Chapter 2 (1/2)

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“Listen to me.”

Zoltan's breaths were hard and came in flutters.

My lungs were in bad shape so it was painful every time I took a breath.

“Jo*, Sir Zoltan.”

(*T/N: It's just a sound you would make in distress.)

The smell of blood made me dizzy.

There was an absurd amount of bodies with their intestines all over the place.

Agnes didn't scream because her body was stiff and she could hardly breathe.

It's my first time seeing this many dead bodies together.

“This, this is, no. Ah with this…”

Agnes scrambled out a handkerchief from her arms.

It met with the wound and soaked up the blood before becoming useless.

Zoltan groaned due to his torn stomach.

“Heuk*, it can't end like this. I'm sure the king will send more pursuers. “

(*T/N: Another sound effect? Maybe crying or coughing blood.)

He struggled to talk. Five days after leaving the city, they had encountered the king's knights a total of three times.

They avoided the first and second battles but their luck was exhausted by the third.

“No more, don't tell me any more. That's right, I'll go to town and get the officers…”

She shook and knelt down in front of Zoltan.

My clothes were wasted with dirt, but I wasn't in the right state of mind.

“The horse couldn't have gone far. It's a trained horse. Huu, riding south on horseback.

Cyclosiro. Get it, ha, you know what I mean right?”

“You want me to leave you and go to Cyclosiro alone? That's impossible. I can't.”

Agnes was twitching and terrified.

“Don't be so childish.”

Zoltan's eyes gleamed.

His eyes were becoming clearer even though he lost a fair amount of blood.

“Why do you think I came all the way here?”

“That's.”

“You still don't understand why I have to send you to Cyclosiro?”

It was like a beast's roar. Agnes clasped her hand so tightly that her fingernails dug into her palm.

“Sebastian.”

She gasped like a fish out of water. All three attacks were blatantly aimed at her.

If Zoltan hadn't intervened a mult.i.tude of times, she would have lost her life.

“Why are you trying to kill me?”

The king's greed for the throne had abated early on.

I was born and already had three brothers and sisters.

But my desire to live grew even greater when one died and another was crippled by Sebastian. I wanted to live a quiet life where there were no fights over the throne.

“I didn't mean to do that at all.”

“Does the princess' will even matter?* The plague killed both the princes. The queen is shocked by it all and works the whole day. So who will be the next ruler if the king dies from a blind arrow?”

(*T/N: Zoltan & Laslo refer to Agnes as princess.)

The hands of Nirisu kingdom were precious. The number of children born into the royal family was small, but the number of royal family members who had survived until adulthood were even rarer.

That's why even a married princess retained her right to the throne.

There was actually a case where a princess who married off to another country became emperor after the king died without any children.

“Haa, if I knew this would happen, kuh, cough!”

Zoltan roughly coughed and vomited blood at the same time. The road ahead was soaked in blood.

His face turned pallid in a flash. The pool of blood on the floor was deep enough for an insect to drown.

“Sir Zoltan. Stop talking. I'll call the officers.”

She held onto her brittle legs and managed to get up.

“No. This is the end for me.”

He spoke more firmly than ever.

“It's nearing the time my brother will sacrifice his life in exchange for the princess'. Don't waste it on me and leave.”

I remembered Laslo's stiff face when I asked the king to send me as an envoy, .

The man already knew. That Sebastian surrounded the castle to kill my sister.

“I thought Duke Arpad didn't like me.” She muttered. For 3 years starting from the first day of their marriage, she'd lost face.

The pair's existence had no effect on each other, just like any other couple of n.o.bility.

I was disappointed but gradually adapted. I didn't antic.i.p.ate his affection when we got married.

“Would you give your life for a woman you hate?” Zoltan laughed as hard as he could. But I didn't have the energy to laugh, so all I did was lift a corner of my mouth.

Then there was a rustle in the distance. Zoltan frantically scanned the surroundings.

“Hurry and go!”

He shouted with his last breath. Agnes stepped back from the momentum.

“Don't die.”

It was more of a threat than a plea or request.

“If the princess dies, haa. If the princess dies, we bet our lives for nothing. So survive. That's all I can do for you.”

“Sir Zoltan.”

“Quick!”

“I'm sorry.”

I didn't say thank you.

Agnes gave strength to her toes and jumped to her feet. Her hands were still shaking, but the pressure to live somehow made her move.

She wildly ran into the forest. As Zoltan said, a horse was leisurely grazing there.