Translator: Nox

Chapter 57

His arrival was a blur of motion I couldn’t track.

Leon Frazier appeared with the suddenness of a lightning strike. He transformed himself into a physical wall, shielding me within his embrace to intercept the projectile meant for my flesh.

“Stop, please!”

A desperate shriek tore from my throat before I could think to suppress it.

“Go away!”

I didn’t need to check his status to know that Leon’s favor toward me was non-existent.

If he suffered an injury on my account, wouldn’t his resentment only deepen?

The fear of failing my sub-mission gripped me.

I fought to push him off, but his body remained an immovable anchor.

Thwack.

The sickening impact of another arrow echoed, shattering the silence like a cruel joke.

“Lady Tulia! Master Leon!”

“Master!”

The air filled with the screech of a magic tool disintegrating into fragments.

Chaos erupted. Knights and medical staff swarmed the area in a frantic rush.

It was a symphony of discord and frantic movement.

“Leon.”

My own voice sounded foreign to me.

“Leon?”

I had to repeat his name before he finally acknowledged me.

When he looked down, his features were twisted into a mask of agony.

Blood stained his dark hair.

He was clearly in pain, yet he radiated a cold, simmering fury.

I felt a chill of terror.

The intensity in Leon’s dark green eyes was enough to paralyze anyone.

I couldn’t afford to let him despise me any further.

That would be a catastrophe far worse than three arrows to the back.

“Leon.”

I forced the words through my chattering teeth, the sensation of pain making me shudder. I didn’t care about his usual cold glare.

I needed an answer immediately.

Leon Frazier.

“Are you alright?”

Please, tell me you aren’t furious with me.

“…”

“I’m asking if you’re hurt.”

Did I just lose more standing in your eyes?

“…”

“Just now… two arrows hit you…”

He already held Tulia in such low regard.

“…”

“I am so sorry.”

I was at a loss.

“I truly am.”

How could I ever earn a shred of mercy from this man?

“I never wanted you to get hurt for me, I…”

Forgive me.

Leon’s lips finally parted.

“You are truly…”

His voice was heavy, sinking like lead in deep water.

“…a complete fool, aren’t you?”

He posed the question in that same low, weighted tone.

Leon’s hands, still wrapped around me, were slick with blood. As he looked at the crimson on his palms, his face suddenly went blank, as if he were wearing a mask.

The shift left me reeling.

Why did he look so incensed?

It made sense for him to be angry at me.

But his rage didn’t seem directed at my person; it looked as though he was disgusted with himself.

It felt wrong.

Was I misinterpreting the situation?

The thought took root like a sudden celestial event, refusing to be shaken off.

My mind felt like a broken machine.

It was the sensation of being plunged into a vat of scalding water.

Sometimes the nerves are so overwhelmed by heat that they misfire, tricking the brain into feeling a phantom chill.

That was exactly what was happening.

The realization dawned on me with agonizing slowness.

Leon Frazier was currently in a state of absolute, towering rage.

“Your injuries are far worse than mine.”

“…”

“And yet you’re asking about my well-being?”

That was all he said.

“Young Master! My Lady!”

“Good heavens, the blood is everywhere!”

Leon handed me off to the physician and the approaching guards. To me, the transition felt like a mere heartbeat.

A crowd of doctors surrounded him, shouting orders. They forced a cloth into Leon’s mouth to muffle his cries before wrenching the arrows from his shoulder and back.

Leon ground his teeth together, enduring the agony for only a moment.

“Take her. See to her wounds.”

With that curt command, Leon Frazier hauled himself to his feet.

“Master, wait! You need bandages!”

“Master Leon!”

He paid no mind to the frantic calls behind him.

Leon Frazier began to walk with heavy, purposeful strides.

Then, he began to run.

He had a single target in mind.

Tedrick Frazier stood rooted to the spot, pale and rigid as a statue carved from salt.

That coward.

“L-Leon… brother…”

His voice wavered like a leaf in a gale.

“Please, forgive me. I didn’t mean to hit you. It was an accident. Why would I ever target you? Please, you have to believe me…!”

It was repulsive to watch. After the way he had treated me, seeing Tedrick grovel in terror was both absurd and pathetic.

“You’re sorry?”

Leon threw the words back at him.

As soon as Tedrick began to nod in desperate agreement—

Crack!

“Aaaagh!”

Leon’s fist slammed into him.

“Master Leon, stop!”

“Please, calm yourself, My Lord!”

“I was wrong! Leon, I’m sorry! I made a mistake… Gack!”

Leon was deaf to everything.

He continued to rain blows down on Tedrick until the boy was a bloody heap.

“Master Tedrick!”

Leon moved with the ferocity of a starving predator that had finally snapped.

The other young nobles began to shake.

These were the same boys who had joined Tedrick in using me as a target.

“L-Lord Leon Frazier! It was just a mishap!”

“We never thought the arrows would actually strike the Lady, gah!”

“Ugh!”

“Lord Leon, please! Stop this, we beg you!”

In the blink of an eye, it was over.

The young men collapsed like tattered dolls tossed into a pool of red ink.

Not one of them remained upright.

“…Doctor.”

“Lady Tulia, you’re losing too much blood. You must stay quiet! Lean back!”

“No, look. Doctor. Am I hallucinating this?”

“My Lady! Silence, please!”

“Leon is bleeding too much, his back… please, look at him…”

“My Lady!”

“Stay with us!”

“Lady Tulia! Miss!”

“Get the carriage ready this instant!”

The last things I heard were a chaotic blend of screams and orders before the world went black.

---

If I were the one bleeding, would anyone actually care?

If I were broken, would my kin come to my side?

The reflection of Han Ina in the glass seemed to whisper these questions.

Yes, there was a time when those thoughts consumed me.

I had been at that vulnerable age.

Being young meant being fragile, which meant building a thicker armor and claiming that nothing could hurt me. I told myself I was detached, that I didn’t care.

Those were the days when I convinced myself I was no longer a child.

It was a time when I could even deceive my own heart without realizing it.

Could I ever be cherished like that?

Then, in the quiet hours of the morning, a sudden, sharp envy for the world’s joy would strike me.

Those endless nights of my youth.

My longing was as fierce and unyielding as a temperamental child.

I struck the image of Han Ina in the mirror, the glass shattering like a sob.

Blood began to trace the jagged edges of the broken shards.

I had always been the one to clean up my own messes; that was how I was raised.

As I wiped the crimson from the glass with my fingers, something changed.

I noticed strands of pink hair caught between my pale fingers.

“…lia.”

A voice was dragging my mind back toward the light.

“Tuli…a.”

My eyes felt like they were weighted with lead.

I wanted to surrender to the darkness.

“…Tulia.”

The voice calling out to me sounded utterly hollow.

I forced my eyes open.

A cascade of hair as white as a snowdrift came into focus.

“…Lisian.”

His face was always pale and composed. Usually, Lisian greeted me with a practiced smile.

In those moments, he truly felt like a brother.

Even through my haze of pain, I noticed his smile was different—faded and fragile.

It caused a strange ache in my chest.

He looked as though he were genuinely terrified for me.

As if he truly viewed me as his own flesh and blood.

I remembered being deceived like this back when I was Han Ina.

During a severe illness, I had once bared my soul to my family because they looked concerned.

I hadn’t realized their worry was shallow—the same fleeting pity one might feel for a dying pet.

I didn’t know they were trading mocking glances behind my back, confused by my tears and my vulnerability.

I had promised myself never to be that naive again.

I had spent so much time stitching my heart back together to prevent another lapse.

“…”

So why did Lisian’s eyes look so haunted, as desolate as a winter sky choked with fog?