TW: Self-harm, threats of suicide
At first glance, he could see a few small heads. Were those the children that the Princess saw?
“Damn, they’re so small,” he muttered before laughing bitterly.
Although he killed everyone equally for the sake of money, cutting down a child was still a bit … annoying.
It couldn’t be helped, right? He was still human, after all.
“Kill them all.”
Emile recalled what the person who gave him money had said.
To him, it was a divine commandment that must be followed.
Emile opened his mouth and took a deep breath.
Just one shout. With that, everything would be settled.
Stab.
But before he could say anything, a blade suddenly burrowed into someone’s flesh.
The wound opened and the strong smell of blood wafted out.
He quickly looked at the place where the bandits and mercenaries were confronting each other.
Usually, after the first blood fell, it only took an instant for puddles of blood to form and for bodies to pile up.
But there was still a lot of unbroken tension there.
Then… This smell of blood…?
He looked behind him, an ominous feeling in his heart. He saw the girl glaring at him through the small window.
She was slightly out of breath. The dress that was rolled up to her thighs was already starting to turn red.
Did you stab yourself in the leg?!
Emile couldn’t believe the ‘solution’ the little girl had come to, so he just continued to stare at her.
The wound was deep, and every time she moved, the wound, which was gaping open like a red mouth, cried out and spilled blood.
Where on earth did the knife come from…?
As he thought about it and looked at her, the dagger, which had been attached to his waist, was in Rieta’s hand.
She must have pulled it out when he stumbled a little while ago.
“Emile.”
Emile looked straight into Rieta’s face as he heard her voice calling him.
He was amazed to see that she was smiling brightly despite the pain she felt in her leg. Even while holding the blade warm with her blood on it to her neck.
“Is this enough of a reason to stop carrying out the request?”
Did this mean that she was going to kill herself?
The reason she stabbed her leg was probably to prove her resolve.
And more than anything else… There were no proper doctors here. If she had even thought about that, she would be a truly unpleasant princess.
“Shit.”
Emile cursed in a low voice and lowered his head. He then shouted at the mercenaries standing in the distance.
“Enough, pull back!”
The tension between them diminished at once, and several mercenaries let out sighs of regret. They didn’t say anything, but it seems they had become quite bored during the long trip.
“The subject is injured. If she doesn’t get treatment right away, we’ll lose our heads, never mind the money.”
If something happened to Rieta, Liz, Euplana, and even the Empire’s Duchy might target them.
They would not be able to set foot in the Empire ever again. Emile wanted to prevent the number of countries in conflict from increasing any further.
The bandits, who did not understand the situation, just looked around with somewhat bewildered eyes.
That’s because the mercenaries’ conversations so far have been conducted in the Imperial language, so they didn’t understand the meaning at all.
However, this did not mean that they retreated out of fear.
“Princess, stay right where you are!”
Emile jumped out of the carriage and made his way among the bandits.
They held out their swords in surprise, several of which clumsily jabbed Emile’s arms.
He roughly shook off the shallow wounds as if shaking off insects, and took out Rieta’s headdress and jewelry that he had taken from his arms and showed them to them.
“Doctor!”
Of course, there was no way they could understand the request he made in the Imperial language.
“I need it! Is there a doctor among this group? I’ll give you these!”
Emile, restless in his frustration, finally looked towards the carriage where Rieta was.
“Damn it, what is ‘doctor’ in this country?!”
But he didn’t get a response.
Noisy Princess, what on earth are you doing now?
Finding the sudden silence strange, he went back to the carriage, unlocked it, and opened the door.
They must have thought that his behavior was strange, because several bandits followed him.
When the carriage door opened, the girl covered in bright red suddenly fell down.
She had lost consciousness.
… Fortunately, it seems like the explanation went through even though Emile didn’t know the language.
The people who had been bandits a moment ago began to eagerly give directions.
* * *
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