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He had put me in a most hopeless situation.

“So…you already know?”

I say. Reggie’s face is so close that I can see his pores as he frowns.

“…About how you broke the promise you made with me, you mean? There should have been no need for you to rush, Kiara. I’ve been doing everything that I can to change the situation.”

“You mean the place to conduct negotiations with Salehard?”

He nods.

“Salehard is also sending a member of the royal family to negotiate. They will surely bring a sizable escort as well. I have also asked that two nobles with neighboring lands station their men near their borders. It is possible that the monsters appearing in Everal will attack them as well. Or so I told them. I have also called reinforcements of my own men, so they will slowly be making their way through the Everal territories. Though it is under the pretext of monster slaying, so it will not be too many.”

“Reinforcements? Really!?”

If there were reinforcements, perhaps the enemy would not be able to penetrate the castle even if it were under a siege.

I couldn’t help but smile in relief. Reggie smiled back.

“You finally smiled, Kiara.”

He said as he let go of my hands and then gently caressed my face.

It was the kind of gesture you’d imagine to occur between two lovers. My heart started to pound furiously.

“But, I suppose that my efforts were not enough for you. I wonder how far I must go until you are satisfied.”

“That’s not it, Reggie. I too do not want you to die. And so I must do everything that I can…”

I tried to explain because I wanted him to understand, but my words were cut off.

It was because Reggie had embraced me, his hands supporting my head.

My mouth was now buried in his shoulder and I couldn’t say anything, but I felt his lips brush against my ear and a chill went down my spine.

“Even though the Princess of Thorns refused to say anything, there is no guarantee that you will come out safely. It’s not a definite thing. If you…if it turned you into sand. If it happened to someone else, perhaps I would be able to accept it as their own decision. But, I don’t know what I should do when it comes to you. And so I stopped you by making you promise. What promise would it take to prevent you from doing it? Must I lock you up in a room somewhere? But I’m sure that you would find a way to escape. I would keep you away with chains if I could, but I don’t want you to hate me.”

I was overwhelmed by the passion in his voice.

He wanted to keep away from the path of death so much that he would lock me in a room with chains. It was a fearful thought, but at the moment I didn’t feel like I could have rejected him. I was being washed away by his passion.

He didn’t want me to die. It was only I who made him feel this way.

I did not think that hearing those words would cause me this much pain. There was a burning in my chest and I felt like I could not breathe. If this was Reggie’s idea of a punishment, then it was much too cruel.

I face upward, searching for air. My eyes meet his blue ones.

There was a longing in his eyes, I was sure that my own eyes were looking at him in the same way at that moment.

And so, we were probably both thinking of the same thing. We didn’t want the other to die. And there was nothing we wouldn’t do for that purpose.

We had the same wish, but we could not come to an understanding.

But even then, I wanted to at least express the strength of my feelings. Those feelings were bringing our bodies closer together–.

But then there was a strong knock on the door.

At the same time, there was an echo coming from the window. It was the sound of a hammer striking the alarm bell.

I returned to myself and quickly pulled away from Reggie and opened the door.

Grol was standing there with a severe expression.

He addressed me and Reggie who had now stood up.

The man that I and Cain had captured had finally confessed.

Ruain’s army was approaching and had already reached the border.

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