Chapter 020
“Thank you for worrying about me.”
“I didn’t do anything like that.”
“Alright, if you say so.”
He let out a breath as if he found my words absurd, but he didn’t add anything further.
With that short conversation, silence once again settled in the room, and I closed my eyes with a smile, murmuring, “Good night.”
As expected, there was no response, but I fell asleep feeling more at ease than ever.
***
A week had already passed since the wedding.
During that time, aside from getting to know the staff of the mansion through many conversations, my days had been quite dull.
“May, where is Evan right now?”
As I leisurely sipped tea in the garden, I asked May, who was next to me.
“He was training with some other knights at the training grounds a little while ago.”
“Really?”
I set down my teacup and fell into thought for a moment.
Since we decided to share the same bed, nothing much has changed between us.
Evan, the key figure in leading the war to victory, had been so busy that he needed several more bodies to keep up with his schedule.
It was only natural that when I woke up in the morning, he was already gone, and he was busy working until I fell asleep.
“Should I go watch the training?”
I suddenly became curious about how the man with such a fearsome reputation trained. I thought I would just go and quietly watch, so I wouldn’t be a distraction during the training.
With curiosity in my heart, I left the room and headed toward the training grounds.
“Wow—!”
As I got closer to my destination, a deafening cheer echoed high into the sky.
‘What’s going on?’
Exchanging puzzled looks with May, I moved closer to the training grounds.
Then I immediately understood why the knights were so excited and shouting.
“Squads 1 and 2 prepare to fire. Fire!”
At the command of the knight, arrows began to rain down like a storm, shooting through the air toward a single target.
Standing right in the middle of that chaos was none other than Evan.
With an indifferent gaze, he scanned the dozens of arrows raining down on him, then swiftly swung the sword he was holding, slicing through them at an incredible speed.
Arrows that he couldn’t cut through were swiftly dodged as he moved across the training grounds.
“How is that even possible? I can’t believe it no matter how many times I see it!”
“You didn’t get to see the Duke when you were on the battlefield. He was even more impressive back then!”
I heard the excited voices of the knights chatting among themselves.
“Oh my gosh! Madam, did you see that? I only heard rumors, but he really flies!”
Even May, who was next to me, gasped in awe with shining eyes.
While everyone in the training grounds was enthralled, I alone couldn’t join in their excitement.
“Squad 3, fire!”
“…No.”
Watching the arrows slicing through the air, I suddenly felt my breath quicken.
The cheers of the excited knights transformed into the shouts of the rebels that had stormed the palace that day, and the arrows raining down felt as if they were coated in deadly poison.
“Madam? What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
Noticing my unusual state, May asked with concern.
But I didn’t have the strength to answer her question.
Staring blankly at the ceaselessly falling arrows, I ran into the training grounds, pushing through the knights as if in a trance.
“Madam! It’s dangerous!”
I heard May’s scream behind me, but there was nothing I could do. Before I could understand what my mind was doing, my body moved.
“Evan!”
Breathless from crossing the training grounds, I threw myself into Evan’s arms and held him tightly.
“No, you can’t die.”
“What…?”
Evan, who had been swinging his sword suddenly freezes and exclaims in a bewildered voice as I jump into his arms.
“What are you doing, jumping into danger all of a sudden?! Are you crying right now, Lady?”
It was only after hearing his words that I realized I was indeed crying.
But my reasoning, already out of control, kept repeating the words “don’t die” like a spell while holding onto Evan.
“I don’t want to be left alone. Don’t die.”
“Die? Who’s dying? Please don’t send someone who’s perfectly fine away already.”
Hearing my ramblings, Evan let out a sigh as if he was exasperated and opened his mouth.
His gruff words oddly reassured me, causing my tears to flow even more.
“I-I’m sorry. Ugh—.”
“I didn’t mean to say it to make you cry so much.”
After seeing me cry more because of what he said, Evan was left flustered, unable to do anything but look down at me in his arms.
Then, as if he had suddenly made a decision, he slowly lowered his awkwardly raised arms and began to gently pat my back.
The hand gently patting my back felt awkward and clumsy, as if it were the first time someone had ever embraced him.
I don’t know how long it went on.
“Ahh!”
Seeing me unable to stop crying, Evan tossed aside his sword and lifted me up effortlessly.
I was so startled by the sudden turn of events that my tears stopped flowing.
Evan, who had unexpectedly picked me up, started to walk toward the knights’ gathering.
As he finally arrived at the training grounds’ boundary, Evan casually spoke to the knights gathered there.
“What are you all looking at? Start your training until I get back.”
“…Yes! Understood!”
At his command, the knights who had been murmuring and looking this way quickly ran off and returned to their positions.
Once the knights left and only May remained, Evan’s gaze turned toward her.
“Can you bring some water?”
“Y-Yes! Understood!”
At Evan’s words, May hurriedly went into the mansion to fetch water.
Now it was just the two of us again. Evan looked around as if searching for something, then picked up his outer robe that he had hung nearby and laid it on the grass.
“There are no chairs in the training grounds. Please sit on this for now.”
He gently lowered me onto it, then bent down to sit in front of me.
“Have you cried all your tears now?”
“Yes. I’m sorry for interrupting your training.”
I bowed my head and offered my apology.
Not only had I interrupted the training that had been going well, but I had also suddenly jumped into his arms and cried. I could only imagine how absurd that must have been for him.
As I waited in heavy silence for his response, I looked up, finding that he still hadn’t said anything.
“Are you afraid of arrows?”
After a while, the question he asked was completely different from what I had expected.
Taken aback by the question about whether I was afraid of bows, I thought for a moment and nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why did you run towards this if you were scared enough to cry? It was a training bow, so you weren’t hurt, but if it had been a real bow, you wouldn’t be in one piece right now.”
Evan frowned, puzzled by my answer.
“I thought you might get hurt.”
“Are you saying that you did it because of me?”
When I nodded again, Evan looked as if he had been hit on the head.
“I said I would protect you. I mean it.”
Of course, if the current situation had been real, it would have been fortunate if I hadn’t been hit by the bow and died along with him, let alone protecting him.
As I kept my head down, feeling like I had caused trouble for everyone with my sudden actions, Evan finally spoke.
“Who would have thought I’d hear someone say they would protect me in my lifetime?”
Evan, who had been staring at me with a hardened face for a long time, muttered with a faint smile that sounded like a sigh.
‘This is the first time I’ve seen him smile.’
Even though it was more of a smirk than a genuine smile, it looked so different from his usual expressionless face or the frowns I often saw.
“Why are you laughing? I really could protect you!”
“Well, I understand.”
When I reacted strongly, he raised an eyebrow and nodded. His tone didn’t suggest he actually believed me, but it seemed like he was just responding appropriately.
Torryy
Ah. Another FL who goes around crying and falling over hurting herself…
I get it. It’s trauma. But after reading so many novels with the same kind of characters, it’s just frustrating at this point.
I would’ve been more accepting of it if she had started hyperventilating and fainting out of fear. The protecting the duke part.. idk. She’s pretty weak to be protecting anybody.