed either.’
Thinking the next attack would come at this rate, I tried to draw my sword when suddenly, with loud hoofbeats, Kaeun hyung-nim appeared and swung his sword. After confirming the magical beast’s blood falling from the first attack, hyung-nim felled the magical beast with a second and third consecutive strike.
‘What is this now…?’
Someone who shouldn’t be here. Seeing people from the Centran Marquis Family behind hyung-nim on the side that had shot the arrow wrongly, my premonition wasn’t wrong. The divine power wouldn’t show a false future either, and everything had been going correctly until hyung-nim appeared.
‘Did the future change because I came with His Highness?’
I was trying to figure out why Kaeun hyung-nim would need to change his actions due to Aila’s appearance. The magical beast I thought had fallen from Kaeun hyung-nim’s attack made a final struggle. As it shot iron needles in all directions, the surrounding trees fell with thunderous sounds, and several knights were injured or thrown from their horses.
‘It’s coming here too.’
Though I couldn’t sense the energy as keenly as when I was Tienas, my hearing had improved. The moment my ears reacted, I tried to move my sword, but the hand embracing me blocked it. Not stopping there, with the opposite hand he seemed to precisely catch the flying iron needle.
“Blood! Aren’t you bleeding?”
But perhaps even His Highness couldn’t perfectly block the invisible attack, as blood flowed down his palm. I wanted to examine the wound closely, but there was no time for that. Rel ran toward the location where the magical beast was predicted to be while dodging attacks here and there.
‘It’s better than being attacked on the shoulder, but… in the end, you’re bleeding.’
I had followed wanting to prevent His Highness’s injury, but ultimately, though there was a difference in degree, I couldn’t completely prevent it.
‘Did he get hurt on purpose this time too?’
If so, wouldn’t it be no different from when he lost his reason and engaged in actions tantamount to self-harm? My heart sank with a thud.
“Keep your waist bent.”
His Highness, who couldn’t know such inner thoughts, wrapped a cloak around my shoulder and dismounted. The magical beast that was already dying was cut in half by sharp sword energy. At first only blood was visible, but the invisibility gradually wore off. The magical beast was larger than expected and looked like a marine creature covered in iron needles all over its body. Only then coming to my senses, I hurriedly dismounted from Rel. My eyes saw only the red blood flowing along the practice sword.
“Your Highness, why did you catch that attack with your bare hand? At that trajectory, it would have barely missed us.”
“No. If I had left it, your cheek would have been wounded.”
“My cheek.”
I was dumbfounded. What was a small wound on my cheek that you would bleed from your hand like that?
‘Just to protect someone like me? Did you also want to protect Tiel without a single wound like this?’
My breath caught.
‘No. If you really thought of Aila as just a substitute for Tienas, would there be a need to go this far?’
Questions followed one after another.
“You already have a wound on your forearm, so you can’t get another one.”
His Highness looked displeased at the part where the iron needle had grazed earlier. As if unable to even touch such a crack-like wound, he frowned.
“Show me your wound.”
His Highness obediently extended his hand. Though not deep enough to see bone, it was cut quite deeply and the bleeding was only now stopping.
“Isn’t Your Highness’s wound bigger than mine? A wound on my cheek doesn’t matter to me at all.”
The wound on my forearm too. It was probably such a trivial matter that I would even forget I was injured.
“Who are you saying that to?”
After pouring out my emotions, a chilling question returned. His Highness’s hand clenched tightly as if showing clear anger. The wound that had been healing with miraculous recovery burst open again and bled.
“Y-Your Highness. You must release the strength in your hand.”
“Cherish your body.”
His Highness seemed absolutely unwilling to open his hand until he heard an answer. No matter how much I tried to open it, it only clenched harder. Only after I nodded while holding back tears did his hand open again. Though I knew it would heal quickly because of the imperial family’s divine power, I was anxious.
“What did I tell you to do?”
“To cherish my body.”
“Yes. Since I treasure it greatly, you must treat it very preciously.”
The shock poured over my head didn’t fade.
“Unless my heart is destroyed, I can heal from most serious wounds within a week.”
I knew it with my head. However, I, who always imagined the worst, came to make assumptions—what if His Highness’s divine power suddenly lost its strength, or what if he suffered injuries great enough to destroy his heart? No, to be more honest, I wished he wouldn’t suffer even a momentary wound.
“Still, doesn’t pain follow?”
“You feel pain and can’t heal quickly either.”
“But aren’t you and I different, Your Highness?”
Though the voice became colder, my mouth continued to move without knowing its place.
“In what way?”
“Aren’t you a noble person, Your Highness?”
“Then if I’m no longer of noble status, is it fine to get hurt however I want?”
Since you had been in a noble position from the moment I knew you, such imagination was difficult. But even if Your Highness were an ordinary noble—no, even if you were a commoner—the thought of you being hurt felt like my heart was being squeezed.
“Fundamentally, it’s no different.”
“I… don’t really understand.”
My rigidly stiffened mind didn’t change at once.
“Then always remember that you are an existence I treasure more than myself.”
“How could…”
“If I could protect your finger by offering one of my arms, I would do so.”
What His Highness was saying was exactly the same as my heart. Strangely, that sentence I had always thought was a natural principle felt selfish. For the single reason that the object had changed.
“So don’t get hurt.”
“I will do so.”
I answered with difficulty. The world I knew was being overturned.
“Now mount the horse again. There’s still a lot of time left before the sun sets.”
“Yes.”
I mechanically mounted atop Rel, but inside remained noisy.
“My inadequate cleanup created a dangerous situation.”
“No. It’s the fault of the Mage Tower that released an unannounced magical beast. Raise your head.”
Kaeun hyung-nim, who had been standing far away, belatedly apologized. His Highness ordered that he wouldn’t question the Marquis or hyung-nim further, so they should focus on the hunt.
“Let’s move too.”
The hunt that resumed like that didn’t continue long. His Highness, who arrived at the center of the forest, disposed of the strongest magical beast without difficulty and extracted the magic stone. Just from its size, it looked heavy.
“Let’s return now.”
“There are still many magical beasts left, is that all right?”
“Yes. We must think of the other participants too.”
After that, we lightly swept through the forest and returned to the tent. 4 PM, the earliest return. Still, thanks to hunting mainly high-grade magical beasts, the weight of the magic stones was considerable. It was showing a magnanimous appearance of revealing strength by catching the strongest but yielding first place.
“Your Highness, is your hand all right?”
As soon as we entered the tent, I asked about what had been constantly on my mind.
“Yes. It’s healed now.”
Though the tender flesh was still visible, it certainly was incomparable to when first injured. It was a wound that would disappear without a trace by today. I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did you achieve what you wanted?”
A voice that seemed to see through everything settled over my head. Though it was an ambiguous question, to me it sounded like he knew all the reasons why I insisted on going hunting. The suspicions wearing the mask of scattered anxiety became one.
