Selina slipped out of her dress, tore it lengthwise, and fashioned it into a long strip, tying tight knots until it became a sturdy rope.
She looped it around Erik’s body, telling him to stay outside the lake like an anchor.
“I’m going in!”
In only her undergarments, Selina leaped into the lake. Seeing Xenos in the water, she quickly tied the rope around his body.
Because Xenos was frail and gaunt from malnutrition back then, she managed it with ease.
After tightening the knot securely, she shoved him upward toward the surface. Xenos’s body floated up, and Selina clambered onto the bank first, gasping for breath.
“Hah… hah… He made it. He’s alive.”
“See? I told you that you’d die if you jumped in!”
Selina gave Erik a stinging smack on the back of his head.
“You fool! I made it out alive! Hurry up and pull the rope!”
“How dare you? How dare you hit the Crown Prince?”
“What are you waiting for? Pull, hurry!”
Together, the two managed to haul Xenos out onto dry land, but he remained unconscious.
“He’s… he isn’t breathing.”
“We have to tell the grown-ups right away.”
When she stood up, Erik blocked her path.
“No! You can’t go!”
“Why?”
“They’ll think I’m the reason you look like this! I’m not getting punished for something I didn’t do.”
“What are you talking about? What if this boy dies?”
“Then let him die! I won anyway. What is he to me?”
“Does winning even matter right now?!”
With that shout, Selina slapped him hard across the back, then placed her hand under Xenos’s nose once more.
“What do we do… He really isn’t breathing.”
While Selina was fraught with worry, Erik thought to himself,
‘They said he had some kind of power? Hah. Nothing special. He’s better off dead.’
His only thought was that if Xenos died, all the attention would belong to him.
“I’ll have to try the method my mother read to me from the book.”
“What is it?”
“You shouldn’t watch. Look away.”
“What is it, though?”
“Go fetch someone!”
“How can I go like this? I’m not going! I’ll definitely get punished!”
“Ugh… Fine, watch if you want.”
Selina took a deep breath and prayed silently.
‘Please… Please, guardian fairy, let him live.’
“Then the one who saved me twelve years ago was…”
“Yes, it was me.”
“Ha… ha… This is unbelievable…”
Xenos let out a faint chuckle that sounded more like a groan, caught between laughter and tears. Looking at the bewildered Selina, he added,
“I didn’t know a thing. I lived my entire life like a dog leashed to the imperial palace. When they said go to war, I went; when they said return, I returned. How pathetic.”
“Your Grace…”
“If only… If only I had known this just a little sooner.”
The sheer fury etched into his face tore bitterly at Selina’s heart.
“If I had known you were my partner… just a little earlier… Why didn’t you stay until the end that day?”
“It was His Majesty’s order. After I pulled you out, I was in a terrible state, and the Emperor said that even if I was young, I was still a girl whose modesty must be protected. He commanded me never to speak of what happened that day.”
The Emperor had buried the incident completely.
“And the lake was gone within a week. The Emperor would never leave behind a place bearing the stain of the Crown Prince nearly killing the Duke.”
“So that was it… And I… I completely forgot. I forgot something so important.”
‘So that’s why she said it had been twelve years the moment she saw me…’
As Xenos stared out at the still water, Selina asked him,
“Aren’t you afraid of water?”
“I learned how to swim afterward.”
“What a relief. Then we won’t have to worry if you fall in again.”
“My lady…”
“Yes?”
“How… did you save me back then?”
“What?”
“How did you save me when I wasn’t breathing?”
“That day… I was… still very young…”
“Young?”
“Well… in stories… when the prince wakes the sleeping princess…”
“Wakes her? How?”
For an instant, Selina’s gaze lingered on Xenos’s lips. Standing so close, there was no way he could miss it.
Heat flared in both of their cheeks at the exact same moment.
As Xenos drew his face closer and closer, Selina shut her eyes without thinking.
‘Heart… please, calm down.’
Right by her ear, as she barely dared to breathe from the tension, Xenos whispered,
“Next time… please tell me in detail how you saved my life.”
“Ah… y-yes.”
Selina drew back slightly to cool her burning cheeks before speaking.
“Shall we head back now?”
“I will escort you.”
When Xenos held out his hand again, Selina placed hers on top of it, and he held it tightly.
“I won’t let go of your hand ever again.”
“It has already been a week! You shut down the entire temple, so how haven’t you found them? Did you actually send soldiers to the Duke’s estate and the Count’s estate?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. How could we take your command lightly? They searched both the Duke’s and the Count’s estates, but they haven’t caught so much as their shadows.”
Furious, the Emperor slammed his fists onto the armrests of his throne.
Luce continued his report.
“Count Arsene took to his bed after collapsing from the shock of his daughter’s defiance. He entrusted the merchant operations to the acting head, Brandon. There are only servants left at the estate, tasked with moving paperwork…”
“Does that mean Count Arsene anticipated all of this and prepared beforehand?”
When the Emperor asked with a voice full of wrath, Luce paused briefly before replying.
“Your Majesty, that is not certain…”
“Since when did Count Arsene turn against me?”
“Judging by his character… I do not believe for a moment that he…”
“Perhaps he was never on my side to begin with, and only pretended to be.”
“Do you mean ever since he saved your life on the battlefield?”
The Emperor gave no answer to Luce’s question.
“That was a moment where he nearly lost his own life. The Count Arsene I know was never that kind of man.”
Despite his persuasive words, the Emperor’s expression remained unchanged.
“Ever since that day, the knight who was once the future of the Empire cast his sword aside. He abandoned his knighthood to become a merchant peddling goods. A man who once held the sword now sells it. Do you not know what that means?”
The Emperor’s lips trembled slightly, but Luce pressed on.
“I understand… but Count Arsene has never once blamed you for it. Even now, he remains loyal to you, with the very same heart that shielded you on the battlefield.”
“Yes, with those very words you have blinded and deafened me… How many years has it been?”
“Perhaps his long years in commerce made him better equipped to handle emergencies. After finding something he could not attain even after betting his life on it.”
“And do you still trust Count Arsene?”
Luce had served the Emperor for thirty years. He knew that pushing any further right now was not wise.
“Frankly speaking… I can no longer be sure. But I know my friend… He has always been loyal to Your Majesty. I witnessed it through all our years together on the battlefield.”
“Luce, remember that the only thing keeping Count Arsene alive right now… is those words of yours. If you cherish your friend, go and tell him. Tell him my patience is running out. Tell him to show himself and make his intentions clear at once.”
Luce felt a wave of relief, realizing his words had begun to sway His Majesty.
“If this continues, I will have no choice but to make a decision. If the bearer of the Dragon Power succeeds in marrying his partner, I will brand them traitors and have their heads severed to safeguard the throne. And I believe you know very well what becomes of a traitor’s house.”
Luce had lost countless comrades to the Emperor’s greed. Count Arsene was one of the few he had left.
“…I will do everything in my power to persuade the Count to grant an audience.”
“Good. If you do not wish to lose your friend… go and bring him to me.”
