The soldiers stared in shock at the knight standing there with a murderous expression.
“Sir Heron?!”
“Why did you suddenly…?”
“T-This man… He tried to kill the hostage and pin the blame on us.”
Excuses for an impulsive murder that even he himself couldn’t understand poured from the knight’s mouth.
“He was probably an assassin sent by some subversive faction from Bardia.”
It took only an instant for the truth to become distorted in the soldiers’ minds.
“Gasp! Is that so…!”
“What a fucking bastard!”
Anger burned in the soldiers’ eyes as they looked down at the traitor whose head had been separated from his body.
“We should hang that bastard’s head on the city gate immediately.”
“Agreed. We need to set an example for all the turncoats.”
‘You can decide what to do with him among yourselves. Just hurry up and leave.’
I needed to check on the man, who was covered in blood and had barely a spot on his body left uninjured.
‘And there are quite a few things I need to ask him.’
As I wished, they gathered up the corpse and left the room.
They even left behind nothing but a single tube of healing ointment.
‘Isn’t that a bit much for someone who isn’t even a criminal, but a hostage?’
Only after the clattering footsteps of the knights and soldiers had completely faded away did I roll out from beneath the bed, still wrapped in the blanket.
“Are you… okay?”
If I hadn’t fallen on top of this man, he wouldn’t have ended up so badly injured.
Feeling sorry, I asked, and the man who had been lying on the floor abruptly sat up.
‘That startled me.’
“This much is nothing.”
Despite everything he had just endured, he answered calmly as though nothing had happened.
“To think Heron would mistake such a pathetic fool for an assassin. Has he lost his mind?”
He merely clicked his tongue as he glanced at the bloodstain left by the traitor.
He found the knights’ and soldiers’ sudden actions strange, but fortunately, he didn’t question them any further.
“You had to see something unpleasant. Weren’t you frightened?”
I nodded, then crawled completely out of the blanket and approached him.
‘Those bastards. If they were going to tie his arms up, they should at least have untied him before leaving.’
Looking closely, I saw that the restraints around the man’s wrists and ankles were special devices that absorbed mana.
They weren’t the kind that could be cut apart using aura.
‘Nothing I can do about it. I should treat him first.’
I could satisfy my curiosity later.
“I’m going to take your clothes off.”
“My clothes? Now?”
Of course I needed to take his clothes off to examine his injuries.
But why was he making that expression again…?
As I tilted my head in confusion, the man said something completely unexpected.
“I’ll wash up first.”
At the same time, he moved his arms, which were bound behind his back, as though shaking them off.
A moment later, I heard the heavy sound of something hitting the floor.
“……!”
It was the restraint that had been fastened around his wrist.
‘How did he take that off by himself?’
I stepped closer to inspect it and saw the roughly torn edges.
He had snapped restraints stronger than steel using nothing but the strength of his own body.
‘Wow. That’s on an entirely ridiculous level.’
The members of the expedition who had conquered the demons’ realm were all monstrous enough to be called monsters, but this man was a monster in an entirely different sense.
The man casually detached the chain connected to the restraint around his ankle as well.
…And in the process, I could have sworn I heard the sound of metal crumpling with a crunch.
Did he break it?
How had someone with such incredible strength ended up in this situation? That kind of power was completely at odds with his current circumstances of being held hostage and subjected to violence.
“You’re not going to leave, are you?”
While I was still staring blankly, the man, who had gathered some clothes and was heading toward the bathroom, turned back and asked.
“I’ll wait. Go ahead.”
At my answer, the tips of his ears turned slightly red. He nodded and went inside to wash.
‘He must be the type who likes to keep himself clean.’
Most people would put off bathing, if only because their injuries hurt.
I took emergency potions and medical supplies out of my spatial bag and thought about everything that had happened today.
Why had the return magic, whose coordinates were set to Mikhail, malfunctioned?
How had Bardia, which had once been so firmly established, been driven to the brink in just a few years? And how had a new nation managed to rise to power?
It was impossible for any of this to happen if Mikhail were still around.
‘…He couldn’t have come to harm, could he?’
Just thinking about it made my heart sink.
No. That couldn’t be it.
There must be some other explanation.
“Why are you just standing there?”
Just then, the man emerged from the bathroom and approached me.
‘Gasp….’
I instinctively turned toward him and couldn’t help but be startled.
His robe was hanging loosely, leaving his chest completely exposed.
“Are you all right?”
He bent down to examine my face, and now I had a full view of his muscular abdomen as well.
‘What is with this body…?’
Because the expedition had been overwhelmingly male, I had seen enough men’s bodies to last me a lifetime.
But they were simply my comrades’ bodies, and they had never evoked any particular feelings in me.
So why was I getting so flustered now?
“Shall we go to bed now?”
He closed the distance until he was almost touching the tip of my nose and whispered in a low voice.
“If you prefer me like this, I don’t mind.”
What did preferences have to do with treating his wounds?
It was so absurd that I almost laughed.
“Of course the bed is more comfortable.”
I had him sit on the bed first, then opened a bottle of potion when suddenly his strong arm wrapped around my waist.
“I’d rather use that later, not now.”
“……?”
I stared blankly at him in confusion.
Wouldn’t it work best if he used it immediately after being injured?
No, more importantly, why was he wrapping his arms around my waist…?
“Can I kiss you? I won’t be as impatient as I was before….”
Startled by his sudden proposal to kiss me, I blurted out,
“We need to treat your wounds first!”
And after that, we needed to talk, too!
“Hmm? Treat my wounds?”
He repeated the words as though he had heard something unexpected.
‘No way….’
A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and I cautiously asked,
“Um, you didn’t misunderstand when I said I wanted you to take off your clothes, did you? You understood that I meant I wanted to treat your injuries, right?”
The man slowly blinked.
Then he quietly removed his hand from my waist and said,
“You didn’t mean that we should continue…?”
The corners of his mouth drooped slightly.
“…I’m sorry.”
‘Oh my god.’
He really had misunderstood.
‘Then this bottle of potion….’
He must have thought it was some kind of oil or medicine used by men and women in bed.
He was the one who had misunderstood, so why was my face burning bright red?
“Thank you, but I don’t need treatment.”
“Hm? Why?”
At my question, he opened his robe and exposed his upper body.
‘What? His wounds….’
I had clearly seen that bastard of a traitor beating him while even using mana, yet the man’s body was completely unharmed.
‘So it isn’t just his strength. How is this possible?’
Could a human who wasn’t even a demon really possess this kind of regenerative ability?
As I examined his flawless body, without even a trace of injury, I was almost awestruck.
“You don’t know much about me, do you?”
He asked me cautiously.
‘What am I supposed to say?’
After thinking for a moment, I simply kept my mouth shut and nodded.
“Don’t tell me you jumped into my bed without even knowing who I am…?”
“…I heard that you’re Bardia’s deposed Crown Prince.”
“I see.”
The uneasiness in his eyes settled once more at my answer.
“Well, I suppose you can learn everything else gradually. We have plenty of time.”
I wasn’t so sure about that.
Whether we had enough time or not would depend on the answer to my question.
“Excuse me, there’s something I’m curious about.”
I watched his expression carefully as I spoke.
“What is your relationship with Mikhail?”
“Mikhail…?”
“Yes. Mikhail, the founding king of Bardia. Where is he now?”
Confusion appeared in the man’s eyes.
“What do you mean? Are you asking about the disappearance of the founding king 300 years ago?”
“……Huh?”
What was he talking about?
“Three hundred years…?”
“You can think of it as roughly that long ago. It happened fifteen years after the expedition set out.”
I stared at him with wide eyes, completely stunned.
‘What did I just hear?’
“You must be quite interested in Bardia’s history.”
He smiled gently and lightly tugged on my hand.
“I’ll tell you everything, so come sit here.”
It felt as though I was sitting on something firm and springy rather than the bed, but I was too distracted to pay attention to such a thing right now.
“As is widely known, no one knows whether the missing founding king is alive or dead. Not even his body, nor the slightest clue, was ever found.”
That was why some people had speculated.
That Mikhail might have joined the expedition.
That he might have left to meet his close friend, Iserna Airvayne, even if it was long after the fact.
Because on the day he left the palace, he had looked so incredibly happy.
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