Emile was riding a horse, holding Rieta in his arms.
He rode as carefully as he could, but red blood continued to seep from Rieta’s leg.
“You ignorant Princess!”
He immediately spat out harsh words and shouted in front of her.
If this continued, the troublemaker Princess would die before he even reached the border.
After passing through a forest road so narrow that it couldn’t even accommodate a carriage, they soon arrived at a strange place in the village.
The only buildings were clumsily constructed tents, but there were quite a few of them. There was also a large cleared field on one side.
He had heard that there were groups of people who lived like this to avoid harsh taxes, but he had no idea it was on such a large scale.
Could it be that the reason they started stealing, albeit clumsily, was for a new source of income?
Or was it a backlash against the rich who had been harassing them?
Anything was fine.
Anyway, Emile hoped that among them, he would be lucky enough to have someone who had acquired advanced medical knowledge.
He dismounted from his horse, holding Rieta in his arms.
Everyone in the village gathered because a woman dressed in fancy clothes and armed men came into this shabby place.
Some of them were afraid when they saw the mercenaries’ weapons and hugged their families, while others glared at them with sharp eyes.
Soon there was a brief commotion.
Sharp words were exchanged several times between those who had gone out to steal and those in the village.
It was obviously going to be a rough process since they brought in some suspicious people, but Emile didn’t have much time.
The person under his care is injured.
“Where is the doctor? Doctor! She’s going to die! Die!”
He shouted again the words, which he had repeated several times with Rieta in his arms.
Even though they couldn’t understand the language, no one ignored the person who was screaming urgently while holding an injured person.
Although they didn’t really like Rieta’s flashy outfit, they took her under a roof on one side of the village.
The maid who followed Rieta took a white cloth from the luggage and spread it out on a suitable patch of grass.
It may have been to give her a place to lie down, but Emile couldn’t bring himself to let go of Rieta.
He was worried that if he moved, her wound would bleed again.
He still called for the doctor with an urgent face.
Did his cries reach them? Soon, he saw two men wearing clean shirts coming towards him.
The villagers followed them and explained the situation.
Emile knew at a glance that they were no ordinary people.
He didn’t think so simply because of their clothes or their rather good looks. He knew just by the way they walked or the slightest movement of their eyes.
They were not just educated in etiquette, but may even be close to nobles.
Come to think of it, he heard that some of Liz’s nobles rebelled against the King and gave up their wealth.
Were they from that kind of family?
The eyes of the men who were approaching with caution finally stopped on Emile.
To be exact, their eyes stopped on Rieta. Their expressions changed instantly.
Huh…?
Emile took a step back without realizing it.
The men came in front of him, jumping out and exchanged words.
There was deep bewilderment in their voices.
“How in… the world?!”
“I don’t know.”
They spoke in the Imperial language. At that moment, Emile’s eyes brightened.
“Treat her, quickly! I’ll do whatever it takes!”
For a moment, they looked surprised at the sudden appearance of the Imperial language.
The eyes of the three people turned to the girl who had fallen unconscious on the grass.
* * *
Emile watched the two people treating Rieta closely.
Since the King entrusted Rieta’s life to him, it was natural to do so…
Somehow, as time passed, his eyes were focused on the two men rather than on Rieta.
First of all, he could tell that they were not properly trained doctors.
When they first reached for the wound, it was almost certain that their hands were shaking slightly.
Fortunately, the two people had a good idea of what they needed to do first.
Emile guessed that at least one of them had been trained as a knight— he heard that knights are trained to respond to emergencies like this. Mercenaries, meanwhile, learned by intuition over several years.
A few more hours passed, and the two men sighed and lowered their heads.
Emile asked cautiously, seeing as if they had finally looked relieved now.
“She’ll be okay, right?”
Then the two people raised their heads at the same time.
They had the same sharp expression, which made him wonder if they were brothers.
“…”
“Uh… right.”
Ah. Could it be that?
Emile, interpreting the meaning differently, began rummaging through his arms. But all he found was a necklace he shared with Rieta in memory of Agnes Lang.
I don’t want to give this up, but… there’s nothing I can do about it.
He sighed and handed them the necklace.
“This is the reward. This is what she originally had. Well…”
The word ‘Princess’ crawled up his throat, but he swallowed it with difficulty. He had to prepare for the unexpected.
Otherwise, he might get involved in more troublesome matters.
“This!”
Perhaps misunderstanding Emile’s intentions, the man with sharp eyes grabbed him by the collar.
…Did he think it was a poor way to reciprocate? He didn’t think he would ever need to take out money.
“Calm down. There’s more in the carriage. I’ll have my subordinates give you more. Is that okay?”
Embarrassed, Emile asked the other man, who seemed more reasonable, for help.
But for the first time in a long time, it looked like his insight was wrong.
The man, who seemed to have used up all his patience, immediately drew his sword.
Huh.
Emile felt that when something was very, very wrong.
By any chance, I…
Could it be that he entered a trap on his own? He even gave valuables to the guides who brought them here.
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