Chapter 48
Carlos’s red eyes flickered darkly.
Perhaps feeling overwhelmed, the knight flinched and stepped back.
“What do you think you are doing right now?!”
But he quickly regained himself and shouted loudly.
“Archduke, are you rebelling against the Imperial army?!”
The villagers murmured.
“Look at that…”
“The Archduke is going to do something again…”
But Carlos paid no attention.
Still holding the knight’s wrist, he turned to me.
“Princess.”
“Yes.”
“Did I ever forcefully confine you in the Grand Duchy?”
It was a calm question.
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Did I ever threaten or intimidate you?”
“No.”
“Did I ever stop you when you said you would leave the Grand Duchy?”
“…I never said I would leave, but even if I had, you wouldn’t have stopped me.”
He might even have been glad—because something troublesome disappeared.
That thought felt slightly bitter, but it wasn’t important now.
Carlos looked at the knight.
“She says so.”
The knight’s face twisted.
“It’s magic. Brainwashing magic…”
“Brainwashing?”
Carlos let out a faint laugh.
A cold, mocking laugh.
“Isn’t the great Imperial family the one who knows best that I am constantly gasping under demonic energy?”
“That is…”
“If I had the strength to use high-level brainwashing magic on the princess, would I have stayed shut inside the Grand Duchy gathering refined stones in the first place?”
Carlos stepped forward.
His face was pale, but his eyes were sharp.
The knight frowned.
“…There are many methods besides magic. No matter how much Her Highness claims it is voluntary, she may be saying so because she is pressured by the Archduke’s power. How frightened could a mere thirteen-year-old princess be?”
Hearing that attitude, I felt absurd inside.
This was the first time—before or after my regression—that an Imperial knight treated me like such a small child.
Then again, by the age of ten, I had already gained a notorious reputation inside and outside the palace.
“A mere thirteen-year-old…”
Carlos tilted his head slightly.
“That mere thirteen-year-old princess avoided Imperial surveillance and came alone to the Grand Duchy.
Or will you claim that her coming here was also my scheme?”
At the sarcastic tone, the knight bit his lip in confusion.
Glancing around, his voice became urgent.
“A-anyway, it is His Majesty’s order! Her Highness must come with us!”
Just as the knight tried to reach out again—
“I clearly told you not to touch her.”
Shing.
Before the hand could reach me, Carlos drew his sword and stopped him.
The knight froze, eyes sharpening.
“Are you pointing a blade at the Imperial army that carries out His Majesty’s will?”
Yes.
They always came out like this.
Just like with Damian—whenever they felt cornered, they tried to crush everything with accusations of rebellion.
But what they overlooked this time was—
“Is there a problem?”
Unlike Damian, Carlos was someone who wouldn’t even blink at such threats.
To think they dared put a blade to the princess’s throat first…
I almost laughed in disbelief.
“How convenient.
Isn’t His Majesty searching for justification to destroy the Carter family?
If I kill all the knights who came under his command here and flee, that grand justification would be fulfilled.”
“Archduke…!”
“Do not shout. It hurts my ears.”
Frowning slightly, Carlos brought the sword close to the knight’s neck.
The sharp blade rested there dangerously.
“What do you think?
The moment you take the princess from me, I intend to regard it as a declaration of war.”
At his lazy tone, the knight’s eyes widened in shock.
He’s insane.
And I was just as dizzy with shock.
No matter how reckless, a declaration of war is crossing the line, isn’t it?
This must be what it meant to have nothing left to lose.
But I wasn’t in any position to stop him, so I could only dart my eyes around and watch.
After a moment of speechlessness, the knight shouted:
“That statement is treason!”
“I know.”
“And knowing that—!”
“That is why I ask.
Will you start an all-out war with the Grand Duchy?
Can you make that decision here?
Or must you ask the Emperor again?”
He even smiled mockingly.
It seemed the knight who came with the Emperor’s order had never imagined this far—his face turned pale.
Exaggerating a little, he looked worse than Carlos, who was suffering from demonic energy.
“Archduke, can you bear the consequences—!”
“Ah, you’re too loud. I can’t stand it.”
Just then—
A relaxed voice suddenly spoke.
Sion, who had been standing quietly, stepped forward with a yawn.
“Who are you?!”
The knight shouted angrily.
Sion didn’t answer.
Instead, he flicked his finger.
And in that instant—
Boom!
Everything turned white.
A blinding light covered the entire square.
“My eyes!”
“What is this?!”
“I can’t see!”
Screams burst out everywhere.
Amid the chaos, a large hand reached toward me.
A pale, white hand.
“Take it.”
Then, with that short word—
My body suddenly floated.
Space twisted.
Up and down felt reversed.
In the dizziness, I felt someone pull me tightly into an embrace—
a firm and broad chest.
After a moment, when I closed and opened my eyes again—
I was no longer in the village square, but standing in a forest.
Held in Carlos’s arms.
“What… is this…”
I looked around in confusion, unable to grasp the situation—
then a sudden thought struck me, and my eyes widened.
Don’t tell me… Carlos…
Did he use magic?
In a place with such thick demonic energy?
I hurriedly looked up at him.
With one hand he held me,
and with the other he supported himself against a tree.
His breathing was rough.
His face was beyond pale—completely white.
It was the backlash of using magic in a demonic-filled place.
“Grand Duke, are you okay?”
“…I’m fine.”
As I quickly slipped from his arms to check his condition,
he reached out as if to block my view.
But unlike his words,
his trembling hand was obvious.
A cough burst from between Carlos’s lips.
He seemed to try to suppress it, but it wouldn’t stop.
Harsh breaths kept escaping.
Just looking at him made it painful.
“Grand Duke…”
“Don’t worry about useless things.
I said I’m fine.”
What pride was he clinging to in a moment like this?
He clearly wasn’t fine at all.
“Please, just sit down for a moment. You don’t look well right now.”
Just as I tried to support him and make him sit—
Rustle.
A presence sounded from behind us.
