Chapter 3: How a Mercenary Protects Their Client (3)

It seemed he had chosen to be a complete bystander.

If he wasn’t her client, Regina might’ve shaken him down for a few coins. Somehow, this felt less like guarding someone and more like performing tricks like a monkey.

Regina caught her breath and glared threateningly at the assassins in masks.

She had just taken down two. Now there were four left.
The problem was, she couldn’t keep all four pairs of eyes focused on her alone.

In the end, while she was handling one of them, one slipped past her and charged toward Valentin.

“Ugh.”

Thankfully, Regina noticed in time and blocked the assassin. But she had to take a hit on her shoulder as a price for the mistake.

“A female mercenary? What a pain.”

“Thanks for the compliment, you rotten bastards.”

Regina pulled a dagger from her shoulder, cursing without even thinking. She was impressively good at swearing.

From behind, Valentin chuckled at her mercenary-like language.
Yeah, trying to act polite had been pointless.

“The dagger was poisoned. You’ll pass out soon.”

“Then I’ll have to finish this before that.”

Hearing “poison” didn’t make her hesitate. Regina picked up her sword again.
She was like a fearless beast — the kind that only calmed down after tearing up all its prey.

Valentin watched as she cut down an assassin’s leg even while being knocked aside.
He was quietly amazed. He had never seen such fierce determination before.

As she rolled in front of him while blocking attacks, he whispered seductively,

“If it’s too hard, you can just leave me.
Let’s be honest — who really cares about the life of a mad prince or a duke?”

He meant it. She had fought hard, to the point of being in rags.
Even if she abandoned him now, Valentin wouldn’t blame her.

But Regina stabbed her sword into the ground and stood back up.

“You’re important to me right now. Because you’re my client.”

“You’d go this far just for a request? You could easily take on other jobs.”

Why was this man reacting like this, even though his own life was on the line?
But Regina was too focused on the enemies to notice the prince smiling faintly.

“Pfft. If I abandon a request here, people will say all mercenaries are irresponsible.
I hate that. More than dying.”

She spat out the blood in her mouth and growled her answer.

Born the daughter of a mercenary, she had naturally followed the same path.
But she hated how nobles looked down on them.
So she wanted to prove herself and raise the status of all mercenaries.

Even if it meant walking a path not meant for a woman.

“You damn annoying wench!”

Regina lifted her sword once again.
Valentin accepted it.
This stubborn commoner woman had more pride and dignity
than the nobles in the palace who only talked big.
Her determination crushed the meaning of noble blood.

‘Impressive.’

As Valentin leisurely rolled his wrist, Regina took out another assassin
and sliced off the arm of another nearby enemy.

But the poisoned dagger was starting to take effect.
Her shoulder trembled slightly, her senses dulled, and she couldn’t dodge the next punch.

‘My vision…!’

She finally collapsed.

“Huff… Huff… This mercenary wench. I won’t kill you now.
You’ll pay for my dead comrades and my severed arm… with shame.”

No, I can’t close my eyes.
Regina tried to stay awake, but her vision was already fading.
The cold seeping up from the ground felt so far away.

Damn it. She cursed one last time with all the anger she had…

And lost consciousness.

“She’s finally down. That damned woman… Do you know how many comrades we lost to her?”

“Let’s just take care of the target already. We lost too much.”

“But wait — isn’t this woman Regina Lofman?
If we kill her, Persona will come after us. And Gellen Lofman too.”

“Gellen Lofman is a toothless tiger. Are you scared of him?”

“…Everyone shut it. Let’s kill the target first. Before he goes crazy again.”

All three remaining assassins turned their eyes to Valentin.
Even though their bodies were covered in wounds from Regina,
they still thought it’d be easy to kill a crippled mad prince.

“Is the mercenary guild Persona really that scary?”

“Wow, this guy really is insane. He’s asking that in a situation like this.”

The assassins approached.
But strangely, Valentin also stepped closer to them with each of their steps.

Then, with just one step between them, they suddenly realized something terrifying.

“Why is he walking fine— Argh!”

One assassin was lifted off the ground by his neck.
He looked down at Valentin in shock, unable to understand what was happening.

The others quickly backed away.

“He’s supposed to be crippled! They said he’s unstable too!”

“Oh, he’s definitely insane.”

Whenever Valentin closed his eyes,
he could still hear his starving mother gasping for air.
He remembered her telling him to lick dew off wooden walls to survive.

He had pretended to be insane to survive.
Now he pretended to be insane to kill.
So yes, he really was crazy.

But he wasn’t the type to explain his tragic past to enemies who were about to die.

Valentin threw the man he was holding.
Then he picked up Regina’s sword, which she had been holding tightly even while unconscious.

It happened in an instant.
The time it took him to kill the remaining assassins
was no longer than the time it takes a falling leaf to touch the ground.

One man was still breathing, gasping for air.
Valentin looked down at him.

“The antidote?”

“W-Why hide such power…”

“At first, I wanted to survive.
Now, I want to kill.
But I asked about the antidote.”

“Aaargh!”

Valentin stomped on the man’s shoulder.
The same place that had already been cut.
The pain was unbearable, and the man screamed.

“If… if I tell you… will you let me live?”

“No. But I’ll make it quick.”

The assassin chuckled bitterly, knowing he had no hope.

He thought about begging, but when he looked into Valentin’s cold, purple eyes — full of madness — he knew there would be no mercy.

He wasn’t afraid of death, but he didn’t want to be tortured to death like a dog.

“You need clean blood. Feed her the blue potion in my inner pocket.”

Valentin nodded slightly, as if to praise him,
and ended his pain as cleanly as possible.

Then he searched the still-warm body and found the potion in his pocket.

He opened Regina’s mouth. He paused. Should he save her or not?

His violet eyes slowly scanned her body, stopping at her bleeding shoulder.

He opened the potion and poured it into her lips.
Then he covered her mouth.

“Swallow.”

With her mouth full, Regina swallowed the liquid instinctively.

Next, Valentin opened her lips again and used a sword to cut his own arm.
His dark red blood dripped into her mouth.

He watched, dazed, as she drank his blood.

Then, just like with the potion, he forced her to swallow it.

‘Maybe my blood tastes bad.’

Even unconscious, Regina frowned.
Valentin chuckled, wiped the blood off her lips with his hand, and licked it.

Disgusting. The taste made his face twist.

“Duke!”

Thomas came running at the sound of screaming, jumped off his horse, and drew his sword.

Valentin laughed at him for being so late, then placed the sword back in Regina’s hand.

He carefully wrapped her fingers around it, one by one.

Her palm was full of calluses, but her fingers were long and straight —
hands that could have held jewels instead of weapons.

“…Did you really do all this yourself, my lord?”

“Yes. So let’s say these assassins were handled by you, Sir Thomas — not a crippled prince.”

Valentin then lay down next to Regina, facing her.

Now that he was close, he noticed her thick eyelashes,
her straight nose, and full lips.
Her eyes… were they a clear blue, like a lake?

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m pretending to be the helpless man
who fainted in fear during an assassination attempt.”

What part of that was supposed to be obvious?
Thomas had a headache.
No matter what he tried, he wouldn’t understand it.

“Is she dead?”

“No, just unconscious.”

Valentin closed his eyes, listening to the ground’s vibration.
Horses. Reinforcements were coming.

Behind him, Thomas sighed — but he ignored it.

He whispered quietly,

“Regina Lofman.”

She would definitely come in handy someday.