From a Broken Engagement to the Northern Grand Duke's Son-in-Law

Lea launched herself forward, boots striking stone.

“Run!”

The whistle of arrows followed Louis’s shout from behind her, but Lea didn’t hesitate. There was no need to—she knew he would never strike her down.

Sure enough, his arrows skimmed past her hair and flew straight toward the boys’ midsections.

BOOM!

The arrows erupted in a deafening roar, kicking up a storm of dust and debris. The destructive force was immense.

The rumors were true. Louis’s skill was unmatched when it came to archery.

I have to do my part.

Lea tightened her grip on her sword and brought it down in a vertical slash.

“Ice Age.”

Crack—crackle—!

One of the most powerful techniques in her arsenal surged from the tip of her blade. 

The ability to freeze everything in the vicinity spread outward from her sword, the Aura of frost turning the very air crystalline until the entire dust storm was frozen solid.

Did I get them? she wondered, eyes fixed on the dust-choked space.

Then…

Crack—crackle—!

CRASH!

With a deafening roar, shards of ice exploded in every direction.

“Ahahaha!”

The boys burst from the cloud of dust, laughing in perfect unison.

They were holding hands, yet each was missing half his body. The last attack had been a direct hit. Not that it had inflicted any meaningful damage.

Squelch—hiss—!

With a grotesque sound, their bodies began to regenerate. They were nothing short of monsters.

Lea clicked her tongue and summoned her Aura once more.

I have to buy time until Louis can fire again.

Of course, he would handle himself just fine. He could always use the combat arts he’d learned from Lady Enoxia, but that was no reason for her to shirk her own duties.

Kicking off the ground again, Lea gripped her sword and charged.

The moment she swung the blade toward the boys’ necks—

Thump.

The boys, who had closed the distance in an instant, caught the tip of her sword and grinned menacingly.

“That’s the end for you, Ice Lady.”

Shluuuck—!

They plunged their hands toward Lea’s abdomen.

Or rather, they tried to.

“Hah... Are you all right?”

A man had appeared before her, taking the boys’ attack in her stead.

“Sir Lancelot!” Lea cried out.

Blood poured from his abdomen, and bits of entrails splattered across the floor.

Splurt—!

“Hah... This is actually going to kill me,” Lancelot muttered, forcing the corners of his lips into a smile.

“What’s this now?”

“What is he?”

The boys muttered in confusion. Their hands were still buried in Lancelot’s gut, but he held them in a vise-like grip, refusing to let go.

“Let go of us!”

“Let go!”

Nnngh—!

The boys struggled with all their might to break free from his grasp. But Lancelot, even as he spat blood, would not release his hold. Gritting their teeth, the boys began to pummel him.

Thwack!

THWACK!

Lancelot’s face was quickly beaten to a pulp. With one hand still buried in his stomach, they used the other to hammer away at his face.

“Let go! I said, let go!”

Kai and the other unit members rushed in to attack the boys.

“Gaah!”

The boys screamed and twisted their bodies, but trapped by Lancelot’s grip, they couldn’t completely evade the blows. They were beginning to tire, though the wounds they sustained were already healing.

Hissss—

Their bodies regenerated completely. But their stamina had not been restored along with their flesh, and their breaths came in ragged gasps.

“Hah...! Hah...!”

“Heh... So you do get tired, do you?”

“Shut uuuup!”

The boys roared.

In an instant, their bodies began to swell, their two forms merging into one. Their flesh writhed like clay, as if their bodies were made of pure demonic energy. Their eyes flashed as they unleashed a deafening roar.

“Let. Go!” a seething voice erupted.

Simultaneously…

BOOM!

The creature hurled Lancelot against the opposite wall.

“Urk!”

Lancelot coughed up blood and collapsed against the wall. Seeing this, Lea gripped her sword and charged the creature once more.

“It’s ready!”

Hans’s voice rang out from behind her, followed by the voice of the man she had been waiting for.

“You’ve done well.”

Lea stopped in her tracks and turned.

There stood the raven-haired man, Louis, drawing his bow taut and radiating killing intent. The arrowhead was coated with the poison Hans had prepared.

“Now, you face me.”

Shwiiiick—!

The arrow soared toward the monster the boys had become.

* * *

Naturally, the arrow hit its mark.

THUD—!

A heavy, sickening impact followed.

My eyes were cold as I watched the monster the boys had created.

“Kuaaaaargh!”

The creature shrieked. To scream over something so trivial... it made Lancelot’s endurance seem all the more impressive.

As the monster writhed in agony, I unleashed my Aura.

The Aura around the arrow writhed and swelled, materializing into a massive serpent-dragon and a saber-toothed tiger.

Grrrrrr—

Hisssssss—

The divine beasts’ eyes glinted as they moved toward the monster.

“You deserve to suffer more.”

It was a rule I had set for myself, a vow I’d made upon my return: touch my people, and I will make you suffer.

“Meal time.”

At my command, the beasts lunged, tearing into the monster.

Crunch! Crrrunch!

“Kraaaaaaaaah!”

It screamed, a sound like glass scraping against stone. But I didn’t so much as frown. I simply watched in silence.

After some time had passed, the creature could no longer regenerate, its breath coming in ragged gasps. Hans’s poison was working perfectly.

“Kuh... huuh...!”

Tears streamed from its eyes as it reached a hand toward the air, as if begging for the sweet release of death.

Seeing this, Lancelot, gasping for breath, limped toward the fallen creature.

Tap... tap...

Using his spear as a crutch, he stood over the collapsed monster and raised his weapon.

And then—SHUNK!

He pierced its neck.

“Gurgle—!”

The creature let out a faint, final gasp and then moved no more.

Clatter.

Lancelot let his spear fall and slumped to the floor. The tension finally left him, now that it was truly over.

“Well, I think I’m dying,” he wheezed, managing a weak grin in my direction. He said it playfully, but his complexion was ghastly.

Then again, with a hole in his abdomen and pieces of his flesh torn away, it would have been stranger if he looked well.

“It seems you can still endure.”

I took a High Potion from my coat and tossed it to him. It was an expensive item to use on such wounds, but I felt no regret. Without him, we never would have bought enough time.

“Drink it.”

“With pleasure,” Lancelot chuckled, downing the potion.

The hole in his abdomen closed, new flesh knitting together. Once his body had returned to some semblance of normalcy, he caught his breath and asked, “So what were those things? Were they Demonkin, too?”

“You seem to think I know everything, Sir Lancelot.”

“Am I wrong?”

“I don’t know why your faith in me is so profound only at times like these, but yes, I know what they were.”

“See? You knew all along,” Lancelot grumbled. “Then why drag it out?”

I let out a faint sigh and continued. “Hah... They were likely Half-Bloods.”

“Half-Bloods?” Lancelot asked in confusion. He seemed to be hearing the term for the first time, which was to be expected.

I, too, would never have known of them had my master not told me.

He said they were on par with Demonkin, didn’t he?

Of course, they were still a step below the Twelve Nobles, but it was true they were stronger than most knights.

“They are said to be born from humans and the Twelve Nobles. Not out of love, naturally. Most are the result of forced births from kidnapped victims.”

“Sons of bitches.”

“Demonkin have always been sons of bitches,” I replied with a sneer.

In any case…

Should we leave?

I glanced around, lost in thought.

Even though Lancelot had recovered thanks to the High Potion, he was still exhausted.

Roxen, Kai, and Hans were in better shape, but they were tired all the same. Furthermore, Lea wore an uneasy expression, worried about Lancelot, who had been injured because of her.

Pushing deeper underground seemed far too risky.

I’ll have to give up on her.

Having my final unit member would make the road ahead easier, but there was no reason to sacrifice my other unit members to retrieve her.

“We should turn ba—”

As I was about to speak to the others, a sound interrupted me. The steady sound of footsteps echoed from somewhere nearby.

They were coming from deeper within the underground prison.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who heard it; my companions all turned their heads toward the source of the sound.

“Hm, I thought it was rather noisy. It seems some rats have found their way in.”

A man with a dignified air appeared, ascending the stairs. A man in a pristine white suit.

His appearance was utterly out of place in this blood-soaked, filthy space. It was like a world had been painted, and then he was drawn on top of it—a jarring dissonance. That unnerving feeling was my first impression of him.

“Oh? Have my sons been killed?” the man asked, his voice devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

The others fell silent, their faces tense with alarm.

And I was no different.

“Unbelievable.”

I held my breath, staring at the man.

He was different from any Demonkin or even any of the Twelve Nobles I had ever seen. An oppressive pressure and a wave of terror radiated from him. My instincts screamed at me: flee, or you’ll die.

I bit my lip, forcing myself to meet his gaze.

I knew who he was.

The white suit, the perfectly human form... there was only one among the Twelve Nobles who fit that description.

“Pepia, the Count of Madness.”

The master of all insanity, the Demonkin responsible for the majority of demon-related incidents on the continent.

And at the same time…

“It’s you...!”

The one who annihilated Ayla, Roxen’s village.

I stared at Pepia, my expression taut with tension.

This place was about to become our tomb.