Chapter 16

She could feel her knees growing heavy for an instant.

As she glanced at his face, she looked at the long, dark eyelashes over his eyes that were barely open.

‘Did he faint?’

Well, he’s endured this far.

She felt his pulse and tentatively checked his internal condition through her energy, and it seemed like his organs were intact.

However, his waist was torn open, his whole body was covered in scratches and his limbs were broken.

It looked horrible when she stretched him out, but fortunately, his organs, head, and spine weren’t injured.

She stared down at the man.

For a man who was at death’s doorstep, that face of his looked peaceful.

“You’re sleeping well, huh? How can you trust me?”

The man’s forehead wrinkled slightly at Rosetta’s small whisper.

He evidently still felt pain as he slept, his blood-stained lips trickling with more blood as he groaned.

She listened to the man for a moment and raised a hand that didn’t have blood on it, covering his dark eyelashes.

The temperature under her hand was as cold as a corpse, yet at the same time, it was like he was boiling hot.

“It’s alright now, it’s alright. Shh.”

At the shallow comfort, he stopped groaning. And when she gently raised her hand, his wrinkled forehead smoothed over again.

She laughed quietly under her breath after seeing this simple change.

She touched the man’s nose once with her fingertips, then raised her head.

‘Now, let’s get this place sorted out.’

It had to be arranged in a way that would fool the perpetrators who would arrive later.

To make Cassion look like he ran away alone, or that he died while trying to run away.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to make it quick.”

The horseman must be coming to.

She looked up at the sky, feeling a bit of remorse for the poor man.

The early moon had already risen in the sky.

The sunset, which had soaked the world in red, disappeared into the horizon as though it was burning the land.

It just occurred to her.

In the novel, the man who was about to lose consciousness looked only at the sky.

The last view he had must have been this world that was bathed in red.

Sniffle.

Melvin, the horseman, slowly opened his eyes as he felt the horse’s breath blowing over his face.

Haaam. The man yawned until his mouth opened very wide, and he stretched out his limbs as he looked at his surroundings.

‘Where am I…?’

Perhaps it was because he had just woken up, but his mind was completely blank.

In a daze, he scratched his head, then soon heard a voice calling him from somewhere.

“Melvin.”

Melvin’s gaze turned to the voice.

His hazy eyes trembled as soon as he saw Rosetta’s face.

The hand he used to scratch his head stopped, and a bewildered voice leaked out of his lips.

“Milady, why are you here…”

“I’m in trouble, Melvin.”

Then, his eyes opened wide as he heard the second thing she said.

As soon as he lifted his gaze, he remembered where he was.

After standing up, he bowed down and fixed the hat over his head.

“Oh, I must have dozed off. I apologize, Milady.”

“It’s alright. That’s not the point right now.”

“Pardon?”

At the rather serious voice, he raised his eyes to look at her again.

Rosetta’s face was grave.

With the sunset painting the sky red and the mountain terrain as her background, she spoke with a serious expression and a serious voice.

It was an ominous harmony.

The portentous atmosphere made him gulp.

“If that’s not important, then what must we…”

“We collided with someone.”

“…Yes?”

Just what was she saying?

He couldn’t believe she was talking about a collision.

Surprised, he looked around in a hurry, but there wasn’t any sign of even rain falling. He could neither see a lock of hair or the head of any person, even as he rubbed his eyes as he searched.

“Ah, where…?”

“Rosetta pointed a finger instead of answering, and the place where she pointed was right in front of their carriage.

Her finger had pointed at one place, then down towards the edge of the cliff.

“Here, and then there.”

Melvin’s face became as white as a sheet as he heard her say that.

If that was true, then it was obvious that they had gotten into an accident.

Besides, any horseman who had dozed off meant that it was all over for him.

“It was a man on a horse, but he didn’t see us because of the shadows of the trees. As we were speeding up, he saw our carriage and tried to avoid us, but he just… fell over there.”

After her calm explanation, Melvin hurriedly lowered himself and looked down at the edge of the slope where Rosetta pointed a finger.

“…Oh my goodness.”

He could say nothing else. The end of the slope was a cliffside.

As he squinted his eyes and tried to see beyond the gaps between the trees, he finally saw the man who had fallen there, bleeding profusely.

Boom.

He could hear lightning striking over his heart.

He had caused an accident.

It was a very severe accident.

He dozed off while driving the carriage through the mountain path and collided with someone.

And he wasn’t driving an ordinary carriage—it was a carriage with a noblewoman in it.

“What… W-What should I do…”

His voice quivered heavily.

Rosetta’s gaze dropped to him and she patted his back.

“What do you mean? Let’s go check his condition first. He could still be alive.”

“Ah… Ah! Yes!”

Melvin hurriedly untied the horse’s reins which were tied around a tree, then climbed onto the driver’s seat on the carriage.

He was so flustered that he forgot to help Rosetta into the carriage, but Rosetta had already entered the carriage by herself.

Before tightly gripping the reins, he slapped himself on the cheek several times and berated himself.

He didn’t want to lose his composure again.

Wasn’t it enough to cause one accident?

After a deep breath, he gripped the reins.

“Oh my goodness.”

The carriage stopped to a halt, but Marvin, who jumped off his seat, continued forward.

Even before he stopped the carriage, he could already see the man lying on the mountain floor.

Considering the situation, Melvin shivered and approached the unconscious man.

His steps were slow and steady, as if his legs were made with heavy lead.

“…Heuk!”

As he looked closely, there was a large pool of blood under the man.

Melvin turned towards the edge of the cliff, then looked back at the man, seeing the other horse as well that wasn’t moving.

‘It’s dead.’

From a distance, he knew that the horse had already passed away.

The half open black eyes of the horse made him feel unbridled fear as chills rose up his spine.

Melvin shook his hand in front of Cassion’s face, then he spoke.

“Excuse me… A-A-Are you alright?”

There was no answer.

Melvin gulped again.

The horse’s big, round, black eyes seemed like they were staring at him from afar.

He crouched down carefully and put a finger under Cassion’s nose.

And… It wasn’t long before a faint breath touched his finger.

“Phew…”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. At least he hadn’t killed a person.

“How is he?”

Melvin looked back at Rosetta.

‘Huh? Why does this feel familiar…’

A strange sense of déjà vu swept over him for a moment, but it was gone in an instant.

It was such a brief moment that he didn’t even dwell on it.

Holding onto his startled heart, Melvin shook his head and gave an answer.

“He’s alive.”

Rosetta’s gaze fell and looked at the unconscious man.

“…That’s a relief. As long as he’s alive.”

“That… Wh… What should we do now?”

Rosetta turned to Melvin.

Melvin faced those golden eyes and gulped once again, waiting for her to answer.

His pounding heart seemed to have accelerated again in the meantime because of the prolonged silence.

The silence stretching between them was scaring him.

It was only after Rosetta’s lips opened again that he realized that he was holding his breath.

“What do you mean? Of course we have to take him to a safe place and have him treated.”

As her red lips stopped talking, they were drawn into a thin line.

Melvin groaned as he draped Cassion over the carriage seat, swiping away the sweat from his own forehead with the back of his hand.

It wasn’t easy moving a limp man who had a fairly sturdy build.

Rosetta watched a couple of steps away, then entered the carriage only when Cassion was already inside.

“You’re sweating a lot.”

Rosetta handed him a handkerchief.

Melvin looked blankly at it.

It was the first time a noble offered him such.

Rosetta waved the handkerchief in front of the hesitating horseman as though telling him to just take it.

“Th… Thank you.”

After taking it in a hurry, the hand that received the handkerchief rushed to wipe his forehead.

He didn’t know why, but it felt like his eyes were heating up.

‘I’m well over thirty now, yet something like this is making my eyes water.’

Perhaps it was because he went through a difficult experience just now, but this small kindness moved him greatly.

And at that moment.

“What happened today… Let’s keep it a secret.”

Rosetta spoke in a hushed tone.