26.
I suddenly remembered.
“The glass bottle!”
The man had been holding it earlier, then his body shook and he dropped it.
I glanced in the direction where the bottle had fallen.
For some reason, I really wanted to find it.
His shoulders had trembled as if he couldn’t control his own body.
His pupils were wide.
His strength had been unnaturally strong.
What if all of that was the result of taking something?
It felt ominously familiar.
What if it wasn’t just some drug? What if it was connected to the heretics?
Then……
“The elixir?”
Sweat gathered in my palm.
I wanted that bottle. No matter what.
But then a sharp ripping sound came, and pain flared in my thigh. I couldn’t keep thinking and let out a groan.
Only after squeezing my eyes shut and enduring for a while could I see what had happened.
Duke Ishtan Gladinare had torn the hem of his cloak and was wrapping it around my thigh.
His hands were skilled but so careful and reverent that I didn’t dare speak, only let weak groans slip through my teeth.
Only after he tied the knot perfectly did I notice the broken bow shaft, soaked with my blood, lying discarded on the ground.
The Duke turned his head and whistled. A hawk circling in the sky cried out, then flew off beyond the thick forest.
“Your Grace, that hawk…?”
He looked down at me steadily.
“It’s calling for people. They’ll be here soon.”
“Oh… I see.”
It wasn’t really important.
It was just… it had been a while since I’d seen a trained hawk.
And somehow, I wondered if it was one of the hawks I had raised myself.
I leaned against the tree trunk, trying to catch my breath, when I felt someone hesitating, watching me.
I lifted my head.
Rohwinas Canesion, who had been staring at me, flinched in surprise.
She gasped, then started coughing violently as if she had swallowed her breath.
I remembered the water pouch hanging at my waist.
With weak hands, I managed to unclasp it and held it out to her.
“…What is this?”
“For you to drink.”
When I held it out again, she slapped it away, her face pale.
“H-how do I know what’s in that?!”
The pouch slipped from my hand and hit the ground. Water spilled out onto the dirt.
She looked more startled than me, her lips opening and closing.
“…”
“…”
I picked up the pouch again and this time drank from it myself.
Cool water slid down my throat, and only then did I realize how thirsty I had been.
Now that my throat was wet, honestly, I just wanted to close my eyes and rest.
But Rohwinas’s stare stuck on my face. In the end, I held the pouch out to her again.
She quietly accepted it this time.
And then, as if her tension finally broke, she sniffled and drank greedily.
She really drank a lot.
She only returned the pouch once it was nearly empty. I wanted to smirk at her, but I didn’t even have the strength.
That was when Duke Ishtan returned. He carried water in a huge leaf, scooped from a stream nearby.
He held it out to me as if it was the most natural thing.
I was half amused, half still thirsty, so I obediently drank it.
“…Thank you.”
The water was cool and delicious.
Soon, knights arrived and began gathering the corpses.
When Rohwinas said sadly that her ankle was twisted, one knight picked her up in his arms.
The other knights turned their heads away when our eyes met.
They didn’t want to be involved with me.
Not that I asked them to carry me.
But then the Duke came forward. Without hesitation, he bent down in front of me, met my gaze, and lifted me in his arms.
Awkwardly, I fumbled with my hands, not knowing where to put them. His chin jerked toward his shoulder.
I didn’t dare refuse. Quietly, I wrapped my arms around his shoulder.
After a moment of hesitation, I leaned my head against him and let my weight rest.
Instantly, my body felt more comfortable.
My strength melted away, and sleep began to press down on me.
Even though I was being carried in someone’s arms, there was almost no swaying. It was better than any horse or carriage.
As my mind grew hazy, my fingers brushed over the spot on my chest where I had tucked the glass bottle during all the commotion earlier.
My thoughts were restless.
I had lived my whole life inside the capital. Half of that time, I had been bedridden.
There was no way my life could have crossed paths with the heretics.
So why?
What if my guess was right?
What would I do then?
The heretics were dangerous.
They had been active for decades, destroying kingdoms and forcing the Empire into years of war.
Everyone knew the rebellion at the border had been their doing.
That was why so many priests and holy knights had appeared at the victory banquet.
But even so…
This time, I had survived because of that.
“…Thank you.”
I whispered.
I felt his gaze on me.
Maybe he answered… but I couldn’t hear.
I lost consciousness.
