“Ugh!”
Said the assassins angrily, frightened by a swarm of bats. Strangely, Sienna couldn’t understand a word of them. It was not the language used by Leipsden. Perhaps frightened by the swarm of bats, their mother tongue popped out.
‘Aren’t they from the Leipsden Empire? I thought they were Arya’s people.….’
They were talking in a foreign language, walking away from the place. When they saw a bat coming out of the cave, it seemed they had concluded that there was no one inside.
“Actually… in the past, when I was prisoned in the tower, the soldiers who were guarding me sometimes used foreign languages…”
Even after the men who were chasing her disappeared, Sienna stayed in the cave and left only after darkness fell.
“Uh!”
Her legs have gone numb because she’s been squatting for a long time. Still, she went to the altar where Carl had been hidden. It was not in good condition at the time. She worried how much worse it would be when she returned.
As she went quickly along the dark road, her clothes were scratched and torn off by branches, and she fell and hurt her knee. She was messy. But she had no time to care about her miserable appearance or anything other than the concern for Carl.
Fortunately, there was no trace of searching the altar. Sienna hurriedly opened the altar, removed the petals, and pulled him up.
His body was hot. Contrary to the ice-cold temperature at dawn, it was an extreme heat. Sienna soaked a cloth from the lake and wiped Carl’s face. A voice of people was heard again amid a surge of anxiety.
Sienna burst into tears. This time, she did not know how to overcome this crisis.
She held her breath and tightly embraced Carl. She hoped the darkness would hide them from the men properly. It may be a very naive thought, but she was exhausted. She wasn’t confident of running away somewhere with unconscious Carl.
“Your Majesty the Prince! Your Majesty the Princess!”
‘No way!’
“Sienna!”
The voice calling her sounded so familiar. It was Jamie’s voice—her older brother. She doubted if she was having an auditory hallucination.
“Sienna!”
A voice heard again gave her a sigh of relief.
“Brother…”
“Sienna! Are you there?”
Even though she didn’t shout and it was just a sigh, Jamie managed to notice her.
“I’m alive! I’m alive!”
Sienna buried her face in Carl’s chest and murmured. I am saved.
She let go of her consciousness under relief.
<ul>
</ul>
Facing the threat of life was like a daily routine for Carl.
He had developed resistance to most poisons. He often woke up feeling the threats of assassins while sleeping. When he first began using a sword at the age of 10 for survival, he was worried whether he would be able to live the past twenty years.
It is said that threats can become routine once you get used to them. In fact, as he grew up to the level of an expert and was able to read senses around him, external threats have not caused him any emotional agitation.
Of course, it was shocking that Azrel was killed in front of his eyes last year when Azrel, who Carl believed to be his own friend, attacked him. But that was all. Carl quickly sorted out his feelings about it and thought he was not hurt. He had even laughed at Arya with confidence that she was not a threat to him at all.
But what happened in Tromil shook his mind entirely.
It was an attack that was usually overwhelming, but enough to overcome. The only difference was Sienna. She stood beside him among the assassins who came upon her with ferocious eyes.
He was afraid she might get hurt by a fierce blade. Because of fears, he failed to carry out the usual rational attack. Had there been room to think properly, he should have somehow managed to break through the assassins and drive their horses toward the barracks. He regretted his stupid choice.
Carl remembered Azrel’s last words.
<ul>
But I still want you to have someone you can trust. Life without anyone to believe in is terrible.
</ul>
Someone to trust… When Azrel mentioned this, Carl thought of Sienna.
The moment he came to this thought, suddenly the floor where he was lying rattled.
‘Is the floor moving?’
Carl’s last memory was about talking to Sienna by the lake. After that, he couldn’t remember as if he fell asleep.
‘Why is the ground moving?’
He opened his eyes stealthily. The first thing that caught his eyes was Sienna, who closed her eyes with a serene look. There was a scratch on her face, but she looked fine.
‘Good thing you’re not hurt.’
Carl smiled with relief.
He observed Sienna’s face quietly. Her round forehead, nose, and small lips made her look soft. Her faint freckles on the back of her nose looked cute.
The ground shook.
“Am I in a carriage…?”
He didn’t know why she was lying in the carriage, but he didn’t feel anxious.
Red hair flowed down Sienna’s forehead. The hair tickling the back of her nose made her wink at the tip of her nose. He reached out his hand to tidy up her hair. Sienna slowly opened her eyes, perhaps because of his touch. She looked blank as she was still not fully awake.
The two faced each other for a long time without saying anything. Tears streamed down Sienna’s eyes. The sudden tears widened Carl’s eyes.
“Bastard!”
As she rose, so did Carl. He felt a little dizzy.
“You bastard!”
Sienna struck Carl in the chest and began to cry.
Bastard? All of sudden? She cried so sadly that he couldn’t even ask. He stroked the shoulders of crying Sienna, who buried her face in his arms.
“So I didn’t wake up for a week?”
Sienna nodded to Carl’s question.
“Yes. We were lucky. If Lord Waters’ delayed his time and hadn’t come to save us, we would have been in danger no matter how healthy you are.”
“How did you get here?”
“I told Lord Waters on my way to Tromil. If you go in the direction of the sunset, there is a historic site of the goddess of the moon, and the lake is so beautiful and mysterious that you want to visit it. Apparently, Lord Waters remembered what I said and came to see if it really existed. I’m so thankful.”
“Yes, thank God. What about the assassins?”
“We ran into each other when they came looking for us and fought a battle. We wanted to capture them alive, but most of them died during the battle, and the surviving prisoners died from poison. I don’t think it’s possible to keep track of them anymore.”
Sienna didn’t talk about the unusual accents and foreign languages they used. She hesitated to say it because she was not certain about it yet.
“But where are we going now? Looks like we are way out of our station.”
“We’re on the way to the capital.”
She answered with swollen eyes.
“Capital?”
“I got a letter from the capital. The plan was to return to the capital to attend a Mutu competition hosted by the emperor. It said that since you’re the only one who’s related to the king, your presence is important. Of course, it was more like an order than a recommendation. It was a letter stamped with the emperor’s seal.”
He nodded his head.
“Guess I am only going to take credit for the war I am finished with. Did the ones responsible for the cease-fire negotiations come?”
“They were the ones who brought the letters. Of course, most of them were the people of the Empress Dowager, Arya. There were people from the opposing side—to match the pitch, I guess —but that group didn’t look very big.”
Carl showed no particular reaction to what he had expected. It was even more surprising that he had been asleep for a long week. He warmed up, turning his stiff shoulders.
“By the way, why am I a bastard?”
“What?”
“You told me earlier, ‘you are a bastard!’ The first word I hear as soon as I wake up is ‘bastard’.”
“You deserve hearing that. After making others worry and sleeping for a week.”
There was a shadow under her grumbling eyes, so he could see how much trouble she had gone through.
“Were you worried?”
“Of course I was worried. Why wouldn’t I be worried? I really thought you were going to die.”
At her words, Carl said, with a satisfied face and a relaxed smile.
“Don’t worry. I won’t die easily.”
“You can still die even if you don’t die easily. You’re a human being, too.”
“Well, I’m not immortal.” Said Carl, nodding his head at her worried remark.
It seemed that Sienna showing tears and anger because she was worried about him was all genuine, so he didn’t feel bad. In fact, it felt quite reassuring to have someone who sincerely cares about him.
In the meantime, the wagon they were riding was just around the corner of the capital.
“I’m glad you came back.”
Valore stepped out to greet Sienna and Carl at the news that they had arrived at the palace. There was a big smile on his face. It was his first bright expression since he became the emperor.
He grabbed Carl by the shoulder and said, “I’m glad you are back healthy.” It was the first time for the brothers to meet since Valore rose to the throne.
Sienna was nervous to check Carl’s reaction. He must feel like he had lost what he’s been thinking of as his place. Fortunately, he showed no emotion on his face. But at the same time, he was not congratulating Valore with a happy expression either.