Translator: Nox

Chapter 128

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Yuls looked down at the fallen Lev, weighing his options. He realized that if he left the man there in the dirt, death was a certainty. Lev was a mess of deep puncture wounds and charred flesh. A quick glance at Adi revealed she was on the verge of a breakdown; her complexion was so ghostly he feared she might faint. He had planned to observe the situation further, but the luxury of time had vanished.

“Starting with the obvious,” Yuls said.

He turned his attention back to Lev, whose respiration was becoming dangerously shallow.

“We need to keep him alive.”

Saving him was the only way to get answers. However, the woods were no longer safe for a medical camp, and the nearby mountain hut would never survive the encroaching inferno. The main estate was too distant for a dying man to reach.

“We’re moving to the secondary villa nearby.”

He felt a stroke of luck that his inspection residence was within reach.

*

The villa bordering the Woodpecker Forest was a charming, modest structure. Yuls felt a prickle of distaste for the property, as it was the site where his predecessor had hosted the Witch. The previous Duke hadn’t bothered to cater to a Witch’s tastes; instead, the building was a mirror of the sophisticated architecture found in Ionad.

Though smaller than the capital residence, it was well-equipped and had enough room to house the soldiers. They lacked a pantry full of supplies since the house was rarely used, but fresh game was easy to find in the surrounding area. Besides, they only needed shelter for a single night.

Following his lord’s command, Joel hurried Lev into a private room to begin treatment. Yuls stayed close to the healer. The rest of the company scrambled to find space; those with the worst injuries were seen by a Mage and a Healer in various rooms throughout the villa.

Adi retreated to the drawing room, where Bert, Gavin, and Dimitri had already gathered. A stranger was among them—a knight Adi didn’t recognize, though he appeared to be the commander of the Watchman. A steady stream of soldiers filtered in and out, providing updates to him and Bert.

Adi felt like a ghost. She was utterly useless here.

She stood frozen by the window, her expression carved from stone.

Every person in that room likely understood the motivation behind this tragedy. It was a strike of pure vengeance. Whether it was Lev’s personal vendetta or a calculated move by Grimaldi didn’t matter. Dimitri looked like he was attending a funeral, a grim shadow that matched the mood of every other man present.

“They’ve been in there a long time,” Bert noted.

“The damage was extreme,” Gavin replied. “His face was barely recognizable.”

Adi knew the truth—she was the one who had battered him into that state—but the others remained ignorant of her involvement.

She shifted her gaze away, unable to stomach the atmosphere. Previously, the danger had always been focused solely on her. Now, Woodpecker was bleeding because of her presence.

The scale of the destruction was staggering.

Adi stared at the floor, chewing on her lip. Standing still felt like a crime, and the weight of her presence among these people felt like a physical burden. It was a foreign sensation, a gnawing guilt she hadn’t even felt when the real Adrian died. Facing the victims of this disaster made the emotion sharp and suffocating.

“What’s the verdict on the woods?” she asked.

“Hard to say. Replacing what was lost will take a lifetime,” someone answered.

“Didn’t a fire break out years ago?”

“Yes, but we caught it early. A blaze of this magnitude is…”

Bert cut himself off mid-sentence. He noticed Adi looking away, her posture radiating misery.

“We will recover eventually,” Bert added, his voice softening.

“Because Woodpecker doesn’t break.”

He might have meant the forest, the duchy, or the Duke himself. Adi couldn’t tell, and she couldn’t stay to find out.

Driven by a need to escape the suffocating air, Adi walked out. The men watched her go in silence, a heavy tension settling over the room in her wake.

Dimitri moved to follow her a moment later. However, as he cracked the door, he saw her standing in the corridor just as Yuls approached from the other end. Dimitri quietly retreated and closed the door.

Yuls, having finished with the medical preparations, found Adi alone in the hallway. She was lost in the view outside until the sound of his footsteps made her turn.

“Adi?”

Yuls came toward her with a calm, steady gait.

“My Lord.”

“Where are you headed?”

His tone was incredibly gentle. Adi wondered if he was being soft because he sensed her despair. She knew he wasn’t actually unbothered; she had seen the fury on his face earlier. His kindness was almost too much to take. She cared for him too much.

“…….”

She cared for him?

Adi felt her breath hitch. This wasn’t just a desire to belong or a sense of duty; it was a profound, genuine affection. She realized the depth of her feelings at the worst possible moment. The realization was a heavy tide, and she let out a quiet sigh to keep from being swept away.

She tried to stitch a mask of composure over her face.

“Is Lev conscious?”

She hoped her voice didn’t betray the chaos in her heart.

“Not yet,” Yuls said. “The healers need more time with him.”

His voice was so level that Adi had to look away. She couldn’t meet his eyes. Dropping her gaze to her boots, she whispered, “Please forgive me.”

“Forgive you for what?”

“This happened because of me…”

“How is any of this the fault of a Guard?”

Adi kept her head down, refusing to look up. Yuls thought back to the first time he encountered Adrina. He had mistaken her for a handsome man then. He remembered wondering if the knight’s intense gaze was driven by some hidden agenda. If he could go back, he would have stared right back at her, unwilling to lose a single second of her presence.

He felt a pang of annoyance now; with her head bowed, her face was hidden from him.

“Look at me, Adrina. Tell me why you think you are to blame.”

“The forest is ash,” she whispered.

That was the heart of it, though she could list a thousand other sins if she tried.

“That isn’t on you.”

She remained frozen, her chin tucked to her chest. Yuls felt a surge of sympathy and started to reach for her cheek, but he pulled back just before his skin met hers. He sensed she might break if he touched her now. Keeping his hand a fraction of an inch away, he spoke firmly.

“Lev is the culprit here.”

“But he’s a tool of Grimaldi—”

“No,” Yuls interrupted. “Lev has no ties to that house anymore. I saw to that personally. I ensured Lev Zid was stripped of his rank and banished.”

He leaned in closer.

“This was not an act of Grimaldi.”

Adi exhaled a shaky breath and let her forehead lean against his chest. Yuls didn’t hesitate; he pulled her into a firm embrace.

“It wasn’t them,” he whispered.

Adi reached out, her fingers curling into the fabric of his coat as she hugged him back. She hadn’t realized how much she needed the warmth of another person.

“Say it, Adrina.”

Yuls tightened his hold, his strength anchoring her.

“Grimaldi didn’t do this.”

“Grimaldi…”

The name died in her throat. She couldn’t force the lie out.

It was Grimaldi.

“I’m so sorry, Your Excellency.”

The guilt was a physical weight.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Guard.”

In her mind, if Grimaldi was the cause, then she was the catalyst. Everything traced back to her existence.

She wondered if the forest would still be green if she had simply surrendered or played dead. If she had gone back to that northern hell, would Woodpecker have been spared this fire?

—But the past was set in stone.

Lamenting her choices was a waste of energy, but she couldn’t remain a passive observer while the world burned around her.

If she stayed, the North would never stop clawing at the Duke’s lands. They would keep hurting his people to get to her.

“I need to go,” she said.

She couldn’t let them suffer anymore.

“Grant me leave to go to Grimaldi.”

She kept her face hidden, feeling like a criminal confessing a sin. Her self-blame twisted a knife in his heart. He knew exactly what she was trying to do, but he wouldn’t allow it. Letting her walk away now felt like letting her walk into a grave.

“My Lord, about my return to Grimaldi…”

“And if I refuse?”

Adi finally looked up. He had expected to see her sobbing, but her eyes were dry, though they shimmered with a frantic, held-back tide of emotion. She was breathing in short, jagged bursts, fighting with everything she had to keep from breaking down.

He knew that telling her she belonged here wouldn’t fix her. Saying it wasn’t her fault might only sound like he was lying to protect her.

Looking at the determination in her eyes, he realized she would run away to face them alone if he didn’t give her an alternative.

“We go together.”

He held her gaze, leaving no room for argument.

“If we go as one, you have my leave. But you will not face them without me.”