CHAPTER 45………
Arpad nodded with an unnervingly innocent expression.
“Of course I do. I am the only husband who has shared the marriage vows with you.”
Well… it wasn’t exactly wrong.
It was a fact.
But why did he have to say it in such a strange way?
‘He sounds like a wife clinging to her status in front of a philandering husband—“But I’m the legal wife!”—that kind of thing…’
Shuddering at the ridiculous thought, I shook my head violently.
‘Shoo! Away with that nonsense!’
By then, Sir Beltane had limped closer, leaning heavily on his crutch.
And still, Arpad refused to let me go.
We locked eyes in a silent standoff.
‘Let go!’
‘No.’
‘What is wrong with this man?!’
While our unspoken battle raged, Sir Beltane acted on his own.
Shing—
He drew his sword, drove it into the ground before me, and dropped to one knee.
“Sir Beltane?!”
Even Arpad, startled, released me at last.
And no wonder—this was the Oath of a Knight.
It was a pledge that a knight would, under any circumstances, dedicate his sword to another.
It wasn’t as absolute as in the olden days, but it was still no light matter.
For a lady to receive such an oath from a knight was itself an honor.
‘In my last three regressions, countless knights swore their oaths to Evangeline…’
But in this lifetime, this was my very first time receiving one—from Sir Beltane.
After I regressed, he had once given me a makeshift vow in private.
But never before had he sworn formally, before so many witnesses.
It felt… indescribably strange.
Sir Beltane had never once betrayed me; he had even died helping me.
And yet, this was the first time he had ever given me his oath so openly.
His expression was as solemn as I’d ever seen when he spoke:
“I, Knight Renus Beltane, pledge my sword and my life solely to my lady, for all my days.”
His voice grew heavier, more sorrowful.
“This is all that remains to me, who once failed to protect you.”
Then Sir Beltane lifted his gaze to Arpad, who stood beside me.
Unwavering.
Arpad frowned.
“You used the wrong title. Not lady, but Crown Princess Consort.”
He bore down on Sir Beltane with an oppressive, imperious glare.
But astonishingly, Sir Beltane did not yield, staring back without flinching.
Crackle!
It was as if sparks leapt between their locked gazes.
Arpad smirked and mocked him.
“In such a solemn, honorable moment as a knight’s oath, failing to use the proper title is an insult to my consort.”
“….”
For the first time, the unchanging brow of Sir Beltane twitched.
But instead of addressing Arpad, he turned to me.
“If my lady commands it, this humble sword will of course obey.”
Oh no. That was… overwhelmingly heavy.
And knowing his strict, upright nature, he would follow those words to the letter.
Just like he had in my past life.
“I will protect you, my lady. Until the very end.”
A hot rush welled up in my chest. I couldn’t help but be moved.
In that moment, he laid down his very life for me.
And that was before he had even sworn an oath.
‘Now that he has sworn it, what wouldn’t he do?’
There was no limit. Anything, absolutely anything.
If I so much as declared this marriage unwanted and ordered him to kill Arpad, he looked ready to do it.
…Wait.
‘Hold on. Sir Beltane still thinks this really was a forced marriage, doesn’t he?’
Annie, after days at my side, had pieced together the atmosphere.
That’s why she’d said to me with relief:
“You don’t know how much I cried, thinking you’d been abducted. But seeing His Highness the Crown Prince truly cares for you… I feel reassured.”
“And honestly… compared to Archduke Ludwig, His Highness is the better choice. At least he has no other women…”
But unlike Annie, Sir Beltane had no sense of the Crown Prince’s Palace.
He had personally witnessed the so-called “abduction” and even fought Arpad to stop it.
‘Which only made the whole thing look even more like a real kidnapping…’
And now the side effects of what I had staged back then were coming straight at me.
Sir Beltane was wracked with guilt for failing to protect me.
On top of that, I had been the one to free him from the torment and captivity in Delphinger.
To him, I must have seemed the very picture of a pitiable, virtuous lady in the clutches of a villain.
‘Wait—he’s not actually planning to try and spirit me away from Arpad, is he?!’
If he did, we’d both be doomed!
* * *
And indeed, Hylia’s uneasy suspicion wasn’t far from the truth.
In fact, Sir Renus Beltane was entertaining just such thoughts and resolve.
He still relived that moment as a nightmare—
The moment he failed to protect Hylia from Arpad’s hands.
“Please… let me go, Your Highness! Aaaah!”
Her desperate scream, ripping through his chest.
The white horse disappearing into the distance, and Arpad’s cold white cloak fluttering mercilessly.
And afterward, the cruel words whispered all around.
“Isn’t it already ruined? So much time has passed.”
“Surely something’s already happened, more than once.”
“Even if she returns now, her honor as a bride is…”
Unbearably insulting words.
Made worse by the fact that they came from Delphinger’s own retainers and knights.
Even injured, Beltane had not tolerated such vile talk about a noble lady.
“How dare you utter such filth? Draw your swords!”
But the other knights, too cowardly to face him fairly, ganged up on him instead.
They abandoned their honor as knights, beating him down together.
Then, calling him the failure who hadn’t protected Hylia, they delivered him to Ludwig.
“Is it true you let this happen because you failed to guard Hylia?”
“A knight who cannot protect his master has no excuse.”
And it was true.
Since then, Sir Beltane had been Ludwig’s punching bag, thrown into a cell.
Even then, it was Hylia who came to free him.
How could he not revere her?
He was ready to give her not only a knight’s oath, but more—even his life without hesitation.
If only his weakened body and lingering injuries did not hold him back.
In silence, with burning passion and resolve, he lifted his gaze to Hylia.
His eyes pleaded, his will spoke to her with all his strength:
‘I am ready! Please—just say the word! Tell me to save you!’
* * *
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
Meeting Sir Beltane’s unyielding eyes, sharp enough to break or be broken, I realized—
‘Ah… I’m doomed.’
That righteous fury blazing in his face.
That mouth set with determination and resolve.
I knew him well, from long years of suffering together.
‘He really thinks I’ve been kidnapped and need rescuing!’
This “Oath of a Knight” was his declaration that he would free me, no matter the cost.
I remembered a saying from my past life—
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
And right now, my knight’s pure trust and loyalty were threatening me instead.
‘This can’t happen!’
But things only escalated further.
Beside me, Arpad muttered under his breath:
“Like a knight vowing to rescue a princess from a dragon.”
His beautiful eyes curved like a crescent moon.
The red irises darkened, and his vertical pupils narrowed further.
Outwardly, it was a dazzling, elegant smile.
But I knew him well enough by now to see the truth.
‘He’s furious.’
The air itself seemed to crackle, tension stretching taut.
My lips, parched dry, finally parted.
